lit '
4 tlbe Conservative *
"THE WHITE MAN'S 11UIIDKN. "
( By Prof. E. P. Evans , published in "Dio Allge-
incino Zeitune , " nt Municli , April Sl > , 1809.
Translated from tlio German by Miss Einnm
Morton. )
Under this title the famous Anglo-
Indian author , Rndyard Kipling , has
published a poem in which he summons
the United States to follow England's
example by extending its power on a
magnificent scale over the dusky , half-
civilized , or savage inhabitants of for
eign lands. This exhortation , couched
in pithy , forcible language , seems to
have made a strong impression on many
Americans , and to have promoted the
imperial policy of the party leader
now at the helm of state in Washington ,
who is indiscreetly steering in a new
course , leading over unknown , danger
ous obstacles and unsuspected shoals.
The demand and importunity of the
poem impress the reader as being so
very peculiar and in part so presump
tuous that he is at first inclined to con
sider it sarcastic , and to believe that the
author has torn away the veil of hu
manity from England's colonial policy ,
and pilloried it in its naked brutality
and loathsome selfishness. But this is
not so. Mr. Kipling assumes that the
Americans have deliberately set a trap
for the Filipinos and caught them , and
now he demands in all seriousness that
these maliciously subjugated , childlike ,
trusting races ,
"Your now-caught , sullen peoples ,
Half devil and half child , "
shall be guarded , tamed and civilized.
So he sets up England as a model of the
noblest and most unselfish efforts , intent
only on making all the sons of earth
participants in the blessings of civiliza
tion , and perfectly free from selfishness
and greediness , working for the good of
mankind ,
"To seek another's profit
And work another's gain. "
It is now urgently demanded of the
American republic , no longer a minor ,
that it shall follow in this direction in
the footsteps of the old mother country ,
who has heretofore proved herself only
an illwilled and selfish stepmother.
This summons is given oat of pure love
to the kinsmen beyond the sea , to whom
England wishes to give an opportunity
to participate in the dissemination of
mental culture and Christian civiliza
tion in the obscure portions of the earth.
English Solf-Sncrlflcu.
Mr. Kipling confesses , and is even
quite proud of the fact , that English
men have , by these magnanimous efforts ,
everywhere incurred the hatred of the
natives ,
"Tho blame of these ye better ,
The hate of these ye guard "
But "ingratitude is the world's re
ward , " and the odious tendency every
where visible to repay good with evil ,
benefits with malevolence , only proves
how benighted these races are , nud how
much they need improvement and re
finement. This the experienced Eng
lish perfectly understand , and they
grudge no trouble in the fulfillment of
their beneficent mission to the world.
The greatness of their philanthropy is
especially evident in the indefatigable
zeal with which they contend for posi
tions in the Indian service. With joy
ous self-sacrifice they go into exile ,
"To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild , "
and deem themselves fortunate in per
forming the hardest and most degrad
ing labor , "toil of serf and sweeper" for
the benefit of the "dull , sullen peoples. "
It cannot , however , be denied that these
eagerly-sought positions in the Indian
civil service are very lucrative. The
incumbents draw a good salary , and , at
the expiration of a comparatively short
term of service , receive a large pension.
It is , therefore , no wonder , that the
English so willingly assume this form
of "The White Man's Burden , " and are
displeased with natives who presume
to touch such burdens , even with a
finger. The Indian who desires to
hold any office whatever in his na
tive land is obliged to betake himself to
England and there pursue his studies
and pass the required examination.
By like favoring of English competi
tors in the arrangement of orders , all
possible hindrances are placed in his
way , and the attainment of his object is
made extraordinarily difficult. In Eng
land the average revenue is 800 marks ,
in India only 80 marks per individual ;
nevertheless India has become for Eng
land an inexhaustible source of wealth.
Notwithstanding this the poorer land is
obliged to pay all the costs of the admin
istration of the government , as well as
to defray the expenses of the military.
India was obliged to pay for the palatial
and magnificently furnished building of
the "India office" in Whitehall ; and
when the Sultan of Turkey visited
London the enormous expense of an
official ball given in his honor was
coolly charged to the Indian budget , be
cause the kingly guest was an Oriental
ruler. The British did not hesitate to
relieve themselves of this inconvenient
burden by throwing it upon the already
heavily-laden Hindoos , who had not the
slightest interest in this act of courtesy ,
by which England alone profited. Ac
cording to Mr. Kipling , the white man
appropriates the lands of his swarthy
brethren and keeps them under his
authority in order to protect them with
gentle hand from hunger and famine ,
and to eliminate these evils from the
earth :
"Fill full the mouth of famine ,
And bid the sickness cease. "
Imliu'H Famines.
It is to bo deplored that these so well
considered efforts , combined with such
great self-sacrifice have been crowned
with such insignificant success. In the
course of the present century India has
been visited by famine more than twenty
times , and , three years ago , one of the
most terrible of these scourges carried off
8,000,000 of human beings. Individual
generosity in England and America
joined in fighting this famine and ac
complished much good ; but the money ,
granted and advanced by the British
government , was laid as a burden on
the Indian exchequer , and considerably
increased the national debt of India.
As far as the plague is concerned , it has
become endemic ; the cholera recurs ,
often with great virulence and , recently ,
the Delhi boil , which always rages
there , seems to be increasing and threat
ens to spread and attack the dwellers in
the Occident.
We do not dream of denying or be
littling the services of the English in
India , nor those of the Hollanders in
Java , as pioneers of progress and ad
vancers of civilization. During the
twenty years which the southwest coast
of the Malay peninsula has been under
the British protectorate , good macadam
ized roads have been made and railways
built where almost impenetrable thickets
and fever-breeding swamps formerly ex
isted. The jungle , once infested by
tigers and poisonous serpents , has been
in part changed into coffee and spice
plantations. During the last decade the
population has tripled itself ; the public
revenue has increased from 4,000,000 to
88,000,000 , and the export trade from
24,000,000 to 218,000,000 marks , and
the yield of the tin mines has materially
increased. This vast material and in
dustrial development of the country has ,
without doubt , considerably improved
the condition of the natives ; but the
principal share of gain falls to the enter
prising , business-like English. It is
right that this should be so , and , under
the circumstances , no other result would
be either possible or just ; but it is quite
preposterous to consider this lucrative
business activity , this zeal for gain in
commercial pursuits as purely philan
thropic , and to dream of "The White
Man's Burden" as being what Kip
ling represents it. This burden is cer
tainly quite heavy , but it consists prin
cipally of booty , part of which he has
lawfully acquired by industry , part
taken from the native by force or fraud ,
and in either cose he promptly with
draws it from the colonies and takes it
to England. Ralph Waldo Emerson
finds in the Anglican bishop only a mer
chant in a surplice ; through the fine
linen of the priestly garment , he sees
the coarse waistcoat of the tradesman.
Rndyard Kipling , on the contrary ,
covers every avaricious merchant and
every ambitious political adventurer
who seeks to make a fortune in the col
onies with the beautifully adorned man
tle of an evangelist of philanthropy "in
partibus infldelium. " A brilliant ex-