The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1931-09-03
100, 900 Beggars
In South Africa
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CONTINUED from Page y
tinue to live n the filth and beggary.
Filth and beggary, The low hnts
Of the Bakers where they live fifteen
together amid vermin and insects.
This nremediahle degradation of a
eonquering race from which even the
preachers can no longer arouse them
IN the name of God And without
transition. far above them as the
stars in their golden sky. live the
other whites who pay their $1,000
rental and their work for the day
flnlshed. "o to their gardens to fare
not for their dahlas. Both groups
of the same color hating one an
other but uniting suddenly in their
common ahomination of the Negro
the Negro. who with eeual innoc-
ence, condemns one group to misery
and enriches the others. simply be-
cause he is there"
10000 Blacks in Mines
In the johannesburg mines work
10000 blacks and 10000 whites.
The whites are paid 81 a day and
would not accept less. The blacks
receive az cents. What would be
the cost of gold tomorrow if the
whites took the place Of the Negroes
in the mines?
This simple question is worth the
sweat of anguish that battalion of
economists would pour forth should
the above happen.
why? Not satisfied in acting as
masters the whites would like to re-
main alone upon this African terri
tory which has become theirs. They
nave made the State accent the
famous policy of segregation, which
consists not in elevating the Negro
to their level, but in making The
blacks understand that they had bet
ter evolve elsewhere out of si"ht of
the whites. 1t has come to such
point that n poor miserable creature
with white skin would no more
think of questioning a Negro in. the
streets than he would think of
breathing his confidence in the ear
of a horse.
And however, one fact remains
a fact that grieves the pride of the
whites. Without the Negroes the
mines would become empty hives.
Johannesburg and its business, its
theatres, its raeecourses, its tea
dances, its palaces with a hundred |
its stammeling aspirations
towards art and music. all this com
fort for the spirit and this refine
ment of taste born at last there as |
the belated flowers of prosperity. all
but for few thousand savages bare
ly touched by civilization. would dis,
appear in the slow death of those
cities from which the life-blood IL
These blacks who are drawn from
che Portuguese interior are virtual
prisoners, living in compounds. The
Portuguese blacks are chosen EVIDENT
ly because they are eruder, the ma.
tive blacks being more or less soph-
istieated. aF
Low Wages Predominant
Low wages for the blacks is the
cardinal principle of the mining in
dustry, and should the blacks refuse
10 accept such wages the miserable
ice-eaten, lncestuous poor whites
would be the first to come to the aid
Of the masters, as the poor whites,
victims of slavery, who FOUGHT to
slavery in the American
Civil War. The writer Quotes M.
Macfie, labor delegate, as follows
"The mining industry of the
Fransvaal is founded entirely upon
the principle of low wages to the
natives for non-specialized labor.
Were they to refuse to accept the
maintenance of this principle the
white workers would cut their
Lhroats for them" Hioh wages are
possible for nortion of whites be-
cause of this. We're the poor, starry,
ing whites employed instead of the
blacks the former group of whites
would have more difficult time
logging it.
M. Massot has made it clear that
The principle cause OF the misery of
the poor whites is the attitude of the
opportunities regarding them, yet
much as the poor white detests his
oppressor. he abominates his fellow
victim, the innocent black, even
more.