Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-04

the up-couutry Boer woman is usually
tamination, from which all the vices OF
civilization are disseminated among the
natives.
The prevalent contempt for the product
Of the mission schools Is, however, due to
an erroneous conception. It is not Chris
tianity that demoralizes, for it is a form
of belief far more elevating and inspiring
than the shadowy native conceptions of
witch DOCTORS ,spiritism and transmigra-
ton. 1t is the civilization which the mis-
sionaries bring with them that is respon-
sible for the evil;-the incapacity Of these
good men to divest themselves Of their
own national idiosyncrasies. This has be-
come so far recognized among educated
negroes that national churches have been
organized, with large membership, with
a view to promulgating the moral teach
ings Of Christianity without the accom-
panying standards of Caucasian civiiiza-
ton.
Thus already a native problem is be-
ginning to loom upon the horizon Of the
future Under the mild rule Of his tribal
chief, practicing a species Of communism.
the native has no incentive to any OF
those crimes which characterize a civiliza-
ton which has substituted the family for
the tribe as the unit of society. With the
breaking up of the tribal system, and the
decentralization of the young men, who are
driven to earn money In the mines through
an iniquitous hut tax, and, fiocking 10
johannesburg from the remotest regions
of south and central Africa, learn all
the depravities of the city there, the
moral, truthful, honest, sober, industrious
native has given way to the lying. drunk
en- Hooligan, the by-product OF every
city and permanent menace to the COM
munity.
The Illicit liquor trade is chiefly re-
sponsible for the Generalization of the
native. Imagine forty thousand boys"
young men, unmarried, recruited from
perhaps fifty tribes, some of which have
traditions of hereditary warfare, grouped
together under the most insanitary con-
ditions In compounds, driven by the lash
to hard and dangerous underground labor
in the gold mines, where, every day, dis
astrous accidents occur through the Grim
inal negligence Of the mine-owners. Given
the possibility of obtaining intoxicants,
the evil which follows Is self-evident.
stronger than the fermented ''1uala," or
native beer, which they drink at festi-
walls. After few months they are ha-
bltual drunkards, and each man becomes
plague-center, returning to demoralize
his entire village.
From Saturday afternoon till Tuesday
morning work is practically at stand
still upon the Rand. 1t is common pro-
ceeding for the zulus Of the city to send
formal challenge to the Basutos, or
for the natives of, say. the Robson mine,
to challenge those of the Driefontein to
combat on the succeeding Sunday. All
Saturday night the rival warriors soak
themselves with rum, until the vile po-
tato alcohol has reduced them to a state
bordering on insanity. In the morning,
half dazed and Infatuated, they take their
knottkerries-a species of shillelagh-and
assegais, and sally out to the battle. The
opposing party is equally intoxicated,
and a furious combat ensues, several
deaths and scores OF casualties constant
ly occurring. The white Overseers, know
ing that In the condition of their en-
ployees their own lives would be prac-
tically valueless should they Interfere, re-
main spectators of the fight until both
sides are exhausted; then up come the
police and separate the combatants.
Two typical scenes are shown in the
illustrations. The first represents a cou-
Pile of unsophisticated natives on the
high road for johannesburg, bound for
the mines. Their decentralization has just
begun, when they exchanged their loin
cloths and bangles for the discarded
clothing OF some white man. The clothes
which they are wearing seem to have
been picked up in a refuse heap, and 1t
will be seen that they have not yet
adapted themselves to wearing shoes. In
the companion picture is to be seen
group returning home by mule wagon.
The unsophisticated native has turned
into a drunken ruff1an. Observe the
clothing, the straw hats, the shoes which
every man Is wearing, the miscellaneous
impedimenta upon the wagon, which will
include rum bottles, fashy Jewelry, and
cheap Swiss concertinas. johannesburg
has taken these young men; they have
shaved for her, digging gold from the
earth to enrich greedy masters. who.
pleading the dignity of labor" taxed
them into slavery; they have sold their
honor and native piety for wages and
civilizations; some day thcre VIII arrive
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