The sun., 1910-06-03

sentatives are equally privileged With
their French associates. In vote, debate
and salary they stand on the same foot
ing IN the departmental councils the
natives have six members out Of thirty
six in Algiers and Constantine and six
o,.t oI lhirty-ihree in Oran In the mt
nlcipai councils, which represent the
smallest unit, the commune a quarter
OF the membership Is native In each
cese, moreover. the native contingent
il elected by native voters under GER
tain restrictions In all save two par
ticulars moreover. he Arab and kalyle
members have equal voting rights with
the other members They cannot vote
for senators or mavors
Such in brief is the system which The
French have slowly and with much
care elaborated Ia give a share in the
administration TO their MussuIman sub
ieCts Now Il Is proposed that the
present system he extended by redu-
cling the restrictions placed upon the
native voters who must meet certain
rather rigid qualifications. by increas-
ing the number IT native members Of
the various councils by giving the
native committees the right to vote for
MAYORS Of cOmmunes. This latter right
the natives once possessed and gave up
with great reluctance.
Il might easily he assumed that 80
much weakness and sentimentality
would have obviously bad results.
Oddly enough. such does not appear 10
be- the case On the contrary, these
concessions are in effect only a prelim-
mary 20 an even more revolutionary
project, that Of extending to the natives
the compulsory military service now
shared by all Frenchmcn in Europe and
Algeria alike Equal rights and equal
obligations for Arab. Kabyle and French
cOlOnist alike Is the theory now strongly
held in French colonial circles.
At the present time there are many
thousands Of Arabs in the French Afri-
can establishment, including mahy or
cers. several of whom have obtained tho
grade of Colonel: but this native army
is recruited and makes but a small per-
Ccntage of the population capable oi
bearing arms From the 100000 ma
tives Of Algeria the French could draw
5000 or 6OOOO troops for the standing
army Il compulsory service were re.
qUired That such requirement will be
made IN the immediate future il alto
gether unlikely. vet the chief argument
fOr the extension Of civil rights to the
natives u the consequent extension Of
military obligations.
Each extension OF native participation
in civil government has been bitterly
opposed This opposition has sprung
largely from the African colonial ele-
ment itself. which has viewed with sus-
piCiOn and apprehension each increase
In the influence Of the Arab and Kabyles
about il. Yet that the system has
worked veil not even this element de-
hies. 0f all thu MOhammedan coun-
tries under Christian rule none IL to-day
80 free from unrest, seditiOn and dis
order a. Algeria and the neighbOring
rlnis, TO which a certain measure of
the French system has already been
applied
In view Of the results that have fol-
lowed these eighty years in North Africa
We presume the French will find peru
liarly valuable that formal public dec-
laration by which the great African
traveller has demolished their whole
system AZ one blow and revealed to them
as an inevitable failure what even the
most preiudiced had begun 70 conceive
a. a French colonial success