Conservative *
TROPICAL KXPANSION.
EDITOR THE CONSERVATIVE ,
Nebraska City , Neb.
Sir : In "Dutch Colonizers in Mal
aysia" and "The Annexation of the
Philippines/ pamphlet published six
months ago , I set forth some of the
conditions of tropical Oriental countries
dominated by Europeans , specially re
ferring to Java and the state of the sub
jugated natives there , who after n long
period of exaction and oppression , are
gradually coming to a realization of
some of their rights , and are therefore
no longer fully submitting to the tyr
anny of their foreign masters , but are
slowly emancipating themselves from
the despotism of their alien rulers and
thereby making the exploitation of their
lands and people a source of less yearly
profit to European owners.
As one reason for my opposition to
the policy of colonial expansion pur
sued by the present administration of
the United States government I quoted
very liberally from statistics gathered
from English , Dutch and French
records of colonization and now pre
sent an epitome of these in a condensed
form , to-wit :
The Caucasian cannot thrive , physi
cally , nor perform manual labor of any
kind for any considerable period in the
sea-level tropics. It is said that in col
onizing the Congo Free State nine out
of every ten Europeans going there were
either buried or returned home invalided
within three years. The largest of the
120 Belgian trading companies main
tains a service of only seven mouths out
of every twenty-four. In constructing
the Panama railroad across the Isthmus
of Darieu a human life was sacrificed
for every tie that lies in the road. The
outcome of our own exportation of
troops to the Philippines bears out the
statement that our people cannot endure
the sea-level tropical climate. "The
strength of Anglo-Saxon civilization
lies in the mental and physical activity
of men and where activity is fatal to
life , the Anglo-Saxon decays , mentally ,
morally , physically. " Even by shielding
himself from every exposure he cannot
many years remain in tropical coun
tries , aad no third generation survives
him there. Civilians and soldiers alike
succumb to the baleful effects of the
enervating climate , and both yield to
the unfavorable influences of Eastern
customs and conditions.
In Oriental colonies the Caucasian is
outclassed by the hordes of skilled nat
ive artisans , mechanics and laborers ;
laborers work for wages that the white
man can not live on. "Ten or fifteen
cents a day is not a free man's scale of
wages. There is no room for free la
borers , no welcome for them , and no
pay. There is no chance for the
American workman , but for the syndi
cates they offer great opportunities for
the syndicates who handle politics as an
incident in business.
"For our extermination of the Indian ,
there is , in general , no moral justifica
tion. There is a good political excuse
in it that we could and did use their
laud in a better way than was possible
to them. We have no such excuse in
Luzon ; wo cannot use the land except
as we use the lives of the people. Should
we exterminate these people we could
only replace them with Malay , Chinese
or Japanese , not with our own. " The
maintenance of law and order at home ,
respect for manhood , of industrial wis
dom and enterprise , and commercial
integrity is the true "White Man's Bur
den , " while as now considered and il
lustrated in practice it seems to bo a
desperate effort to force the black man
to support himself and the white man ,
too.
too.The
The Oriental tropical "colonies ( so-
called ) are merely military posts exer
cising despotic control over the natives
for the benefit of the exploiters the
capitalists of the home country or gov
ernment. The exploitations of Euro
pean colonizing nations have always
been and will continue to be for the
benefit of the few the high civil and
military officials sent out by the home
government and the plantation owners
and rich traders. There never was a
tropical country governed with any de
gree of success without a system of con
tract labor , vide the Hawaiian islands.
One of the commissioners appointed by
this government to investigate the labor
and other questions at the time the
islands were annexed , called attention
to the fact that the sugar and coffee in
terests of the islands cannot got along
without the cheap contract labor.
The prizes for colonial service under
English imperialism ore not only wealth
wrung from the natives but a title and
a pension. A correspondent from Ma
nila said : ' 'The only imperialists in all
the American forces now in these is
lands are to be found among the tem
porary government appointees , who see
coming within their grasp large , fat of
ficial plums ; and a large per cent of the
well paid army officers , surrounded by
their large retinue of cheap servants , a
la ante bellum days in the South.
It is not true that a superior race gov
erning an inferior one in the tropics ,
when the superior race cannot take with
it the wives and children and create
homes there , will benefit such race by
example. It is only exploited by schem
ers who stay in such countries until
they take a "sack" BO as to be able to
return and live comfortably in their
own country.
Our exports to the Philippines have
not exceeded an average of $180,000 per
year for twenty years past. During the
year ending Juue 80 , 1899 , we exported
only $127,000 worth of goods to the
Philippines , while to the remainder of
the world wo exported $1,820,000,000
worth. They were less than 1-100 of
one per cent of the total exports of this
country for the year ending June 80 ,
1898.
Our imports from the Philippines
were from $4,000,000 to $8,000,000 per
annum , according to the kind of money
they are valued in. These exports from
the Philippines hemp , sugar , tobacco ,
etc. all bore , under Spanish rule , an
export tax to defray expenses of admin
istration , which our constitution forbids.
Moreover all interests of value in the
Philippines are already controlled by
the English , German , Spanish , French
and the Chinese , of the latter of whom
there are GO.OOO in Luzon alone ; be
sides the Filipinos' rights , property
titles , positions of vantage , etc. We do
not need the Philippines to maintain
the prestige of our commerce in the
Orient. Commercial growth does not
depend on territorial expansion. The
cant that "trade follows the flag" is a
shallow sophistry. Trade is determined
by fitness , price and transportation , all
of which may be summed up in the one
word price.
The four leading colonizing nations ,
Great Britain , Germany , France and
in the five 1898-97 inclusive
Spain , years , - ,
ive , as compared with similar preceding
period , lost over 1,500 million dollars of
their export trade , while the United
States , without colonies , and a very
limited tonnage , increased its export
trade with foreign markets over 270
million dollars. And it is a surprising
fact that the export trade of Great
Britain with her colonies , protectorates
and spheres of influence decreased more
than 200 million dollars in this same
time. This should afford conclusive
evidence that the commerce of the
world has inexorable laws of its own.
In the pursuit of glory , expansion ,
benevolent assimilation , or other high-
sounding terms , in reality a war of ex
termination of the most indefensible
character in the records of civilization ,
we are trying to hold a large and active
population by force , without visible
plan or purpose , or reason for so doing.
Thousands of lives have been sacrificed ,
millions of property destroyed and mil
lions of money expended in this unneces
sary invasion of an unoffending people's
rights.
And yet , despite all the evidence con
firming these facts those who protest
against this distressing waste of life ,
property , treasure and against the viola
tion of the principles of our government
are glibly disparaged for "treason , "
"sedition. " As a writer in The Dial of
July 10 , very pertinently remarks :
"Not since the days of the assault , in
the United States congress on John
Quincy Adams and Joshua Giddings ,
for their grand defense' the sacred
right of petition , has the public been so
swayed by ignorant and servile intoler
ance as during the past six months.
The press of the country , with a few
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