Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-14
Charge Did Much to Put the Liberals
in Control.
ISOLATED CASES OF CRUELTY
Few Coolies Are Taking Advantage
of the Permission Given Them
to Return Home.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.


question to perplex them as well as we,
bu. it is of an entirely different character.
The British empire goes little farther
than the United States as the land of the
free and the home of the brave" and its
gates are open to the heather as well as
To the Christian races. There is no restric-
ton against Chinese immigration. and three
or four years ago after the Boer war an
attempt was made TO provide the necessary
labor for the mines and other industries
In South Africa by the importation of Chi
nese coolies under contracts extending three
years subject to the approval of both gov
ernments. Labor is very scarce in the
Transvaal. The native Kaffirs have been
depended upon as a rule. but their number
IS limited and insufficient to the demands
OF the mines, the farms and other indus
tries. Several years ago arrangements were
made for the introduction of Hindoo labor.
but II was a failure. The Hindoos are not
pioneers; they are not empire builders, and
they will not emigrate. For half a century
all sorts of devices and inducements have
been tried for the purpose OF reducing the
population of India by other means than
f5mine, but the emigrati ton commission APP
pointed by the imperial government for
that purpose has not been able 20 persuade
more than 10000 or $4,000 natives a year
TO leave their country. A few OF them are
We IklItS on the sugar pt3lLdliOnS III bTiIlSn
Guiana, Trlnadad and other West Indian
islands; few have gone to Australia and
ether parts OF the British empire, but they
will not stay and they do not thrive They
will not even go to Burma, which is just
across the Bay OF Bengal.
Burma is comparatively thinly populated.
Labor is scarce and wages are high three
or four times as high as they are In India.
where the population is so dense that peo
Tle die from starvation. because the soil
vii not produce enough to feed them.
But no Inducements that have ever been
offered have been sufficient to persuade the
starving millions OF India to remove to the
adjoining territory. where they would find
plenty to eat and plenty to do and be pros
porous and happy. Every year at the time
of the harvest thousands of coolies are
transported from India to Burma to relieve
the labor famine, but they remain only a
few months and many only few weeks.
AS soon as the harvest Is over and they
have received their pay they return to their
homes.
Similar attempts have been made to
transfer the surplus population OF India to
the farms and mines and factories of South
Africa but comparatively few have gone
The physical degeneration of the Hlndoo
does not qualify him for the hard labor OF
the mines and other occupations in a new
country.
White Men Will Not GO There
The fact that Kaffirs and Hndoos have
been and still are the principal laboring ele-
ment in South Africa has served to prevent
the emigration OF English and Irish peas
ants to that country. The white man will
not work with the colored man. no matter
whether he be Zulu. Hindoo or negro. The
government OF the Transvaal has made ex-
Sraordinary efforts to induce the British
farmers and factory hands and the deni-
Zens of the crowded slums of London to go
to South Africa, but they will not e-nigrate,
although their expenses will be paid they
q he prtV IA rms HrpA Of ur7d ba
loaned money from the public treasury to
maintain themselves until they have har-
vested their first crop.
Mr.. Winston Churchill under secretary of
state for the colonies. made the extraordi-
nary confession in the house Of commons
the other day that since the close of the
Boer war the government had expended
S12OOOO00 to encourage emigration TO South
Africa and had succeeded In placing but
300 families, which had cost an average
OF 5000 each. In the meantime several
hundred thousand voluntary emigrants
have left the united kingdom to seek their
fortunes IN America.
The Chinese Labor Contract.
Having failed to secure any other form of
labor, the late administration permitted
and encouraged the importation of Chinese
to supply the demands of the situation in
South Africa 1t was necessary TO go some
where for workTnen. The expected prosper
AAE anu utSt!OpHSft OF the natural re-
sources and the industries OF the new Brit
tsh colony has been arrested by the lack of
labor. and several thousand coolies were
exported by the shiplOad from Canton,
Annoy, Shanghai and other Chinese ports
under the care of government inspectors to
tho Transvaal- They have proven efficient
and adaptable. but during the last cam
pagn. as l told you the other day the lib
eral leaders took advantage of several cases
of Ill treatment to excite agitation
against the system and accused the Balfour
government and the colonial authorities n
South Africa of maintaining and protecting
human slavery. This unfounded and mex
cusable charge brought over the votes of
thousands OF humane people and was par
tlcularly effective among the laboring ele-
ment. The liberal leaders again and again
pledged themselves TO abolish human
slavery and emancipate the Chinese serfs
in the Rand. They are now trying to carry
OuS that pledge and the present govern
ment has prohibited any further importa-
tion Of Chinese labor: has forbidden the re-
newl OF existing contracts which were
made for three years and are beginning to
expire; and has required the contractors to
give public notice and to inform all of ths
employees that any cooiie who is dissatisfied
with his treatment or his pay may at any
time be relieved of his contract and sent
back To China at the expense of the govern
ment The labor leaders are trying to push
the matter still further and secure an act
OF parliament prohibiting the employment
OF Chinese in any British colony. but the
cabinet Is disposed 10 Shirk the responsible
ity and throw 1t upon the local colonial gov
eminent which is now being organized in
the rransvaai. II Will leave the regulations
70 the colonial legislature that will soon be
ready 20 assume Jurisdiction of the subject
In the meantime the coolies have been no
titled that they need not carry out their
contracts unless they wish 10 do So and
that II they want TO go home they can go
at any time and have their expenses paid
by the government This OF itself viii be
a safety valve against cruelty and oppres-
sion and takes away all the odor OF slavery
from the contract system. II Is A slgnii-
cant fact that. Notwithstanding this inter
Vention on the part OF the government and
It's liberal offer 10 the coolies up TO tie last
reports only twelve had taken advantage of
Il out Of total of 5000 or more who are
alleged by the liberal leaders to be held in
bondage. Not one more coolie has asked
release or protection from his employers at
though all OF them have been urgently ad,
yised 10 do 50.
Attacks Purely Political
Shortly before I left Washington Mr.
Gardner F. Williams, who for eighteen
years has been IN charge OF the de Beers
diamond mines in South Africa and un-
doubtedly is as familiar with the situation
as any man. declared that the attacks upon