Norwich bulletin., 1922-04-15

which can be represented as showing ehat the government policy is imperial
 stic. dictated by Downing street, and | calculated to sacrifice the inter ests of South Africa to those of the empire, and (3) trying 10 win the synpatl1ies of the | German settlers in the South African | ,ro.ectorate (which the Union adminis- |
 CTS as mandatory under the league of | nationS), in the hope that on the ulti. | mate Transformation of the protectorate | into a province of the Union the Ger mans will join them in their anti British | policy. The temper of the nationalist | rank and file is undoubtedly bitter, and their newspapers are fuf of letters by Young. South Africans or Young Free Staters'' advocating a complete boycott Of English goods and the cutting of of all relations with England and the Eng fish However, the tife is running steadily against them, and is mot likely to be reversed even by the attempts which are now being made to swell the Dutch population by fresh immigrants from Holland.
 Apart from the nationalist agitation, the white population Is divided mainly by the economic antagonism of country and town. South Africa is a farmers country and ruled by farmers parlia- ment Moreover, the farming population | lS DuIC1, d1hI fOOhS upon the townsn1an and the miner as alien
 immigrants who have come to make their fortune, and are therefore fit subjects to
 be squeezed for the benefit of the farmer. The whole system of taxation and the
 customs tariff are loaded against the towns. The farmer escapes taxation al< most completely and his implements and
 supplies enter the country under a duty of only per cent.- as compared with duty of 12 per cent. and upwards on other goods. At the same time, while
 there are many up-to-date farms, splen-
 didly run, farming methods among many Of the Dutch are still most anticipated and knowledge of Bookkeeping and bust ness efficiency are far rarer than they should be. As a result, the ranks of the "poor whites" unemployed and unem- ploya5le, are constantly being swelled by unsuccessful farmers, and the govern l ment is under unremitting pressure for l nelief in the form o/|srants of money, land, cattle and eau pnent at the public l expense. But there can bo lio uoe, .1iss. 1 with the extension of irrigation by means l of dams and artesian wells there' is a 1 great future before the farmers in South l Africa, be it in ranching. fruit growing l or general agriculture
 1 The labor party in South Africa is in
 a.a anomlaeus position; for, owing to the fact that practically all the unskil!ed 1 manual labor Is done by Kaffirs, the l white worker belongs to the white aris- 1 tocracy and either bosses a gang of na-
 tives or else works at a skilled job. To | such condition the theories of orthodox socialism, which consider the relations of capital and labor without reference tc the disturbing factor of race, are i'll
 adapted and until the leaders of the white
 workers think out an intelHgible and hu-
 H1ane policy for the adjustment of tneil
 own relations to the Kaff1r workers there
 is bound to be a radical weakness il their position.
 The weakest spot in the political lift
 of the whole country Is that no party
 has a consistently thougft-out nativ, policy. The ideal of nletSing South Africs
 white mans country" is widel!
 preached. but it runs slp against the hart
 fact that in the Union alone (not count
 ing Rhodesia. Basutolahd. etc) there ar, more than 6,0O0.B00 Kaffirs to abou 1 1 100000 whites. A policy of segrega tion was aetuaily embodied in the nativ land act of 1913, according Co winch III l native shall 6wI1 land except in reserva tions or territories specially set apart fo : the purpose. In the white mans terri : tory he is to live only as a hired wag earner, not as owning or even rentini l IAhet BuL so lar this act has been in 1 operative, owing to the uIiwiilingness o ] the white population to give up sufficien , iand, especially sufficient good land, fo ; the proposed native reservation.
 Meanwhile native labor~is wanted an
 wanted cheap, for farm, holsework am
 mine. All such labor means contact wit { the white mans civilization, and all suc contact educates the native and gives hir
 new desires and ambitions. Yet he find
 himself condemned to position in wh.c these desires and ambitions must renal
 uIAsatisfied. The result Is a growing dis
 content which, as all thoughtful obsery CTS recognize, threatens one day to gro, l into a serious danger, especially if tn r still existing intertribal animosttie should merge in common antagonism { : the white man.
 : The root of the trouble is that tn ! white civilization in its treatment of tn ] native has two contradictory minds Ii s economic mind wants the native as pel
 l manent newer of wood and drawer ( : water, and justifies this policy by tf . plea of the black mans inherent inferior n lty. Its Christian mind regards the nf : tive as a brother and wants to make hi1
 l white man in everything but the colo = l of his skin house thus divided again! Q itself cannot stand. and in South Afric . no more than anywhere else, there is r f convincing sign that the reconciliation ( a these contradictory purposes is about = be achieved.