GENERAL MACARTHUR AND HIS AIDS ON CHINESE AND NATIVE LABOR IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The following are extracts from the discussions by General MacArthur and his aids on this subject in their recent reports to the War Department. In the course of his annual report in 1901 as military governor of the Philippines, General MacArthur dwells upon the important subject of the status of the Chinese in the archipelago. He says:

"Geographically, the Philippine archipelago is, in effect, part of the Asiatic continent, and as a consequence in such close contact with China that economic, political, and military questions must be in process of never-ending adjustment between the conflicting interests involved. As a matter of fact, one of the most important questions presented for American consideration since the occupation has arisen from the necessity of determining an administrative policy in respect of Chinese immigration.

"Notwithstanding the vast extent of China, it is so populous that the people, under primitive methods of production, are constantly encroaching on the means of subsistence. The masses have a hard fight against nature to keep themselves alive. As a matter of policy, however, Chinese rulers have always tried to restrict immigration, but in spite of every obstacle, both of law and prejudice, thousands annually leave the Empire to escape the consequences of poverty. Under these restrictions, the most indigent only leave the country to seek a livelihood; but, as elementary moral education is generally diffused among all the people of China, the most noticeable features of Chinese laborers abroad are sober and orderly habits and general physical fitness for hard work.

"They are industrious and ingenious, submissive and obedient to their own superiors, and easily accommodate themselves to all the exigencies of climate and the general aspects of nature in foreign countries. Although at present absolutely incapable of organizing on a large scale for political purposes at home, they have solved many of the minor problems relating to economic cooperation, especially of cooperative protection and production.

"Such a people, largely endowed as they are with inexhaustible fortitude and determination, if admitted to the archipelago in any considerable numbers during the formative period which is now in process of evolution, would soon have direct or indirect control of pretty nearly every productive interest, to the absolute exclusion alike of Filipinos and Americans.

"This view is stated with considerable emphasis, as unmistakable indications are apparent of organized and systematic efforts to break down all barriers, with a view to unrestricted Chinese immigration, for the purpose of quick and effective exploitation of the islands-a policy which would not only be ruinous to the Filipino people, but would in the end surely defeat the expansion of American trade to its natural dimensions, in what is obviously one of its most important channels. In this connection it may not be improper to state that one of the greatest difficulties attending military efforts to tranquilize the people of the archipelago arises from their dread of sudden and excessive exploitation, which they fear would defraud them of their natural patrimony and at the same time relegate them to a status of social and political inferiority.

FILIPINOS ARE GOOD WORKMEN.

"Reiterated assertions to the effect that native labor in the Philippines is unreliable must be accepted as coming almost exclusively from Europeans, who primarily are exploiters, pure and simple, and, as such, have absolutely no interest in the islands beyond the immediate realization of enormous profits. Under the old system the wages of labor were too small to establish anything like a sense of self-interest on the part of employees, and as a consequence solicitude for the interests of employers did not exist, and workmen, as a rule, were indifferent as to their own constant employment and had little concern about the future, as their own wishes or interests were never consulted. American experience, so far as public employees are concerned, has not confirmed the declaration of the Europeans. On the contrary, it has been found that when properly paid the Filipino is precisely like any other man and holds on to a good place by reason of fidelity and faithful service.

CHINESE IMMIGRANTS EXCLUDED.

"In view of the foregoing premises the military administration has rigidly enforced regulations excluding Chinese immigration from the islands; not in a spirit of hostility, but in pursuance of instincts of self-preservation. Individually a Chinaman represents a unit of excellence that must always command respect and win admiration, but in their organized capacity in the Philippines the Chinese represent an economical army, without allegiance or attachment to the country, and which to a great extent is beyond the reach of insular authority.

"They are bent upon commercial conquest, and as those in the islands already represent an innumerable host at home, even restricted immigration would represent a serious menace.

"The ultimate interests of America in the East depend so much on the correct solution of this problem that the attitude of the military government in respect thereof is respectfully submitted with request for very careful consideration of the same, and further action is recommended in the premises, looking to a gradual decrease of the Chinese now in the islands, which might be partially accomplished by prohibiting the return of all individuals who have been absent for six months, or hereafter may absent themselves from the islands and remain so absent for the same time.”

FILIPINOS BETTER THAN CHINESE.

In the report of Capt. Thomas Swobe, chief quartermaster, submitted by General MacArthur, occur the following remarks on the same subject: "One hears a great deal of the necessity of introducing Chinese labor into these islands to meet the demands of commerce. It has been my experience that any labor which can be performed by the Chinese can be performed equally well by the Filipinos. The latter, moreover, have marked advantages over the Chinese, inasmuch as they are more amenable to discipline, more imitative in their methods, more enthusiastic in their work for the work itself, and more easily assimilated by American workmen. While most of the coal is unloaded in this office by Chinese labor, employed by contractors, yet all the loading of coal from this office is done by Filipino workmen at 40 cents, gold, per day. I have studied carefully the efficiency of these two classes in this particular work, and I unhesitatingly pronounce in favor of the Filipino. The Filipinos are certainly far superior to the Chinese in loading and unloading forage. Moreover, they show adaptability in handling the live stock, and in workmanship in the repair and saddler's shops, which I don't believe can even be equaled by the Chinese labor in these islands. I have dwelt at some length on the efficiency of Filipino labor, which as yet is in its infancy in expert work, for the reason that I have had to handle a vast amount of it, and have studied it to an extent where I think my opinion may be of some value."

GENERAL CROWDER'S VIEWS.

In the report of Gen. E. H. Crowder, military secretary, the subject is thus discussed:

"The recently completed census of the city of Manila shows a Chinese population of more than 50,000, scattered over the territory comprised within the city's limits, but in greatest numbers in the district of Binondo, where are located the mercantile and shipping

centers.

"As to the total number of Chinese in the archipelago there are no statistics of recent date, nor is there data of value in making an estimate. While the efforts of the Spanish Government to enumerate and tax these aliens during the period of its domination in the Philippines were elaborately planned and productive of considerable revenue, yet it is generally conceded that large numbers annually evaded the officials, and for this reason, if for no other, the statistics of that Government can not be accepted as showing accurately the number of Chinese in these islands at any time. Their disposition to engage in peddling from village to village and to penetrate into the districts of the interior inhabited solely by pagan tribes, with whom they barter for the various crude products of the mountain forests, made the Chinese a difficult problem to the census enumerator and collector of personal taxes.

PHILIPPINE IMMIGRATION STATISTICS.

"During the calendar year 1900 the number of Chinese immigrants presenting themselves at the port of Manila was 9,768, of which number 9,380 were allowed to enter. During the same period 9,173 emigrants of the same race left the port of Manila for foreign ports. During the first four months of the current year there were admitted 5,277 of the 5,682 Chinese immigrants who presented themselves, and the emigrants of the same race numbered but 4,027. The number of immigrants refused admission during this latter period, 405 exceeds the total number of the same class during the whole year of 1900.

"The relatively large number of these immigrants who have been refused admission to these islands during the first months of 1901 is explained by the elaborate and systematic efforts on the part of brokers at continental ports to secure by fraudulent means the admission of Chinese not entitled under existing regulations to land here. The means adopted with a view to deceiving customs officials consisted, in the case of one port, in the operation of a school for instructing would-be Chinese immigrants to the Philippines in the geography, topography, etc., of Manila and other parts of the archipelago. With the aid of the knowledge thus acquired it was apparently expected that little difficulty would be experienced in satisfying customs officials that an applicant had previously lived in the Philippines, under Spanish domination, although no documentary evidence in support of such residence was forthcoming. Another scheme was that of a former employee of the Manila custom-house, who went to an Asiatic port and endeavored by means of forged certificates of previous residence to secure the admission of large numbers of Chinese.

SCHEME TO EVADE THE LAWS.

"The above are given as samples of the determined methods by which unscrupulous individuals have persistently attempted to evade the immigration regulations in force here. These attempted impositions have been generally detected and it is not believed that many Chinese have been admitted who were not entitled to such privilege, yet to discriminate between this latter class and those having the right to land has involved an immense amount of labor for the customs service. Each case has been made the subject of careful investigation and no effort has been spared to deal justly with each individual.

"No change has been made in the regulations applied to Chinese immigration during the period covered by this report. There have been received at this office repeated requests for the admission of individuals of the prohibited classes, but the general course pursued has been to make no exceptions in the application of regulations which were deemed to be quite liberal enough.

EXCLUSION SHOULD BE MADE COMPLETE.

"It is believed that the reasons upon which were based the present liberal regulations governing the return to the islands of former Chinese residents of the archipelago will have ceased to exist by December 31 next, at which time it is recommended that these regulations be repealed and the exclusion be made as complete as in the case of the admission of Chinese to the United States. It is the judgment of nearly all who have direct knowledge of the conditions here that the interests of the archipelago and of the Filipino people demand the application of stringent regulations on Chinese immigration, amounting to practical prohibition.

"There has been a more or less constant stream of immigrants from China to these islands for the past three centuries and a half, of which we have historical record. Although these immigrants were at first welcomed and encouraged to come by Spanish officials, there is to be observed a gradual and uniform tendency, growing stronger as time passed and the practical knowledge of experience increased, to discourage the presence of these aliens in the archipelago.

"The belief that the manufactured goods and skilled labor of China were necessary for the trade and development of the Philippines seems to have been the cause for the early attitude of the Spanish governmental authorities here toward Chinese immigration. As commercial and industrial conditions improved the necessity, if such ever did exist, passed away, and regulations were applied to Chinese residents in these islands which would have caused any other race to immediately migrate and forever avoid this country. No such effect was produced upon them, however, and they persisted in seeking admission to the archipelago, where they found, as compared with themselves, a less crafty and energetic people, whom they could easily exploit. By an unswerving cooperation, mutually assisting and protecting each other, the Chinese element can hardly fail in any country to be successful in commercial and industrial competition with other races. How detrimental eventually Chinese control is to any branch of commerce or industry finds one of many illustrations in the case of the tobacco interests in Luzon, in which, having gained control of the production of the raw material, they were able to likewise control its manufacture in these islands, with the result that their methods, having in view greatest immediate profits only, soon threatened to ruin a leading industry in the Philippines.

"The consensus of the best opinion among those who have long resided in this archipelago and have become acquainted with the conditions of the country and the people is that there is no necessity for any considerable increase in the number of Chinese here, and that their influence in large numbers is detrimental to the future development and welfare of the islands and their inhabitants. It is recognized that there are at present certain classes of skilled labor for which it is impossible to secure native mechanics in sufficient number. Such are, perhaps, a few of those concerned in the construction and repair of ships, expert stonecutters, and a very limited number of other artisans. Manual training schools will, however, provide skilled workmen in all trades within a few years. Should it be deemed necessary to do so, Chinese mechanics of these classes might be admitted temporarily under proper regulations without interference with a general policy of exclusion, which it is thought should be the policy to be adopted permanently.

"During the entire period of Spanish domination the subject of the importation of Chinese agricultural labor with which to develop certain thinly populated portions of the archipelago received careful attention, and many efforts were made along that line, but in no case with permanent satisfactory results, because of the uniform and uncontrollable tendency of the Chinese to forsake field labor for trade. Aside from market gardening on a very small scale near this city, there does not seem to have been at any time an exhibition by the Chinese of an inclination to engage in agricultural pursuits in these islands, notwithstanding exemption from taxation and other inducements offered by the Spanish authorities. Immediate profits, such as are offered by trading, money lending, etc., have drawn the Chinese from those industries which tend to the material development of a country. This having been the case for three centuries in the Philippines, it is not reasonable to expect any change during the next generation. The well-known fact that the Chinaman never identifies himself with the foreign country in which he goes to seek fortune, further than as may hasten the time when he shall have accumulated the amount he deems necessary to insure a life of ease and comfort in his native land, is no less true here than in other parts of the world. After from ten to twenty years spent in accumulation he returns to the land of his birth, taking with him his savings, which are forever withdrawn from the country in which they were obtained, and often leaves behind him a family dependent upon public charity.

"Whatever course may be adopted with regard to the Chinese will have a marked effect upon the development of this country and its native-born inhabitants, either for good or evil, for one of the most potent factors affecting the commercial, industrial, and social interests of these islands to-day is the Chinaman, and a due recognition of his powerful and far-reaching influence is essential to intelligent consideration of the problem he offers the future government in the Philippines."

VIEWS OF COLLECTOR SMITH OF MANILA.

From the report of Gen. James F. Smith, collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port, the following extracts on this topic are of interest:

"In September, 1898, by virtue of an order of the military governor, the Chinese exclusion acts in force in the United States were made operative in the Philippines, and since that time all Chinese persons except former residents and those belonging to the exempt classes have been refused permission to land in the islands. Residents who left the archipelago subsequent to the promulgation of the order are not permitted to return unless they produce certificates of residence issued to them by the collector of customs prior to their departure. These certificates, until April 16 of the present year, identified the person to whom issued by thumb marks and such scars, No. 9-21

signs, and facial and personal characteristics as would render identification on return reasonably certain and definite. Since April, 1901, however, owing to an attempt to float fraudulent certificates printed in Hongkong, and quite skillfully forged, all departing Chinese have been obliged to produce duplicate photographs of themselves, one copy being firmly attached and sealed to the certificate issued and the other affixed in the same manner to the retained stub. Return certificates are only delivered to departing Chinese on board the vessel on which they have taken passage, immediately prior to the hour of sailing. The certificates are only receivable at the port from which issued.

"Chinese residents who left the islands between December 31, 1895, and September, 1898, have been permitted to return on the production of satisfactory evidence of former residence, but I think that privilege should now be cut off, inasmuch as all such persons have had ample time to return to their homes, and a further continuance of the grace will only serve to make a fat livelihood for the conscienceless brokers who, for a consideration, stuff prospective Chinese immigrants with such information as may enable them to pass the trying examination to which they are subjected.

"During the period of time from January 1, 1899, down to and including May, 1901, 28,758 Chinese arrived at the port of Manila, of whom 27,697 were permitted to disembark and 1,061 refused a landing. During the same period of time 23,658 Chinese took their departure from Manila, leaving an increase of 4,029 arrivals over departures."

During the first six months of 1899, 6,108 Chinese landed and 4,392 departed; during the last six months of that year 6,932 landed, 268 were rejected, and 5,066 emigrated. During the first six months of 1900, 4,145 Chinese were allowed to land, 151 were rejected, and 5,181 left the country. During the last six months of 1900 5,235 entered the islands, 237 were rejected, and 4,992 departed. During the months of January, February, March, April, and May of the present year 5,277 landed, 405 were rejected, and 4,027 left the islands.

"In the period intervening between the month of May and the middle of September in the year 1899, and from May until October in the years 1900 and 1901, Chinese steerage passengers have been forbidden, under the quarantine regulations, to come to the Philippines. It will therefore be noted that in the months of April and May, immediately before the quarantine regulation goes into effect, and in the months of September and October, immediately after it expires, there is a very much larger percentage of arrivals than during any other period.

CERTAIN INTERESTS OPPOSE EXCLUSION.

"Some merchants, a few large property owners, nearly all contractors, and all those engaged in enterprises of such magnitude that cheap labor counts as one of the elements of success, complain not a little that the unlimited labor market of China, just over the way, has been closed to them, and that the material progress of the country must suffer for want of a labor supply possessing the ideal elements of cheapness, adaptability, patience, and uncomplaining industry. There is no question but what unlimited Chinese immigration would for a time give an immediate and powerful impetus to manufacturing, railroad construction, shipbuilding, the making of highways, and even to the larger farming industries, but it is very questionable whether the benefits so accruing would anything like balance the incalculable damage and ruin which would befall the great mass of the population 'to the manor born,' who would be deprived of employment and who would but little appreciate a material progress of which they were not partakers, and which brought them neither happiness nor prosperity.

"About fifty years ago the identical arguments now being advanced in favor of Chinese immigration to the Philippines claimed the enthusiastic attention of the people of the United States, and there, as here, it was claimed that cheap labor from China would open great lines of communication, bind the country together with ribbons of steel, encourage manufactures, and in general bring about an era of material advancement well-nigh impossible without it. Chinese immigration to the United States did all that was prophesied for it. It built railroads and manufactured watches, developed mines and rolled cigars, made shoes for the feet and coats for the back, constructed engines and peddled garden truck, quarried stone and gathered hay in the harvest field. But it did more. It drove the American laborer, with all his intelligence, energy, and activity, from every avenue of employment open to its competition, closed the doors of useful trades and industries to the rising generation, and proved to a moral certainty that all benefits to be derived from it could only accrue to a comparative few, and that by sacrificing the well-being and happiness of the overwhelming majority.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE INSTRUCTIVE.

"What happened in the United States, I firmly believe, will happen here if the bars to Chinese immigration are once let down, only in a form more aggravated and with consequences more disastrous. Holding these opinions, notwithstanding theoretical arguments to the contrary, which for me have been refuted by the test of actual experience, I can not do otherwise than earnestly recommend that the present exclusion regulations be continued in force, with such additional legislation as may render their evasion impracticable.

"The embarrassment which many interests suffer from scarcity of labor is temporary in character and will pass away under the influence of more settled conditions and higher wages. Of course, those who are patiently waiting for the good old days when they could stroll down the Rialto and hire a terra-cotta edition of a pocket Hercules to carry 6 tons of coal four blocks and up two flights of rickety back stairs for a peseta a day and 2 chupas of rice, will be somewhat delayed in their business. Those good old times have gone forever, and a good thing, too, because with them will pass away the chiefest fault of the native son of toil-his uncertainty. And when you come to think of it, how could he be otherwise than uncertain, worried as he was night and day all the year around, whether it was better to invest his surplus earnings in a house and lot, put them in bank and live on the interest, or buy a new cotton-print dress for his wife and go broke.

"The Filipino has within him all the elements that go to make up the good workman, artisan, and mechanic. All that is required to develop them is the encouragement of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and the security of just and impartial treatment. Even under the discouragement of low wages and the regard in which they are held, Filipino mechanics, Filipino carpenters, Filipino engineers, Filipino cabinetmakers, Filipino stonecutters, Filipino farmers, and Filipino common laborers have been developed and have not proven wholly inefficient by any means. The number of efficients can be increased by paying living wages, and I think any competition which would reduce the daily wage below the amount required for the proper support of the laborer and his family (a bit numerous in the Philippines) would seriously retard the progress of those for whose advancement the Government stands pledged."

APPLICATION OF PROCEEDS OF LAND SALES TO THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION.

The plan of encouraging the immigration of labor through assistance offered by proceeds of the sale of public lands was proposed in 1830 by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the English political economist, after a study in Australia and elsewhere. His general proposition was that the welfare of a new community depends upon the abundance and consequent cheapness of labor; that the poorer classes should be required, directly or indirectly, to follow their usual trade or occupation for at least a few years after their arrival in the colony, and that the prevalence of high prices for lands would effect this result by preventing their becoming immediate proprietors and planters; also, that by selling the lands at high prices a large fund might be created by which immigration of labor could be induced, while at the same time the high price would prevent the dispersion of the colonists over too wide an area and thus insure strength and stability to the colony. This theory was supported by Robert R. Torrens, of Australia, and the plan proved so popular in England that it was put into operation in the Australian colonies, Mr. Gladstone being, in 1841, an adherent of the system. The price of land was raised from $1.25 to $3 per acre, and the revenue in New South Wales alone in the decade 1831-1841 reached about $1,000,000, which was expended in subsidizing immigration. By 1850 the valuation of land had advanced to $5 per acre, and, in certain places, by 1858 had reached $8 per acre. The result was that only persons of some means were able to make purchases of farms, and those without means were excluded

from the more substantial growth of the colony. The plan, however, was not favored by the governor of New South Wales, and when put into operation in South Australia did not prove satisfactory. "At the very outset," says Morris, in his History of Colonization, 1900, "in order to raise the funds necessary to pay the transportation of the first company of settlers, a loan, secured by the expected sale of lands, was made. The establishment was thus not to cost the home Government a penny; the preliminary disbursements were covered by a mortgage on future prospects; it was to be absolutely on the so-called 'self-supporting' principle. Inspired by these dreams of fancy, speculation immediately seized upon South Australia. Loan after loan was negotiated; a veritable boom set in. The city of Adelaide was laid out, and the price of ground fixed at $3 per acre; three days later 56 acres were sold at $30.75; in 1839 property, when centrally located, was bringing $5,000 to $10,000 per acre. The large sums thus realized naturally effected a correspondingly important increase in population, especially since this revenue was by law devoted to one object, without any allowance for the expenses of colonial administration; money for all other purposes had to be borrowed, but how to pay this indebtedness, or even provide the interest, without violating the terms of the enabling measure, was the problem. The bubble soon burst; in 1840 the crisis came; bankruptcy was inevitable. The speculators, many of whom lived in England, had accumulated fortunes; but the poor, deluded inhabitants suffered. The British cabinet then came to the rescue, advancing a sufficient amount to carry the community temporarily, until some more tangible basis of prosperity could be found. The South Australian crash will go down in history side by side with Law's Mississippi scheme. With the aid of the funds obtained from the sales of land 220,000 free individuals were carried to Australia between 1830 and 1850; these immigrants were also, in a considerable measure, selected under the systematized management which prevailed, so that they were for the most part strong, healthy, and desirable persons for colonial life. While the Wakefield system and the free transportation of colonists have ceased to exist, nevertheless, in the results attained and the permanent influence they exerted on the progress of these communities, they still deserve more than casual notice."

PROFESSOR MERIVALE ON THE SYSTEM.

Merivale, in his ninth lecture on colonization, expressed the view that this method, whatever its relation to temperate zone colonies, in which there are large areas of productive lands, would not be applicable to tropical countries and especially tropical islands. In that lecture he says: "The propositions in question are, I think, the following: (1) That it is desirable to provide colonists with a greater supply of laborers, to work on their account, than their capital would naturally attract. (2) That it is desirable to prevent the population of new colonies from spreading over so large and scattered a surface of land as it would be tempted to occupy, were every facility given for the acquisition of land. (3) That an ample supply of hired or compulsory labor tends not only to increase the wealth of the community but to produce the second object, namely, the concentration of the people. Colonies of modern times may be divided into two very different classes; first, those which have established themselves in countries possessing no peculiar advantages for the production, by agricultural or mining labor, of articles of value in the foreign market; second, those in which the industry of the settlers has been principally turned toward the raising of staple articles of produce for the European market. To this second class belong most of the establishments of all European nations in the West Indies. * * * In such communities it is obvious that the necessity for an ample supply of laborers is urgent. It is this necessity which caused the enslavement of the original inhabitants of Spanish America; which produced negro slavery and the slave trade; which has turned to profit the compulsory toil of convicts, and to satisfy which, without resort to any of those odious resources, is now the greatest practical problem of civilization. Settlements of this description have often flourished for a time, even although exposed to all the difficulties arising from the dispersion of settlers and the want of compulsory labor. This was the ordinary course of events in the West Indian Islands, and Porto Rico exhibited the same spectacle in very recent times. In those islands it was not until the most fertile and best situated lands had been occupied, and to a certain extent exhausted, that the superior productiveness of capital in masses and labor in combination began to be practically felt. Thus far the advocates of this system are entitled to the credit of having been the first to draw the attention of the community, at a very critical period, to this truth; that it is of the highest importance to find some artificial substitute for the slave and convict labor by which our colonies have heretofore been rendered productive. But with regard to the other theory, that an ample supply of labor tends to the concentration of the people, that seems still less applicable to colonies producing valuable agricultural commodities than to the other ones which we have just considered. The abundance of new and productive soil is the very first condition of the prosperity of such settlement. If they have not this, neither capital nor industry nor multitude of people will avert that inevitable decay into which they must fall from the competition of newer lands. What has been the cause of the decline of Barbados, Jamaica, and the smaller Antilles? The limited extent of their available land. The scheme of the writers of whom I speak is really neither more nor less than to substitute an artificial limit in all colonies for that limit which nature has assigned in our islands-to make an island of a settlement in a wide continent. The conclusions, then, to which I draw your attention, are these: (1) That an ample supply of labor is not only desirable, but essential, in a colony raising valuable articles of produce for the general market. (2) That in a colony not raising such produce in abundance, it is unnecessary; and that any attempt to insure it by controlling or preventing them from the easy acquisition of land would occasion a dead loss. (3) That an artificial concentration of the population by restraining the abandonment of unoccupied lands, would seriously check the prosperity of most new colonies, and especially of such as raise valuable produce for exportation. (4) That, allowing that such concentration, if it took place from natural causes, might be desirable, the mere insuring of a sufficient supply of labor would not in any degree tend to promote it, but rather the contrary."

It will be seen from the above account of the experiment in South Australia that the development of the labor supply through a sale of lands at high prices was not satisfactory, and that Professor Merivale, whose studies were contemporaneous with the actual experiment, and whose views in all matters pertaining to colonization are widely quoted and highly regarded, does not find occasion to commend the system either from its actual workings or from his own analysis of its relation to colonization.

SIR CHARLES DILKE ON LABOR IN THE ORIENTAL COLONIES.

The following discussion of labor conditions and the efforts on behalf of labor in the British colonies is from Sir Charles Dilke's Problems of Greater Britain:

"In Fiji we have imported immigrants, and we have introduced a culture system, worked through the chiefs, which has produced considerable trade results, but is of doubtful political wisdom. Still, even in Fiji we have given great powers, by the institution of village, district, and provincial councils, to the native race, and may claim to have conferred upon them a fairer chance for life than is

extended to Polynesians by the French or Germans. If we contrast the manner in which we have treated the natives of Fiji with that in which the French have dealt with the natives in New Caledonia, which lies in the direct line between Fiji and Queensland, we shall see that the French, as has been shown by Mr. Julian Thomas, who is friendly to them, have displayed utter disregard of any native rights or property, seizing the fertile valleys in which the natives had their arable settlements, while we have recognized native property. Throughout the Pacific the Polynesian race is dwindling under contact with the whites. In the Fiji group we keep our liquor and forbid war, but, in spite of the trouble that we have taken with regard to sanitation, European epidemics are committing frightful ravages among the population. Feji is, as regards plantation, a favored land, because able to grow tropical crops of the most varied kinds, and crops for which the neighborhood of Australia and New Zealand will give in future, as for those of Mauritius, a ready market. We were, no doubt, forced to annex Fiji-which we did very much against our will, for it was before the commencment of the annexation period of the last four years-by the fact that the islands had become, as New Zealand had been many years before, the Alsatia of the Pacific. We are able to show in some points excellent results, for although the natives may be declining in numbers they seem happy enough, and the white population has become one of a very different kind from that which, on the whole, disgraced the islands a few years ago.

* * *

"While at one end of the Malay Archipelago we have annexed southeastern New Guinea, at the other end we have obtained a dominant position in the northern portion of the island of Borneo. The first of the modern charters to great trading companies for the occupation of territorial dominions, as I have pointed out, was that granted by Mr. Gladstone's second administration to the British North Borneo Company in the immediate neighborhood of our island colony in Labuan. More recently we have obtained protectorates over Brunei and Sarawak, chiefly for the purpose of preventing the possibility of the interference of any foreign power in those countries which lie close to our great commercial settlement of Singapore and upon the track of our Australian trade through Torres Straits. In the Malay Peninsula, off which Borneo lies, we have also recently undertaken the protectorate—already, in fact, virtually ours before that time-of Johore and other of the Malay States. The western States, which face India and lie upou our track of trade, have long been within our influence; but our direct action in the northeastern Malay country is more recent. The extraordinary development of trade at Singapore is a matter rather for statisticians than for me, except as regards mere mention; but I may point out the not altogether encouraging fact that the increase appears to be with foreign countries (and with our colonies and dependencies) rather than with ourselves. Our great success in the Malay Peninsula has lain in enlisting upon our side the warm and even enthusiastic cooperation of the Chinese. We may congratulate ourselves upon the fact that, while the French have failed to sufficiently conciliate the Chinese race to induce them to confer prosperity upon the French colonies in farther India, we, on the contrary, have tempted the Chinese to settle in the Malay Peninsula now for many generations. I have seen Chinese magistrates at Penang whose ancestors have been magistrates there since immediately after the foundation of our settlement one hundred and five years ago, and who have completely identified themselves with the interests of Great Britain. The latest of the Malay States to come within the circle of our protection has been Pahang, which will follow Perak and the others in the growth of cultivation and trade. In no point of the world can we point to more obvious results from good government than throughout the Malay Peninsula, where England in fact presides over a federation of Malay princes to whom we have taught the arts of success, but to whose former subjects we have added a vast immigrant population of Chinese. In upper Burmah, recently annexed to India, the Chinese are pushing their way at every center of activity. They have flowed into the country since our troops have occupied it, and many of them have married Burmese women, who much prefer to be kept in plenty by the Chinaman to being the drudges of men of their own race. The future of the Burmese provinces of India, as that of Malaya, lies in the development of great natural, mineral, and agricultural wealth by patient Chinese labor."

A SPANISH VIEW OF THE LABOR QUESTION IN SPANISH COLONIES.

The following is a report on the conditions of labor in the Spanish colonies, made by Don Antonio Maria Fabie to the meeting of the International Colonial Institute, held at Berlin, September 6 and 7, 1897:

"The labor problem in America originates quite naturally with the arrival of the first conquerors. It was Christopher Columbus, after his second voyage, who, having received the instructions necessary for establishing the Castilian rule in the island of Santo Domingo, gave to this problem the well-known solution by distributing between the newcomers the native Indians of these islands, who received the name of 'reparti mentos.'

EARLY METHODS IN THE SPANISH COLONIES.

"It is not so well known that the first industry founded in these regions was that of mining, or rather the working of gold-bearing sand carried by the waters of almost all the rivers of the island. In order to attain the desired end the Indian 'reparti mentos' were taken to the shores of the rivers, where they were employed in the washing of sand, continuing, however, by sheer necessity, their agricultural pursuits. These latter consisted in the production of 'yuca' and 'agis,' of which the first served for the preparation of the bread for 'casave,' the main nourishment of the natives, and the second for the preparation of food stuffs then in use in the country, and which were made up of fish of the river and the seashore, of iguanas, and some birds which constituted the animal nourishment consumed by these natives.

"This system doubtless caused abuses on the part of the conquerors, as is likely to happen always under similar conditions. The fate of the native Indians was pitiable and hard, but still not so bad as would appear by the exposures made by the famous P. Las Casas in his celebrated writings. This régime was surely not the only cause of the depopulation of the islands; the diseases brought from Europe as well as that sort of incompatibility which exists between different races under all latitudes contributed, no doubt, a much larger share.

"The first complaints which arrived in Spain, and more particularly the denunciations of P. Las Casas, caused the Spanish monarchs to enact different laws regarding the treatment of the Indians. The most celebrated, if not the first, was the pragmatic act of Burgos, promulgated by His Catholic Majesty.

"These laws provided that the Indian 'reparti mentos' were to work under the direction of the colonists, but that these latter, in their turn, should be held to furnish them with the necessary food stuffs and clothes. Furthermore, it was provided that the natives should be able to work, for their own profit and account, the lands called 'conucos'-that is to say, the fields given to the cultivation and production of the yuca and agis. Moreover, during certain days they were to work for their former 'caciques' (headmen or chiefs).