Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1909-03-12

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under the new moral and material
conditions Of civilization to be brought
face to face with this problem in its
acutest form. On our power to solve
It regularly and heroicslly defends our
greatness. II it be possible for us
out OF our great complex body Of hu-
manity, (its parts possibly remaiug
racially distinct for centuries) to raise
up free, intelligent, harmonious ma
tion, each part acting with and for the
benefit of the others, then we shall
have played part as great as that OF
any nation In the worlds record.
I'm our small permanent and large.
ly Sonth African born Asiatic popula-
tion, we have q section OF people So
Der, Industrious and ietelligont, rich
with those staying powers which have
made Asiatic people 80 persistent and
often dominent in the past and pres
ent. This Is the material from which
our nation must be shaped, and we
tho small, and for the moment abso-
lu'ely dominent white aritocrats, on
whom the main weight OF duty Of So
ciat reconstruction rests, have reason
to be thankful it is what 1t Is.
''lf by entering on . long and diff
cult course Of strictly just and humane
treatment, as between man and man,
we can bind our dark races to us
through their sense of justice and
gratitude il we ss dominent elias,
realize that the true wealth Of . nation
is the health, happiness, intelliR Rence
and content of every man and woman
born within its borders, IL we do not
fail to realize that the true crown of
honor on the head of q dominent class
is that it leads and teaches, not uses
and crushes, If as the years pass, 9
can point with pride to our native peo-
pie as the most enlightened, aud the
most free, the most devoted to the well
fare OF its native land Of all African
races; ii our laboring class can In the
end be made to compare favorably
with that of all other countries, and IL
for the men of genius or capacity who
are born among them there be left
open free path to take their share in
the higher duties Of life and citizen
ship, their talents expended for the
| sr< a. for ~ tho 10, -
suppressed to become Its subteraneous
and disruptive force, five can make
our states as dear TO them, as the
matrix in which they find shelter for
Ehealthy life and devclopement, as 1t Is
to US; then think the future Of South
Africa promises greatness nd strength.
But. il we fail in this2 II blinded
by the gam OF the moment, we see
nothing in our dark man, but only q
tool; If dispossessd entired Of the land
for which he now show that rare apti-
tude for peasant proprietorship, for
the lack OF which among their masses
many great nations are decaying, il
we force him permanently in his
millions into the compounds and slams
of cities, obtaining his labor cheaper
but to lose what the wealth of five
lands could not return to US, IL unin-
structed in the highest forms of labor
without the rights of citizenship, his
own social organization broken up
without our having aided him to par
ticipate in our own, II, unbound to us
by gratitude and sympathy, and an
alien to us in blood and color, we re-
duce this vast mass to the condition of
a great seething, ignorant proletariat,
then would rather draw veil over
the future of this land.
"Are we to spend our national ex:
istence with large dark shadow
looming always in the background,