Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-19


efficiency have remained in the land,
and have for the most part simply been
assimilated with the intruders, the as
sanitation marking on the whole a very
considerable rise in their conditions.
Taking into account the Indians Of
pure blood, and the mixed bloods in
which the Indian element. is large. it is
undoubtedly. true that the Indian
population of America is larger today
than it was when Columbus discovered
the continent, and stands on far
higher plane of happiness and
efficiency In Australia the few
savages tend to die out simply because
their grade of culture is so low that
nothing can be done with them; doubt
less occasional brutalities have been
committed by white settlers, but these
brutalities were not an appreciable
factor in the dying out of the natives.
In India and Java there has been a
great increase in wellbeing and
population under the English and tie
Dutch, and the advance made has
been in striking contrast to what has
occurred during the same period in the
nearby lands which have remained
under native rule. In Egypt, in the
Philippines, in Algiers, the native
people have thriven under the rule of
the foreigner, advancing as under no
circumstances could they possibly have
advanced if left to themselves. the i'll
crease in population going hand in
hand with the increase in general we'll
being. In the Soudan, Mahdism during
the ten years of it's unchecked control
fo, no Of
half the population and meant physical
and moral ruin. a fact which should be
taken into account by the, prevented
pseudo philanthropy which fails to
recognize the enormous advantages
conferred by the English occupation OF
the SOudan, if not on the English
themselves, certainly on the natives
and on humanity at large. In the same
way the Russian advance into
TurkeStan has meant 4 real advance in
the welI-being of the people. as we'll as
the spread of civilization. In Natal the
English found an empty desert; be-
cause of the peace they established it
has filled up so densely with natives as
to create very serious and totally new
problems. There have been very dark
spots in the European conquest and
control of Africa: but On the whole the
African regions which during the past
century have seen the greatest cruelty,
degradation. and suffering. the greatest
diminution Of population. are those
where native control has been un-
checked The advance has been made
in the regions that have been under
European control or influence; that
have been profoundly influenced by
European administrators, and by
European and American missionaries.
OF course the best that can happen to
any people that has not already a high
civilization of its own is to assimilate
and profit by American or European
ideas, the ideas of civilization and
Christianity. without submitting to
alien control; but such control, in spite
of all it's defects. is i'll a very large
number of cases the prerequisite condi-
ton to the moral and material advance
of the peoples who dwell in the darker
corners of the earth. Where the
control is exercised brutally; where it
| is made use of merely to exploit the
natives, without regard to Their
physical or moral well-being; it should
| be unsparingly criticised, and there
! should be resoulte insistence on
amendment and reform. But we must
not, because of occasional WrOngdoinS,
blind ourselves to the fact that on the
whole the white administrator and the
Christian missionary have exercised a
profound and wholesome influence for
good in savage regions.
| Let me Illustrate what l mean by
| particularly abiding to three cases, AL
giers, India, and the Philippines The
North African coast was mere nest ol
| rates during the first decades OF the
nineteenth century Punitive eXpedi-
tons We're sent against these pirates
again and again, but they could not be
permanently suppressed by such eX-
petitions, and all the great commercial
rations We're forced to pay them more
or less thnly disguised tribute OF
| blackmail. The United States was
among the number 1t was the French
conquest of Algiers which put a final
! stop to this blackmail; and it also put
Il stop to the urspeakable barbarism
and cruelty inevitably attendant upon
the slave hunting piracy of the dwell
lcrs in the Independent North African
States. In other words, the independ-
| cree of these States was a menace tt
every peaceful people. and incidentally
it meant dreadful wrong and injustice
| within the states themselves. Algiers
| is far better off IN every, way under
| French rule than it was eighty years
ago. before the French came into the
| land. and it is far better oft In every
way than is the neighboring State Of
| Morocco at the present time; and thi.
simply and solely because the neignbor-
ing State of Morocco continues to enjoy
much the same kind of independent
self government that Algiers enjoyed
| until the French went there
! In India We encounter the most CO.
| lossal example history affords of THE
successful administration Nv men "a
European blood of a thckly populated
region in another continent 1t is the
greatest feat of the Kind that has beer
| performed since the breakup of the
| Roman Empire Indeed. it is a greater
feat than was performed under tht
| Roman Empire. Unquestionably mis-
| takes have been made; il would indi-
cate qualities literally superhuman il
50 gigantic task had been accomplish.
cd without mistakes 1t is easy enough
| to point out shortcomings; but the fact
| remains that the successful adminiStra