again in the month of November. In case of a second failure, they are not allowed to enter upon the second year. Students who present the diploma of bachelor of law are excused from this examination. At the end of the second year of study an examination is held under the same conditions upon the subjects required for the licentiate in law. Students who fail in the supplementary examination in the month of November can not obtain a degree from the colonial school. The courses in law referred to above are not given in the colonial school. Those given in the school itself are described by the Arrêté of July 25, 1898 (amending the Arrêté of March 24, 1897), as follows: ARTICLE 1. The general studies taught at the colonial school are divided between the two years of study in the following manner: FIRST YEAR. Comparative study of the systems of colonization (Africa, Oceania, French colonies in America), economic system of the French colonies (tariffs, banks, mortgages, money, control of sugar). Colonial hygiene and principals of practical medicine. Colonial products. SECOND YEAR. Comparative study of the systems of colonization (Indo-China, British Indies, Dutch Indies, Philippines) Lessons. 55 12 30 45 30 10 10 The students receive each week a lesson in living languages. Only one foreign language (English, German, or Spanish, at the option of the student) is required. The students are given practice in writing administrative documents. A certain number of conferences are held with them for this purpose. The optional knowledge of another living language, besides the one required, gives the student the advantage of additional marks at his graduation from the school. The languages which can give this advantage are English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. The summary or translation which the students must present each year is given out to them in December. A period of five months is allowed them to do the work.1 Conferences are given at the school by explorers, colonial officials, etc. After each conference the students are called upon to write abstracts, which are examined by the council of administration, and are the subject of a mark given by the council at graduation from the school. 2 ARTICLE 3. The special courses for each section are divided in the following manner: SECTION OF THE COMMISSARIAT. Course of theoretical and practical preparation for the colonial commissariat. Both years. INDO-CHINESE SECTION.4 Geography in detail, history and institutions of Indo-China. Both years. Legislation and administration of Indo-China. Both years. Anamite language. Both years. Reading and explanation of ordinary pieces of Chinese and Anamite. Second year. Voluntary course, giving a chance for a credit of additional marks, Cambodian language. (Course given every other year.) AFRICAN SECTION.5 Detailed geography of Africa (including Madagascar). First year. Organization, legislation, and administration of our African possessions (including Madagascar). Penal systems in use in France and foreign countries. Second year. The Arrêté then proceeds to give elaborate tables for computing the marks in the different required subjects and, finally, directions for computing those in the voluntary ones." 1By the decree of July 21, 1898, article 7, "the students are required each year to present a summary or translation of a work on colonies, published in a foreign language and not yet translated into French." Physical training is also required, and the mark, of which the maximum is 40, is credited to the student like his mark in any other required subject. Military drill is only compulsory for those who are liable to military service, and it appears to give them no credit in marks. For the others it is optional and gives a credit in marks. (Arrêtés, March 24, 1897, article 2; July 25, 1898, articles 6, 7.) 3 The maximum marks for the special courses in this section are 360, against a maximum of 700 for the required general work. The maximum marks for the special courses in this section are 900, against the 700 for the required general work. The maximum marks for the special courses in this section are 960, of which Arabic counts for 360, against the 700 for the required work. "The maximum marks for the special course in this section are 480, against the 700 for the required general work. A voluntary European language gives a maximum of 20 marks, a native colonial one a maximum of 60 marks. QUESTION III. WHAT STEPS ARE TAKEN AND METHODS APPLIED TO IMPROVE THE MATERIAL, MENTAL, AND MORAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE COLONY? To answer this question in a single sentence would be: The introduction and extension of modern civilization and enlightenment. To answer it in detail would be to show what the great colonizing countries of the world have done for the advancement of their colonies during the nineteenth century—the introduction of roads, railways, irrigation works, river and harbor improvements, and through them the development of production and thus of material prosperity; the encouragement of commerce and the adoption of improved conditions of life; the establishment of reliable and permanent forms of currency, with proper banking facilities for the encouragement of thrift among the natives; the establishment of postal and telegraph service for the encouragement of intercommunication among the people of the colony and between them and the outside world; the establishment of steamship lines to connect the colony with the home country and the civilized world; the encouragement of education through schools, colleges, newspapers, libraries, and churches; the establishment and proper administration of laws and regulations by which public safety and order are assured. 2 When it is considered that in India alone, where roads were unknown when the British Government assumed control, there are now 150,000 miles of road, of which over 30,000 are "metalled;" that the railways in the British colonies now aggregate 63,549 miles, against 33,000 in 1885, a growth in fifteen years exceeding the entire distance around the earth; that the irrigating canals and other works of India are 36,000 miles in extent,' and the area irrigated by all methods exceeds 30 million acres, and that although they have cost about 400 million rupees, the value of a single year's crop in the irrigated district above that which it could produce in years of drought without irrigation is more than the entire cost of the canals, the importance of these public works for the development of agriculture and commerce will be apparent. When it is further considered that the commerce of the British colonies alone has grown from over 300 million dollars in 1850 to 2,400 million dollars in 1900, their development under the fostering care of an intelligent method of government and the consequent benefit to the natives as well as the consuming world will be appreciated. The fact that the British colonies were able to import 1,150 million dollars' worth of food, clothing, and the comforts of civilized life from other parts of the world in 1899, against 140 million dollars' worth in 1850; the French colonies 160 million dollars' worth in 1899, against 91 million dollars' worth in 1887, an increase of 72.5 per cent in twelve years, still further emphasizes the increased earning capacity of those colonies and affords some measure of their improved material condition. When it is further realized that the amount standing to the credit of depositors in savings banks in the British colonies alone, which amounted to 133 million dollars in 1885, had increased to 288 millions in 1899, an additional evidence of the growth of prosperity and thrift among the people of the colonies will be apparent. When it is seen from official reports that in India alone the number of post-offices has grown from 753 in 1856 to 29,122 in 1899, and that the number of pieces received by the post-offices increased from 75,000,000 in 1869 to 489,000,000 in 1899, the development of intercommunication and of mental as well as business activity among the people may be to some extent measured. Still another evidence of the same is seen in the fact that the telegraph lines in the British colonies alone have grown from 115,000 miles in 1889 to over 150,000 miles in 1899, thus increasing their length in a single decade by more than the distance around the earth; and that the telephone lines in those colonies now aggregate more than 50,000 miles in length. When it is further considered that the total number of pupils in the schools of India alone is now nearly 44 millions, against about 3 millions in in 1888, and that the expenditure for public instruction was, in 1899, 36,215,000 rupees, against 394,000 rupees in 1858, the growth of education and educational facilities will be to some extent realized, while additional evidence of the general intelligence will be found in the fact that the number of vernacular newspapers published in India in 1897 was 758, and the number of books and magazines published in 1898, 7,437, of which 6,236 were in the native language. The methods by which these and similar improvements in the material, mental, and moral condition of the people of the world's colonies have been effected can perhaps be best shown by separately considering each subject. In many cases, at least, the importance of these subjects in their relation to the question under discussion seems to warrant a detailed study. Such study must necessarily include, as far as practicable, both past and existing conditions of the world's colonies, together with a discussion of the methods by which present conditions have been attained, and necessarily involves the repetition of certain statements made in the general consideration of the subject by great divisions. ROADS AND RAILWAYS. Roads and railways may properly be considered among the first essentials to the development of a colony. Naturally the products of the forest, the mine, and the soil are those most readily available to be offered in the world's markets, and as these are always in demand in those markets their value is assured when adequate methods of transporting them are provided. The experience in practically all new colonies is that roads upon which articles of this class can be successfully transported are few, if indeed they are found to exist at all, and such as exist are only available in the area fronting upon or comparatively near to the 1 Strachey's India, p. 176. 2 British Statistical Abstract for India, p. 149. ocean or navigable streams. It is only by the aid of railroads, in conjunction with wagon roads leading to them, that satisfactory transportation for these products is afforded to the water's edge, whence they may be in turn conveyed by the less expensive water transportation to markets in all parts of the world. Hence, one of the most important agencies in the development of the colony is the construction of roads, railways, and harbors and the improvement of navigable streams. By this process the products of the forest, the mine, and the field, which are of comparatively small value when considered from the standpoint of local consumption, are multiplied in value when they can be offered in the markets of the world. By thus giving to the residents and natives of the colony an opportunity to convert these products into money with which they can in turn purchase the necessities and comforts of daily life, their facilities for adopting methods of civilization are enlarged, their manner of living improved, and their taste for such improved conditions cultivated; while the area of production is widened, their earnings increased through this enlarged commerce, towns established, and with these better methods of government more schools, newspapers, churches, and a general betterment of the material, mental, and moral conditions. The road, the railway, and the telegraph may be considered among the pioneers of civilization and of general improvements in the condition of the people. The absence of these factors of internal development was among the first important facts noted by officers and other representatives of the United States in taking possession of the islands which it acquired as a result of the war with Spain. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IN THE COLONIES. That colonizing nations have recognized the importance of these factors in the development of colonies since railways became available for this important work, is evidenced by a study of present conditions in the leading colonies of the world and a comparison, where practicable, with conditions in earlier years. In order to facilitate this study such facts as are available regarding railway and other transportation facilities in the leading colonies of the world are herewith presented. It will be observed that in the statements which follow a large proportion of the railway and telegraph lines, as well as of the wagon roads, have been constructed by and are maintained at government expense. It does not follow, however, that this has been at the expense of the home Government. On the contrary, nearly all of the roads and railways thus constructed have been built by funds raised through taxation in the colonies or by loans based upon future colonial revenues, while it will be seen that a large proportion of the railways thus created in the colonies are constructed from public (colonial) funds and, therefore, owned and controlled by the colonial government. It may be assumed that this fact of government construction of the railways grows largely out of the custom, which now so generally prevails in Europe, of government ownership of railways rather than through any impracticability of obtaining their construction by private enterprise, as is the custom in the United States. A table on another page shows the railways of the world's colonies in 1875 and 1900, respectively. It will be seen that the total length of railways in the colonies has increased from 13,996 miles in 1875 to 69,388 in 1900. Of this total of 69,388 miles of railway in the world's colonies in 1900, 63,549 miles were in the British colonies, 3,512 in the French, and 1,272 in the Netherlands colony of Java, while there were 785 miles in the Portuguese colonies, chiefly those of East Africa, and 270 miles in the Kongo Free State, which is under the control of the Belgian Government. Of the 63,549 miles in British colonial territory, all but 17,389 are the property of the respective colonies where the railways exist. Of the 17,389 miles in British colonies owned by railway companies, 15,876 were in Canada, about 1,000 miles in Australia, and 401 miles in Cape Colony. In the French, Netherlands, Portuguese, and Belgian colonies the railroads have been constructed in part through encouragement received from the home Government and in part from colonial aid. In addition to the 69,388 miles actually constructed in the various colònies and in operation, a large number of lines are also under construction or projected. The growth of the Indian railways is at the rate of about 1,000 miles per annum; the total having been, in 1897, 20,290 mijes, and in 1901, 25,035 miles. THE INDIAN RAILWAYS. At the end of the fiscal year 1900-1901 the total length of all railway lines open in India was 25,035 miles, and there were 2,019 miles under construction, distributed as follows: The rate of progress in railway construction will be apparent from the following figures of the average number of miles opened annually in each of the last five quinquennial periods: 1876 to 1880.. 1881 to 1885-86.. 1886-87 to 1890-91. 1891-92 to 1895-96.. 1896-97 to 1900-1901... Miles. 582 622 896 526 1,157 The capital expenditure at the end of 1900 amounted to Rs. 3,327,510,837, representing, at the exchange of 16d. per rupee, £222,621,000, but a great proportion of the capital was raised and expended when the rupee was worth much more than 16d. The gross earnings in 1900 were Rs. 315,967,317 and the total expenses Rs. 150,995,867, which made about 48 per cent of the receipts, the excess of receipts being Rs. 164,971,450.1 Very nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of the receipts were contributed by five 1 Present exchange value of the rupee, about 33 cents. lines, with an aggregate length of 8,360 miles, being one-third of the whole open mileage, namely, the East Indian, the Great Indian Peninsula, the Northwestern, the Bombay-Baroda, the Rajputana-Malwa. Of the total earnings of the railways, 65 per cent are derived from freights, the receipts from passenger traffic giving the small proportion of 35 per cent. The number of passengers carried on the railways in 1900 was about 175,000,000; the railways carried in the same year over 33,000,000 tons of goods and minerals. During the last ten years—that is, since 1891-while the number of miles open has increased from 17,576 to 25,035, the increase being at the rate of 42 per cent, the gross earnings have increased from Rs. 240.4 millions to Rs. 315.9 millions, being at the rate of 31 per cent. The following description of the railway system of India is from the Statesman's Year-Book, 1886: "In the year 1845 two great private associations were formed for the purpose of constructing lines of railroad in India, but the projectors found it impossible to raise the necessary funds for their schemes without the assistance of the State. It was therefore determined by the Indian government to guarantee to the railway companies for a term of ninety-nine years a rate of interest of 5 per cent upon the capital subscribed for their undertakings; and in order to guard against the consequences of failure on the part of the companies power was reserved by the government to supervise and control their proceedings by means of an official director. The government has the power, at the expiration of a period of twenty-five or fifty years from the date of the contracts, of purchasing the railways at the mean value of the shares for the three previous years, or of paying a proportionate annuity until the end of the ninety-nine years, when the whole of the lands and works will revert from the companies to the government. In 1869 the government of India decided on carrying out new railway extensions by means of direct State agency-that is, without the intervention of guaranteed companies-and in 1879 the East Indian Railway was transferred to the government, though it is still worked by the company. In the same year several minor railways were begun as private enterprises assisted by the government. The guaranteed lines constitute, as a rule, the main arteries of communication, while the State lines serve as feeders to open up the country. The guaranteed lines are (1) the Great Indian Peninsula; (2) the Madras; (3) the Oudh and Rohilkund; (4) the Bombay, Baroda and Central India; (5) the Sind, Punjab and Delhi; (6) the South Indian; (7) the Eastern Bengal. In 1853 the length of line open was 203 miles; in 1863, 2,519 miles; in 1873, 5,695 miles; in 1875, 6,519 miles. Since then the progress of the various classes of railways has been as follows, stated in miles: In Cape Colony a number of extensions of existing railway lines have been contracted for and others are under survey. In the British East African Protectorate the Uganda Railway is under construction and, according to the Statesman's Year-Book for 1901, more than 400 miles are now completed and, when entirely completed, will connect Lake Nyanza with the Indian Ocean. In Rhodesia a line from Vryburg to Bulawayo, worked by the Cape railway department, has been open for traffic since November, 1897, and the line from Bulawayo will be continued northward from the Victoria Falls, on the Zambesi, and thence still farther north, across northwestern and northeastern Rhodesia to Lake Tanganyika, whose waters will be utilized as a means of transportation 400 miles northward from that point, while the railway line stretching southward along the Nile Valley is expected, in due time, to reach the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, thus furnishing, through combined water and rail, transportation from Cape to Cairo. A number of branch lines are also under construction or projected in Rhodesia-one from Bulawayo to Gwanda, about 80 miles, while the Beira narrow gauge has been widened to the standard width of the South African lines. In the Transvaal colony 250 additional miles of railway are projected for early construction. In Sierra Leone, where a Government railway has already been opened, extending about 60 miles from Freetown, a farther extension of 80 miles has been begun. CANADIAN RAILWAYS. The Canadian system is being steadily extended, the growth in the fiscal year 1899 being nearly 500 miles. The total length of the Canadian railways is 17,358 miles, that of the Canadian Pacific alone having 2,906 miles. This line, in conjunction with the Pacific steamers, subsidized by the British and Canadian governments, brings Montreal and Yokohama within fourteeen days of each other. The number of electric railways in Canada, according to the latest reports, is 34, with a mileage of 632. In the French colonies, also, much attention is being given to the extension of railways. THE FRENCH COLONIAL RAILWAYS. The railways of the French colonies have an aggregate length of 3,512 miles. A contract was given in 1900 for the construction of a railway from Turane to Hué, in Anam, and in Cochin China contracts were made in the same year for the construction of railways from Saigon to Tamlinh, and from the latter city to Dji Ring. In Tonkin contracts were made in 1900 for the construction of railways from Hanoi to Viétry, also from Hanoi to Haiphong; from Hanoi to Ninhbinh; from Hanoi to Vinh; and from Viétry to Laokay. In the French Kongo a railway to connect Liberville and the Kongo is in project. In Madagascar a short railway has been constructed from Tamatave to Ivondro and is to be extended so as to connect Tamatave with the capital through the use of already existing canals. In French Guinea the construction of a railway from Konakry to the Niger has been begun. In German southwest Africa a railway and telegraph line is under construction from Windhoek inland and has already reached about 80 miles in length; in German East Africa a railway from Tango to Pongive is open for traffic and is being extended to Karagwe and Nomba, while surveys are being made for another line from Daressalaam to Norogo. In Germany's new possession in China, Kiauchau, railway construction is in progress to connect that city with the coal fields of the Chinese province of Shantung, in which it is located. In Java the railway system, which is now 1,272 miles in length, is gradually being extended. 1 Includes New South Wales, 2,896 miles; Victoria, 3,143 miles; Queensland, 2,800 miles; Western Australia, 1,850 miles; South Australia, 1,882 miles: and Tasmania, 594 miles. New Zealand, which is not included in the Australian Federation, is stated elsewhere. 2Of this total the lines owned by private companies were: In Cape Colony, 401 miles; in Canada, 15,876 miles; in West Australia, 495 miles; in New Zealand, 167 miles; in Tasmania, 108 miles; in New South Wales, 84 miles; in South Australia, 13 miles; in Jamaica, 185 miles; in Barbados, 24 miles; and in British Guiana, 36 miles. INVASION OF THE TROPICS BY RAILWAYS. The invasion of the Tropics by railways is a marked characteristic of the closing decade of the nineteenth century and an additional evidence of the disposition of the temperate zones to extend their influence into the Tropics. Until within the last few years the tendency of all railway lines and systems was from east to west, following climatic lines. Most of the great railway lines in the United States stretched westward from the Atlantic until six distinct transcontinental lines had been formed. In South America the chief railway system has for its ambition the connection of the Atlantic with the Pacific. In Europe the intricate network of railways connects all of its various sections, but the crowning work of the century has been the construction in a single decade of the great east and west line connecting the European system with the Pacific across Siberia. With these great east and west railway lines completed, connecting the various sections of the temperate zone and binding them more surely together, has come as a natural sequence the extension of the railway system toward the Equator, penetrating the tropical regions upon which the temperate zone is becoming constantly more dependent for the raw materials required for manufacturing and food stuffs required for the daily life of its people. Sugar, coffee, cacao, tea, tropical fruits, nuts, and spices for food, tropical woods, hemp, jute, rubber, hides and skins, and certain classes of wool for manufacturing, tobacco, medical plants, and many other articles which enter into the daily life of man are chiefly obtained from the Tropics, and their use is increasing year by year, and in exchange the Tropics are taking more and more of the products of the field and factory in the temperate zone. As a consequence the railroad systems of the temperate zone are now feeling their way toward the Tropics. Within the last few years the great system of the United States has extended lines to Mexico and to the Tropics, and other lines have slowly moved northward from the temperate zone of South America toward the Tropics and will in time meet, and at last realize that long-delayed ambition of Hinton Rowan Helper-a Pan-American railway. In Africa the railway system of the northern section of the continent is moving steadily southward up the Nile, and that of the southern section is moving as persistently northward, and these two sections from the temperate zones promise at an early date to meet at the Equator and realize the ambition of Mr. Rhodes. The great Siberian railway is being constructed southward toward Pekin, from which another line is now under construction still farther south toward Hankow, from which other lines are projected to finally connect with that great system already in existence in tropical Asia-the Indian railway systemaggregating 25,000 miles, and which in time will doubtless be connected with the systems of southern Europe and perhaps cross Arabia to the system of northern Africa. Railway construction developed chiefly in the temperate zones-the seat of man's greatest activityduring the first half century of its existence, but in the second half century will connect those two temperate zone systems by numerous lines crossing the Tropics, and by lateral extensions from those lines will carry the raw materials and foodstuffs of the Tropics to the temperate zone and in their turn redistribute the products of those temperate zones among the people of the Tropics, and in so doing increase wealth, distribute comforts of life, and advance civilization and enlightenment. REPORT TO INTERNATIONAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE ON RAILWAYS IN COLONIES. The following are extracts from Les Chemins de fer aux Colonies et dans les pays neufs, a report of a special committee made to the International Colonial Institute in 1899: "The question of railways is of fundamental interest with regard to the introduction of civilization in primitive countries and their exploitation from the point of view of general interests. * * * "In all times the occupation, opening, and rational exploitation of a country have had as their chief characteristic feature the development of its means of communication. What holds true of the time of the Roman highways applies still more to the age of the railway, and just as during the heroic age the conquering nations assured their domination in distant countries by the creation of roads, just in the same manner the ultimate occupation of new countries at present is marked by the creation of railways. |