The National tribune., 1908-03-26

hotels clad only in the native dress,
which reveals their defects and skill
fully conceals all beauty. There are
no theaters, no concerts, no lectures, no
really good newspaper even. ana con-
sequently the Dutch are thrown upon
purely social affairs for recreauon-
There is a great deal of dancing, many
dinners and receptions, but society Is
narrow, colonial, conservative, stupid
and insuiar, even more so than in Hoi-
| land Their homes are always most
comfortable and generally very iuxu-
rious Incomes are much larger in
Java than, Holland, and. the better part
OF each mans revenue is spent on good
living. Even families of comparatively
moderate means have .roomy house,
sufficient domestic. staff, keep a car
rIage and a good table. The homes of
the wealthy class. with their beautiful
gardens are almost beyond description,
and an entertainment given by one OF
this class, with the tropical moonlight
on veranda, garden and pavilion, Is
nothing short of veritable fairy scene,
which only a poet can fifty describe.
The Culture system.
Java has yielded up great riches to
the mother country under the famous
culture system established by one of
her Governors in 1892.
When the Dutch East India Company
obtained possession of Java, which they
| did partly thru conquest, purchase,
strategy and other means, they con-
tinued the policy of the native rulers,
the owners of the lard, in exacting one
fifth of the peasants labor and one
fifth OF his crops as payment for the
rent of the land. The native Princes of
the Preanger RESIDENCES, where all the
coffee was raised at that time, were al
lowed to retain their sovereignty on the
condition of paying the company an
annual tribute of a certain proportion
of their crop and selling the balance to
the company at very small fixed rate.
Under this system the tropical island
yielded enormous revenues to the COM
pany. Witch held the monopoly of trade
not only with Java, but Japan as well.
During the brief interval of British
rule, from 1911 to 1916, the peasants
were given individual ownership of
lands and compulsory labor was not ex-
acted. but when Java was restored to
the Dutch in 1916 by the treaty of Lon
/ don the old land system employed by
| the company was resumed with slight
difference. Onc-fifth of the peasants s
| produce as payment for rent was ex-
acted as before, he was obliged to plant
one-ffth of the village lands in crops to
be sold to the Government at fixed
| prices, but instead of claiming one days
labor in Eve il only insisted upon one
in seven.
For various reasons, however, the
revenues fell off. there was great con-
Germ in Holland at the decrease of the
/ golden stream which had flowed for so
| many years from the rich little island,
| and the practical, shrewd. money-mak-
| ing Dutch began to study over ways and
means to bring Java back to her former
importance as a source of income.
Go Into the Sugar Business.
As q result of this IL was determined
to develop the sugar industry in Java
and Van den Bosch was sent over as
Governor with free hand to do what
! he thought best toward this end He
established the famous culture sys-
tenn" which proved such wonderful
success in so many ways, not only to
the Dutch, but to the natives as WELL
The colonists were loaned money by the
Government on easy terms to build
sugar mills. the sugar to be raised by
the natives on their. own lands and sold
to the mill owners at fixed rate. Each
community was under head man or
Ioverseer, who was paid certain amount
for every picul of sugar made from the
cane raised in his district, and all ma
tives who were employed in the mills
were paid regular wages. In addition to
This the natives were Obliged to plant
one-fifth of the village lands in sugar.
cane. and each man give one days labor
in seven to tending the crop BY the
terms of the agreement established with
the mill owners they were to sell one
third of their sugar 20 the Government
lat nominal rate, and to pay back IN