Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-19
.How the Germans
Treat the Negro
In Africa
BY Harrison Q
of The vi8ilantes.

BY Harrison Rhodes
OF The vigilantes.
During the years when the German
propagandats were working with the
| colored people Of America. trying to
Lmake them disloyal to thsk eeuntry
Rand their flag, they constantly hint
| ed that the Kaiser's love for the
Negro was so great that II, by some
happy chance. he were ever to come
| into possession Of these United states
| he would hand q few states or more
over to Negroes and see to It that they
lived there in complete liberty ana
happiness. II. any answer Were
needed to this preposterous claim 1t
would be the conditions Of slavery
| and suffering in which the unhappy
native Inhabitants of the German
colonies in Africa lived until the
great war finally rescued them rom
their oppressors. y
It il not possible in the length Of
this article to give the complete docu-
+, mentary evidence Of German crime
indeed the monstrous story would
take volumes. But such evidence 10
1 in hand. and It has not been neces-
sary to trust to any but German Wit
nesses. Speeches in the Reichstag.
and articles in the German press tell
the story, for the crueities OF German
colonial government reused even
Germans to indignation, though not
to any effective reform. How indeed
could reform be hoped for whe tho
colonial administrative ~ sucn
excellent places to send military ana
aristocratic gentlemen about whom
scandal at home was too great to al
low them to remain comfortably IN
Germany? When Herr Won Puttkain-
er, for example, governor OF tho
Camaroons was in danger the home
authorities did everything to shield
hin-was he not the son of a min
lister of state and a nephew Of Bis
that a certain Captain Dominik on an
expedition against a recalcitrant tribA
after he had captured a village ana
slaughtered all the inhabitants except
ffty-two children, conceived the pret.
ty idea of placing these children IN
wicker baskets made by his soldiers
and then throwing them into the
Nachtigal Rapids where they perish
ed miserably. Herr Won PuttkamsF
but took no steps In the matter.
The labor Of the Negro is the only
thing wanted from him in q German
colony. Education is definitely and
officially thought detrimental to his
value as a worker. But good hard la
bor-(on most farms the roll call was
at 4 a. m. and they continued work
without break for food until eleven or
noon; then after an hours rest they
were driven till dark, $3.50 or 7 p. m.)
this was thought to be Of cultural
value and to bring the native o
closely in touch with the civilization
of central'Europe"-as indeed it did.
Voluntary labor was out OF the
question on the German plantations;
almost universally forcsd labor OF
slavery, If 0 prefer the more old.
fashioned, word, took its place. This
was legally very easily effected in
several ways. In some Of the colonies
q hut tax was imposed too high to
be paid by the natives, who wero
then forced to work. 1t out for the au-
thorities. Another way was to make
1t by law incumbent on natives to
work a certain part, a quarter to a
halt, Of each year for white men. II
a card proving this amount Of service
could not be shown the native was
forcibiy seized and put to work. And
even here the delightful hun1or of tho
Teuton was at play. for It was a COM
mon, custom with planters in making
out these cards to count, one days
work as only one-sixth q a day It
any tr1htng offence on the workers
part could be alleged. But on tho
whole the system in essence was SIM
ply that the planters notified the au-
thor!ties how much labor they needed
and native soldiers. under Pruesian
officers, were sent ont to bring 1t in,
The labor, a good deal Of which got
killed or tortured or flogged or. mu-
tilated in the collecting, was brought
IN chained or roped together lby tho
was useful: In onef German colony It
was not unusual to see boys of from
eight to ten heavily chained together
working on the public improvements.
For keeping Negroes at work the
Germans found nothing so sa~tisfac-
tory as f1ogging. preferably with a
lash Of ~rhinoceros hide. Sometimes
when squeamish people at home OBJ
only the rope should be used. I But,
bless your soul. If a good rope is re-
neatedly dipped in tar and dried and
then tipped with sharp jagged metal
1t ts almost as effective a "persuader"
as the rawhide. All through Africa
German colonies are known as
the lands Of the Twenty Five, mean
Ing the twenty-five lashes which it is
legal to administer to a black. There
might have been a protest from the
more vtrile Huns against this senti-
mental minimum, but the twenty Ave
Etashes could be repeated the same day
or the next, and indeed twenty-five
could be made to cause permanent
disablement, total nervou breakdown
and even. death If properly laid on the
victim: The rule was that the whip
= must sing as It came through the
ar, and. II the whipper failed to make
IT Sins" he was himself stripped
bound hand inc foot, and we'll
nogged. Prussian efficiency!
As to the treatment Of native wom-
.. en- n even Of little girls OF EIGHT or
ten and Of native men who dared to
protest against this treatment thu
facts are almost u%nprintable. They
deal with ~unEpeakable hestiahty and
nameless mutilations, 1t is a chapter
which could be understood in Bel.
gium-here in a happier land such
human 5deprav1ty is almost unbe-
lievabie. Even the German coTrts
we're forced to attribute much to "the
strain OF tropical climate" but this
was thought a quite suficient exc,,ss
The Social Democrats in cernnsr.
and some of the other leaders lRehei
and Erzberger are amons he fan7iiiar
names> protested. but the most a..
vanced pan-German thought vss
nrm that African natives existed for
the beneft Of Prussia, not Prussia fov
me beneht Of natives. The only
) NEGROES who received any considera,
were soldiers-and here. Al n
Fisnt according to German standards!
9 soldlers word was always taken
against ANYTHING 4 civilian mixht
swear to. This Of course made "a IN.
hunting better sport.
Tne only objection which a coioniai