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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5c0a6b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60959 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60959) diff --git a/old/60959-8.txt b/old/60959-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index efb7978..0000000 --- a/old/60959-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3414 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, John Chinaman on the Rand, by Anonymous - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: John Chinaman on the Rand - - -Author: Anonymous - - - -Release Date: December 18, 2019 [eBook #60959] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND*** - - -E-text prepared by deaurider, Martin Pettit, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 60959-h.htm or 60959-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60959/60959-h/60959-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60959/60959-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/cu31924083851547 - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Text enclosed by plus signs is in bold face (+bold+). - - - - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - - - * * * * * * - -_SOUTH AFRICAN HOTELS_ - - -PORT ELIZABETH -(ALGOA BAY) - -Palmerston -Hotel - -Terminus Road, - -PORT ELIZABETH - -Close to Station and Jetty - -_Best brands of_ ... - -_WINES, SPIRITS -and CIGARS...._ - -Porters meet all Trains - -H. HEAD, Proprietor - - -CAPE TOWN. - -Princess Royal -Hotel - -Corner of Long and Riebeek Sts., - -_Two Minutes from Railway Station_. - -CAPE TOWN. - -Newly Erected Superior -Furnished Bedrooms. - -Fine Balcony Views of -Table Bay and Mountain. - -Excellent Billiard Table -(Thurston's Best). - -Good Attendance. -Perfect Sanitary Arrangements. - -_SPECIAL TERMS FOR RESIDENT -BOARDERS._ - -Visitors from England Up-Country -will find Accommodation -Unequalled. - -_S. S. PALMER, Proprietor._ - - -EAST LONDON - -Hotel National - -EAST LONDON - -The most centrally situated Hotel -- - in Town - - - -A First-class, Up-to-date Family -and Commercial Hotel - -Large airy Rooms. Excellent Cuisine. -Good Stabling and Billiard Room - -_Best Wines and -Cigars only stocked_ - -CHAS. COLLINS, Proprietor - - -BLOEMFONTEIN -(O.R.C.) - -_Replete with every -Comfort._ - -EXCELLENT CUISINE. - -FAMILY AND COMMERCIAL. - -Polley's Hotel - -MARKET SQUARE, -BLOEMFONTEIN. - -Perfect Sanitation. -Porters meet all trains. - -Under the personal supervision -of the Proprietor, - -_A. E. POLLEY_. - - * * * * * * - - -[Illustration: A NEW FORM OF TORTURE. _Frontispiece_] - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - -by an English Eye Witness - -With Introduction by Dr. John Clifford, M.A., Ll.B. - -And Frontispiece and Four Illustrations - - - - - - -London -R. A. Everett & Son -10 & 12 Garrick Street, Covent Garden, W.C. -1905 -[All rights reserved] - -Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, -Bread Street Hill, E.C., and -Bungay, Suffolk. - - - - -_INTRODUCTION -BY -DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, M.A., LL.B._ - - -_I have read the following account of the importation of Chinese -coolies into South Africa with the keenest pain and sorrow. It is an -authentic story of one of the foulest tragedies in our British annals; -the witness of one who has seen the facts for himself._ - -_It is an indictment packed with sifted evidence, written with -knowledge; but also with the indignation of the patriot and of the -humanitarian, against wrongs wantonly inflicted upon our fellow-men -and sanctioned by the Parliament of the Empire. The "balance of evil" -is overwhelmingly proved. It is an economic blunder. It is another -blood-stained page in the history of the inhumanity of man to man. -It violates the domestic and the social ideals. It is a blight upon -our Empire; and, chiefest of all, it is inevitably and overwhelmingly -immoral; productive of vices and crimes that cannot be named without -shame and wrath._ - -_And yet these foreigners who sell men for gold are declaring that this -system must remain "undisturbed." Never! It must go. It is building -the Empire on the blood of souls. It is not a "necessity." It is a -wanton iniquity. It is not "freedom"; and it is shuffling of the -meanest kind to say that it is not "slavery." Let Britishers realize -their responsibility and bring to a speedy and final end this return to -barbarism!_ - -_JOHN CLIFFORD._ - - - - -_The Publishers beg to thank the Editor of the 'Morning Leader' for -permission to use the Illustrations contained in this volume._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - I. ENSLAVING THE RAND 13 - - II. 'AVE, CROESUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT' 27 - -III. THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND 46 - - IV. THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM 77 - - V. THE YELLOW TRAIL 98 - - VI. THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES 110 - - - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ENSLAVING THE RAND - - -In the following pages I have made no reference to the founder of the -Christian faith. - -There is a particular form of blasphemy current in Great Britain which -ascribes to the highest and noblest Christian motives actions which are -prompted by the meanest passions of cupidity and self-interest. Any -shadow is good enough for the criminal to creep into in the hope of -escaping detection; but blasphemy is not too hard a word to express the -attitude of those advocates and supporters of Chinese slavery in the -Rand who actually creep under the shadow of the Cross itself for moral -protection. - -With reservations, the Archbishop of Canterbury has blessed -the movement, having satisfied himself, with an ease somewhat -extraordinary, that it was all above-board and moral. The Bishop of -Bristol has commended it. The Rev. T. J. Darragh, Rector of St. Mary's -Church, Johannesburg, saw in it nothing but an opportunity to teach -the doctrines of Christianity to the heathen. "I am much attracted -by the possibility of evangelistic work among those people under -very favourable conditions, and I hope to see many of them sent back -to their country good practising Christians. It will be a glorious -opportunity for the Church." - -Almost it would seem that the logical conclusion of this estimable -priest was that all the heathen nations of Asia should be packed into -Lord Selborne's loose-boxes and carted over to Johannesburg in order -that the evangelistic genius of the Rector of St. Mary's might have -full scope, and countless souls be added to the fold of Christ, so long -as their duties of digging gold for German Jews at a shilling a day -were not interfered with. As these advocates and supporters of Chinese -labour have convinced themselves that the Ordinance, so far from being -opposed to the principles of Christianity, is likely to be of use in -spreading the doctrine of love, I realize that it would be hopeless to -attempt to prove to them that the importation of Chinese to the Rand -finds no support in the doctrines promulgated in the four Gospels. - -Indeed, to expect spiritual ideals on the Rand is too ridiculous for -words. The man who searches the Bible for a text to suit his line -of argument might perhaps find one for the Rand lords from the Old -Testament, and preaching from the sentence that "silver was counted -as naught in the days of Solomon" might argue that all practices were -justifiable to bring about a state of affairs which apparently had the -Divine approval. The ideal of the Rand is money. All imperial, social -and religious considerations have no weight with the masters of the -gold mines. Their object is to get gold, and to get it as cheaply as -they can, and with this in view they realize that they must obtain -two things--1. Political control of the Transvaal; 2. Slave labour. -To attain the first, all Englishmen, with their democratic ideas of -liberty and freedom, must be kept out of the country. This first object -attained, the introduction of slave labour would be extremely simple. - -How they achieved their object is the history of South Africa for the -last eight years. - -As long ago as 1897, when mines were booming and vast fortunes were -being made, the leaders of the mining industry suddenly realized by a -simple arithmetical calculation that more money could be made if their -workmen were paid less. - -Representations were made to President Kruger, a Government Commission -was appointed, and the possibility of reducing the wages of Kaffir -workmen was discussed in all its bearings. Mr. George Albu, who was -then the chairman of the Chamber of Mines, pointed out that 2s. 3d. a -shift was being paid to the Kaffirs, and that this could be reduced -to 1s. 6d. a shift for skilled labour and 1s. or less for unskilled -labour. When he was asked how this could be accomplished, he replied, -"By simply telling the boys that their wages are reduced." Mr. Albu, -however, declared that a much better state of affairs would be brought -about if a law was passed compelling the Kaffir to do a certain amount -of work per annum, though he admitted that nowhere in the world was -there a law enabling any particular industry to obtain forced labour. - -President Kruger's Government--accounted corrupt and irradical in -those days, but now regarded by comparison throughout the Transvaal -and Orange River Colony by both English and Dutchmen alike as most -benevolent and beneficent--refused to sanction a system which would -not only have been in opposition to the Conventions with Great Britain -of 1852, 1854, and 1884, but would have been opposed to the spirit of -humanity that should exist among all civilized communities. - -Then came the war. The Boer Government was swept away. Two hundred -and fifty millions and 21,000 English lives was the price exacted for -planting the Union Jack in Pretoria and Bloemfontein. - -During the war the magnates, with a persistence worthy of a better -cause, kept before them those objects which I have enumerated. The -consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields reported to a -meeting of mining representatives at Cape Town that dividends could -be increased by two and a half millions by reducing Kaffir wages, and -it was agreed that on the opening of the mines Kaffirs' wages should -be reduced by 33 per cent. When peace came it was found that the -Kaffirs were not prepared to work on these terms. They had grown rich -during the war, and in the independence of their new-found wealth they -refused to be treated as so much human machinery. It was bad enough -for them to work at their original wages in the Rand mines, without -their consenting to such a large reduction in their wages. The rate of -mortality in the Rand mines was seventy per thousand per annum; the -rate of mortality in the De Beers mines was only thirty per thousand -per annum. The De Beers never had any difficulty in obtaining what -native labour they required, because they treated their men well, -looked after their interests, did not sweat them, and admitted that -a black man, although black, was still a man. But even under these -circumstances, had the magnates of the Rand offered the scale of wages -that pertained before the war, they would have found black labour in -abundance. But even with a black man a minimum of 30s. and a maximum of -35s. a month with food is hardly tempting enough to draw him from his -kraal. - -The alternative of white labour was, of course, never seriously -considered. The mere Englishman who had fought for the country was not -to be allowed to settle in the country or to work in the country. The -Angots, the Beits, the Ecksteins, the Hanaus, the Kuchenmeisters, the -Rosenheims, the Schencks, the Taubs, the Wernhers, and the rest of the -gentlemen delighting in similar grand old English names were determined -not to permit it. The foolish Englishman would want to vote; would -have ideas about personal liberty and personal freedom; would have -ridiculous notions about Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights; would, -in short, think that the nation that had spilt its blood and spent its -money for the Rand was entitled to a vote in its management. - -With almost unparalleled insolence the Rand lords frankly declared -that the introduction of English labour would place the control of the -country in the hands of Englishmen, and would lead to that trail of the -serpent, the formation of labour unions. It was to meet with this that -two hundred and fifty millions was spent by the English people, 25,000 -died, 25,000 were permanently maimed. - -That white labour could be used, and be used profitably, was proved -beyond a doubt. Even when the higher wages were taken into account, -it was found that in the cyanide works of the gold mines the Kaffirs' -cost per ton was 5s. 3d., against the Whites' 4s. 9d. In developing and -stopping actual work of the mining underground, the Kaffirs cost 4s. -8d. and the Whites 4s. 2d. per ton. It was only in the machine drill -work that the Kaffirs proved slightly cheaper than the Whites. There -Kaffir labour worked out at 6s. 4d. per ton, white labour at 6s. 9d.; -a difference of 5d. per ton, so small a difference as to be almost a -negligible quantity. - -It was not until later that any pretence was put forward that white -labour could not be employed. The real reason, and the reason frankly -admitted, was the fear of the political power they would possess. - -Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell, general manager of the Village Main Reef, -worked his mine upon a system of joint black and white labour, and -the mine returned a dividend of 35 per cent. for the year 1903 and 20 -per cent. for the first half of 1904. In the report upon the working -of this mine it was declared that the efficiency of the mine was -increasing, and the output greater, while the working cost was lower. -This was proof conclusive that white labour could be employed in the -mines if the magnates wished to employ it. That they did not wish to -employ it is proved beyond the shadow of doubt by a letter from the -late Mr. Percy Tarbutt, of St. Swithin's Lane, to Mr. Cresswell-- - - - "DEAR MR. CRESSWELL,--With reference to your trial of - white labour for surface work on the mines, I have consulted the - Consolidated Goldfields people, and one of the members of the - board of the Village Main Reef has consulted Messrs. Wernher, - Beit & Co., and the feeling seems to be of fear that, having a - large number of white men employed on the Rand in the position of - labourers, the same troubles will arise as are now prevalent in - the Australian colonies, viz. that the combination of the labour - classes will become so strong as to be able, more or less, to - dictate not only on the question of wages, but also on political - questions, by the power of their votes when a representative - Government is established." - - -Foiled in their attempt to get cheap black labour, threatened with an -inundation of Englishmen, the cosmopolitan Rand lords tried to obtain -the slaves they required from Central Africa. This was not a success. -It was admitted by a speaker at a commercial meeting in Johannesburg -in July 1903 that various experiments had been tried to get native -labour, and that the best results had been obtained at the Robinson -Deep, which paid 25 per cent. dividend. "They imported 316 natives -from Central Africa only three weeks ago. So far only eight had -died--(laughter)--but there were 150 in the hospital, and by the end of -the month the whole will be in hospital. (Hear, hear.) They were coming -in at the rate of thirty a day. These men cost £30 a head, and were not -worth a 'bob' a head when they arrived. (Cheers.)" - -What were the mine lords to do? If only they were allowed they were -quite prepared to employ slaves. Their amazing reduction in wages had -not induced the Kaffir to come to the Rand. In the words of the native -chief the natives did not like to go to Johannesburg, "because they -went there to die." The majority at the Labour Commission had proved -that if good wages and treatment were extended to the Kaffirs, hosts -of natives would flock to the mines. But the Rand lords cared nothing -about kindness, and they were determined to reduce wages. - -It was at this juncture that the question of Chinese indentured labour -was seriously mooted. The black men were tired of being carted about in -trucks, and herded like cattle, and beaten and maimed for life without -any chance of compensation. It was said that the Chinaman was docile -and tractable, and would work for practically nothing, with extremely -little food, for as many hours as he might be requested. Chinese -labour, therefore, it was decided to obtain. - -But the Rand lords had to proceed with guile. They did this country the -credit to believe that any hasty determination to import thousands of -Chinamen would have met with an outburst of popular indignation against -which they could not have hoped to have stood firm. - -Forming a pretty accurate estimate of the leading passions that guide -men's minds they determined to appeal to the cupidity of the Englishman -at home. Their press began to pour forth a torrent of sobs over the -lamentable decay of the gold industry in the Transvaal. The country was -ruined, they said; the industry had gone to pieces. For ridiculous -considerations of hypocritical morality the Rand, for which Great -Britain had sacrificed so much, was to be made bankrupt. In a word, -it was bankruptcy--or Chinese. They found many powerful supporters -in this country. The trail of their wealth was on a section of the -press, and that section echoed whatever principles it might please the -cosmopolitan gentlemen of Johannesburg to give voice to. Even now one -can recall the despairing moans of leader writers over the ruin that -had overtaken the Transvaal. - -This was in June 1903. Somewhat unexpectedly Lord Milner at this -juncture refused to echo the gloomy forebodings of the Witwatersrand -Chamber of Mines; in fact, his tone was joyously optimistic. "The -production of gold," he said, "even now is greater than in 1895 or -1896, when the Transvaal really was, and had been for some time, -the marvel of the world in the matter of gold production. The world -progresses; but whatever was fabulous wealth years ago is not abject -poverty to-day. Not only that, but the rate of production is steadily -increasing." - -What he said was quite right. The output of gold in the district of -Johannesburg in 1900 was 237,000 ozs., and there were 59,400 Kaffirs -employed. - -But for six months the agitation continued. It was put forward as a -theory that the only chance for the Transvaal was to employ Chinese -labour. The supporters of the Rand lords hailed the theory with -delight, as if it was something new, something that they had never -imagined before. Clearly this was the direction in which prosperity -lay. They must have Chinese labour. Then shares would go up, dividends -would become enormous, and everybody would be wealthy and happy. The -Transvaal would be something like a Mohammedan heaven, with Great -Britain as an annexe. White men were to pour out to the colonies--not -to labour on the mines, for that work was only fit for Chinamen; -besides, white men it was said could not do it--and the Rand was to be -prosperous and life was to be a veritable bed of roses. Was England to -be denied the fruits of her victory? For what had the war been waged -if the Transvaal was to be left a barren, unproductive corner of the -Empire? Were the fruits of victory to be Dead Sea apples? - -By such arguments did they appeal to the British public. The dummy -figure of despair and ruin that they had set up served a very useful -purpose. It frightened the monied classes into the belief that their -investments were not secure. It frightened the patriots into thinking -that the war had been waged in vain. Few people troubled to make -inquiries as to whether the statement of the Rand's impending ruin was -true or not. There certainly was a slump in Kaffir shares. This was -held to be indicative of the state of the gold industry. It apparently -did not occur to anybody that just as Kaffir shares were made to -fluctuate during the war--when the mines were not being worked--so -they could be made to slump if only the Rand lords wished. - -In six months they convinced the majority of the House of Commons, they -convinced the Government, and they even made Lord Milner eat his own -words. His dispatches began to take on a garb of gloom. In August they -were of the mitigated grief shade; in September the shade darkened; -in October it was more than half mourning; in November it had become -black; in December it was as black as the Egyptian plague. His lordship -talked of crises; of what would happen unless some noble, national -sacrifice was made to save the sinking ship. Chinese labour was the -only cure for the deplorable condition of the gold industry in the -Transvaal! - -Meanwhile, a Labour Commission had been appointed, a mission consisting -of ten persons, eight of whom were known to be in favour of the -introduction of Asiatic labour. This Commission was authorized to find -out whether a scarcity of Kaffir or white labour existed, but was -forbidden to answer the question which was in the minds of all, whether -it would be proper or desirable to introduce Chinese labour. - -The agitation proved successful, and it was decided to import Chinese -labour. The grave disasters attendant on the impending crisis Lord -Milner insisted in his dispatches in December 1903 had to be met. - -It is curious, of course, to compare the statement of Lord Milner in -December 1903 with his statement in June 1903. In June the output of -gold was 237,000 ozs., and according to Lord Milner everything was -satisfactory. The production of gold, in his own words, was greater -than in 1895 or 1896. Six months later, in December, the output was -286,000 ozs., an increase of 49,000 ozs. Yet, according to Lord -Milner, the prosperity of the gold industry was in inverse proportion -to the output of gold! Two hundred and thirty-seven thousand ounces -per month was prosperity in June; 286,000 ozs. in December was grave -disaster, and the rest of it. Moreover, in those golden days of June -1903 there were 59,400 Kaffir labourers working on the mines. In that -dark, cheerless December, when the output of gold had increased 49,000 -ozs., and the gold industry was rapidly sinking back into the pit -of gloom and disaster, the number of labourers employed was 68,800, -being an increase of 9400--or 15 per cent. Moreover, in this terrible, -deplorable month the production of gold was greater than it had ever -been before, except during that period between the beginning of 1898 -and the commencement of the war. As to the question of labour, the -production per labourer per month in December 1903 was 4 ozs. of gold. -In 1899 it was only 3·4 ozs.; that is to say, it had been increased by -the use of machinery by one-seventh, so that six labourers in December -1903 were equal to seven labourers in the golden period before the -war. Actually, therefore, those 68,800 labourers were doing the work -of 80,262 labourers, and were doing it at wages 33 per cent. less than -they were before the war. But this was not prosperity. The dividends -were not large enough. - -The report of the consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields -still rang in the ear of the Rand lords. "Cut down the wages 33 per -cent. and you will add two and a half millions to the dividends." - -An unlimited number of Kaffirs would not come to the mines under -these conditions; they would not submit to bad wages as well as bad -treatment. White men would combine to manage the country and to take -the political power out of the hands of the Rand lords. "If we could -replace 20,000 workers by 100,000 unskilled whites," said one of the -directors, "they would simply hold the government of the country -in the hollow of their hand; and without any disparagement to the -British labourer, I prefer to see the more intellectual section of the -community at the helm." - -Hence the gloomy picture painted of the gold industry in that December -1903. Hence the slump in the Kaffir market. Hence that cry that native -labour would not come and that whites could not do the work. Hence that -more ominous cry that Chinese labourers must be employed. The Transvaal -was not to be for Englishmen. It was to be governed by the intellectual -genius of Mr. Rudd and his bevy of German Jews and non-British -Gentiles. Even if white labour was economically possible the Rand lords -did not want it. It _was_ possible--it _was_ economical. But they -wanted labour that would be _voteless_ and _subservient_! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -'AVE, CROESUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT' - - -"The problem is a very urgent problem. The necessity of going forward -is an urgent and vital necessity in the economical condition of the -country. I will tell the House why in a sentence. The mines are 30,000 -natives short of the number engaged in the pre-war period." - -These were the words subsequently used by Mr. Lyttelton, the Colonial -Secretary. The matter _was_ urgent. Already protests were pouring -in from every part of the Empire. Imperial meetings, white league -meetings, anti-slavery meetings, political meetings--all the machinery, -in short, of protest and obstruction was being got under weigh, and to -the Rand lords it seemed as if the ideal of slavery for which they had -struggled so long and so hard was to be denied them at the last hour. -The anguish of Sir Lancelot when a vision of the Holy Grail was denied -him after all his trials and tribulations was not greater or more -poignant than the trepidation of the mine owners. It became, indeed, a -very urgent problem for them, for unless they could bring the matter -to a head, not even the strongest Government of the century could hope -to withstand the popular will when once it was organized sufficiently -to voice its petition loudly enough. - -But of economical necessities there were none. - -It was natural after such a devastating war that some time should -elapse before the mines could get into full working order and attain -that wonderful output of gold which prevailed immediately before the -outbreak of hostilities. The progress of the gold industry after the -war had to be gradual; but so far from it being depressed or showing -signs of being stagnant, it had, as I have already shown, increased -enormously. Already it was within measurable distance of the output of -the pre-war period. The economical necessity was not the necessity of -importing cheap labour, but the necessity of paying a proper wage to -the Kaffir and of treating him well. - -Already Dr. Jameson, who in no sense was a partisan opponent of the -Rand capitalists, had declared in November 1903 that the De Beers -Company would not employ Chinamen--that they had plenty of labour, -white and black, because they treated their people well. - -But the Rand mine owners not only did not pay their Kaffirs a proper -wage, but meted out to them such treatment that the death-rate among -them had increased since 1902 to an extent which, to express it in -mild terms, was appalling. I quote the figures below-- - - -NATIVE MORTALITY ON MINES - -IN JOHANNESBURG, KRUGERSDORP, BOKSBURG, GERMISTON, AND SPRINGS. - -Period: November 1902--July 1903. - - - No. of Death-rate - During the Month. Natives No. of per 1000 - Employed. Deaths. per annum. - November 1902 46,710 247 63·4 - December " 48,542 324 80·90 - January 1903 49,761 253 61·01 - February " 55,288 207 44·9 - March " 57,022 235 49·4 - April " 62,265 269 51·8 - May " 65,371 431 79·1 - June " 68,819 492 85·7 - July " 70,474 627 106·7 - Average number of natives employed per month 58,250 - Average number of deaths per month 343 - Average death-rate per 1000 per annum per month 70·6 - - -This was the economical necessity that should have occupied the -attention of his Majesty's Government, and not the question of -introducing Chinese indentured labour into the colony. That the mine -owners have successfully baulked in the past all inquiry as to their -treatment of natives is proved conclusively by the fact that even these -statistics did not draw forth a commission from the Government to -inquire into such a terrible state of affairs. Instead of the question -being, "Why is it Kaffirs die at the rate of seventy per thousand -per month?" the problem they set themselves was how to provide an -alternative to these quick-dying wage-wanting niggers. Attempts had -been made to procure coolie labour from India, and Lord Curzon never -did a greater or a nobler thing than when he refused the sanction of -his Government to such a step. - -Mr. Chamberlain said in the Commons that Lord Curzon should have been -overruled; an inexplicable remark from a man who had had the courage -to say to the miners that it was better they should be governed from -Downing Street than from Park Lane. - -In December 1903 General Ben Viljeon informed a labour commissioner -that a petty chief had told him recently that if he sent 100 boys -to the Rand only 66 returned, and some of them had scurvy. It was -not wonderful, therefore, that black labour was scarce; but it -was wonderful that his Majesty's Government did not take steps to -put an end to a state of things which they must have known to be -terrible, instead of merely substituting for the ill-used, underpaid, -criminally-treated but free labouring Kaffirs Chinamen who were to be -nothing better than slaves. - -But the drawing up of the draft Ordinance went forward. It was hurried -on at an incredible rate. Until the last minute it was kept back from -Parliament, and the Blue-book dealing with the alleged necessities for -introducing yellow labour was only placed in the hands of the members -of the House of Commons a few days before Mr. Herbert Samuel moved his -famous amendment to the King's Address--"It is highly inexpedient that -sanction should be given to any Ordinance permitting the introduction -of indentured Chinese labourers into the Transvaal Colony until the -approval of the colonists has been formally ascertained." - -At one end of the cable sat Lord Milner, pricked on by the Rand -lords, at the other end sat the Colonial Secretary, anxious to be -fair, anxious to be humane, anxious to do nothing contrary to the -historic principles of British rule, but bemused by the clamour of the -Transvaal, and seeing in the protests against the Ordinance only party -moves and party partisanship. The clamour for the Ordinance increased -day by day. - -Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman had managed to extract a pledge from the -Government, by which Lord Milner was instructed to introduce into -the Ordinance a clause suspending its operation pending further -instructions from home. But it was pointed out that the matter was of -such great urgency that his Majesty's Government could not undertake to -postpone their decision longer than the termination of the debate on -the Address. - -As a matter of fact, they had already made up their minds. It was -stated that if a colony desired Chinese labour it was not for the -Imperial Parliament to interfere. To have done so would have been -contrary to the traditions of Imperial Government. But when Mr. Herbert -Samuel asked that the Ordinance should not be permitted until the -approval of the colonists in the Transvaal had been formally obtained -by the natural expedient of a referendum, Lord Milner asserted that to -hold a referendum was impossible--it would occupy too much time, that -at any rate it was an expedient unknown in any part of the British -Empire. - -As a matter of fact, a referendum has been put in practice in South -Australia, in New Zealand, in New South Wales, and was used more -recently to decide upon the important question of the Australian -Commonwealth. That it would have occupied six months to take such a -referendum, during which period the gold of the Transvaal would have -vanished, everybody would have refused to work, and the Kaffir market -would have been blotted out, was preposterous. Yet, at the moment when -Lord Milner made this statement, a census of the colony was taken, -which only occupied seven weeks. It is not unreasonable to assume that -such a referendum would have occupied more than a month. - -All the arguments of the Opposition were in vain against such -plausibility. It was useless to point out that while the educated -Chinese were good citizens, the bitter experience of Australia, -Canada, the United States and New Zealand proved conclusively that the -uneducated Chinamen, wherever they went, were vicious, immoral and -unclean, hated by the white man, loathed and feared by every decent -white woman. The Government admitted the danger of allowing 50,000 -Chinamen to be planted down in a colony without any restrictions. Their -introduction was a regrettable necessity; and so it was proposed to -keep them in compounds, to round them up every night like sheep, to -make them liable to heavy penalties if they wandered abroad without a -permit. This was the only way, they declared, in which these necessary -evils could be used. Of the necessity of utilizing the evil at all they -were convinced, and no argument succeeded in shaking their faith. It -was pointed out to them that this would be semi-slavery, if not indeed -actual slavery. The Chinaman was not to be employed in any position -but that of a miner; he could not improve his position; he could not -give notice to one employer and go to another. He could never leave the -compound without permission. If he struck work he could be imprisoned. -He was bound to reside on the premises of his employer, in charge of a -manager appointed for the purpose. Permission to leave these premises -might or might not be granted; but in any case he could never be -absent for more than forty-eight hours at a time. If he escaped, he -could be tracked down, arrested without a warrant and imprisoned by a -magistrate, while anybody who harboured or concealed him was fined £50, -or imprisoned in default of payment. - -The Ordinance was without parallel in the Empire. Because the Chinese -were competitors, because they were a moral and social danger, the -supporters of the Ordinance were compelled to devise some system under -which it could become law in the Transvaal, and by which they could yet -prevent any one of the Chinamen brought in being able at any time to -leave his employment and turn to other and more profitable undertakings. - -Only a casuist could call this anything else but slavery. One of our -most unsuccessful ministers tried to find a parallel between this -system and the life of our soldiers--a parallel so bright and so -pleasing that no one, I think, has yet attempted to spoil the bloom of -this flower of grim humour by disclosing its absurdity. The Transvaal -Government had, in fact, gone to the statute books of the slave states -of America for a model for their Ordinance. - -It was soon seen and realized that any attempt to negative the -Ordinance must prove abortive. All that the Opposition could do was to -render it as innocuous as possible, and to secure as many guarantees -as they could for the proper moral and physical treatment of the -unfortunate Chinamen. They extracted pledges and promises galore, most -of which have been completely broken. - -On March 21, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton, after stating that the average Kaffir -wage was 50s. for thirty days' work, made this statement in the House -of Commons--"Chinamen would receive in the Transvaal at least 2s. a -day. I stand here and give the House my assurance that the Chinese -will receive at least the amount I have specified." - -At that time, when this well-meaning pledge was made, the Kaffir was -only receiving 33s. per month. But even had he been receiving 50s. a -month, which Mr. Lyttelton in his ignorance imagined, was it at all -likely that the Rand owner would pay the Chinaman 2s. a day, or 60s. -a month, that is to say, 10s. a month more than they were presumably -paying the Kaffirs? Of course, the mine magnates were not going to pay -the Chinaman more than the 33s. they were paying the Kaffir. - -Mr. Lyttelton's pledge was summarily disposed of by Lord Milner and the -mine owners. - -After at first insisting on a minimum of 1s. a day instead of 2s., -Lord Milner finally made this plausible promise, that if within six -months the average pay was not more than 50s. for thirty days' work, -the minimum should be raised from 1s. to 1s. 6d. a day. Mr. Lyttelton's -maximum of 2s. a day was thus reduced to a possible minimum of 1s. 6d. -a day. - -Another delightful pledge was also given. It seemed almost indeed as -if the Transvaal Government were continually advising Lord Milner to -cable, saying, "Promise anything in heaven or earth, but let's get this -Ordinance through." - -With somewhat unusual consideration, the opinion of the Chinese -Government had been asked on the subject. Speaking through their -ambassador, the Chinese Government insisted that the immigrant should -have free access to the courts of justice to obtain redress for injury -to his personal property. - -On March 10, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton stated that the Chinese labourers -would have the same right of access to the courts as all the other -subjects of his Majesty's dominions. Any subject of his Majesty's -dominions has the right to appear before a court when he has any -grievance. That is the right of all subjects of his Majesty's -dominions. The Chinaman, according to Mr. Lyttelton, was to have the -same right. As a matter of fact, he has no right of access to the -courts, except by leave of an inspector. - -Again, Mr. Lyttelton declared, when the Chinese Government raised the -point of flogging, that there was no power in the Ordinance to impose -flogging. There was not at that time. But four months later, on July -28, an Ordinance was assented to by which the resident magistrate had -the right to flog in cases where the conviction was a conviction of -robbery, in cases of any statutory offence for which flogging could be -only given for the second conviction, in cases of assault of a grave -character or intended to do serious bodily harm, or, indeed, to commit -any offence. - -I shall deal later in detail with the punishments that have been -inflicted on the yellow slaves that work in their slavery under the -Union Jack. It is at present only my object to outline the policy -of promising anything and making all sorts of preposterous pledges -in order that the clamours of the Rand lords might be gratified. In -Johannesburg they knew well that if once indentured labour was agreed -to in principle, it would be easy to make what alterations they wished -in the spirit or the letter of the Ordinance. - -In February 1904 Mr. Lyttelton stated with regard to the importation of -women with the Chinese--"We are advised in this matter by men of the -most experience in the whole Empire on the subject of Chinese labour. -We are advised that the coolies would not go without their womenfolk. -Manifestly it would be wrong that they should go without their -womenfolk if they were desirous of taking them with them." - -To quiet the lethargic conscience of that adept courtier, his Grace -the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was declared that the interests of -public morality demanded that the Chinamen should be accompanied by -their wives, and that this was one of the essential conditions of the -Ordinance. It was pointed out at the time that once the mine owners -had 5000 indentured labourers, they would not take upon themselves the -burden of supporting their wives, with an average of three children -apiece. It would mean 250,000 women and children. And it is almost -inconceivable that even Mr. Lyttelton could have imagined that the -cosmopolitan proprietors of the Transvaal would have taken upon -themselves the superintendence of human beings utterly incapable of -dragging gold from the earth. - -As a matter of fact, Chinese have never taken their wives into foreign -countries, and therefore the moral question, which so concerned Dr. -Davidson for one brief day, was not settled. As a matter of fact, it -was stated at the beginning of this year by the Colonial Secretary that -while 4895 wives were registered as accompanying their husbands, only -two women and twelve children had actually been brought over! - -It was stated by Mr. Lyttelton, at the same time as he satisfied the -conscience of the most Reverend Primate, that the Chinaman would be so -well fed and so lightly worked that in the interests of morality it -was physically necessary that he should be accompanied by his wife. -In explaining the fact that only two women and twelve children had -accompanied the thirty or forty thousand Chinamen up to the beginning -of 1905, the Colonial Secretary remarked in effect that this fact would -not lead to immorality, because the Chinaman's food was so frugal and -his work was so steady that he would be almost physically incapable of -those passions which are a source of so much trouble, of so much crime, -of so much happiness, and of so much beneficence to the white man, the -black man, the red man, and the brown man. Life under the Rand lords, -in short, was practically emasculating, and therefore immorality was -impossible. - -I shall deal with this subject later on. For the present I will point -out that this was the fourth pledge that had been given in the House -of Commons, only to be broken, not, I admit, by Mr. Lyttelton and the -Government, but by their masters, the mine owners on the Rand. - -The Opposition steadily opposed the Government in the House. - -Major Seely and Mr. Winston Churchill left the Conservative Party, -Major Seely resigning his seat to test the temper of his constituents -in the Isle of Wight on this very subject. The electors in the Isle of -Wight were of no uncertain temper. They returned Major Seely to the -House, thereby proving, as all subsequent by-elections have proved, -that the Chinese Labour Ordinance is bitterly opposed by the vast -majority of freedom-loving Britons. - -It had been the custom during the war to submit very largely to the -opinion of the colonies. In fact, the influence of colonial opinion -had partly directed the policy of the Government for several years. -Mr. Chamberlain constantly submitted to it, before, during, and after -the war. He had based his bold venture of Tariff Reform on this very -opinion. It was because the colonies would think this or would say -that, that the British workman was to submit to a tax upon corn, a tax -upon clothes, a tax upon everything else. It was reasonable to expect, -therefore, that on such an important Imperial question, touching the -welfare of a colony, to possess which the whole of the Empire had -risen in arms, and men had poured from the snows of Canada and the -rolling plains of the Bush, the opinions of the Five Nations would -have been consulted. But even if the Government did not submit to this -recognition of their services, to this acceptance of a common Imperial -interest, it was only natural to have supposed that they would have -at least taken into account the advice of Canada, Australia, and New -Zealand, who had experienced the evils of Chinese immigration. - -I have travelled all over the Orange River Colony, Natal, Cape Colony, -and the Transvaal, and the colonial people and the Dutch were all -unanimously against the introduction of the Chinese on the Rand. I -have never yet met one person in favour of the Ordinance. And since -the Ordinance became law, and the yellow slaves began their work at -the mines, nearly every person I have met in South Africa has openly -regretted the war, and declared that they preferred the days of Paul -Kruger, whose Government may have been corrupt, but was at any rate -based on the principle that it is the duty of a white government to -look after the moral and social welfare of its white subjects. - -Mr. Chamberlain himself declared that there was considerable -indignation expressed throughout South Africa at the proposal to -introduce Chinese labour, and that a vast majority of the people -throughout South Africa were bitterly opposed to the Ordinance. - -The colonies were not slow in sending passionate protests to the -Colonial Office against the Ordinance. Mr. Seddon wired--"My Government -desire to protest against the proposal to introduce Chinese labour -into South Africa. They foresee that great dangers, racial, social and -political, would inevitably be introduced by Chinese influx, however -stringent the conditions of introduction and employment may be." - -Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, declared that Australia had been -told that the war was a miners' war, but not for Chinese miners; a war -for the franchise, but not for Chinese franchise. The truth, if it had -been told, would have presented a very different aspect, and would have -made a very different appeal to Australia. - -Cape Colony, which was more intimately concerned with the welfare of -the Transvaal than any other portion of the Empire, passed a resolution -in the Cape Parliament, "That this House, taking cognizance of the -resolution passed at the recent Conference held at Bloemfontein on the -subject of the qualified approval of the importation of Asiatic labour, -desires to express its strong opposition to any such importation as -prejudicial to the interests of all classes of people in South Africa." - -This last resolution had been sent to the Government as long before as -July 1903, when the first steps were being taken to pave the way for -yellow slavery. - -But of all these protests the Government took no notice whatever. -They met all questions with a statement that the Transvaal was to be -allowed to decide on its own internal affairs; and when the Opposition -demanded that the opinion of the Transvaal should be taken, so that -these principles could be carried into effect, they replied that a -referendum, the only means of ascertaining this opinion, would take six -months, during which time the Transvaal would be ruined. - -Never was the logic of any of the characters in _Alice in Wonderland_ -so unanswerable. - -In the Transvaal itself loud and indignant protests were made against -the proposal. But the Rand lords asserted their supremacy with ruthless -severity. The _Transvaal Leader_, the _Transvaal Advertiser_, and the -Johannesburg _Star_ all opposed the introduction of Asiatic labour. -Their respective editors, Mr. R. J. Pakeman, Mr. J. Scoble, and Mr. -Monypenny, were compelled to resign because they refused to sacrifice -their opinions for their proprietors. Some idea of the pressure that -was brought to bear, may be seen in the valedictory editorial which Mr. -Monypenny wrote on retiring from the editorship of the Johannesburg -_Star_:-- - -"To the policy of Chinese immigration, to which the Chamber of Mines -has decided to devote its energies, the present editor of the _Star_ -remains resolutely opposed, and declines in any way to identify himself -with such an experiment. To the ideal of a white South Africa, which, -to whatever qualifications it may necessarily be subject, is something -very different from the ideal of a Chinese South Africa, he resolutely -clings, with perfect faith that whatever its enemies may do to-day -that ideal will inevitably prevail. But as the financial houses which -control the mining industry of the Transvaal have for the present -enrolled themselves among its enemies the present editor of the _Star_ -withdraws." - -It is not difficult to read between the lines here and see the -determination of the mining magnates to crush every opposition to their -will. - -Mr. Cresswell, who had stood out for white labour on the Village -Main Reef mine, and had proved conclusively that white labour could -be employed at a profit greater than that at which black labour was -employed, was compelled to resign his general managership. Mr. Wybergh, -Commissioner of Mines, and for long a distinguished servant of the -Government, had dared to protest against Chinese serfdom, and was -forced also to resign. - -Every day it became more clear that the Transvaal was to be no place -for an Englishman. The white man's blood and the white man's treasure -may have been spent to win it for the one-time flag of freedom, but the -Englishman was not to make his home or earn his living upon the land. -"We want no white proletariat," Lord Milner had said. - -But the magnates did not stop at merely coercing the press. Indignation -meetings were held at Cape Town and Kimberley, and they employed men -to break them up at 15s. per head. - -At a meeting at Johannesburg, held by the African Labour League, it -was arranged that a proposal should be put to the vote deploring the -importation of Asiatics, and protesting against the action of the -Government, and demanding a referendum in the colony. At this meeting -several men were present, paid by a certain Mr. B. of Johannesburg to -create a disturbance. Their efforts were so successful, they shouted so -long "You want the Chinese," that the meeting became an uproar, and the -speakers were unable to be heard. - -But all protests were unavailing and futile. All opposition was -considered as a party move. The cry of "Yellow slavery" was attributed -to shameless Radical tactics. The Liberal Party, it was said, would -stoop to anything with which to besmirch the fair name of the -Conservative Party. The Ordinance passed the House after having been -debated at length. It has since been altered in some of its most -important details, thereby emphasizing the fact that in permitting the -question to be debated in the House the Government only regarded the -discussion as a sham. - -But even in the Conservative Party there were men whose consciences -pricked them over the Ordinance. One old respected member, who has -recently died, declared privately on the day that the vote was -taken that for the first time in his life he had voted against his -conscience, at the urgent instance of the Conservative whips. He for -one realized, when it was too late, that the introduction of the -Chinese on the Rand was--as Mr. Asquith lately remarked at Leven--"a -most gigantic and short-sighted blunder." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND - - -"It must be admitted that the lot of the Chinese labourer does not -promise to be very gay or very happy from our point of view" (extract -from _The Times_). - -Experience has shown that it is not economical to employ Chinese under -the only conditions in which public opinion will allow them to be used, -that is, under semi-servile conditions. This was the experience of all -other parts of the Empire, but it was the last thing to have any weight -with the mine owners. Their one idea of economy was to get labour cheap. - -If you deduct 33 to 40 per cent. from the money that has to be paid in -wages, that 33 to 40 per cent. is money saved--is money which will go -to swell the dividends to an amount, so it had been estimated, of two -and a half millions. - -The simplicity of this calculation should have given them pause. -Financiers, at least, should be aware that nothing is so untrustworthy -as the abstract profit and loss account. Men who had used figures to -such good advantage should have understood that while on paper the -difference between the price paid to the Chinese and the price paid to -the white or black labourer was profit, in actual practice it would -prove nothing of the sort. - -The mine owners have learnt this lesson by now. They have discovered -that Chinese labour is an economical failure. - -But in the summer of 1904 they were all eagerness for the coming of the -yellow man. To their imaginations these men were to be nothing better -than slaves. They were to work as long as they wanted them to work at -prices which they would settle themselves. Craftily-concocted laws -enabled them to bring the same sort of brutal pressure to bear upon the -yellow man as the slave owner of old brought upon the black man. He -could be fined, flogged, driven, coerced by all means to tear the gold -from the bowels of the earth at whatever rate the masters might wish. -They had treated the black men pretty much as they liked. But the black -men had the knack of dying in thousands under such treatment (thereby, -as I have already noted, affording hearty amusement for gatherings of -the Chamber of Mines), or of throwing up their work and going back to -their native kraals. - -The Rand lord had not had complete control of the black man. Foolish -people at home, influenced by what Lord Milner once called Exeter Hall -sentiments, had insisted that the black man must possess those personal -rights of liberty and freedom which, until recently, were given to all -races who paid allegiance to the Sovereign of the British Dominions -beyond the Seas. - -For the first time the mine owner was to have forty to fifty thousand -men who were to live under strict surveillance in a sort of prison -yard, who were to be absolutely at his mercy and at his will, who were -to work every day of the week, Sundays included--the evangelizing -enterprise of the Rector of St. Mary's, Johannesburg, did not seem to -have run to indoctrinating the Rand lords or their slaves with the -principles of the Fourth Commandment--who were to be forced into doing -whatsoever their masters wished by all sorts of ingenious punishments -and penalties. - -They of course forgot the all-important factor in this dream of theirs -that a Chinaman will willingly consent to an arrangement which, as _The -Times_ admitted, would make their lot neither very gay nor very happy. - -But none the less this was the spirit in which the Chinaman was -recruited in China and first treated on his arrival. - -Quite the most frivolous of all the pledges given by Mr. Lyttelton on -behalf of the Rand lords, was one in which he solemnly declared that -to every Chinese labourer recruited from his native land the Ordinance -would be carefully explained by the recruiting officer. - -I do not recollect that the House of Commons was moved to an outburst -of Olympian mirth at this most ridiculous statement. If I recollect -aright, the statement was received with that solemn British expression -of approval, "Hear, hear!" - -"The Ordinance," said Mr. Lyttelton, "will be explained carefully to -each labourer before he consents to embark for South Africa." - -Now, the Ordinance is a long and complicated document. It would be -impossible to explain it to the most intelligent Chinaman in under an -hour. Actually, it would probably take him a whole day to completely -understand the sort of life he was going to lead on the Rand. For one -man to explain the Ordinance to 40,000 of them would have taken about -nine years. At the recruiting offices established in China for the -purpose of obtaining these yellow slaves, it would have taken at least -three years to make all the forty to fifty thousand Chinamen still -working on the Rand to thoroughly understand the Ordinance. - -This was a _reductio ad absurdum_ argument, which one would have -thought must have occurred to the minds of the Government, but if it -did occur to them they kept it in the background with due solemnity. - -Seeing that the recruiting and sending over to South Africa of more -than 40,000 Chinamen occupied less than a year, it is clear that this -pretence of allowing the Chinaman to enter upon his engagement with -the Rand lords with his eyes open was a pretence, and nothing else. -But even if the simplest arithmetical calculation failed to convince -the Government, their knowledge of human nature should have made them -realize the absurdity of imagining that the recruiting of these men -would be carried out on such principles. The recruiter, whether for the -Army, or for any other purpose, is very much like a barrister with a -brief. He has only to see one side of the argument; he has to close his -mind firmly to all considerations other than the fact that it is his -duty to get men for the particular purpose for which he is recruiting. -Whoever found the recruiting-sergeant telling an embryo Tommy Atkins -about the hardships of a life in the Army, of the punishments to which -he renders himself liable, of the powers of a court-martial, and the -like? He only tells him of the splendid chance he has of serving his -King and country; of his handsome uniform; of the influence of that -uniform on the female breast, and the like. I have met men who have -recruited in South Africa for the Philippines, who have recruited in -England for revolutionary committees for some of the South American -republics, and I know that the one picture that these men do not paint -to their recruits is the picture of their possible hardships. If the -white recruiter acts like this to men of his own colour, how was he -likely to act towards men of a different colour whom centuries of -traditional prejudice led him to regard with contempt and dislike? - -I am convinced that ninety-nine out of every hundred of the Chinamen at -present working on the Rand neither knew then nor know now the exact -terms on which they were brought from their homes. Again, it is well -known that the Chinaman has a hereditary dislike to forfeiting his -freedom of action. However bad his Government may be, he has the same -instinct for freedom as the white man in Great Britain. All the best -authorities on China agree that he would never of his own free-will -have consented to bind himself to the Rand lords on the terms set forth -in the Ordinance. - -What happened, of course, was that the Chinese local authorities, when -asked to assist in the recruiting of men for the Rand, made out a -list of all the wastrels, semi-criminals and hooligans who kept their -Governments in a state of anarchy and unrest, and forced these men -to indenture themselves. In fact, the situation on the Rand is very -much as if we had emptied our prisons and turned out all our thieves, -murderers and hooligans loose on the veld. - -One cannot blame the Chinese Government for so acting. It is a proof -rather that that ancient empire still retains, amidst a great deal that -is bad and corrupt, a spirit of elementary justice. - -It would have been criminal to have sent Chinese citizens to the -Transvaal. It was quite another matter to send batches of criminals. - -The ease with which men were recruited and shipped to the Transvaal -seemed to confirm the Rand lords in their delusion that at last they -had got hold of people who would increase their dividends for them -without demanding rights and privileges. - -_The Times_ had called them masculine machinery. Lord Selborne had -said that they would be crammed in loose-boxes and taken over. When -at first the long procession of pigtails and blue shirts appeared at -Johannesburg they certainly seemed to be so much masculine machinery, -so much cattle to be crammed into cattle-trucks at one port and -unshipped at another. - -But all delusions or illusions were soon destroyed. - -It was found that the Chinaman actually thought for himself; that he -had a sense of fair play, and that he was not prepared to work like a -horse for a shilling or so a day. - -The compounds in which these yellow slaves were herded together are -pieces of land in close proximity to the mine, surrounded by a high -fence, guarded by armed police. They look exactly what in fact they -are--prisons, and nothing else. Hospitals have been erected in each -of the compounds, and an ample supply of gods have been procured for -the Chinamen, possibly as a set-off to the evangelistical zeal of the -Rector of St. Mary's, for there is no knowing what a Chinaman might do -if he became thoroughly inculcated with the doctrines of love and mercy -which were preached in the Sermon on the Mount. - -The compound in other respects is very like a village. No one can -go into this village unless he has got some special business or -has obtained a permit. These restrictions serve a double purpose. -They prevent the possibility of a white man or a white woman being -insulted by the slaves, and also put a check upon that inquiry into the -treatment of the yellow men which the Rand lords are moving heaven and -earth to baulk. - -The huts in which labourers live are identical with those made for -Kaffirs. They hold one or two, as the case may be. - -The labourers have to work day and night in shifts of eight hours. When -it is time for a batch of labourers to begin their shift, they are -herded together and marched off to the mine, care being taken to keep -them quite apart from the Kaffirs and whites. - -At the pit mouth they are driven into the cage and dropped down into -the bowels of the earth. When the cage is opened the Chinaman is driven -out, and if he show some hesitation about leaving the cage, he is -kicked out as if he were an animal. At least, that is the treatment to -which they were at first subjected. Now, however, their treatment in -the mine is hardly so severe. Indeed, it would not be too much to say -that the Chinaman now does his share of the "kicking." For example, -on September 23 last, the Chinese at the Lancaster Mine attempted to -murder the skipman by placing a beam in the path of the descending -skip--a collision with which, as a writer in the _Daily Mail_ lately -pointed out, "would have sent the skip a drop of a thousand feet." The -obstruction was noticed. When the skipman got out he was assaulted, but -managed to escape. - -The white overseer at first felt that instinctive fear of and dislike -for the Chinaman that is peculiar to all Englishmen. He was one man -against hundreds. In the majority of cases he had been bitterly opposed -to the introduction of Chinese labour. He realized by the restrictions -that had been placed by the Ordinance on the Chinamen that they were -feared, and, in turn, he feared them himself. It was his duty to see -that they worked. It was his duty to make them work. Unable to speak -their language, instinctively disliking them, he used the only means -of asserting his authority which came to his hands: that was generally -a boot or a crowbar. Physical fear is the power by which nearly all -primitive communities are ruled. The white races look upon the Chinamen -as belonging to a primitive community, forgetting that they are the -children of a civilization thousands of years older than any that -exists in Europe. - -The white man soon dropped trying to rule by force. The Chinaman showed -him that he feared blows as little as he feared death. If he didn't -want to work he wouldn't work, and showed that fear was not the basis -of Chinese morals. Once in the mine the docile, tractable Chinaman of -the Rand lords' dream did just as he liked, and continues to do just as -he likes. - -When he leaves the compound he, perhaps, takes with him half a loaf -of bread. When he feels hungry, he stops work, coils himself upon the -ground, and takes his meal. Let the language of the white man be as -terrible as he is capable of, let him rain blows upon the Chinaman's -back, the Chinaman takes no notice, but continues his meal. When he -has finished his bread he rolls a cigarette, and smokes in calm and -indifferent quietness. If the Englishman remonstrates with him, John -Chinaman replies, "Me get one little shilling. Me do plenttee work for -me pay." - -And he speaks the truth. He does quite enough work for a shilling a -day. There is a wide difference between what he considers sufficient -work and what the Rand lords consider sufficient. There is the increase -of two and a half millions which the cosmopolitan mine owner hopes to -make by using the Chinaman as a slave, and which he never will make -either with the Chinaman or the black man. He does his best, however. - -The idea that this heathen, whom he has brought over with so much -difficulty, in the face of so much opposition, should actually refuse -to work like a machine, but should have ideas about the time when he -wants to eat, and should even demand a few minutes' quiet smoke after -eating, drives him almost to the point of insanity. It is almost as bad -as those white workmen, who have a mania for forming trade unions and -require fair wages for fair work. - -In the face of this Chinese intractableness while working in the -mines, the Rand lords have urged on the white overseers to force the -Chinese to do their work. When the overseer points out that if he -resorts to violence his life will not be worth a moment's purchase, he -is met with the reply that it is his duty to see that the Chinaman does -his work, and if he cannot do that they must find somebody else to take -his place. Under this threat of dismissal, the overseer has had only -one resource. He has had to raise up a race feud, from which he stands -apart. - -The Kaffirs already hate the yellow man, realizing that they have -deprived them of their work. The white overseer has fomented this -racial animosity. When the Chinaman has proved recalcitrant and -disobedient, when he has refused to do more than a certain quantity -of work, the overseer turns the black man on to him to force him once -again to his task. - -The result is bloodshed and murder of black men and Chinamen. - -It is the old problem of leading a horse to the water and trying to -make him drink. - -The Chinaman has been dragged from his native land in the face of -the opposition of the whole Empire to increase the dividend paying. -But he won't hurry, he won't work too hard, and in the mine he will -do, as I have said, exactly as he pleases. All illusions as to the -Chinaman's capacity for hard work have vanished. Even Mr. S. B. -Joel--one of the Rand lords--practically admitted as much in his speech -at the annual meeting of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment -Company on November 23. With much reluctance, as may be imagined, the -light-hearted "Solly" admitted that "the Chinese had not yet proved -quite so suitable for underground work as natives"--but, lest this -statement might affect the market price of the shares, the chairman -of "Johnnies" expressed the hope that they would attain greater -efficiency. No--the Chinaman does not work hard. It is true that he -takes his employment seriously, and that what he does he will do well -and with a certain efficiency. But he is not the masculine machinery or -the cattle of Lord Selborne's imagination. He has enough intelligence -to realize that he is the man who is wanted, and acts accordingly. If -he works for a shilling a day he will only do a shilling's worth of -work. He knows that he must be employed; nobody else can be got to do -his job, and he acts, in fact, just as the Rand lords feared the white -labourer would act. He won't be bullied into doing any more work than -he wants to do. True, he forms no trade unions such as the white men -form, but there is among all the Chinese a much more powerful weapon -of opposition than the trade unions. Every Chinaman has his secret -society, and these societies act together as one man. If the society -decides to stop work, they stop work, and neither the fear of death nor -the most callous or brutal treatment can move them from their purpose. -He hates the white man with the same intensity as the white man hates -him. If he can get the white man into any difficulty he will do so. -His ingenuity for creating trouble is worthy of a better cause. With a -sort of diabolical foresight he realizes exactly the complaints that -will be showered upon the overseer's head by the masters of the mines. -If the output falls, he knows that there will be trouble for the white -man, so he stops work. He squats down and smokes cigarettes, realizing -that by so doing he will be laying up a store of trouble for the -overseer. - -To show how much the Chinaman is now the master of the situation on -the Rand I may quote the following instance--On the night of October -24, the Chinese at the Jumpers Deep Mine refused to work until two -of their compatriots, who had been arrested for an infringement of -the mining regulations, were released. Every artifice was resorted -to to get the stubborn Chinamen to resume their toil, but in vain. -Eventually, the Government superintendent of the Chinese, acting under -recently-extended powers, had forty of the head men arrested. Twenty -of these were afterwards sentenced, some to two and others to three -months' hard labour--sentences which probably moved to quiet mirth the -parties most concerned, who could do that sort of punishment "on their -head," so to speak. - -It has been said, of course, that the miners along the reef have always -worked against the Chinese. It is not to be wondered at if they have. -Nobody could reasonably blame them--except the Rand lords. But so far -from this being true, the white miners have done their best to work -with them. Even the chairman of the Chamber of Mines has confessed that -the innumerable riots that have occurred down in the mines were not the -result of the white men's machinations. The white man does his best, -but under circumstances without parallel in the history of labour. He -works always with the certain knowledge that at any moment he may be -killed. To him the yellow terror is not a myth or the dream of fiction -writers. He knows what it means. It is present with him every hour -of his work. Down the mine in the stopes a white man has under him -thirty or forty Chinese. If any grievance, real or imaginary, arose, -the Chinese could turn round and take his life. He has no protection -whatever. He has to stand by and listen as best he can to the insults -heaped upon him by the children of the Celestial Empire; and insults -heaped not only upon him but upon his womenfolk. He has to see that -the work is done efficiently, or he is dismissed from his employment. -But there is little wonder that his anger or fear gets the better of -his discretion. It is bad enough that Chinamen are doing the work that -should be done by white men, but it becomes even a greater scandal -when the white men, who sacrificed so much blood and treasure for the -Transvaal, should be insulted by these yellow slaves. - -The low-class Chinaman is probably the most bestial and degrading -brute on this earth. He is intelligent enough, but his mind is as vile -and unwholesome as a sewer. The bestial insults which he heaps upon -the white overseers, and, indeed, upon every white man that he comes -across, three years ago would not have been tolerated in any quarter -of the British Empire. It is tolerated to-day in the Transvaal by the -sanction of German Jews and un-British Gentiles. - -Lord Selborne, when the matter was brought to his notice, declared--"No -wonder a white miner who has had such language said to him would fail -to have roused within him feelings which would take a certain natural -direction of satisfying themselves. But where has the Chinaman learnt -this kind of language? he did not come here knowing it." - -Lord Selborne's implication was, of course, that the Englishmen, in -their conversation in the presence of Chinamen, were accustomed to use -this bestial talk. - -I don't pretend that the conversation of miners is always savoury. I am -sure that the method of conversation in vogue in some of the Yorkshire -and Lancashire factories would scandalize decent, quiet-living people, -but such language on the part of the British workman is the result of -his inability to express himself properly. What he says is said for -emphasis. He does not, like a more educated man, add vigour to his -conversation by making use of the endless variations of his mother -tongue; he simply peppers his talk with epithets which in no way are -used in their original meaning. If they were used in their original -meaning, if the British workman really meant what he said, all the -deadly sins in thought or in practice would be committed millions -and millions of times a day. But the Chinaman is noted for his taste -for all the most bestial vices which the imagination of man has ever -conceived. What the miner may say in a coarse moment the Chinaman will -commit without any hesitation. - -Lord Selborne asked where the Chinamen learnt this kind of language, -and added that they did not come to the Transvaal knowing it. If Lord -Selborne visited some of the treaty ports in China he would soon become -aware that the Chinaman has added to his taste for committing all the -vile and bestial vices, a knowledge of how to express these vices in -all the vile and bestial language of Europe. As most of the criminal -classes are to be found within the fringe of European civilization, and -as, moreover, the Chinese Government has drafted, with a certain grim -humour, a large number of the criminal classes into the Transvaal, I -think the question as to where the Chinaman learnt his bestial language -is answered equally as well as the statement, that he did not come to -the Transvaal knowing it, is contradicted. - -This is the state of affairs in the mines themselves. But if these -yellow slaves are intractable in the mines, they are even more -intractable in the compounds. - -What they want to do that they will do, and not all the prisons and -ingeniously-compiled penal laws can prevent them. They soon realized -that if they wished they could be masters of the Rand. They foresaw -that the Rand lord would be chary of using force, would hesitate to put -into execution his slave-owning ideals, for fear of public opinion at -home; that is to say, to put them into full force. - -But the Rand lords were not the type of men who would be chary of -impressing upon the Chinamen in secret the full meaning of their -position on the Rand. - -As it is the case in the mines, so is it the case in the compounds. - -The white man not only hates the yellow man, but fears him. He knows -that at any moment he may be murdered, and with this fear in his heart -has resorted to all sorts of brutality. - -The Chinamen can be flogged by law for almost any act. The Ordinance -says that a Chinaman cannot leave the compound without a permit, and -prescribes his life for him on absolute machine-like lines. The amended -Ordinance of July 1904 says that he can be flogged in cases of assault -with intent to commit any offence. Of course, an assault with intent -to commit any offence might consist in hustling his neighbours in an -attempt to escape from his compound, in pushing against the white -overseer, in refusing to work. In short, the law was so ingeniously -amended that the Chinaman could be flogged for anything. - -But the law was really not needed. The manager of the Croesus Mine -admitted that when he considered a Chinaman wrong he had flogged him; -that it might be against the law to flog him, but he had done so, and -would continue to do so. - -And he was not only flogged for disobeying the regulations under -which--knowingly, it is said--he had indentured himself, but for -refusing to work. An Ordinance might substitute corporal punishment for -imprisonment in the case of misdemeanours on the part of the Chinaman -and so escape the title of slavery; but to force a man to work by -corporal punishment is nothing but the essence of slavery. And yet -these yellow men have been whipped to their work again and again. - -But flogging is no new thing on the Rand, nor is it confined to the -Chinaman. The native knows the sjambok of the Rand lord well enough. "I -well recollect," says Mr. Douglas Blackburn (lately assistant editor of -the defunct Johannesburg _Daily Express_), writing to _The Times_ on -November 4,--"I well recollect seventy-two boys being flogged before -breakfast one morning in Krugersdorp gaol for the crime of refusing to -work for £2 per month, after being promised £5 by the labour agent." - -While these facts are well known in Johannesburg, while there are many -people who openly admit that they have thrashed the coolie, or ordered -him to be thrashed for refusing to do sufficient work, the Rand papers, -which are absolutely under the control of the mine owners, denied -again and again that flogging took place. It was only Mr. Lyttelton's -announcement that flogging must cease that at last compelled them to -admit that flogging had taken place. Mr. Lyttelton had himself denied -on several occasions that the Chinaman was flogged, and his command -therefore that flogging must cease was quite as amazing to the members -of the House of Commons as it was to the Rand lords. - -To anybody who has witnessed the development of Chinese slavery on the -Rand, it is almost incomprehensible that there should be any people -at home who deliberately refuse to believe that the Chinaman has been -treated otherwise than as a human being, made in the image of God, with -the rights that belong to all men of justice and freedom. The subject -is as openly discussed, and regarded as a matter of fact on the Rand, -as the Lord Mayor's Show. - -I cannot do better than quote from the now famous letters of Mr. Frank -C. Boland to the _Morning Leader_. These letters show the development -of yellow slavery in a nutshell, show how from flogging the yellow man -to his work the Rand lords finally resorted to torture:-- - -"At the Nourse Deep severe punishment was meted out. Every boy who -did not drill his thirty-six inches per shift was liable to be, and -actually was, whipped, unless he were ill, and could show that it was a -physical impossibility for him to do a day's work. A sjambok was used; -it was laid on relentlessly by Chinese policemen, the part of the body -selected being the muscles and tendons at the back of the thighs. Even -the sight of blood did not matter. The policeman would go right on to -the last stroke. Having been thus punished, the coolie would walk away; -but after sitting down for a time the bruised tendons would refuse to -work. Many of the coolies were sent to hospital to recover. - -"At a later date at this mine strips of rubber were substituted for a -sjambok. This rubber, while causing very sharp pain, does not cut. - -"After a time the mine officials found that the coolies were not -maintaining the monthly increase, and the management urged the Chinese -controller to 'do something.' He refused to thrash the coolies unless -they had committed some crime; and being informed by the manager -that his policy would not suit, he gave two months' notice of his -resignation. - -"Meanwhile, the management issued instructions, because of advice from -England, that flogging should be stopped as far as possible, but asking -that other forms of punishment should be substituted. - -"Thereupon certain forms of torture well known in the Far East were -adopted. One of these was to strip erring coolies absolutely naked, -and leave them tied by their pigtails to a stake in the compound for -two or three hours. The other coolies would gather round and laugh and -jeer at their countrymen, who stood shivering in the intense cold. - -"A more refined form of torture was to bind a coolie's left wrist with -a piece of fine rope, which was then put through a ring in a beam about -nine feet from the ground. This rope was then made taut, so that the -unhappy coolie, with his left arm pulled up perpendicularly, had to -stand on his tip-toes. In this position he was kept, as a rule, for two -hours, during which time, if he tried to get down on his heels, he must -dangle in the air, hanging from the left wrist. - -"Every mine has its lock-up for malingerers, deserters, and others. At -the Witwatersrand the coolies are handcuffed over a horizontal beam. - -"The floor is of concrete, and they may sit down, but the beam is so -far from the floor that it is impossible for any but exceptionally -tall men to sit while handcuffed. They must therefore squat, and for a -change raise themselves in a semi-standing posture. - -[Illustration: INSTEAD OF FLOGGING.] - -"When released, these prisoners stagger about until they regain the use -of their legs; then they take their skoff and go below to work. - -"With the abolition of flogging, compound managers are now inventing -other forms of punishment. In future, also, there will be an -extensive system of fines, and food will be withheld. - -"Meanwhile, with all these methods of punishment, the coolies are -still turbulent. Last Monday practically every boy on the Nourse -Deep--seventy-five in all--was sent to gaol for seven days. This step -is certain to foment trouble in the near future." - -It was this sort of inquisition that Great Britain had set up at the -point of her bayonets. - -Well might the Australian Government say in their letter of -protest--"Australia has been told that the war was a miners' war but -not for Chinese miners, a war for the franchise but not for Chinese -franchise. The truth, if it had to be told, would have presented a -very different aspect, and would have made a very different appeal to -Australia." - -It would, indeed, have made a very different appeal to the British -public. Would there have been so much killing of Kruger with our mouths -had we known that a white proletariat would not be wanted--in Lord -Milner's words--that the white labourer was not to be allowed into -the Transvaal because his trade unions would shackle the enterprise -of the Rand lords; that yellow slaves would have to be introduced -in the disguise of indentured labour; that these labourers would be -whipped and tortured into doing their work? Had they known that on the -Witwatersrand the average number of Chinamen flogged daily for one -month was forty-two--Sundays included--would there have been so much -Rule Britannia and music-hall Jingoism? - -It is quite true, of course, that had the British people accepted the -principle of importing Chinese labour into the Transvaal it would be -quite fair to blame, as Lord Salisbury was always so fond of blaming, -the system for the cruelty that inevitably followed. But the British -public have never accepted the principle of importing Chinese labourers -into the Transvaal. They have always been deliberately opposed to -it, as has every part of the British Empire. They are not to blame, -therefore, for the state of affairs on the Rand. - -As to the insane flogging administered for an offence, it cannot be -better described than by giving another quotation from Mr. Boland's -letter to the _Morning Leader_. Here is the method of procedure:-- - -"A coolie is reported either by a white shift boss or by a head-man for -an offence. He is called into the compound manager's office, charged, -and given a fair trial (except where the compound manager does not know -the Chinese language, and has to trust to his yellow interpreter). Then -the sentence is passed by the compound manager--ten, fifteen, or twenty -strokes, according to the crime. The coolie, with a Chinese policeman -on either side of him, is taken away about ten paces. Then he stops, -and at the word of a policeman drops his pantaloons, and falls flat on -his face and at full length on the floor. One policeman holds his -feet together; another, with both hands pressed firmly on the back of -his head, looks after that end of his body. Then the flagellator, with -a strip of thick leather on the end of a three-foot wooden handle, -lays on the punishment, severely or lightly, as instructed. Should -the prisoner struggle after the first few strokes, another policeman -plants a foot in the middle of his back until the full dose has been -administered. - -[Illustration: LAYING ON THE PUNISHMENT.] - -"In another form of flogging practised, a short bamboo was used. The -coolie would strip to the waist and go down on his knees with his head -on the floor. His castigator would then squat beside him, and strike -him across the shoulders with lightning rapidity. The blows, though -apparently light, always fell on the one spot, and raised a large red -weal before cutting the flesh. During the first quarter of this year no -fewer than fifty-six coolies were whipped, after 8 p.m. one evening, at -the Witwatersrand Mine, the dose varying from five to fifteen strokes." - -In Mr. Douglas Blackburn's letter to _The Times_, from which I quoted -just now, we are told that much of the resultant mischief was due -to the incompetence and mismanagement of the men in charge of the -compound. "I assert unequivocally," he says, "that most of the white -interpreters and compound managers had not a working acquaintance -with the Chinese language, and, therefore, frequently misunderstood -the complaints and requests made to them by the coolies.... This is -no place for detail, but the following incident, which occurred in -my presence, may be accepted as typical and illustrative. A compound -manager was examining the passes of a number of coolies. When we -left the compound we were followed by two Chinamen who shouted and -gesticulated violently, and clutched at the arm of the manager. I could -see that he failed to understand them, for he shouted wildly in return, -exhibited signs of great alarm, and eventually knocked them both down, -called the guard, had the pair locked up, and later in the day he -flogged them for insubordination. Next day he confided to me that he -was in fault. He had inadvertently put the passes into his pocket and -misinterpreted the clamouring request for their return into threats -against himself. That manager is now seeking another engagement." - -The twenty thousand soldiers who went to their death fighting what they -imagined was for their country, might well, instead of singing "God -save the King" and the like, have marched to the battle-fields of the -Transvaal and the Orange River Colony crying, like the old gladiators, -"Ave, Croesus, morituri te salutant." - -[Illustration: CUTTING THE FLESH.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM - - -When Mr. Lyttelton said that flogging must cease, flogging ceased on -the Rand, and the Oriental methods of torture were adopted instead. - -But even this penal system--reminding one so strongly of the days of -Stephen, when the wretched, tortured peasantry openly said that Christ -and His saints slept, for Pity had veiled her face and Mercy had -forgotten--had to be practised with great secrecy owing to the force of -public opinion at home. - -These methods were, however, unavailing to check the growing insolence -and insubordination of the Chinese slaves. No better idea of the -condition of the Rand during the last few months can be gathered -than from the new Ordinance, which was drafted at the beginning of -last October. This Ordinance took the power of punishing the Chinese -coolies from the hands of the resident magistrates and placed it -in the hands of the inspectors, thereby giving the welfare of the -Chinese slaves solely and entirely into the mercy of the Rand lords. -Before, an attempt had been made to cloak the slave Ordinance with a -pretence of law and justice as conceived by the British public. But the -draft Ordinance of August put an end to this piece of hypocrisy. The -superintendents and the inspectors of the Chinese, for all practical -purposes the servants of the mine owners, were to be not only the judge -and the jury, but the plaintiff. It conferred on the superintendents -and inspectors jurisdiction, in respect of offences against the -Ordinance, of a resident magistrate. - -Clause I states--"This power will be granted provided such offences -are committed under the Ordinance and within the area of any mine or -mine compound where such labourer resides. The fines to be inflicted -in the case of conviction will be the same as those imposed by the -magistrates under the existing laws, and on conviction the labourer's -employer will be notified, and the amount of the fine will be deducted -from the labourer's wages and paid over for the benefit of the Colonial -Treasury." - -Another clause states that--"For the purpose of confining prisoners -awaiting trial, it is provided that the employers of labourers shall -erect a lock-up on their properties, which lock-up shall be deemed to -be a jail." - -Again, in the event of labourers on the mines organizing a conspiracy, -refusing to work, creating a disturbance, intimidating or molesting any -person on the mine, the superintendent or inspector is empowered to -impose a collective fine on the labourers. - -Insomuch as this new Ordinance once and for all destroys the myth with -which Rand lords endeavoured to surround their slave-owning ideals, I -consider it to be a decided improvement upon the original Ordinance, -with its innumerable pleasures and pretences for the moral and -spiritual welfare of the Chinamen. - -That unfortunate and much-deluded man the Colonial Secretary, once -declared in the House of Commons that the Chinaman would have just as -free access to a court of justice as any British subject. He certainly -now-a-days possesses free access to a court, if not to a court of -justice. Access is so easy to it that the court actually follows him -wherever he goes, watches him while he works in the mine, watches him -while he is in the compound, and is ready to punish and fine him, or to -lock him up in the compound prison, without any of those old-fashioned -formalities which, while they may embody the machinery of justice, are -at least guarantees of its purity and disinterestedness. - -It would of course be very interesting to know how many of these fines -have ever reached the Colonial Treasury. Armed with such extraordinary -powers as these, it is highly probable that the Rand lords imposed -through their superintendents and inspectors unlimited fines which, -instead of benefiting the Colonial Revenue, merely reduced the wage -bill. - -The last clause which I have quoted contains the phrase "organizing a -conspiracy." A conspiracy, of course, is anything in the nature of a -trade union. - -I don't say that this new Ordinance was not justified. I think it was -fully justified. No efficiency can be obtained by half measures. The -ablest political trimmers are incapable of serving both God and Mammon. -If God is out of the question, a whole-hearted worship of Mammon is -really better. In short, it would have been far more in the interests -of the Transvaal if the Rand lords had from the first gone the whole -hog and insisted on having Chinese slaves in name as well as in fact. - -The state of affairs in August last wanted extraordinary legislation. -But, of course, this must not be held to justify Chinese labour. -That was criminal. But once the principle of Chinese labour had been -accepted by the Government on behalf of an unwilling and protesting -nation, I fail to see how the unfortunate remnants of British subjects -in the Transvaal could be properly protected without these measures. -I don't see how, when once the Chinese had been brought into the -country, the brutalities that have been committed could have been -avoided. I think the superintendent and the inspector and the overseer -should have the right to shoot men down in cold blood. I think the -compounds should be surrounded by artillery. I think all the ideals -of Russian autocratic rule should be brought to bear upon these men. -The awful brutality with which they have been treated is justified. -The superintendent, the inspector and the overseer should be forced to -make a special study of the methods adopted by Hawkins and Magree. -The British Government wanted Chinese labour to be introduced into the -Transvaal, and if they had been efficient and sensible they should -have accumulated in their Ordinance the wisdom of all the slave-owning -traditions of centuries. - -But from an unbiassed perusal of the Rand press one would have imagined -that all these extraordinary measures were unjustified. - -The statements that the Chinese were committing outrages, were -insolent, were bestial, which have from time to time appeared in the -British press, were referred to by the Rand press as "more Chinese -lies," "Chinese canards," and such headings. They persistently -impressed upon their readers that the Chinese were leading an -industrious, idyllic life, that they were treated with kindness and -humanity by the overseers, that no happier community ever existed on -the face of the earth than the 40,000 odd Chinamen in their compounds -on the Rand. - -Of course, they only kept up this pretence for a time. It was -impossible for long to pretend to be a newspaper at all and yet deny -facts which were personally known to the majority of their readers. - -The object of this extraordinary legislation was, of course, that the -Chinese preferred to go to prison rather than pay fines. - -At the beginning of August there were more than one thousand Chinamen -in jail undergoing various terms of imprisonment, rather than deduct -from their shilling a day, the amounts they were called upon to pay for -disobeying the laws laid down in the Ordinance. - -The amended Ordinance now forced them to pay by withholding from them -a portion of their wage equal to the amount of the fine. It has been -found useless, in fact, to pretend that other than a reign of terror -pertains in the Transvaal. The Chinamen have broken loose, and only -their prompt deportation can prevent a very grave crisis. Neither fines -nor floggings have any terror for them, and from their earliest years -they have been accustomed to regard death without a semblance of fear. - -I will relate some of the more notorious instances in which these -yellow slaves have figured in the last year. The list includes, murder, -rape, robbery with violence, and that class of criminal assault with -which we deal in England under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. - -While working in the mines the Chinaman does exactly what he pleases. -The overseers dare not interfere. Their policy of putting the black -man on to the yellow man has resulted in murder. The Chinaman has a -short way with any white or black man who tries to interfere with his -sense of liberty. He kills the man. Every Chinaman belongs to a secret -society, and when he has determined to kill a white or a black man he -reports his decision to the society. He knows that the deed which he -meditates will be rewarded by his own death: but for this he cares -nothing. All his preparations are made beforehand. His secret society -probably consists of from four to five thousand members. All these -members contribute something like sixpence a-piece to make up a sum, -say of £100. When this amount is collected, it is sent over to his wife -and family in China. Having thus made all the necessary provision for -his wife and children, the Chinaman perpetrates the deed. He is then -arrested, sentenced and hanged. And he meets his end with a stoical -indifference, quite content that he has secured his revenge and set his -worldly affairs in order. - -In the face of such sentiments compulsion is futile. - -On Wednesday, September 13, a gang of Chinese coolies working at the -Geldenhuis Deep Mine decided to take a holiday. The management of the -mine were instructed to offer them extra pay if they would work. They -refused, and took their holiday. They promised, however, that they -would start their first shift at midnight on the following Sunday, -September 17. When midnight on Sunday, September 17, arrived, they -determined to keep their holiday up. The compound manager endeavoured -to use force. The Chinese met force by force. The police were called -in. The riot at that juncture had reached a most alarming state. -The police were ordered to fire: they obeyed, killing one Chinaman -and wounding another; but not before the compound manager had been -attacked and somewhat seriously injured. Finally the Chinamen were -driven to their work. - -On the same Sunday the utter uselessness of the compound system -was proved. One hundred Chinamen bolted from the French Rand Mine. -Somebody, it is supposed, had spread among them the report that the -Boers were enlisting coolies at £4 a month to fight the English. In -vain has the number of police in the Witwatersrand district been -increased. Gangs of deserters are wandering about the country murdering -and looting. - -"Last night," wrote a young South African policeman to his parents in -England, "I captured six Chinamen who had run away from the mines. They -are giving a lot of trouble--5000 of them started rioting last week, -and 100 foot police and 200 South African Constabulary had to go to -stop them, and a nice old job we had. They threw broken bottles and -stones when we charged them. Some of our fellows were very badly cut. -The Chinamen also made dynamite bombs and threw them at us, and we had -to shoot into the crowd to drive them back. We aimed low and wounded -a good many of them. They are nasty devils to tackle, and always show -fight when there are a lot of them together. The six I captured were -trekking across the veld. I chased them on horseback and they ran on -top of a kopje and commenced to roll rocks down. I managed to get a -shot at one with my revolver: the bullet struck him on the wrist. Then -they all put up their hands and surrendered. I managed to get some -niggers working in the mealie patch to escort them back to our camp. -The niggers were very proud of themselves. When they passed through the -other native kraals I think if I had not been there the Kaffirs would -have assegaied them. They hate the Chinamen like poison." - -These are the sort of incidents that occur daily. All the measures -taken by the Government and the mine owners to prevent desertion have -proved ineffective. The country around the Witwatersrand Mines has -taken upon itself the aspect of the whole of the colony during the late -war. Mounted constables with loaded revolvers organize drives. The -whole district is patrolled, and every effort is made to bring back the -deserters to the compounds. But as soon as one lot has returned another -escapes. Every day you may see a mounted policeman riding down towards -the law courts, followed by a string of Chinese deserters. - -The Johannesburger lives in a daily state of terror. He rarely meets a -Chinaman without immediately seeking the protection of the police and -insisting on an inquiry being held then and there, as to whether the -man has a permit to be at large in the Golden City. - -Writing on October 2, the Johannesburg correspondent--one L. E. N.--of -a London morning paper gives a graphic account of the wonderful City -of Gold at that date. "Gold of the value of over £20,000,000 a year," -he says, "is extracted from that stretch of dusty upland called -The Reef.... But look closer. The white workers on the mines carry -revolvers; the police are armed with ball cartridge and bayonet; camped -yonder at Auckland Park is a mobile column of mounted men ready to move -against an enemy at a moment's notice; the country folk on the other -side of the swelling rise are armed to the teeth, and live at night in -barricaded and fortified houses." What a beautiful commentary on life -as it is lived--under the British flag--in the commercial and political -hub of the great sub-continent! - -The Boers, who through their political organization the Het Volk have -refused to take any active part in the management of the country, -determined with a sort of grim humour, since the British sought to -destroy the corrupt Government of their late President, they shall be -allowed to mismanage the country as they will, have been led to break -their political silence to petition the Government for more protection. -At a meeting held at Krugersdoorp at the beginning of October, they -decided to forward a resolution to the Imperial Government requesting -that the importation of Chinese coolies should be discontinued, and -those already in the country should be repatriated. Regret was further -expressed at the danger to life and property, and it was pointed -out that the policy of not allowing the Boers to carry firearms -prevented them from properly protecting the lives of their families. - -[Illustration: GOOD SPORT.] - -General Botha did not exaggerate the dangers which resulted from the -importation of Chinamen, and he voiced the common sentiment of Boer -and Briton when he asked that a Commission should be appointed to -investigate the treatment of the Chinese coolies, and ascertain the -cause of the disturbances. - -The mine owners' press informed the public that there are very few -cases of desertion; that when any number of Chinamen do desert the -South African Constabulary deal with them efficiently. They are hunted -down, rounded up, and brought in by their pigtails for trial. At the -trial they are convicted, or were before the amendment of the Ordinance -in August last, and locked up. - -Any one going through the Transvaal will see hundreds of these Chinese -convicts working in large batches on the roads. White men are placed -in charge of these convicts, and when the repairing and macadamizing -of the roads is not done to their liking, the Chinamen are flogged, -and flogged in the open. They are subjected to every kind of brutal -treatment; and it is probable that almost as many desert from the -convict prisons as desert from the slave compounds. - -In "C" Court, Johannesburg, on October 3 (or 4, I am not sure of the -exact date), before Mr. Schuurman, several Chinese labourers were -prosecuted for wandering from the mines in which they were employed, -without possessing the necessary permission. They all pleaded guilty, -and were fined £1 each. When asked what excuse they had to offer, three -of them said they were homesick, and were on their way to China; two -others stated that they had only gone for a short walk, and were close -to the mine when arrested. The policeman, however, declared they were -twenty-five miles from the mine. A few of the accused stated that they -were ill-treated, and consequently deserted. The magistrate sapiently -advised them that in such a case, instead of absconding, they should -complain to the representative of the Labour Importation Association -when he called at the mine. - -Under the new regulations, sixty-five Chinamen, including an alleged -professional robber, were arrested on October 18. A Johannesburg -correspondent describes them as "a band of 450 coolies of bad -character." What has Lieut.-Colonel W. Dalrymple, the Rand mining man -who lately at Tunbridge Wells denounced the "infamous lies" which were -circulated in this country about the Chinese labour question--what, I -repeat, has Lieut.-Colonel Dalrymple to say to _that_? - -From the same telegram I learn that the measures which are now being -taken to prevent desertions are proving effective. The roll-call -of October 8--I am now quoting the immaculate Reuter--"showed 278 -absentees, and during the following week 245 were captured and brought -back to work. Last night," adds the correspondent, meaning the night -of October 17, "nine coolies attempted to raid a homestead in the -Krugersdoorp district. The farmer fired through a window, and shot one -Chinaman dead; the others fled." I commend these statements, together -with those quoted hereafter, to the earnest attention of the editor of -a certain yellow-covered weekly journal, devoted to the interests of -South Africa--the organ of the Rand lords in London--which persistently -pooh-poohs the "yellow slavery" cry. - -Meanwhile gangs of escaped Chinamen are wandering over the country -spreading terror everywhere. The Boer farmer goes to bed at night in -his lonely farmhouse on the veld as if he were still at war with Great -Britain. Long hidden rifles are brought out from the hay-ricks and -other hiding-places and got ready. Windows are boarded up, doors are -double locked. Every preparation is made to warn off the ever expected -attack of the yellow desperadoes. - -At the beginning of October two homesteads in the Boksburg district -were attacked by a party of Chinese, who attempted to gain an entrance -by breaking in the back doors and windows. In both cases, however, the -farmers had made every preparation for such an attack, and fired on -the marauders, one of whom was wounded in the chest and another in the -abdomen. The remainder made off. - -A similar outrage occurred in the middle of November. A lonely -farmhouse near Germiston, occupied by an Englishman and his wife, -was attacked by a band of Chinese, who were armed with crowbars and -stones. The farmer opened fire, seriously wounding one of the Chinamen -in the jaw, and the rest decamped without entering. The injured man -was captured, but the whereabouts and identity of the others were not -discovered. - -In Johannesburg the talk is of nothing but murders and assaults by -gangs of ten or fourteen escaped labourers. House after house away on -the veld has been broken into and looted, and the inhabitants murdered -if they showed any signs of resistance; they have indeed in some cases -been murdered without showing any sign of resistance at all. - -Quite recently the Legislative Council of the Transvaal has re-amended -for about the tenth time the Ordinance. It has proposed to offer £1 a -head for the recapture of these yellow hooligans, an amendment which -would have placed the very much-bepatched Ordinance on a level with -the laws that prevailed in the Southern States of America before -the abolition of slavery. It is charged, however, with that strange -spirit of hypocrisy which has characterized all the proceedings of the -Rand lords into a reimbursement to the capturer of his out-of-pocket -expenses. This of course is only another way of offering £1 for -every recaptured Chinaman, for it may be taken for granted that the -capturer's expenses will always include the wear and tear of horseflesh -and moral damages and other matters which can only be estimated in the -abstract. According to the schedule of fees payable in respect of the -capture of Chinese deserters, which was published early in October, -they ranged from 1s. per mile for one or two arrests to 3s. for eight -or more. - -Here is a letter from another member of the South African Constabulary -to his people at home which emphasizes the state of affairs which exist -at present on the Rand. - -"The Chinese have been causing a lot of trouble. There was a whole -family murdered about a month ago. Several places have been broken -into. Last Sunday there was a storekeeper murdered about ten miles from -where I am staying. We have orders on no account to go out on patrol -without a revolver. The people are seeking police protection, and -are frightened out of their wits. I believe it is as much as a South -African Constabulary man's life is worth to be seen at some places on -the Rand in uniform. I am determined that if I meet any Chinamen, and -they show fight, I will shoot the first one dead." - -This is the spirit abroad--a spirit which every right-minded man -must regard as the inevitable result of the criminal action of the -Government in sanctioning the Chinese Labour Ordinance. - -Here is another case which has never been reported in the press:-- - -At Germiston railway station twelve Chinamen were waiting on the -platform for a train. A white woman happened to pass by, and as she -passed the Chinamen hurled some bestial insult at her. One of the -railway officials immediately called a policeman, who tried to take -the offending Chinaman into custody. He was promptly knocked down. -Three more policemen were hurried to the scene. These met with like -treatment, and even when two other comrades came to their assistance -they were utterly unable to effect the arrest. After twenty minutes' -violent fighting, during which the gang of Chinamen were absolutely -unhurt, six policemen were taken on stretchers to the hospital. - -Here are two or three more instances taken at random from the -"Butcher's Bill" of a Johannesburg correspondent, whose letter appeared -in the _Daily Mail_ a few weeks ago:-- - -"_Sept. 5._--Chinese attack Kaffirs in the Lancaster Mine. They throw -one Kaffir in front of a train of ore, so that he is cut to pieces. A -second Kaffir dies of his injuries. - -"_Sept. 8._--Homestead at Rand Klipfontein attacked and looted, and -£150 in money taken. The Chinese try to fire the house by throwing a -fire-ball through the window. - -"_Sept. 16._--Band of Chinese rush a Kaffir kraal at Wilgespruit, on -the West Rand. Native woman's head nearly severed. Chinese armed with -knives 2 feet 6 inches long, made by a Sheffield firm. - -"_Sept. 18._--Riot Geldenhuis Deep. Compound manager assaulted. Mounted -police attacked by 1500 coolies armed with drills, stones, bottles, -etc., and forced to fire their revolvers. One Chinaman killed and a -number wounded." - -And so on and so forth. One more instance to show to what length -the Chinamen will go. A gang of the breed employed at the Van Ryn -Mine, where there had previously been a number of disturbances, -struck work and attacked the whites underground. A white man pulled -the signal cord, and police, galloping up, descended the shaft and -saved the whites. The ringleaders were arrested, and, adds the -correspondent somewhat ingenuously--"This phase of attacks underground -is disquieting." From the adjacent colony of Natal, too, come words -of complaint about Chinese stragglers; and it is significant in this -connection that "over a thousand rifles" were issued to the farmers in -the Transvaal at the end of September last. These are facts which Mr. -Reyersbach, of Messrs. H. Eckstein & Co., would be well advised to put -in his pipe and ponder. - -Of course the immediate cause which leads to the Chinese committing the -above-recorded acts of violence is the result of bad treatment. - -The murder of Mr. Joubert in the Bronkhorst Spruit Mine--for which, on -November 20, four Chinamen were executed in Pretoria jail--who received -some fifty stabs before succumbing, was due to starvation. The men -wanted to find food. They were not allowed to eat apparently, and so, -maddened by ill-treatment, overwork, and starvation, they committed -murder. Perhaps the most tragic part of the whole business is that one -cannot completely blame them for such an awful act. They have grown to -hate the white man. It is small wonder. - -There are now nearly 50,000 Chinamen on the Rand, and in the breasts of -all these men there seems to have been imbued a hatred and detestation -of the white man. It seems almost as if these slaves considered it fair -game to commit any outrage, however brutal, on white men and white -women whenever the opportunity occurs. They are treated outrageously -themselves. They get little justice from magistrates, so it is small -wonder that they are indulging themselves in a sort of blood carnival -of revenge. - -Discussing this question the other day with a representative of the -London journal _South Africa_, Dr. Corstorphine seriously declared -that the difficulties attendant on the Chinese labour question had -been magnified out of all proportion to the main facts. "We must -expect to find a few black sheep amongst the Chinese," sagely observed -the doctor. Ye gods!--a _few_. It would be interesting to know -what constitutes a "few" in the mind of the worthy geologist. Dr. -Corstorphine would probably indignantly deny the existence of yellow -slavery on the Rand. But possibly he would admit its existence under -another name, just as Sir Edward Grey did at Alnwick the other night. -Addressing his constituents, Sir Edward said he had never said that the -working of the mines by the Chinese in South Africa was slavery; but -the question he would put to those who said it was not, would be--"Was -it _Freedom_?" That is a question that I would put to Dr. Corstorphine, -Mr. Fricker, Mr. E. P. Mathers, and others of their kidney. If Chinese -labour on the Rand isn't slavery, what is it--is it _Freedom_? I pause -for a reply. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE YELLOW TRAIL - - -The mark of the yellow man is upon the Rand. He has set his seal upon -the country, and it is to be seen in a hundred things. - -Johannesburg was never an exactly heavenly place. A gold centre -attracts all the evil passions of men--draws to it, like the lodestone -draws the needle--every species of adventurer and world vagabond. - -President Kruger knew how to deal with the cosmopolitan hordes that -thronged the streets of the "Gold-Reef City." He put a check upon -the importation of undesirables, and always remembered before all -things that the Transvaal belonged to the Boer people and not to the -cosmopolitan. The British Government might well have taken a leaf -from his book. But they have failed to do so. Instead of making the -interests of the Briton paramount, they have deliberately allowed the -Rand to be overrun by every type of Continental adventurer. - -So Johannesburg, up to the summer of 1904, was never exactly peopled by -a moral, law-abiding population. - -The fierceness of competition, the keenness to make money rapidly, -seems to electrify the sunny atmosphere of the Rand, and to produce a -community that knows no law. - -But since the summer of 1904 the Rand has suffered a change which at -one time was thought impossible; it has changed for the worse. To the -wild life in the mining city has been added the degrading vices of the -Orient. The Chinaman has brought with him all the worst vices of life -in a treaty port. Opium dens and gambling hells, in spite of the most -careful police surveillance, have sprung up. The yellow man has made -his name a terror. He has murdered, raped, robbed, and committed every -offence against law and morality. He has literally terrorized--and -still terrorizes--the Rand. The plutocrat Jew walks the familiar -streets in a state of trepidation; the Boer farmer sleeps with a rifle -by his side, and his farm house is surrounded by spring guns and -alarums. The life of no white man is safe, and the honour of no white -woman. - -"The Chinese reign of terror continues on the Rand," cabled the Durban -correspondent of the _Daily Chronicle_ on November 1. "The latest -outrage is that perpetrated by a gang of coolies, who attacked a house -at Benoni, injuring its occupant, Mr. Vaughan, and wounding his wife -with a razor. They ransacked the house and stole the plate." These -are some of the men whose praises were sung by Sir George Farrar -at a political meeting at the Nigel--and whose work as miners, he -declared, had proved "a great success." A "great success," perhaps, for -the Rand lords, but at what a terrible cost to the community of the -Witwatersrand! - -The _South African News_ of Cape Town has rendered yeoman service to -the cause of those who are opposed--and their name is legion!--to the -Chinese labour question. The ridiculous contentions of the Rand lords -have been exposed again and again by the Cape Town journal, whose -fearlessness in grappling with the subject has been in marked contrast -to the majority of its contemporaries in the sub-continent, and has -earned, as it has deserved, the thanks of the thinking portion of the -community. Commenting on October 4 on the continuance of the reign of -terror on the Rand, "as it was bound to continue," the _South African -News_ puts the case with unmistakable plainness;--"Unless the Chinese -are confined in such a way as the mine-owners themselves consider -fairly describable as slavery, they are a menace to the public. -Probably slavery would mean further outrages; it is clear that torture -of various kinds has been allowed on the Rand, and it is far less clear -that this is not the real cause of some of the excesses which have -shocked South Africa. Either we must have slavery and exasperation, -or we must have our people exposed to the danger of murder, outrage -and robbery; or we must demand the expulsion of the Chinese, and the -turning down of a disgraceful page in South African and English -history which has brought good to no one, and only serves as another -indication of the strength to which avarice will lead men in attempting -to bend nature into the service of their own greed." - -It was understood that the only conditions under which Chinese labour -could be introduced to the Rand was a system by which they were kept -apart, under lock and key, from the rest of the population. But this -system has broken down. Hordes of Chinese, as I have shown, are running -over the country. The utter futility of the compound system is proved -by the fact that as many as thirteen Chinese laundries have been broken -up by the police in one week, only for others to take their place. - -It was recognized by the Government that the Chinaman must not be -allowed to be a competitor. This was one of the reasons of herding him -with his fellows like cattle in a pen. - -But the Chinaman broke loose. With Asiatic unconcern he sets all the -rules of the Ordinance at defiance, and calmly sets up a laundry in the -town, caters for custom, carries on his business just as if he were a -free man and not a yellow serf, until some frightened cosmopolitan sees -him in the streets, and in a state of fear demands that the nearest -policeman shall see whether the creature has a permit or not. - -John Chinaman, who, of course, has no permit, is thereupon arrested, -his laundry business comes to an abrupt close, and he starts once again -his task of gold grubbing for a shilling a day. - -The amended Ordinance of August last contained this clause-- - -"It is provided that labourers being in possession of gum, opium, -extract of opium, poppies, etc., shall be liable to a fine on -conviction of £20, or in lieu thereof of imprisonment for three months, -with or without hard labour." - -This ominous clause was rendered necessary by the steadily increasing -growth of opium dens. - -Twelve months before, some few weeks after the arrival of the first -batch of Chinamen, the Government had passed what was known as the -Poison Ordinance. The object of this Ordinance was to regulate the sale -of opium. It provided that only registered chemists and druggists might -sell opium, and that every package of the drug must be labelled with -the word "Poison." - -Of course, this was ridiculously inadequate, and it was soon found that -more stringent measures must be taken. It was decreed, therefore, that -opium could only be sold to persons known to the seller, and on an -entry being made in the poison-book. These further restrictions were -found perfectly futile. The sale of opium increased enormously. - -At a meeting of the Transvaal Pharmacy Board, the secretary of -the board read his report on the poison-books of the chemists in -Johannesburg. It transpired that an examination of the books of one -chemist had disclosed the following sales of opium on various dates in -July and August last--336 lbs., 18 lbs., 28 lbs., 7 lbs., 31 lbs., 48 -lbs. All this had been sold to Chinamen for smoking purposes. - -One lot was said to have been sold under a medical certificate, but the -doctor concerned denied all knowledge of such certificate. The chairman -of the board said, that while it was gratifying to know that only three -out of sixty-eight pharmacies along the Rand carried on traffic in -opium, the ugly fact remained that two of these chemists had imported -during August two tons of Persian opium for smoking purposes, and an -examination of their books disclosed that only a few pounds were unsold. - -In vain have the authorities attempted to put an end to this drug -habit. Recommendations have been made by the Pharmacy Board that any -chemist secretly supplying the Chinese with drugs should be sent to -prison, without the option of a fine. As if one evil were producing -another evil, it has been proved that not only are the Chinamen -demoralizing the Rand, but the Rand is demoralizing the Chinamen. The -majority of the Chinese labourers have been drawn from the north of the -Celestial Empire, where very little opium is used, on account of the -poverty of the people. The comparatively large salaries which these -labourers are now receiving enables them to indulge their inherited -taste for the drug to their hearts' content. - -But in addition to this sale of opium by chemists on the Rand, opium -dens have sprung up all over the place. As soon as the police stamp -them out in one quarter they reappear in another. They are accompanied, -of course, by the usual gambling hells. These, too, the police -endeavour to suppress. All the money that they find is impounded; heavy -fines are exacted. But instead of decreasing they increase. The most -dangerous vice of the Orient is thus thriving luxuriantly upon the -favourable soil of the Rand. - -One cannot blame the Chinaman for drugging himself. It is difficult -even to blame him for the outrages that he commits. The opium habit, of -course, is a step towards other habits. If the Chinaman merely went to -the opium dens in his off hours, drugged himself, slept his celestial -sleep, and then returned to his labours prepared to work as hard as -any cart-horse, the Rand lords would be the last persons to forbid him -these indulgences. But the opium habit is demoralizing and degrading. -It excites passions almost beyond control. - -I have already pointed out that Mr. Lyttelton promised in the House -of Commons that the Chinaman should be allowed to take his womenfolk -with him if he wished, and a great point was made of the fact that the -morality of the Chinamen would be well looked after. No risks were to -be taken. The Archbishop of Canterbury had to be satisfied upon the -point before he made his regrettable necessity speech--"Show me that it -brings about or implies the encouragement of immorality in the sense -in which we ordinarily use the word, and, I am almost ashamed to say -anything so obvious, I should not call the so-called necessity worth a -single moment's consideration. In such a case there could be but one -answer given by any honest man. The thing is wrong, and please God it -shall not take place." - -The Most Reverend Primate should be satisfied by now that the system -deliberately set up in the Transvaal has brought about and encouraged -immorality. - -The Chinaman is always a frugal feeder, yet the strength of his -passions is notorious. There is no necessity to go back into the past -moral history of the Chinese race to contradict this statement. - -Gangs of escaped labourers have attacked farm houses on the veld, and -where they have found no men, or where the men have been overpowered, -they have committed all the most bestial assaults known upon the women -and children. One white woman was known to have been found raped, and -dead. It is not safe for any decent or respectable white woman to go -near a Chinaman. The way he looks at her is sufficient to raise the -most murderous thoughts in the mind of any white man present. - -A deputation of miners asked Lord Selborne for protection against the -Chinamen, stating that the way in which they spoke to and looked at -white women was intolerable, and pointed out further that, unless steps -were taken to protect the white population, the most horrible crimes -would be committed. - -That warning has proved true. - -Lord Milner has called the sentiment, which has arisen in the breasts -of nearly all Britons, of loathing for the introduction of Chinamen -into the Rand, Exeter Hall sentiment. It possibly is the sentiment of -Exeter Hall, but it is to be hoped it is the sentiment also of all -decent people who believe in virtue and morality, and who still cherish -a fine chivalrous ideal of woman. - -The Government have again and again declared that the protest of -the Opposition in the House of Commons was dictated purely by party -considerations--that Chinese labour was a good stalking horse. That -people really were concerned about the welfare of Chinamen on the -Rand they refused to believe. As a matter of fact it is really the -Government that are blinded by partisanship; they see everything -through a false medium. What they do not see falsely in the Transvaal -they do not see at all. For it cannot be that they really are in favour -of retaining on the Rand 50,000 Chinamen who commit the most loathsome -outrages on the white population. It is almost passing belief that they -should blind themselves to the fact that the womenfolk of the Transvaal -are absolutely unprovided with any adequate protection against these -hordes of Chinamen. - -Every day, as has been shown, desertions grow more numerous, and -with every Chinaman that escapes the terror increases. No steps have -been taken for the protection of his morals. Not even the most human -elementary step of letting him bring with him his wife has been taken. -And but few steps have been taken to protect the white population. The -most ordinary commonplace foresight has been wanting. The carnival -of lust and blood now going on in the Transvaal could have been -prevented. It was bad enough to introduce Chinese labour at all into -the Transvaal. The case becomes more damnable when they are introduced -without those restrictions which had been promised. - -"I am opposed," said Herbert Spencer, "to the importation of Chinese -labour, because if it occurs one of two things must happen. Either the -Chinese must mix with the nation, in which case you get a bad hybrid, -and yet if they do not mix they must occupy a position of slavery." - -The British Government, at the dictation of the Rand lords, attempted -to make the Chinaman occupy a position of slavery, failed to completely -establish this system, and is allowing the Chinamen to mix with the -population. Thus we shall have in the Transvaal the two evils which -Herbert Spencer raised his voice against. We have already slavery; we -shall certainly have a bad hybrid population. The degrading influence -of the Chinaman is shown in Johannesburg. White women are actually -marrying them. They are even mixing with the black races. The -Transvaal was bad enough before, when merely thronged with the scouring -of Europe. But it will be a thousand times worse before the last -Chinaman is repatriated. - -In a morning paper of November 2 I read that Mr. Lyttelton, the -Colonial Secretary, in a letter to Mr. George Renwick, M.P., defends -the action of the Government in regard to the employment of Chinese -labour. He refers to the demand for it in the South African colonies, -and says--"The opinion to which we came was based upon evidence taken -from many sources. That it was correct is borne out by the fact that -we have received not a single petition from the Transvaal for the -revocation of the Ordinance." - -Let not Mr. Lyttelton lay such flattering unction to his soul. If it -be true, as he states, that the Imperial Government have so far not -received a single petition from the other side against the Chinamen, -he need only _wacht een beitje_--wait a bit--as they say in South -Africa. The petitions will follow. By and by they will be thick -as leaves in Vallombrosa. Does Mr. Lyttelton never read the daily -papers? Is he unaware, for instance, that at a special meeting held at -Krugersdoorp on October 10, a resolution was carried praying that an -end might be put to the importation of Chinese, and that the Chinamen -now on the Rand might be sent back immediately after the expiration of -their contracts? Does he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that it -was announced at the time that this resolution would be sent to the -Imperial Government through Lord Selborne? I cannot believe it. Let -Mr. Lyttelton note that the correspondent from whose message I quote, -significantly added--"_If this way of protesting has no result, it is -intended to send a deputation to England to discuss matters regarding -the Chinese question._" - -Verily, it would seem that nothing short of a measure of the kind will -stir the conscience of Christian England to an appreciation of the -intolerable state of affairs now being endured in South Africa by those -whose lot is cast in proximity to the yellow man! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES - - -The introduction of Chinese indentured labour to the Transvaal has been -a complete failure--(1) Financially, (2) Socially, (3) Politically. - -The slave-owning ideals of the Rand lords has made the Transvaal a -hell. It has not even made it a paying hell. Every security connected -with the Rand industry has decreased enormously. It is estimated that -the loss of capital runs to many millions of pounds sterling. It -cannot be said in excuse that this is the result of general commercial -depression throughout the Empire, for almost every other kind of -security, except Consols, has considerably appreciated in value. - -Certainly the record monthly output of gold has long been passed. More -gold has been produced each month than was ever produced before, even -during the pre-war period. But these record outputs mean nothing. -Even at 1s. 6d. a day the Chinese labourer has been proved to be an -expensive luxury. He costs nearly 50 per cent. more than the Kaffir. -The expenses of nearly every mine where Chinese labour has been -employed have gone up; the expenses of every mine where Kaffir labour -is employed have gone down. - -Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell had something pertinent to say on this topic in -the admirable address on the Chinese labour question which he delivered -the other day at Potchefstroom. Dealing with the argument that white -labour was prohibitively expensive, and that in order to work low-grade -mines coolies must be employed, the indefatigable fighter of the yellow -man observed-- - -"I have picked out at random a number of mines, and I find that the -mine showing the best results, the only one showing other than very -bad results with coolies, is the Van Ryn Mine. This mine in the -June quarter of 1904 was working at a cost of 24s. 5d. per ton, and -milled 30,000 tons in that quarter; they were then using native and, -I believe, no unskilled whites at all. A year before that they were -milling 24,500 tons, at a cost of 28s. 2d. per ton, with 1,000 natives. -In the June quarter of 1905 it worked at a cost of 21s. per ton, and -milled 60,000 tons. In that quarter it was using some 2,000 coolies." - -Here is an instructive list which was compiled by the _Pall Mall -Gazette_ on September 8 last:-- - - - MINES WITH CHINESE LABOUR - - EXPENSES GOING UP - - June 1905. Avge., 1904. - s. d. s. d. - Durban Roodepoort Deep 28 2 27 5 - Geldenhuis Deep 22 11 19 1 - Glen Deep 24 0 20 8 - Nourse Deep 28 9 26 7 - Rose Deep 21 9 17 2 - Jumpers Deep 27 9 23 0 - - - MINES WITH KAFFIR LABOUR - - EXPENSES GOING DOWN - - June 1905. Avge., 1904. - s. d. s. d. - Ferreira Deep 21 7 26 5 - Crown Deep 19 3 20 2 - Langlaagte Deep 22 2 20 9 - - -Ever since the beginning of the war, we seem to have been watching in -a bewitched trance for the coming of the boom. Some people described -Johannesburg as the enchanted city waiting for the spell to be removed -for the boom to come. It has never come; and it never will come as long -as Chinamen are employed to do the work that can be done by Kaffirs or -white men. - -When the incurable idleness of the Chinaman and his cost of keep is -added to that 1s. 6d. a day, he is dearer than the black man or the -white man. - -The Rand lord was anxious to procure cheap labour and subservient -labour. The white man could not be employed because he would have held -the management of the country in the hollow of his hand, have formed -trade unions, and insisted on proper wages and proper treatment. Enough -black men, if time had been given, would have worked at the mines even -at the reduced wages paid by the Rand lords. - -On this point, too, Mr. Cresswell, from whose Potchefstroom speech I -quoted just now, had something instructive to say. In dissecting the -official records, he observed-- - -"They show that between June 1904 and the end of last August--the -last month for which statistics are available--the number of natives -on the producing mines of the Rand had increased by 19,000, or an -average increase of 1,355 a month. Does any man here for a minute -really believe that if no Chinese had come here at all the gentlemen -controlling the mines would not have done exactly the same from June -1904 to August 1905, as they did from June 1903 to June 1904? Does any -one believe that in the latter period, as in the former period, they -would not have managed to bring an average of a hundred more stamps -into operation, and into the producing mines, for every 1,085 natives -at least that they added to their force of native labour? If they had -merely added on 100 stamps for every 1,085 natives, as they did up -to June 1904, do you know how many stamps would have been working in -August 1905? They would have had 6,503 stamps at work. Do you know how -many they actually had at work? They had 6,845 stamps at work, or a -paltry 342 stamps more than if no Chinese had ever been imported!" - -But the Kaffir could not be forced to work. There was nothing to -prevent him from throwing up his employment when he had earned -sufficient money and was returning to his kraal. The only chance, -therefore, so the Rand lords argued, of acquiring the voteless and -subservient labour that they wanted, was to get Chinese labour. -The Chinaman is certainly voteless, but he has proved far from -subservient--far less subservient than a Kaffir. - -Belonging to a more intelligent race, the child of an old though -dormant civilization, he has known exactly how to deal with his -masters. Of the gold extracted from the mines so much goes to wages -and so much goes to dividends; the wages are spent in the country, the -dividends are spent in Europe. Raise wages and you will render South -Africa prosperous; lower wages and you will denude South Africa. - -The Chinese policy of so-called economy has ruined the small trader, -and turned the main stream of South African gold to Park Lane, Paris -and Berlin, with a thin stream to China. This country, which has given -so much for the Transvaal, has benefited least by the gold mines. - -The Kaffir does nearly 50 per cent. more work than the Chinese coolie, -and Mr. Cresswell has proved that for the actual work of mining it is -better to employ a white man than a Kaffir. These are not fanciful -deductions, but indisputable facts proved finally and conclusively. - -For almost two decades now the gold fields of South Africa have been -the most potent force in English society, a force more for evil than -for good. It is probable that we have lost more money in wars which -are the direct result of the gold fever than we have ever made from -the gold mines. If we were to estimate the cost of maintaining a large -military force in South Africa, the financial effect of the unrest -which existed in the pre-war period, the serious effect of the Jameson -Raid on the money market, the £250,000,000 that we spent on the war, -the millions that we have spent since in the work of repatriation, if -we were to compare these figures with the amount of wealth extracted -from the Rand, and made a simple profit and loss account, it is highly -probable that we should find ourselves very considerably out of pocket. - -And yet, as if hypnotized by the glamour of gold, we continue to treat -the mine owners as if they were some particularly favoured class. We -continue to submit to their dictation, which has proved so ruinous in -the past, and we deliberately disregard the voices of the whole Empire -in their favour. Such a policy is neither good sense nor good business. - -The introduction of Chinese labour into the Rand on the top of all -these grave financial and economical failures cannot be distinguished -for a moment from madness. It would seem, indeed, that we were -deliberately bent on destroying the Empire for the sake of the Jewish -and un-British houses in Johannesburg. "He whom the gods intend to -destroy they first make mad," is an ancient proverb, which seems -strangely applicable to those gentlemen who are responsible for the -management of our vast Empire. - -They say here in Britain that the stories of gangs of murderers roaming -over the Transvaal are so many political fairy-tales, the result of -party feeling, the usual bait for the hustings, the stalking-horse to -bring into office one set of men and to throw out of office the other. -They say that the objection of the British public to Chinese labour -is a matter of hypocritical sentiment; that they really have none of -those fine ideals which they pretend to; that they have no passion for -liberty and freedom and the rights of man. Is not the Chinaman better -off than he is in his own country? - -Such casuistry would justify the beating to death with the knout in -this country of a black criminal, because in his own country capital -punishment was carried out by the more cruel process of burying him -alive in an ant-heap to be eaten by the ants in the heat of the African -sun. - -It has brought terror and fear into the Transvaal. And terror and fear -breed passions and vices which are a danger to every social community. -It emphasizes the cruelty and cunning in a man's nature. It destroys -in him that kindliness and sympathy--those "virtues of the heart," as -Dickens used to call them--which in spite of all are still noble and -fine sentiments to cherish. - -Professor James Simpson, of New College, Edinburgh, who lately visited -South Africa with the British Association, takes the view, I see, that -ere long the more evilly-disposed among the Chinese will have been -worked out of their ranks, and the whole body will settle down to -"strenuous, if automatic, labour." It is devoutly to be hoped that such -will be the case, but up to the present there is nothing to indicate -that it will be so. On the contrary, everything points to the fact that -the Chinaman, emboldened by his successful efforts at checkmating the -representatives of law and order, will perpetrate fresh outrages with -increased impunity, and that the last phase of the yellow terror will -be worse than the first. - -I had just written the foregoing when, happening to pick up an evening -paper, the following Reuter message from Johannesburg, dated November -3, caught my eye:-- - - - "CHINESE SECRET SOCIETY ON THE RAND. - "_Johannesburg_, November 3. - - "Evidence given at the trial here of some Chinamen charged with - being concerned in the disturbance at the New Modderfontein Mine, - disclosed the existence of an organized secret society among - the Chinese called the 'Red Door,' the object of which is the - committal of crime. The members, who are all of bad character, - are sworn to render each other assistance. The authorities are - breaking up the society and repatriating the ringleaders." - - -What has His Grace of Canterbury to say to this? - -I have seen in a recent election in England a poster evidently intended -as a counterblast to the posters issued by the Opposition. It is a -poster, in which Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is addressing an English -miner, while in the distance two happy Chinamen grin pleasantly in the -clean, well-laid-out mine. Says Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in effect, -"My dear man, these men are robbing you of your labour." "Not at all," -replies the white miner, "for every batch of these yellow men one white -man is employed." - -This is intended as a defence of the statement made by Lord Milner -on March 20, 1904, who then stated that he was prepared to stake his -reputation on the estimate that for every 10,000 coloured labourers -introduced there would be in three years' time 10,000 more whites in -the country. In effect, the implication underlying this statement was, -of course, that for every yellow man introduced, one white man would -come into the country and find employment. - -Six months later--on September 5, 1904--the Colonial Secretary replied -as follows, to a correspondent who wrote asking him whether it would be -now advisable for a man to go out to the Transvaal. - -"Mr. Lyttelton," so ran the answer, "would certainly not advise any one -to go out without a definite prospect of employment." - -So far from 50,000 white men finding employment in the Transvaal since -the introduction of 50,000 Chinamen, the proportion is thousands below -this number, and not even the poverty-stricken state of Poplar or -West Ham can compare with the impecuniosity to be met with at every -street corner of the Gold Reef City. There are thousands of men in -South Africa who have been lured there by the prospects of the Rand -in a daily state of destitution. The streets of Johannesburg are -crowded with unemployed. The evil seeds of poverty and destitution -have been scattered throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. -Business in Durban is in a parlous condition. In Cape Town there are -thousands of absolutely destitute men, women, and children who have to -be provided for weekly out of funds now almost exhausted. Night after -night these unfortunate wretches are compelled to sleep on the mountain -slopes, whether it be winter or summer, and quite recently a man was -found on one of the seats in the Public Gardens in such a state of -starvation--for he had tasted nothing for five whole days--that he -died an hour and a half after. - -This is the boasted prosperity which was to have come to the country -through the introduction of Chinese labour. And yet Mr. Balfour writes -to Mr. Herbert Samuel on November 22--_vide_ the correspondence in -_The Times_--that he can see "nothing in the condition of things to -induce the Government to reverse a policy which was recommended by an -overwhelming majority in the Transvaal Legislative Council, with the -approval of the great bulk of the white population."(!) - -Many attempts have been made to justify the pledge made by Lord -Milner, that for every 10,000 introduced, 10,000 white men would find -employment. This is a side of the question which was admirably put by -Lord Coleridge in May last:-- - - - The Government's policy seems to be that of the mine owner, or - rather to serve that of the mine owner--to get labour as cheaply - as possible, and, above all, to keep out the white man for fear he - should grow independent. Mr. Lyttelton, speaking at Exeter on May - 5, said:-- - - "The result of the introduction of Chinamen has been that 3000 - white men are employed on the mines in addition to those that were - employed before the introduction of that labour, and the result - is that, in round figures, £500,000 has been received by British - artisans." - - And so on. That is a completely misleading statement. I say, - and I think I shall show, that the employment of Chinese has - led to a decrease in the amount of white labour employed. Take - the year from June 1903 to June 1904. The proportion of white - men to Kaffirs during those twelve months remained practically - stationary, at one in six, in round figures. On March 31, - 1905, which is the date of the last Return we have, there were - 105,184 Kaffirs working in the mines, and at the proportion of - one-sixth there would have been 17,530 white men. But the number - of white men employed at that date was only 16,235. Following - that proportion, if the Chinese had not arrived we should have - had at least 1300 or 1400 more white men employed than there are - now. In addition to that there are over 34,000 Chinese employed - not represented by a single white man, and Lord Milner does not - hold out any hope that the proportion of white men to coloured - labourers will in future be greater than one in fourteen. - - -Crime and outrage are all that this degrading policy of Chinese slavery -has brought to the country. There is an old text that says, "Be sure -your sins will find you out." But rarely does it happen within the -space of a year and a half, that a national crime meets with its reward. - -Immediately after the war one could not say that the Transvaal was -peopled by a happy, industrious community, but it was a veritable -heaven compared with the Transvaal of 1905; a veritable paradise of -plenty. This has been the social effect of the importation of Chinese -labour. The political effect is quite as serious. - -It has been said that the ultimate object of our rule in South -Africa is the federation of all the states of South Africa into one -commonwealth. It was the dream of Cecil Rhodes that South Africa should -take her place among the commonwealths of the Empire. A constitution, -such as exists in Australia at the present moment, was to be given to -South Africa. The states of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange River Colony -and the Transvaal--all free, self-governing units--were to be welded -together into one great self-governing Imperial unit. The introduction -of Chinese labour in the Transvaal has rendered this impossible. Until -these Chinamen are repatriated there will be no commonwealth for South -Africa. - -In the first place, one of the essentials for such a federation -would be that each state should be a self-governing colony. The mine -owner knows, and the Government of Great Britain must know by now, -that once self-government is given to the Transvaal, Chinese slavery -would be at an end. Therefore the mine owners, who really "boss" the -Transvaal, would take care to suppress any agitation in favour of -self-government. As they refused the referendum so will they refuse the -Boer and the Briton the right of free constitution. Hence the granting -of responsible government to the Transvaal is deferred, and hence the -federation of South Africa is postponed indefinitely. - -Again, Cape Colony would never consent to the federation of the -Transvaal unless the Chinese labourers were repatriated. They have -stated their opinion in no uncertain language. They would have no -desire to enter into a partnership arrangement with a community which -was hampered with such a grave social problem as Chinese labour. The -Transvaal has done harm enough to Cape Colony, without adding this last -straw to the load of evil which the gold mines of the Rand have bred -for her. - -This is one of the Imperial political disasters resulting immediately -from the importation of Chinese labour. - -There is another Imperial consideration even more serious. - -No one can read the protests sent to the Colonial Office by the great -self-governing colonies that fought in the war, without realizing the -gravity with which such a breaking away from the traditions of the -Empire has been received by these colonies. Had we known it was to be -war for the Chinese miners, the appeal made to Australia for men and -arms would have had a very different effect. This is the substance of -Australia's protest. Sentiment is a thing easily destroyed. Not even -the Government, I think, can realize the indignation felt in Canada, -Australia, and New Zealand by the Indentured Labour Ordinance. It -should have been the policy of the Imperial Government to foster the -tie that binds all the units of the Empire together. Mr. Chamberlain -has voiced this opinion times out of number; our Imperial bards have -sung it. The Government, which has always boasted that it was more -Imperial than the Opposition, more wrapped up in the honour and the -greatness of the Empire, has made this sentiment a commonplace in every -election speech. And yet they have done more to destroy this bond than -any other party in the state. - -Again, some attention should have been paid to the Dutch problem in the -Transvaal. No attention was paid to it. We hear little now of the war. -The Transvaal might have been ruled from the beginning by the British -Government. Now and again the English papers mention casually the once -familiar name of General Botha as having addressed the Het Volk. But -the Dutch problem is never considered at all in England by the great -men of the people. And yet it is a very vital and important question. -Next to the native question it is, perhaps, the most vital question -with which South Africa has to deal. - -Throughout South Africa the Boers are to-day the most thrifty, the most -industrious, and almost the most agricultural section of the community. -Of their ability in war we have had a long experience. Of their courage -and patriotism we gained a knowledge at a great cost. They outnumber -the English population in the Transvaal and Cape Colony. And South -Africa will never be absolutely secured to the British Empire until the -proportion of Boers to the total white population is reduced. - -It should have been the object of the Government, immediately after the -war, to pack the Transvaal with Englishmen, to act as a counterbalance -to the Boer population. This would have been a dangerous experience if -there was no excuse for introducing such a large number of Englishmen. -But the excuse was to hand. A splendid opportunity of reducing the -population of the Boers to the total white population occurred at the -re-opening of the mines. Increased use of white labour in the mines -would have given to the Transvaal that preponderating majority of -Britons which the safety of the Empire demands. The home Government did -not take that opportunity, and South Africa has been left in exactly -the same dangerous condition as she was after the war. - -Instead of performing this obvious duty to the country, the Government -listened to the objections of the mine owners to swarming the country -with white labour, upon the grounds that they would prove a disturbing -element socially and politically, and agreed to the importation of the -Chinamen. - -There is yet another grave political aspect of this deplorable problem. -As the British people are apt to forget that the Boers outnumber the -Britons in the Transvaal, so they forget, when considering the problem -of South Africa, that there is a vast population of natives within our -territory. - -These black tribes are utterly demoralized, and, it is recognized, by -the war of the white man against the white man, and certain causes -which could not have been foreseen, have increased the unrest and -lawlessness. - -From Lagos to the Cape the same story has been told for the last two -years: that the black man is growing restive under the white man's -rule, that the white man is losing rapidly that superstitious authority -which up till then he had always carried with him. The cause of this -is the utter failure of the Germans to bring the war in Damaraland -to a successful conclusion. The continued successes scored by the -Hereroes have undoubtedly set aflame the ambitions of the black tribes -throughout the south-west coast and inland. In some cases it has been -fomented and worked up by Mahommedan and Ethiopian missionaries. In -addition to these disturbing elements the death of Lerothodi, the -paramount chief of Basutoland, has increased the natives' restlessness. -The spectacle of Chinese bands roaming the country, looting farms, -killing white men and raping white women has added to these symptoms of -native disaffection. - -A rising among the Basutos--which more likely than not would be -followed by a general rising of natives throughout Swaziland, Zululand -and the Transvaal--would engage all our strength to suppress. We should -have to make use of the constabulary which is now with great difficulty -keeping under control the Chinese labourers. It is not hard to imagine -the terrible state of affairs that would result from such a rising. -While we suppress the black man the Chinaman would be left unguarded -and unpoliced free to desert and to commit outrages. Indeed, should the -Chinaman rise with the black man the safety of both Briton and Boer -would be in the gravest jeopardy. - -These are the deplorable risks which are being run by maintaining in -the Transvaal some 50,000 Chinamen. - -Financially the Chinamen have been a failure, a very grave failure. -Socially their importation has proved disastrous. Instead of bringing -wealth they have brought stagnation. Instead of bringing employment -for the white man they have brought destitution and abject poverty. In -introducing them it was recognized that some system must be devised by -which they could be prevented from mixing with the population. That -system has failed utterly and completely. They were to have brought -wealth; they were to have brought employment for the white man. All -they have brought is chaos. All they have done is to increase the -output of gold at a cost which has decreased instead of increasing -the mining companies' dividends. They have spread a terror throughout -the length and breadth of the Transvaal. Economically and socially -the policy proposed by the mine owners and forced upon the Government -has proved deplorable. Their introduction has been a grave Imperial -error which has aroused in the great self-governing Colonies anger and -indignation. It has already loosened the bonds which the common danger -of war had tightened. - -Their continued stay in South Africa, and the continued introduction of -more coolies has given rise to the possibility of danger that is awful -to contemplate. The rising of the black man would leave the policing of -nearly 50,000 Chinamen in the hands of a few white men. - -It is not too much to say that no greater sin against the ideals of -the British people, no more vicious and ruinous policy, has ever been -adopted. - - -THE END - - -_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ - - - - -MUSIC FOR THE CHILDREN! - -_NOW READY, BOOKS 1 to 12, of_ - -"Our Little Folks' Nursery Rhymes" - -_FOR VOICE AND PIANO_, - -Each containing Words and Music (old notation and tonic sol-fa), of -+Seven Nursery Rhymes+, and Thirty New Pictures (20 pp. with -coloured wrapper). - -Price 1d. each. By Post 1½d. each. The 12 parts, post free, 1/6. - -_Specially designed for School and Kindergarten use._ - -THE SCHOOLMASTER says:--"Daintily illustrated and clearly -printed, each number contains seven old nursery rhymes. Words, pictures -and music (piano and voice) all for one penny. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: John Chinaman on the Rand</p> -<p>Author: Anonymous</p> -<p>Release Date: December 18, 2019 [eBook #60959]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by deaurider, Martin Pettit,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924083851547"> - https://archive.org/details/cu31924083851547</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/hotels.jpg" alt="SOUTH AFRICAN HOTELS" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> - -<h1>JOHN CHINAMAN<br /> ON THE RAND</h1> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i004.jpg" alt="A NEW FORM OF TORTURE" /></div> - -<p class="bold">A NEW FORM OF TORTURE.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Frontispiece</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">JOHN CHINAMAN<br /> ON THE RAND</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY AN ENGLISH EYE WITNESS</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">WITH INTRODUCTION BY<br />DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, M.A., LL.B.</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">AND FRONTISPIECE AND FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">LONDON<br />R. A. EVERETT & SON<br /> -10 & 12 GARRICK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.<br />1905<br />[<i>All rights reserved</i>]</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Richard Clay & Sons, Limited</span>,<br /> -BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND<br />BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>INTRODUCTION</i></h2> - -<p class="bold"><i>BY</i></p> - -<p class="bold"><i>DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, M.A., LL.B.</i></p> - -<p><i>I have read the following account of the importation of Chinese -coolies into South Africa with the keenest pain and sorrow. It is an -authentic story of one of the foulest tragedies in our British annals; -the witness of one who has seen the facts for himself.</i></p> - -<p><i>It is an indictment packed with sifted evidence, written with -knowledge; but also with the indignation of the patriot and of the -humanitarian, against wrongs wantonly inflicted upon our fellow-men -and sanctioned by the Parliament of the Empire. The "balance of evil" -is overwhelmingly proved. It is an economic blunder. It is another -blood-stained page in the history of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> the inhumanity of man to man. -It violates the domestic and the social ideals. It is a blight upon -our Empire; and, chiefest of all, it is inevitably and overwhelmingly -immoral; productive of vices and crimes that cannot be named without -shame and wrath.</i></p> - -<p><i>And yet these foreigners who sell men for gold are declaring that this -system must remain "undisturbed." Never! It must go. It is building -the Empire on the blood of souls. It is not a "necessity." It is a -wanton iniquity. It is not "freedom"; and it is shuffling of the -meanest kind to say that it is not "slavery." Let Britishers realize -their responsibility and bring to a speedy and final end this return to -barbarism!</i></p> - -<p class="right"><i>JOHN CLIFFORD.</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>The Publishers beg to thank the Editor of the 'Morning Leader' for -permission to use the Illustrations contained in this volume.</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class="smaller">CHAP.</span></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>I. </td> - <td class="left">ENSLAVING THE RAND</td> - <td><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>II. </td> - <td class="left">'AVE, CRŒSUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT'</td> - <td><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>III. </td> - <td class="left">THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND</td> - <td><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IV. </td> - <td class="left">THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM</td> - <td><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>V. </td> - <td class="left">THE YELLOW TRAIL</td> - <td><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VI. </td> - <td class="left">THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES</td> - <td><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">JOHN CHINAMAN<br /> ON THE RAND</p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER I</span> <span class="smaller">ENSLAVING THE RAND</span></h2> - -<p>In the following pages I have made no reference to the founder of the -Christian faith.</p> - -<p>There is a particular form of blasphemy current in Great Britain which -ascribes to the highest and noblest Christian motives actions which are -prompted by the meanest passions of cupidity and self-interest. Any -shadow is good enough for the criminal to creep into in the hope of -escaping detection; but blasphemy is not too hard a word to express the -attitude of those advocates and supporters of Chinese slavery in the -Rand who actually creep under the shadow of the Cross itself for moral -protection.</p> - -<p>With reservations, the Archbishop of Canterbury has blessed -the movement, having satisfied himself, with an ease somewhat -extraordinary, that it was all above-board and moral. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> Bishop of -Bristol has commended it. The Rev. T. J. Darragh, Rector of St. Mary's -Church, Johannesburg, saw in it nothing but an opportunity to teach -the doctrines of Christianity to the heathen. "I am much attracted -by the possibility of evangelistic work among those people under -very favourable conditions, and I hope to see many of them sent back -to their country good practising Christians. It will be a glorious -opportunity for the Church."</p> - -<p>Almost it would seem that the logical conclusion of this estimable -priest was that all the heathen nations of Asia should be packed into -Lord Selborne's loose-boxes and carted over to Johannesburg in order -that the evangelistic genius of the Rector of St. Mary's might have -full scope, and countless souls be added to the fold of Christ, so long -as their duties of digging gold for German Jews at a shilling a day -were not interfered with. As these advocates and supporters of Chinese -labour have convinced themselves that the Ordinance, so far from being -opposed to the principles of Christianity, is likely to be of use in -spreading the doctrine of love, I realize that it would be hopeless to -attempt to prove to them that the importation of Chinese to the Rand -finds no support in the doctrines promulgated in the four Gospels.</p> - -<p>Indeed, to expect spiritual ideals on the Rand is too ridiculous for -words. The man who searches the Bible for a text to suit his line -of argument might perhaps find one for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> the Rand lords from the Old -Testament, and preaching from the sentence that "silver was counted -as naught in the days of Solomon" might argue that all practices were -justifiable to bring about a state of affairs which apparently had the -Divine approval. The ideal of the Rand is money. All imperial, social -and religious considerations have no weight with the masters of the -gold mines. Their object is to get gold, and to get it as cheaply as -they can, and with this in view they realize that they must obtain -two things—1. Political control of the Transvaal; 2. Slave labour. -To attain the first, all Englishmen, with their democratic ideas of -liberty and freedom, must be kept out of the country. This first object -attained, the introduction of slave labour would be extremely simple.</p> - -<p>How they achieved their object is the history of South Africa for the -last eight years.</p> - -<p>As long ago as 1897, when mines were booming and vast fortunes were -being made, the leaders of the mining industry suddenly realized by a -simple arithmetical calculation that more money could be made if their -workmen were paid less.</p> - -<p>Representations were made to President Kruger, a Government Commission -was appointed, and the possibility of reducing the wages of Kaffir -workmen was discussed in all its bearings. Mr. George Albu, who was -then the chairman of the Chamber of Mines, pointed out that 2<i>s.</i> -3<i>d.</i> a shift was being paid to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> Kaffirs, and that this could be -reduced to 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a shift for skilled labour and 1<i>s.</i> or less for -unskilled labour. When he was asked how this could be accomplished, he -replied, "By simply telling the boys that their wages are reduced." Mr. -Albu, however, declared that a much better state of affairs would be -brought about if a law was passed compelling the Kaffir to do a certain -amount of work per annum, though he admitted that nowhere in the world -was there a law enabling any particular industry to obtain forced -labour.</p> - -<p>President Kruger's Government—accounted corrupt and irradical in -those days, but now regarded by comparison throughout the Transvaal -and Orange River Colony by both English and Dutchmen alike as most -benevolent and beneficent—refused to sanction a system which would -not only have been in opposition to the Conventions with Great Britain -of 1852, 1854, and 1884, but would have been opposed to the spirit of -humanity that should exist among all civilized communities.</p> - -<p>Then came the war. The Boer Government was swept away. Two hundred -and fifty millions and 21,000 English lives was the price exacted for -planting the Union Jack in Pretoria and Bloemfontein.</p> - -<p>During the war the magnates, with a persistence worthy of a better -cause, kept before them those objects which I have enumerated. The -consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields reported to a -meeting of mining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> representatives at Cape Town that dividends could -be increased by two and a half millions by reducing Kaffir wages, and -it was agreed that on the opening of the mines Kaffirs' wages should -be reduced by 33 per cent. When peace came it was found that the -Kaffirs were not prepared to work on these terms. They had grown rich -during the war, and in the independence of their new-found wealth they -refused to be treated as so much human machinery. It was bad enough -for them to work at their original wages in the Rand mines, without -their consenting to such a large reduction in their wages. The rate of -mortality in the Rand mines was seventy per thousand per annum; the -rate of mortality in the De Beers mines was only thirty per thousand -per annum. The De Beers never had any difficulty in obtaining what -native labour they required, because they treated their men well, -looked after their interests, did not sweat them, and admitted that -a black man, although black, was still a man. But even under these -circumstances, had the magnates of the Rand offered the scale of wages -that pertained before the war, they would have found black labour in -abundance. But even with a black man a minimum of 30<i>s.</i> and a maximum -of 35<i>s.</i> a month with food is hardly tempting enough to draw him from -his kraal.</p> - -<p>The alternative of white labour was, of course, never seriously -considered. The mere Englishman who had fought for the country was not -to be allowed to settle in the country or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> work in the country. The -Angots, the Beits, the Ecksteins, the Hanaus, the Kuchenmeisters, the -Rosenheims, the Schencks, the Taubs, the Wernhers, and the rest of the -gentlemen delighting in similar grand old English names were determined -not to permit it. The foolish Englishman would want to vote; would -have ideas about personal liberty and personal freedom; would have -ridiculous notions about Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights; would, -in short, think that the nation that had spilt its blood and spent its -money for the Rand was entitled to a vote in its management.</p> - -<p>With almost unparalleled insolence the Rand lords frankly declared -that the introduction of English labour would place the control of the -country in the hands of Englishmen, and would lead to that trail of the -serpent, the formation of labour unions. It was to meet with this that -two hundred and fifty millions was spent by the English people, 25,000 -died, 25,000 were permanently maimed.</p> - -<p>That white labour could be used, and be used profitably, was proved -beyond a doubt. Even when the higher wages were taken into account, it -was found that in the cyanide works of the gold mines the Kaffirs' cost -per ton was 5<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i>, against the Whites' 4<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i> In developing -and stopping actual work of the mining underground, the Kaffirs cost -4<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> and the Whites 4<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i> per ton. It was only in the -machine drill work that the Kaffirs proved slightly cheaper than the -Whites. There Kaffir labour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> worked out at 6<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i> per ton, white -labour at 6<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i>; a difference of 5<i>d.</i> per ton, so small a -difference as to be almost a negligible quantity.</p> - -<p>It was not until later that any pretence was put forward that white -labour could not be employed. The real reason, and the reason frankly -admitted, was the fear of the political power they would possess.</p> - -<p>Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell, general manager of the Village Main Reef, -worked his mine upon a system of joint black and white labour, and -the mine returned a dividend of 35 per cent. for the year 1903 and 20 -per cent. for the first half of 1904. In the report upon the working -of this mine it was declared that the efficiency of the mine was -increasing, and the output greater, while the working cost was lower. -This was proof conclusive that white labour could be employed in the -mines if the magnates wished to employ it. That they did not wish to -employ it is proved beyond the shadow of doubt by a letter from the -late Mr. Percy Tarbutt, of St. Swithin's Lane, to Mr. Cresswell—</p> - -<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mr. Cresswell</span>,—With reference to your trial of -white labour for surface work on the mines, I have consulted the -Consolidated Goldfields people, and one of the members of the -board of the Village Main Reef has consulted Messrs. Wernher, -Beit & Co., and the feeling seems to be of fear that, having a -large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> number of white men employed on the Rand in the position of -labourers, the same troubles will arise as are now prevalent in -the Australian colonies, viz. that the combination of the labour -classes will become so strong as to be able, more or less, to -dictate not only on the question of wages, but also on political -questions, by the power of their votes when a representative -Government is established."</p></blockquote> - -<p>Foiled in their attempt to get cheap black labour, threatened with an -inundation of Englishmen, the cosmopolitan Rand lords tried to obtain -the slaves they required from Central Africa. This was not a success. -It was admitted by a speaker at a commercial meeting in Johannesburg -in July 1903 that various experiments had been tried to get native -labour, and that the best results had been obtained at the Robinson -Deep, which paid 25 per cent. dividend. "They imported 316 natives -from Central Africa only three weeks ago. So far only eight had -died—(laughter)—but there were 150 in the hospital, and by the end of -the month the whole will be in hospital. (Hear, hear.) They were coming -in at the rate of thirty a day. These men cost £30 a head, and were not -worth a 'bob' a head when they arrived. (Cheers.)"</p> - -<p>What were the mine lords to do? If only they were allowed they were -quite prepared to employ slaves. Their amazing reduction in wages had -not induced the Kaffir to come to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> the Rand. In the words of the native -chief the natives did not like to go to Johannesburg, "because they -went there to die." The majority at the Labour Commission had proved -that if good wages and treatment were extended to the Kaffirs, hosts -of natives would flock to the mines. But the Rand lords cared nothing -about kindness, and they were determined to reduce wages.</p> - -<p>It was at this juncture that the question of Chinese indentured labour -was seriously mooted. The black men were tired of being carted about in -trucks, and herded like cattle, and beaten and maimed for life without -any chance of compensation. It was said that the Chinaman was docile -and tractable, and would work for practically nothing, with extremely -little food, for as many hours as he might be requested. Chinese -labour, therefore, it was decided to obtain.</p> - -<p>But the Rand lords had to proceed with guile. They did this country the -credit to believe that any hasty determination to import thousands of -Chinamen would have met with an outburst of popular indignation against -which they could not have hoped to have stood firm.</p> - -<p>Forming a pretty accurate estimate of the leading passions that guide -men's minds they determined to appeal to the cupidity of the Englishman -at home. Their press began to pour forth a torrent of sobs over the -lamentable decay of the gold industry in the Transvaal. The country was -ruined, they said; the industry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> had gone to pieces. For ridiculous -considerations of hypocritical morality the Rand, for which Great -Britain had sacrificed so much, was to be made bankrupt. In a word, -it was bankruptcy—or Chinese. They found many powerful supporters -in this country. The trail of their wealth was on a section of the -press, and that section echoed whatever principles it might please the -cosmopolitan gentlemen of Johannesburg to give voice to. Even now one -can recall the despairing moans of leader writers over the ruin that -had overtaken the Transvaal.</p> - -<p>This was in June 1903. Somewhat unexpectedly Lord Milner at this -juncture refused to echo the gloomy forebodings of the Witwatersrand -Chamber of Mines; in fact, his tone was joyously optimistic. "The -production of gold," he said, "even now is greater than in 1895 or -1896, when the Transvaal really was, and had been for some time, -the marvel of the world in the matter of gold production. The world -progresses; but whatever was fabulous wealth years ago is not abject -poverty to-day. Not only that, but the rate of production is steadily -increasing."</p> - -<p>What he said was quite right. The output of gold in the district of -Johannesburg in 1900 was 237,000 ozs., and there were 59,400 Kaffirs -employed.</p> - -<p>But for six months the agitation continued. It was put forward as a -theory that the only chance for the Transvaal was to employ Chinese -labour. The supporters of the Rand lords<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> hailed the theory with -delight, as if it was something new, something that they had never -imagined before. Clearly this was the direction in which prosperity -lay. They must have Chinese labour. Then shares would go up, dividends -would become enormous, and everybody would be wealthy and happy. The -Transvaal would be something like a Mohammedan heaven, with Great -Britain as an annexe. White men were to pour out to the colonies—not -to labour on the mines, for that work was only fit for Chinamen; -besides, white men it was said could not do it—and the Rand was to be -prosperous and life was to be a veritable bed of roses. Was England to -be denied the fruits of her victory? For what had the war been waged -if the Transvaal was to be left a barren, unproductive corner of the -Empire? Were the fruits of victory to be Dead Sea apples?</p> - -<p>By such arguments did they appeal to the British public. The dummy -figure of despair and ruin that they had set up served a very useful -purpose. It frightened the monied classes into the belief that their -investments were not secure. It frightened the patriots into thinking -that the war had been waged in vain. Few people troubled to make -inquiries as to whether the statement of the Rand's impending ruin was -true or not. There certainly was a slump in Kaffir shares. This was -held to be indicative of the state of the gold industry. It apparently -did not occur to anybody that just as Kaffir shares were made to -fluctuate during the war—when the mines were not being worked—so -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>they could be made to slump if only the Rand lords wished.</p> - -<p>In six months they convinced the majority of the House of Commons, they -convinced the Government, and they even made Lord Milner eat his own -words. His dispatches began to take on a garb of gloom. In August they -were of the mitigated grief shade; in September the shade darkened; -in October it was more than half mourning; in November it had become -black; in December it was as black as the Egyptian plague. His lordship -talked of crises; of what would happen unless some noble, national -sacrifice was made to save the sinking ship. Chinese labour was the -only cure for the deplorable condition of the gold industry in the -Transvaal!</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, a Labour Commission had been appointed, a mission consisting -of ten persons, eight of whom were known to be in favour of the -introduction of Asiatic labour. This Commission was authorized to find -out whether a scarcity of Kaffir or white labour existed, but was -forbidden to answer the question which was in the minds of all, whether -it would be proper or desirable to introduce Chinese labour.</p> - -<p>The agitation proved successful, and it was decided to import Chinese -labour. The grave disasters attendant on the impending crisis Lord -Milner insisted in his dispatches in December 1903 had to be met.</p> - -<p>It is curious, of course, to compare the statement of Lord Milner in -December 1903 with his statement in June 1903. In June the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>output of -gold was 237,000 ozs., and according to Lord Milner everything was -satisfactory. The production of gold, in his own words, was greater -than in 1895 or 1896. Six months later, in December, the output was -286,000 ozs., an increase of 49,000 ozs. Yet, according to Lord -Milner, the prosperity of the gold industry was in inverse proportion -to the output of gold! Two hundred and thirty-seven thousand ounces -per month was prosperity in June; 286,000 ozs. in December was grave -disaster, and the rest of it. Moreover, in those golden days of June -1903 there were 59,400 Kaffir labourers working on the mines. In that -dark, cheerless December, when the output of gold had increased 49,000 -ozs., and the gold industry was rapidly sinking back into the pit -of gloom and disaster, the number of labourers employed was 68,800, -being an increase of 9400—or 15 per cent. Moreover, in this terrible, -deplorable month the production of gold was greater than it had ever -been before, except during that period between the beginning of 1898 -and the commencement of the war. As to the question of labour, the -production per labourer per month in December 1903 was 4 ozs. of gold. -In 1899 it was only 3·4 ozs.; that is to say, it had been increased by -the use of machinery by one-seventh, so that six labourers in December -1903 were equal to seven labourers in the golden period before the -war. Actually, therefore, those 68,800 labourers were doing the work -of 80,262 labourers, and were doing it at wages 33 per cent. less than -they were before the war.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> But this was not prosperity. The dividends -were not large enough.</p> - -<p>The report of the consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields -still rang in the ear of the Rand lords. "Cut down the wages 33 per -cent. and you will add two and a half millions to the dividends."</p> - -<p>An unlimited number of Kaffirs would not come to the mines under -these conditions; they would not submit to bad wages as well as bad -treatment. White men would combine to manage the country and to take -the political power out of the hands of the Rand lords. "If we could -replace 20,000 workers by 100,000 unskilled whites," said one of the -directors, "they would simply hold the government of the country -in the hollow of their hand; and without any disparagement to the -British labourer, I prefer to see the more intellectual section of the -community at the helm."</p> - -<p>Hence the gloomy picture painted of the gold industry in that December -1903. Hence the slump in the Kaffir market. Hence that cry that native -labour would not come and that whites could not do the work. Hence that -more ominous cry that Chinese labourers must be employed. The Transvaal -was not to be for Englishmen. It was to be governed by the intellectual -genius of Mr. Rudd and his bevy of German Jews and non-British -Gentiles. Even if white labour was economically possible the Rand lords -did not want it. It <i>was</i> possible—it <i>was</i> economical. But they -wanted labour that would be <i>voteless</i> and <i>subservient</i>!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER II</span> <span class="smaller">'AVE, CRŒSUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT'</span></h2> - -<p>"The problem is a very urgent problem. The necessity of going forward -is an urgent and vital necessity in the economical condition of the -country. I will tell the House why in a sentence. The mines are 30,000 -natives short of the number engaged in the pre-war period."</p> - -<p>These were the words subsequently used by Mr. Lyttelton, the Colonial -Secretary. The matter <i>was</i> urgent. Already protests were pouring -in from every part of the Empire. Imperial meetings, white league -meetings, anti-slavery meetings, political meetings—all the machinery, -in short, of protest and obstruction was being got under weigh, and to -the Rand lords it seemed as if the ideal of slavery for which they had -struggled so long and so hard was to be denied them at the last hour. -The anguish of Sir Lancelot when a vision of the Holy Grail was denied -him after all his trials and tribulations was not greater or more -poignant than the trepidation of the mine owners. It became, indeed, a -very urgent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> problem for them, for unless they could bring the matter -to a head, not even the strongest Government of the century could hope -to withstand the popular will when once it was organized sufficiently -to voice its petition loudly enough.</p> - -<p>But of economical necessities there were none.</p> - -<p>It was natural after such a devastating war that some time should -elapse before the mines could get into full working order and attain -that wonderful output of gold which prevailed immediately before the -outbreak of hostilities. The progress of the gold industry after the -war had to be gradual; but so far from it being depressed or showing -signs of being stagnant, it had, as I have already shown, increased -enormously. Already it was within measurable distance of the output of -the pre-war period. The economical necessity was not the necessity of -importing cheap labour, but the necessity of paying a proper wage to -the Kaffir and of treating him well.</p> - -<p>Already Dr. Jameson, who in no sense was a partisan opponent of the -Rand capitalists, had declared in November 1903 that the De Beers -Company would not employ Chinamen—that they had plenty of labour, -white and black, because they treated their people well.</p> - -<p>But the Rand mine owners not only did not pay their Kaffirs a proper -wage, but meted out to them such treatment that the death-rate among -them had increased since 1902 to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> extent which, to express it in -mild terms, was appalling. I quote the figures below—</p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i029.jpg" alt="NATIVE MORTALITY ON MINES" /></div> - -<p>This was the economical necessity that should have occupied the -attention of his Majesty's Government, and not the question of -introducing Chinese indentured labour into the colony. That the mine -owners have successfully baulked in the past all inquiry as to their -treatment of natives is proved conclusively by the fact that even these -statistics did not draw forth a commission from the Government to -inquire into such a terrible state of affairs. Instead of the question -being, "Why is it Kaffirs die at the rate of seventy per thousand -per month?" the problem they set themselves was how to provide an -alternative to these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> quick-dying wage-wanting niggers. Attempts had -been made to procure coolie labour from India, and Lord Curzon never -did a greater or a nobler thing than when he refused the sanction of -his Government to such a step.</p> - -<p>Mr. Chamberlain said in the Commons that Lord Curzon should have been -overruled; an inexplicable remark from a man who had had the courage -to say to the miners that it was better they should be governed from -Downing Street than from Park Lane.</p> - -<p>In December 1903 General Ben Viljeon informed a labour commissioner -that a petty chief had told him recently that if he sent 100 boys -to the Rand only 66 returned, and some of them had scurvy. It was -not wonderful, therefore, that black labour was scarce; but it -was wonderful that his Majesty's Government did not take steps to -put an end to a state of things which they must have known to be -terrible, instead of merely substituting for the ill-used, underpaid, -criminally-treated but free labouring Kaffirs Chinamen who were to be -nothing better than slaves.</p> - -<p>But the drawing up of the draft Ordinance went forward. It was hurried -on at an incredible rate. Until the last minute it was kept back from -Parliament, and the Blue-book dealing with the alleged necessities for -introducing yellow labour was only placed in the hands of the members -of the House of Commons a few days before Mr. Herbert Samuel moved his -famous amendment to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> King's Address—"It is highly inexpedient that -sanction should be given to any Ordinance permitting the introduction -of indentured Chinese labourers into the Transvaal Colony until the -approval of the colonists has been formally ascertained."</p> - -<p>At one end of the cable sat Lord Milner, pricked on by the Rand -lords, at the other end sat the Colonial Secretary, anxious to be -fair, anxious to be humane, anxious to do nothing contrary to the -historic principles of British rule, but bemused by the clamour of the -Transvaal, and seeing in the protests against the Ordinance only party -moves and party partisanship. The clamour for the Ordinance increased -day by day.</p> - -<p>Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman had managed to extract a pledge from the -Government, by which Lord Milner was instructed to introduce into -the Ordinance a clause suspending its operation pending further -instructions from home. But it was pointed out that the matter was of -such great urgency that his Majesty's Government could not undertake to -postpone their decision longer than the termination of the debate on -the Address.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, they had already made up their minds. It was -stated that if a colony desired Chinese labour it was not for the -Imperial Parliament to interfere. To have done so would have been -contrary to the traditions of Imperial Government. But when Mr. Herbert -Samuel asked that the Ordinance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> should not be permitted until the -approval of the colonists in the Transvaal had been formally obtained -by the natural expedient of a referendum, Lord Milner asserted that to -hold a referendum was impossible—it would occupy too much time, that -at any rate it was an expedient unknown in any part of the British -Empire.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, a referendum has been put in practice in South -Australia, in New Zealand, in New South Wales, and was used more -recently to decide upon the important question of the Australian -Commonwealth. That it would have occupied six months to take such a -referendum, during which period the gold of the Transvaal would have -vanished, everybody would have refused to work, and the Kaffir market -would have been blotted out, was preposterous. Yet, at the moment when -Lord Milner made this statement, a census of the colony was taken, -which only occupied seven weeks. It is not unreasonable to assume that -such a referendum would have occupied more than a month.</p> - -<p>All the arguments of the Opposition were in vain against such -plausibility. It was useless to point out that while the educated -Chinese were good citizens, the bitter experience of Australia, -Canada, the United States and New Zealand proved conclusively that the -uneducated Chinamen, wherever they went, were vicious, immoral and -unclean, hated by the white man, loathed and feared by every decent -white woman. The Government admitted the danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> of allowing 50,000 -Chinamen to be planted down in a colony without any restrictions. Their -introduction was a regrettable necessity; and so it was proposed to -keep them in compounds, to round them up every night like sheep, to -make them liable to heavy penalties if they wandered abroad without a -permit. This was the only way, they declared, in which these necessary -evils could be used. Of the necessity of utilizing the evil at all they -were convinced, and no argument succeeded in shaking their faith. It -was pointed out to them that this would be semi-slavery, if not indeed -actual slavery. The Chinaman was not to be employed in any position -but that of a miner; he could not improve his position; he could not -give notice to one employer and go to another. He could never leave the -compound without permission. If he struck work he could be imprisoned. -He was bound to reside on the premises of his employer, in charge of a -manager appointed for the purpose. Permission to leave these premises -might or might not be granted; but in any case he could never be -absent for more than forty-eight hours at a time. If he escaped, he -could be tracked down, arrested without a warrant and imprisoned by a -magistrate, while anybody who harboured or concealed him was fined £50, -or imprisoned in default of payment.</p> - -<p>The Ordinance was without parallel in the Empire. Because the Chinese -were competitors, because they were a moral and social<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> danger, the -supporters of the Ordinance were compelled to devise some system under -which it could become law in the Transvaal, and by which they could yet -prevent any one of the Chinamen brought in being able at any time to -leave his employment and turn to other and more profitable undertakings.</p> - -<p>Only a casuist could call this anything else but slavery. One of our -most unsuccessful ministers tried to find a parallel between this -system and the life of our soldiers—a parallel so bright and so -pleasing that no one, I think, has yet attempted to spoil the bloom of -this flower of grim humour by disclosing its absurdity. The Transvaal -Government had, in fact, gone to the statute books of the slave states -of America for a model for their Ordinance.</p> - -<p>It was soon seen and realized that any attempt to negative the -Ordinance must prove abortive. All that the Opposition could do was to -render it as innocuous as possible, and to secure as many guarantees -as they could for the proper moral and physical treatment of the -unfortunate Chinamen. They extracted pledges and promises galore, most -of which have been completely broken.</p> - -<p>On March 21, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton, after stating that the average Kaffir -wage was 50<i>s.</i> for thirty days' work, made this statement in the House -of Commons—"Chinamen would receive in the Transvaal at least 2<i>s.</i> a -day. I stand here and give the House my assurance that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Chinese -will receive at least the amount I have specified."</p> - -<p>At that time, when this well-meaning pledge was made, the Kaffir was -only receiving 33<i>s.</i> per month. But even had he been receiving 50<i>s.</i> -a month, which Mr. Lyttelton in his ignorance imagined, was it at all -likely that the Rand owner would pay the Chinaman 2<i>s.</i> a day, or -60<i>s.</i> a month, that is to say, 10<i>s.</i> a month more than they were -presumably paying the Kaffirs? Of course, the mine magnates were not -going to pay the Chinaman more than the 33<i>s.</i> they were paying the -Kaffir.</p> - -<p>Mr. Lyttelton's pledge was summarily disposed of by Lord Milner and the -mine owners.</p> - -<p>After at first insisting on a minimum of 1<i>s.</i> a day instead of 2<i>s.</i>, -Lord Milner finally made this plausible promise, that if within six -months the average pay was not more than 50<i>s.</i> for thirty days' -work, the minimum should be raised from 1<i>s.</i> to 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a day. -Mr. Lyttelton's maximum of 2<i>s.</i> a day was thus reduced to a possible -minimum of 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a day.</p> - -<p>Another delightful pledge was also given. It seemed almost indeed as -if the Transvaal Government were continually advising Lord Milner to -cable, saying, "Promise anything in heaven or earth, but let's get this -Ordinance through."</p> - -<p>With somewhat unusual consideration, the opinion of the Chinese -Government had been asked on the subject. Speaking through their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> -ambassador, the Chinese Government insisted that the immigrant should -have free access to the courts of justice to obtain redress for injury -to his personal property.</p> - -<p>On March 10, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton stated that the Chinese labourers -would have the same right of access to the courts as all the other -subjects of his Majesty's dominions. Any subject of his Majesty's -dominions has the right to appear before a court when he has any -grievance. That is the right of all subjects of his Majesty's -dominions. The Chinaman, according to Mr. Lyttelton, was to have the -same right. As a matter of fact, he has no right of access to the -courts, except by leave of an inspector.</p> - -<p>Again, Mr. Lyttelton declared, when the Chinese Government raised the -point of flogging, that there was no power in the Ordinance to impose -flogging. There was not at that time. But four months later, on July -28, an Ordinance was assented to by which the resident magistrate had -the right to flog in cases where the conviction was a conviction of -robbery, in cases of any statutory offence for which flogging could be -only given for the second conviction, in cases of assault of a grave -character or intended to do serious bodily harm, or, indeed, to commit -any offence.</p> - -<p>I shall deal later in detail with the punishments that have been -inflicted on the yellow slaves that work in their slavery under the -Union Jack. It is at present only my object to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> outline the policy -of promising anything and making all sorts of preposterous pledges -in order that the clamours of the Rand lords might be gratified. In -Johannesburg they knew well that if once indentured labour was agreed -to in principle, it would be easy to make what alterations they wished -in the spirit or the letter of the Ordinance.</p> - -<p>In February 1904 Mr. Lyttelton stated with regard to the importation of -women with the Chinese—"We are advised in this matter by men of the -most experience in the whole Empire on the subject of Chinese labour. -We are advised that the coolies would not go without their womenfolk. -Manifestly it would be wrong that they should go without their -womenfolk if they were desirous of taking them with them."</p> - -<p>To quiet the lethargic conscience of that adept courtier, his Grace -the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was declared that the interests of -public morality demanded that the Chinamen should be accompanied by -their wives, and that this was one of the essential conditions of the -Ordinance. It was pointed out at the time that once the mine owners -had 5000 indentured labourers, they would not take upon themselves the -burden of supporting their wives, with an average of three children -apiece. It would mean 250,000 women and children. And it is almost -inconceivable that even Mr. Lyttelton could have imagined that the -cosmopolitan proprietors of the Transvaal would have taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> upon -themselves the superintendence of human beings utterly incapable of -dragging gold from the earth.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, Chinese have never taken their wives into foreign -countries, and therefore the moral question, which so concerned Dr. -Davidson for one brief day, was not settled. As a matter of fact, it -was stated at the beginning of this year by the Colonial Secretary that -while 4895 wives were registered as accompanying their husbands, only -two women and twelve children had actually been brought over!</p> - -<p>It was stated by Mr. Lyttelton, at the same time as he satisfied the -conscience of the most Reverend Primate, that the Chinaman would be so -well fed and so lightly worked that in the interests of morality it -was physically necessary that he should be accompanied by his wife. -In explaining the fact that only two women and twelve children had -accompanied the thirty or forty thousand Chinamen up to the beginning -of 1905, the Colonial Secretary remarked in effect that this fact would -not lead to immorality, because the Chinaman's food was so frugal and -his work was so steady that he would be almost physically incapable of -those passions which are a source of so much trouble, of so much crime, -of so much happiness, and of so much beneficence to the white man, the -black man, the red man, and the brown man. Life under the Rand lords, -in short, was practically emasculating, and therefore immorality was -impossible.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>I shall deal with this subject later on. For the present I will point -out that this was the fourth pledge that had been given in the House -of Commons, only to be broken, not, I admit, by Mr. Lyttelton and the -Government, but by their masters, the mine owners on the Rand.</p> - -<p>The Opposition steadily opposed the Government in the House.</p> - -<p>Major Seely and Mr. Winston Churchill left the Conservative Party, -Major Seely resigning his seat to test the temper of his constituents -in the Isle of Wight on this very subject. The electors in the Isle of -Wight were of no uncertain temper. They returned Major Seely to the -House, thereby proving, as all subsequent by-elections have proved, -that the Chinese Labour Ordinance is bitterly opposed by the vast -majority of freedom-loving Britons.</p> - -<p>It had been the custom during the war to submit very largely to the -opinion of the colonies. In fact, the influence of colonial opinion -had partly directed the policy of the Government for several years. -Mr. Chamberlain constantly submitted to it, before, during, and after -the war. He had based his bold venture of Tariff Reform on this very -opinion. It was because the colonies would think this or would say -that, that the British workman was to submit to a tax upon corn, a tax -upon clothes, a tax upon everything else. It was reasonable to expect, -therefore, that on such an important Imperial question, touching the -welfare of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> colony, to possess which the whole of the Empire had -risen in arms, and men had poured from the snows of Canada and the -rolling plains of the Bush, the opinions of the Five Nations would -have been consulted. But even if the Government did not submit to this -recognition of their services, to this acceptance of a common Imperial -interest, it was only natural to have supposed that they would have -at least taken into account the advice of Canada, Australia, and New -Zealand, who had experienced the evils of Chinese immigration.</p> - -<p>I have travelled all over the Orange River Colony, Natal, Cape Colony, -and the Transvaal, and the colonial people and the Dutch were all -unanimously against the introduction of the Chinese on the Rand. I -have never yet met one person in favour of the Ordinance. And since -the Ordinance became law, and the yellow slaves began their work at -the mines, nearly every person I have met in South Africa has openly -regretted the war, and declared that they preferred the days of Paul -Kruger, whose Government may have been corrupt, but was at any rate -based on the principle that it is the duty of a white government to -look after the moral and social welfare of its white subjects.</p> - -<p>Mr. Chamberlain himself declared that there was considerable -indignation expressed throughout South Africa at the proposal to -introduce Chinese labour, and that a vast majority of the people -throughout South Africa were bitterly opposed to the Ordinance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> - -<p>The colonies were not slow in sending passionate protests to the -Colonial Office against the Ordinance. Mr. Seddon wired—"My Government -desire to protest against the proposal to introduce Chinese labour -into South Africa. They foresee that great dangers, racial, social and -political, would inevitably be introduced by Chinese influx, however -stringent the conditions of introduction and employment may be."</p> - -<p>Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, declared that Australia had been -told that the war was a miners' war, but not for Chinese miners; a war -for the franchise, but not for Chinese franchise. The truth, if it had -been told, would have presented a very different aspect, and would have -made a very different appeal to Australia.</p> - -<p>Cape Colony, which was more intimately concerned with the welfare of -the Transvaal than any other portion of the Empire, passed a resolution -in the Cape Parliament, "That this House, taking cognizance of the -resolution passed at the recent Conference held at Bloemfontein on the -subject of the qualified approval of the importation of Asiatic labour, -desires to express its strong opposition to any such importation as -prejudicial to the interests of all classes of people in South Africa."</p> - -<p>This last resolution had been sent to the Government as long before as -July 1903, when the first steps were being taken to pave the way for -yellow slavery.</p> - -<p>But of all these protests the Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> took no notice whatever. -They met all questions with a statement that the Transvaal was to be -allowed to decide on its own internal affairs; and when the Opposition -demanded that the opinion of the Transvaal should be taken, so that -these principles could be carried into effect, they replied that a -referendum, the only means of ascertaining this opinion, would take six -months, during which time the Transvaal would be ruined.</p> - -<p>Never was the logic of any of the characters in <i>Alice in Wonderland</i> -so unanswerable.</p> - -<p>In the Transvaal itself loud and indignant protests were made against -the proposal. But the Rand lords asserted their supremacy with ruthless -severity. The <i>Transvaal Leader</i>, the <i>Transvaal Advertiser</i>, and the -Johannesburg <i>Star</i> all opposed the introduction of Asiatic labour. -Their respective editors, Mr. R. J. Pakeman, Mr. J. Scoble, and Mr. -Monypenny, were compelled to resign because they refused to sacrifice -their opinions for their proprietors. Some idea of the pressure that -was brought to bear, may be seen in the valedictory editorial which Mr. -Monypenny wrote on retiring from the editorship of the Johannesburg -<i>Star</i>:—</p> - -<p>"To the policy of Chinese immigration, to which the Chamber of Mines -has decided to devote its energies, the present editor of the <i>Star</i> -remains resolutely opposed, and declines in any way to identify himself -with such an experiment. To the ideal of a white South Africa, which, -to whatever qualifications it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> may necessarily be subject, is something -very different from the ideal of a Chinese South Africa, he resolutely -clings, with perfect faith that whatever its enemies may do to-day -that ideal will inevitably prevail. But as the financial houses which -control the mining industry of the Transvaal have for the present -enrolled themselves among its enemies the present editor of the <i>Star</i> -withdraws."</p> - -<p>It is not difficult to read between the lines here and see the -determination of the mining magnates to crush every opposition to their -will.</p> - -<p>Mr. Cresswell, who had stood out for white labour on the Village -Main Reef mine, and had proved conclusively that white labour could -be employed at a profit greater than that at which black labour was -employed, was compelled to resign his general managership. Mr. Wybergh, -Commissioner of Mines, and for long a distinguished servant of the -Government, had dared to protest against Chinese serfdom, and was -forced also to resign.</p> - -<p>Every day it became more clear that the Transvaal was to be no place -for an Englishman. The white man's blood and the white man's treasure -may have been spent to win it for the one-time flag of freedom, but the -Englishman was not to make his home or earn his living upon the land. -"We want no white proletariat," Lord Milner had said.</p> - -<p>But the magnates did not stop at merely coercing the press. Indignation -meetings were held at Cape Town and Kimberley, and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> employed men -to break them up at 15<i>s.</i> per head.</p> - -<p>At a meeting at Johannesburg, held by the African Labour League, it -was arranged that a proposal should be put to the vote deploring the -importation of Asiatics, and protesting against the action of the -Government, and demanding a referendum in the colony. At this meeting -several men were present, paid by a certain Mr. B. of Johannesburg to -create a disturbance. Their efforts were so successful, they shouted so -long "You want the Chinese," that the meeting became an uproar, and the -speakers were unable to be heard.</p> - -<p>But all protests were unavailing and futile. All opposition was -considered as a party move. The cry of "Yellow slavery" was attributed -to shameless Radical tactics. The Liberal Party, it was said, would -stoop to anything with which to besmirch the fair name of the -Conservative Party. The Ordinance passed the House after having been -debated at length. It has since been altered in some of its most -important details, thereby emphasizing the fact that in permitting the -question to be debated in the House the Government only regarded the -discussion as a sham.</p> - -<p>But even in the Conservative Party there were men whose consciences -pricked them over the Ordinance. One old respected member, who has -recently died, declared privately on the day that the vote was -taken that for the first time in his life he had voted against his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> -conscience, at the urgent instance of the Conservative whips. He for -one realized, when it was too late, that the introduction of the -Chinese on the Rand was—as Mr. Asquith lately remarked at Leven—"a -most gigantic and short-sighted blunder."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER III</span> <span class="smaller">THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND</span></h2> - -<p>"It must be admitted that the lot of the Chinese labourer does not -promise to be very gay or very happy from our point of view" (extract -from <i>The Times</i>).</p> - -<p>Experience has shown that it is not economical to employ Chinese under -the only conditions in which public opinion will allow them to be used, -that is, under semi-servile conditions. This was the experience of all -other parts of the Empire, but it was the last thing to have any weight -with the mine owners. Their one idea of economy was to get labour cheap.</p> - -<p>If you deduct 33 to 40 per cent. from the money that has to be paid in -wages, that 33 to 40 per cent. is money saved—is money which will go -to swell the dividends to an amount, so it had been estimated, of two -and a half millions.</p> - -<p>The simplicity of this calculation should have given them pause. -Financiers, at least, should be aware that nothing is so untrustworthy -as the abstract profit and loss account. Men who had used figures to -such good advantage should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> have understood that while on paper the -difference between the price paid to the Chinese and the price paid to -the white or black labourer was profit, in actual practice it would -prove nothing of the sort.</p> - -<p>The mine owners have learnt this lesson by now. They have discovered -that Chinese labour is an economical failure.</p> - -<p>But in the summer of 1904 they were all eagerness for the coming of the -yellow man. To their imaginations these men were to be nothing better -than slaves. They were to work as long as they wanted them to work at -prices which they would settle themselves. Craftily-concocted laws -enabled them to bring the same sort of brutal pressure to bear upon the -yellow man as the slave owner of old brought upon the black man. He -could be fined, flogged, driven, coerced by all means to tear the gold -from the bowels of the earth at whatever rate the masters might wish. -They had treated the black men pretty much as they liked. But the black -men had the knack of dying in thousands under such treatment (thereby, -as I have already noted, affording hearty amusement for gatherings of -the Chamber of Mines), or of throwing up their work and going back to -their native kraals.</p> - -<p>The Rand lord had not had complete control of the black man. Foolish -people at home, influenced by what Lord Milner once called Exeter Hall -sentiments, had insisted that the black man must possess those personal -rights of liberty and freedom which, until recently, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> given to all -races who paid allegiance to the Sovereign of the British Dominions -beyond the Seas.</p> - -<p>For the first time the mine owner was to have forty to fifty thousand -men who were to live under strict surveillance in a sort of prison -yard, who were to be absolutely at his mercy and at his will, who were -to work every day of the week, Sundays included—the evangelizing -enterprise of the Rector of St. Mary's, Johannesburg, did not seem to -have run to indoctrinating the Rand lords or their slaves with the -principles of the Fourth Commandment—who were to be forced into doing -whatsoever their masters wished by all sorts of ingenious punishments -and penalties.</p> - -<p>They of course forgot the all-important factor in this dream of theirs -that a Chinaman will willingly consent to an arrangement which, as <i>The -Times</i> admitted, would make their lot neither very gay nor very happy.</p> - -<p>But none the less this was the spirit in which the Chinaman was -recruited in China and first treated on his arrival.</p> - -<p>Quite the most frivolous of all the pledges given by Mr. Lyttelton on -behalf of the Rand lords, was one in which he solemnly declared that -to every Chinese labourer recruited from his native land the Ordinance -would be carefully explained by the recruiting officer.</p> - -<p>I do not recollect that the House of Commons was moved to an outburst -of Olympian mirth at this most ridiculous statement. If I recollect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> -aright, the statement was received with that solemn British expression -of approval, "Hear, hear!"</p> - -<p>"The Ordinance," said Mr. Lyttelton, "will be explained carefully to -each labourer before he consents to embark for South Africa."</p> - -<p>Now, the Ordinance is a long and complicated document. It would be -impossible to explain it to the most intelligent Chinaman in under an -hour. Actually, it would probably take him a whole day to completely -understand the sort of life he was going to lead on the Rand. For one -man to explain the Ordinance to 40,000 of them would have taken about -nine years. At the recruiting offices established in China for the -purpose of obtaining these yellow slaves, it would have taken at least -three years to make all the forty to fifty thousand Chinamen still -working on the Rand to thoroughly understand the Ordinance.</p> - -<p>This was a <i>reductio ad absurdum</i> argument, which one would have -thought must have occurred to the minds of the Government, but if it -did occur to them they kept it in the background with due solemnity.</p> - -<p>Seeing that the recruiting and sending over to South Africa of more -than 40,000 Chinamen occupied less than a year, it is clear that this -pretence of allowing the Chinaman to enter upon his engagement with -the Rand lords with his eyes open was a pretence, and nothing else. -But even if the simplest arithmetical calculation failed to convince -the Government, their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> knowledge of human nature should have made them -realize the absurdity of imagining that the recruiting of these men -would be carried out on such principles. The recruiter, whether for the -Army, or for any other purpose, is very much like a barrister with a -brief. He has only to see one side of the argument; he has to close his -mind firmly to all considerations other than the fact that it is his -duty to get men for the particular purpose for which he is recruiting. -Whoever found the recruiting-sergeant telling an embryo Tommy Atkins -about the hardships of a life in the Army, of the punishments to which -he renders himself liable, of the powers of a court-martial, and the -like? He only tells him of the splendid chance he has of serving his -King and country; of his handsome uniform; of the influence of that -uniform on the female breast, and the like. I have met men who have -recruited in South Africa for the Philippines, who have recruited in -England for revolutionary committees for some of the South American -republics, and I know that the one picture that these men do not paint -to their recruits is the picture of their possible hardships. If the -white recruiter acts like this to men of his own colour, how was he -likely to act towards men of a different colour whom centuries of -traditional prejudice led him to regard with contempt and dislike?</p> - -<p>I am convinced that ninety-nine out of every hundred of the Chinamen at -present working on the Rand neither knew then nor know now the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> exact -terms on which they were brought from their homes. Again, it is well -known that the Chinaman has a hereditary dislike to forfeiting his -freedom of action. However bad his Government may be, he has the same -instinct for freedom as the white man in Great Britain. All the best -authorities on China agree that he would never of his own free-will -have consented to bind himself to the Rand lords on the terms set forth -in the Ordinance.</p> - -<p>What happened, of course, was that the Chinese local authorities, when -asked to assist in the recruiting of men for the Rand, made out a -list of all the wastrels, semi-criminals and hooligans who kept their -Governments in a state of anarchy and unrest, and forced these men -to indenture themselves. In fact, the situation on the Rand is very -much as if we had emptied our prisons and turned out all our thieves, -murderers and hooligans loose on the veld.</p> - -<p>One cannot blame the Chinese Government for so acting. It is a proof -rather that that ancient empire still retains, amidst a great deal that -is bad and corrupt, a spirit of elementary justice.</p> - -<p>It would have been criminal to have sent Chinese citizens to the -Transvaal. It was quite another matter to send batches of criminals.</p> - -<p>The ease with which men were recruited and shipped to the Transvaal -seemed to confirm the Rand lords in their delusion that at last they -had got hold of people who would increase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> their dividends for them -without demanding rights and privileges.</p> - -<p><i>The Times</i> had called them masculine machinery. Lord Selborne had -said that they would be crammed in loose-boxes and taken over. When -at first the long procession of pigtails and blue shirts appeared at -Johannesburg they certainly seemed to be so much masculine machinery, -so much cattle to be crammed into cattle-trucks at one port and -unshipped at another.</p> - -<p>But all delusions or illusions were soon destroyed.</p> - -<p>It was found that the Chinaman actually thought for himself; that he -had a sense of fair play, and that he was not prepared to work like a -horse for a shilling or so a day.</p> - -<p>The compounds in which these yellow slaves were herded together are -pieces of land in close proximity to the mine, surrounded by a high -fence, guarded by armed police. They look exactly what in fact they -are—prisons, and nothing else. Hospitals have been erected in each -of the compounds, and an ample supply of gods have been procured for -the Chinamen, possibly as a set-off to the evangelistical zeal of the -Rector of St. Mary's, for there is no knowing what a Chinaman might do -if he became thoroughly inculcated with the doctrines of love and mercy -which were preached in the Sermon on the Mount.</p> - -<p>The compound in other respects is very like a village. No one can -go into this village<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> unless he has got some special business or -has obtained a permit. These restrictions serve a double purpose. -They prevent the possibility of a white man or a white woman being -insulted by the slaves, and also put a check upon that inquiry into the -treatment of the yellow men which the Rand lords are moving heaven and -earth to baulk.</p> - -<p>The huts in which labourers live are identical with those made for -Kaffirs. They hold one or two, as the case may be.</p> - -<p>The labourers have to work day and night in shifts of eight hours. When -it is time for a batch of labourers to begin their shift, they are -herded together and marched off to the mine, care being taken to keep -them quite apart from the Kaffirs and whites.</p> - -<p>At the pit mouth they are driven into the cage and dropped down into -the bowels of the earth. When the cage is opened the Chinaman is driven -out, and if he show some hesitation about leaving the cage, he is -kicked out as if he were an animal. At least, that is the treatment to -which they were at first subjected. Now, however, their treatment in -the mine is hardly so severe. Indeed, it would not be too much to say -that the Chinaman now does his share of the "kicking." For example, -on September 23 last, the Chinese at the Lancaster Mine attempted to -murder the skipman by placing a beam in the path of the descending -skip—a collision with which, as a writer in the <i>Daily Mail</i> lately -pointed out, "would have sent the skip a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> drop of a thousand feet." The -obstruction was noticed. When the skipman got out he was assaulted, but -managed to escape.</p> - -<p>The white overseer at first felt that instinctive fear of and dislike -for the Chinaman that is peculiar to all Englishmen. He was one man -against hundreds. In the majority of cases he had been bitterly opposed -to the introduction of Chinese labour. He realized by the restrictions -that had been placed by the Ordinance on the Chinamen that they were -feared, and, in turn, he feared them himself. It was his duty to see -that they worked. It was his duty to make them work. Unable to speak -their language, instinctively disliking them, he used the only means -of asserting his authority which came to his hands: that was generally -a boot or a crowbar. Physical fear is the power by which nearly all -primitive communities are ruled. The white races look upon the Chinamen -as belonging to a primitive community, forgetting that they are the -children of a civilization thousands of years older than any that -exists in Europe.</p> - -<p>The white man soon dropped trying to rule by force. The Chinaman showed -him that he feared blows as little as he feared death. If he didn't -want to work he wouldn't work, and showed that fear was not the basis -of Chinese morals. Once in the mine the docile, tractable Chinaman of -the Rand lords' dream did just as he liked, and continues to do just as -he likes.</p> - -<p>When he leaves the compound he, perhaps,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> takes with him half a loaf -of bread. When he feels hungry, he stops work, coils himself upon the -ground, and takes his meal. Let the language of the white man be as -terrible as he is capable of, let him rain blows upon the Chinaman's -back, the Chinaman takes no notice, but continues his meal. When he -has finished his bread he rolls a cigarette, and smokes in calm and -indifferent quietness. If the Englishman remonstrates with him, John -Chinaman replies, "Me get one little shilling. Me do plenttee work for -me pay."</p> - -<p>And he speaks the truth. He does quite enough work for a shilling a -day. There is a wide difference between what he considers sufficient -work and what the Rand lords consider sufficient. There is the increase -of two and a half millions which the cosmopolitan mine owner hopes to -make by using the Chinaman as a slave, and which he never will make -either with the Chinaman or the black man. He does his best, however.</p> - -<p>The idea that this heathen, whom he has brought over with so much -difficulty, in the face of so much opposition, should actually refuse -to work like a machine, but should have ideas about the time when he -wants to eat, and should even demand a few minutes' quiet smoke after -eating, drives him almost to the point of insanity. It is almost as bad -as those white workmen, who have a mania for forming trade unions and -require fair wages for fair work.</p> - -<p>In the face of this Chinese intractableness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> while working in the -mines, the Rand lords have urged on the white overseers to force the -Chinese to do their work. When the overseer points out that if he -resorts to violence his life will not be worth a moment's purchase, he -is met with the reply that it is his duty to see that the Chinaman does -his work, and if he cannot do that they must find somebody else to take -his place. Under this threat of dismissal, the overseer has had only -one resource. He has had to raise up a race feud, from which he stands -apart.</p> - -<p>The Kaffirs already hate the yellow man, realizing that they have -deprived them of their work. The white overseer has fomented this -racial animosity. When the Chinaman has proved recalcitrant and -disobedient, when he has refused to do more than a certain quantity -of work, the overseer turns the black man on to him to force him once -again to his task.</p> - -<p>The result is bloodshed and murder of black men and Chinamen.</p> - -<p>It is the old problem of leading a horse to the water and trying to -make him drink.</p> - -<p>The Chinaman has been dragged from his native land in the face of -the opposition of the whole Empire to increase the dividend paying. -But he won't hurry, he won't work too hard, and in the mine he will -do, as I have said, exactly as he pleases. All illusions as to the -Chinaman's capacity for hard work have vanished. Even Mr. S. B. -Joel—one of the Rand lords—practically admitted as much in his speech -at the annual meeting of the Johannesburg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Consolidated Investment -Company on November 23. With much reluctance, as may be imagined, the -light-hearted "Solly" admitted that "the Chinese had not yet proved -quite so suitable for underground work as natives"—but, lest this -statement might affect the market price of the shares, the chairman -of "Johnnies" expressed the hope that they would attain greater -efficiency. No—the Chinaman does not work hard. It is true that he -takes his employment seriously, and that what he does he will do well -and with a certain efficiency. But he is not the masculine machinery or -the cattle of Lord Selborne's imagination. He has enough intelligence -to realize that he is the man who is wanted, and acts accordingly. If -he works for a shilling a day he will only do a shilling's worth of -work. He knows that he must be employed; nobody else can be got to do -his job, and he acts, in fact, just as the Rand lords feared the white -labourer would act. He won't be bullied into doing any more work than -he wants to do. True, he forms no trade unions such as the white men -form, but there is among all the Chinese a much more powerful weapon -of opposition than the trade unions. Every Chinaman has his secret -society, and these societies act together as one man. If the society -decides to stop work, they stop work, and neither the fear of death nor -the most callous or brutal treatment can move them from their purpose. -He hates the white man with the same intensity as the white man hates -him. If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> he can get the white man into any difficulty he will do so. -His ingenuity for creating trouble is worthy of a better cause. With a -sort of diabolical foresight he realizes exactly the complaints that -will be showered upon the overseer's head by the masters of the mines. -If the output falls, he knows that there will be trouble for the white -man, so he stops work. He squats down and smokes cigarettes, realizing -that by so doing he will be laying up a store of trouble for the -overseer.</p> - -<p>To show how much the Chinaman is now the master of the situation on -the Rand I may quote the following instance—On the night of October -24, the Chinese at the Jumpers Deep Mine refused to work until two -of their compatriots, who had been arrested for an infringement of -the mining regulations, were released. Every artifice was resorted -to to get the stubborn Chinamen to resume their toil, but in vain. -Eventually, the Government superintendent of the Chinese, acting under -recently-extended powers, had forty of the head men arrested. Twenty -of these were afterwards sentenced, some to two and others to three -months' hard labour—sentences which probably moved to quiet mirth the -parties most concerned, who could do that sort of punishment "on their -head," so to speak.</p> - -<p>It has been said, of course, that the miners along the reef have always -worked against the Chinese. It is not to be wondered at if they have. -Nobody could reasonably blame them—except <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>the Rand lords. But so far -from this being true, the white miners have done their best to work -with them. Even the chairman of the Chamber of Mines has confessed that -the innumerable riots that have occurred down in the mines were not the -result of the white men's machinations. The white man does his best, -but under circumstances without parallel in the history of labour. He -works always with the certain knowledge that at any moment he may be -killed. To him the yellow terror is not a myth or the dream of fiction -writers. He knows what it means. It is present with him every hour -of his work. Down the mine in the stopes a white man has under him -thirty or forty Chinese. If any grievance, real or imaginary, arose, -the Chinese could turn round and take his life. He has no protection -whatever. He has to stand by and listen as best he can to the insults -heaped upon him by the children of the Celestial Empire; and insults -heaped not only upon him but upon his womenfolk. He has to see that -the work is done efficiently, or he is dismissed from his employment. -But there is little wonder that his anger or fear gets the better of -his discretion. It is bad enough that Chinamen are doing the work that -should be done by white men, but it becomes even a greater scandal -when the white men, who sacrificed so much blood and treasure for the -Transvaal, should be insulted by these yellow slaves.</p> - -<p>The low-class Chinaman is probably the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> bestial and degrading -brute on this earth. He is intelligent enough, but his mind is as vile -and unwholesome as a sewer. The bestial insults which he heaps upon -the white overseers, and, indeed, upon every white man that he comes -across, three years ago would not have been tolerated in any quarter -of the British Empire. It is tolerated to-day in the Transvaal by the -sanction of German Jews and un-British Gentiles.</p> - -<p>Lord Selborne, when the matter was brought to his notice, declared—"No -wonder a white miner who has had such language said to him would fail -to have roused within him feelings which would take a certain natural -direction of satisfying themselves. But where has the Chinaman learnt -this kind of language? he did not come here knowing it."</p> - -<p>Lord Selborne's implication was, of course, that the Englishmen, in -their conversation in the presence of Chinamen, were accustomed to use -this bestial talk.</p> - -<p>I don't pretend that the conversation of miners is always savoury. I am -sure that the method of conversation in vogue in some of the Yorkshire -and Lancashire factories would scandalize decent, quiet-living people, -but such language on the part of the British workman is the result of -his inability to express himself properly. What he says is said for -emphasis. He does not, like a more educated man, add vigour to his -conversation by making use of the endless variations of his mother -tongue; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> simply peppers his talk with epithets which in no way are -used in their original meaning. If they were used in their original -meaning, if the British workman really meant what he said, all the -deadly sins in thought or in practice would be committed millions -and millions of times a day. But the Chinaman is noted for his taste -for all the most bestial vices which the imagination of man has ever -conceived. What the miner may say in a coarse moment the Chinaman will -commit without any hesitation.</p> - -<p>Lord Selborne asked where the Chinamen learnt this kind of language, -and added that they did not come to the Transvaal knowing it. If Lord -Selborne visited some of the treaty ports in China he would soon become -aware that the Chinaman has added to his taste for committing all the -vile and bestial vices, a knowledge of how to express these vices in -all the vile and bestial language of Europe. As most of the criminal -classes are to be found within the fringe of European civilization, and -as, moreover, the Chinese Government has drafted, with a certain grim -humour, a large number of the criminal classes into the Transvaal, I -think the question as to where the Chinaman learnt his bestial language -is answered equally as well as the statement, that he did not come to -the Transvaal knowing it, is contradicted.</p> - -<p>This is the state of affairs in the mines themselves. But if these -yellow slaves are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>intractable in the mines, they are even more -intractable in the compounds.</p> - -<p>What they want to do that they will do, and not all the prisons and -ingeniously-compiled penal laws can prevent them. They soon realized -that if they wished they could be masters of the Rand. They foresaw -that the Rand lord would be chary of using force, would hesitate to put -into execution his slave-owning ideals, for fear of public opinion at -home; that is to say, to put them into full force.</p> - -<p>But the Rand lords were not the type of men who would be chary of -impressing upon the Chinamen in secret the full meaning of their -position on the Rand.</p> - -<p>As it is the case in the mines, so is it the case in the compounds.</p> - -<p>The white man not only hates the yellow man, but fears him. He knows -that at any moment he may be murdered, and with this fear in his heart -has resorted to all sorts of brutality.</p> - -<p>The Chinamen can be flogged by law for almost any act. The Ordinance -says that a Chinaman cannot leave the compound without a permit, and -prescribes his life for him on absolute machine-like lines. The amended -Ordinance of July 1904 says that he can be flogged in cases of assault -with intent to commit any offence. Of course, an assault with intent -to commit any offence might consist in hustling his neighbours in an -attempt to escape from his compound, in pushing against the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> white -overseer, in refusing to work. In short, the law was so ingeniously -amended that the Chinaman could be flogged for anything.</p> - -<p>But the law was really not needed. The manager of the Crœsus Mine -admitted that when he considered a Chinaman wrong he had flogged him; -that it might be against the law to flog him, but he had done so, and -would continue to do so.</p> - -<p>And he was not only flogged for disobeying the regulations under -which—knowingly, it is said—he had indentured himself, but for -refusing to work. An Ordinance might substitute corporal punishment for -imprisonment in the case of misdemeanours on the part of the Chinaman -and so escape the title of slavery; but to force a man to work by -corporal punishment is nothing but the essence of slavery. And yet -these yellow men have been whipped to their work again and again.</p> - -<p>But flogging is no new thing on the Rand, nor is it confined to the -Chinaman. The native knows the sjambok of the Rand lord well enough. "I -well recollect," says Mr. Douglas Blackburn (lately assistant editor of -the defunct Johannesburg <i>Daily Express</i>), writing to <i>The Times</i> on -November 4,—"I well recollect seventy-two boys being flogged before -breakfast one morning in Krugersdorp gaol for the crime of refusing to -work for £2 per month, after being promised £5 by the labour agent."</p> - -<p>While these facts are well known in Johannesburg, while there are many -people who openly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> admit that they have thrashed the coolie, or ordered -him to be thrashed for refusing to do sufficient work, the Rand papers, -which are absolutely under the control of the mine owners, denied -again and again that flogging took place. It was only Mr. Lyttelton's -announcement that flogging must cease that at last compelled them to -admit that flogging had taken place. Mr. Lyttelton had himself denied -on several occasions that the Chinaman was flogged, and his command -therefore that flogging must cease was quite as amazing to the members -of the House of Commons as it was to the Rand lords.</p> - -<p>To anybody who has witnessed the development of Chinese slavery on the -Rand, it is almost incomprehensible that there should be any people -at home who deliberately refuse to believe that the Chinaman has been -treated otherwise than as a human being, made in the image of God, with -the rights that belong to all men of justice and freedom. The subject -is as openly discussed, and regarded as a matter of fact on the Rand, -as the Lord Mayor's Show.</p> - -<p>I cannot do better than quote from the now famous letters of Mr. Frank -C. Boland to the <i>Morning Leader</i>. These letters show the development -of yellow slavery in a nutshell, show how from flogging the yellow man -to his work the Rand lords finally resorted to torture:—</p> - -<p>"At the Nourse Deep severe punishment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> was meted out. Every boy who -did not drill his thirty-six inches per shift was liable to be, and -actually was, whipped, unless he were ill, and could show that it was a -physical impossibility for him to do a day's work. A sjambok was used; -it was laid on relentlessly by Chinese policemen, the part of the body -selected being the muscles and tendons at the back of the thighs. Even -the sight of blood did not matter. The policeman would go right on to -the last stroke. Having been thus punished, the coolie would walk away; -but after sitting down for a time the bruised tendons would refuse to -work. Many of the coolies were sent to hospital to recover.</p> - -<p>"At a later date at this mine strips of rubber were substituted for a -sjambok. This rubber, while causing very sharp pain, does not cut.</p> - -<p>"After a time the mine officials found that the coolies were not -maintaining the monthly increase, and the management urged the Chinese -controller to 'do something.' He refused to thrash the coolies unless -they had committed some crime; and being informed by the manager -that his policy would not suit, he gave two months' notice of his -resignation.</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile, the management issued instructions, because of advice from -England, that flogging should be stopped as far as possible, but asking -that other forms of punishment should be substituted.</p> - -<p>"Thereupon certain forms of torture well known in the Far East were -adopted. One of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> these was to strip erring coolies absolutely naked, -and leave them tied by their pigtails to a stake in the compound for -two or three hours. The other coolies would gather round and laugh and -jeer at their countrymen, who stood shivering in the intense cold.</p> - -<p>"A more refined form of torture was to bind a coolie's left wrist with -a piece of fine rope, which was then put through a ring in a beam about -nine feet from the ground. This rope was then made taut, so that the -unhappy coolie, with his left arm pulled up perpendicularly, had to -stand on his tip-toes. In this position he was kept, as a rule, for two -hours, during which time, if he tried to get down on his heels, he must -dangle in the air, hanging from the left wrist.</p> - -<p>"Every mine has its lock-up for malingerers, deserters, and others. At -the Witwatersrand the coolies are handcuffed over a horizontal beam.</p> - -<p>"The floor is of concrete, and they may sit down, but the beam is so -far from the floor that it is impossible for any but exceptionally -tall men to sit while handcuffed. They must therefore squat, and for a -change raise themselves in a semi-standing posture.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i067.jpg" alt="INSTEAD OF FLOGGING" /></div> - -<p class="bold">INSTEAD OF FLOGGING.</p> - -<p>"When released, these prisoners stagger about until they regain the use -of their legs; then they take their skoff and go below to work.</p> - -<p>"With the abolition of flogging, compound managers are now inventing -other forms of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> punishment. In future, also, there will be an -extensive system of fines, and food will be withheld.</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile, with all these methods of punishment, the coolies are -still turbulent. Last Monday practically every boy on the Nourse -Deep—seventy-five in all—was sent to gaol for seven days. This step -is certain to foment trouble in the near future."</p> - -<p>It was this sort of inquisition that Great Britain had set up at the -point of her bayonets.</p> - -<p>Well might the Australian Government say in their letter of -protest—"Australia has been told that the war was a miners' war but -not for Chinese miners, a war for the franchise but not for Chinese -franchise. The truth, if it had to be told, would have presented a -very different aspect, and would have made a very different appeal to -Australia."</p> - -<p>It would, indeed, have made a very different appeal to the British -public. Would there have been so much killing of Kruger with our mouths -had we known that a white proletariat would not be wanted—in Lord -Milner's words—that the white labourer was not to be allowed into -the Transvaal because his trade unions would shackle the enterprise -of the Rand lords; that yellow slaves would have to be introduced -in the disguise of indentured labour; that these labourers would be -whipped and tortured into doing their work? Had they known that on the -Witwatersrand the average number of Chinamen flogged daily for one -month was forty-two—Sundays <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>included—would there have been so much -Rule Britannia and music-hall Jingoism?</p> - -<p>It is quite true, of course, that had the British people accepted the -principle of importing Chinese labour into the Transvaal it would be -quite fair to blame, as Lord Salisbury was always so fond of blaming, -the system for the cruelty that inevitably followed. But the British -public have never accepted the principle of importing Chinese labourers -into the Transvaal. They have always been deliberately opposed to -it, as has every part of the British Empire. They are not to blame, -therefore, for the state of affairs on the Rand.</p> - -<p>As to the insane flogging administered for an offence, it cannot be -better described than by giving another quotation from Mr. Boland's -letter to the <i>Morning Leader</i>. Here is the method of procedure:—</p> - -<p>"A coolie is reported either by a white shift boss or by a head-man for -an offence. He is called into the compound manager's office, charged, -and given a fair trial (except where the compound manager does not know -the Chinese language, and has to trust to his yellow interpreter). Then -the sentence is passed by the compound manager—ten, fifteen, or twenty -strokes, according to the crime. The coolie, with a Chinese policeman -on either side of him, is taken away about ten paces. Then he stops, -and at the word of a policeman drops his pantaloons, and falls flat on -his face and at full length on the floor. One policeman holds his -feet together; another, with both hands pressed firmly on the back of -his head, looks after that end of his body. Then the flagellator, with -a strip of thick leather on the end of a three-foot wooden handle, -lays on the punishment, severely or lightly, as instructed. Should -the prisoner struggle after the first few strokes, another policeman -plants a foot in the middle of his back until the full dose has been -administered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i071.jpg" alt="LAYING ON THE PUNISHMENT" /></div> - -<p class="bold">LAYING ON THE PUNISHMENT.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> - -<p>"In another form of flogging practised, a short bamboo was used. The -coolie would strip to the waist and go down on his knees with his head -on the floor. His castigator would then squat beside him, and strike -him across the shoulders with lightning rapidity. The blows, though -apparently light, always fell on the one spot, and raised a large red -weal before cutting the flesh. During the first quarter of this year no -fewer than fifty-six coolies were whipped, after 8 p.m. one evening, at -the Witwatersrand Mine, the dose varying from five to fifteen strokes."</p> - -<p>In Mr. Douglas Blackburn's letter to <i>The Times</i>, from which I quoted -just now, we are told that much of the resultant mischief was due -to the incompetence and mismanagement of the men in charge of the -compound. "I assert unequivocally," he says, "that most of the white -interpreters and compound managers had not a working acquaintance -with the Chinese language, and, therefore, frequently misunderstood -the complaints and requests<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> made to them by the coolies.... This is -no place for detail, but the following incident, which occurred in -my presence, may be accepted as typical and illustrative. A compound -manager was examining the passes of a number of coolies. When we -left the compound we were followed by two Chinamen who shouted and -gesticulated violently, and clutched at the arm of the manager. I could -see that he failed to understand them, for he shouted wildly in return, -exhibited signs of great alarm, and eventually knocked them both down, -called the guard, had the pair locked up, and later in the day he -flogged them for insubordination. Next day he confided to me that he -was in fault. He had inadvertently put the passes into his pocket and -misinterpreted the clamouring request for their return into threats -against himself. That manager is now seeking another engagement."</p> - -<p>The twenty thousand soldiers who went to their death fighting what they -imagined was for their country, might well, instead of singing "God -save the King" and the like, have marched to the battle-fields of the -Transvaal and the Orange River Colony crying, like the old gladiators, -"Ave, Crœsus, morituri te salutant."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i075.jpg" alt="CUTTING THE FLESH" /></div> - -<p class="bold">CUTTING THE FLESH.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER IV</span> <span class="smaller">THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM</span></h2> - -<p>When Mr. Lyttelton said that flogging must cease, flogging ceased on -the Rand, and the Oriental methods of torture were adopted instead.</p> - -<p>But even this penal system—reminding one so strongly of the days of -Stephen, when the wretched, tortured peasantry openly said that Christ -and His saints slept, for Pity had veiled her face and Mercy had -forgotten—had to be practised with great secrecy owing to the force of -public opinion at home.</p> - -<p>These methods were, however, unavailing to check the growing insolence -and insubordination of the Chinese slaves. No better idea of the -condition of the Rand during the last few months can be gathered -than from the new Ordinance, which was drafted at the beginning of -last October. This Ordinance took the power of punishing the Chinese -coolies from the hands of the resident magistrates and placed it -in the hands of the inspectors, thereby giving the welfare of the -Chinese slaves solely and entirely into the mercy of the Rand lords. -Before, an attempt had been made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> to cloak the slave Ordinance with a -pretence of law and justice as conceived by the British public. But the -draft Ordinance of August put an end to this piece of hypocrisy. The -superintendents and the inspectors of the Chinese, for all practical -purposes the servants of the mine owners, were to be not only the judge -and the jury, but the plaintiff. It conferred on the superintendents -and inspectors jurisdiction, in respect of offences against the -Ordinance, of a resident magistrate.</p> - -<p>Clause I states—"This power will be granted provided such offences -are committed under the Ordinance and within the area of any mine or -mine compound where such labourer resides. The fines to be inflicted -in the case of conviction will be the same as those imposed by the -magistrates under the existing laws, and on conviction the labourer's -employer will be notified, and the amount of the fine will be deducted -from the labourer's wages and paid over for the benefit of the Colonial -Treasury."</p> - -<p>Another clause states that—"For the purpose of confining prisoners -awaiting trial, it is provided that the employers of labourers shall -erect a lock-up on their properties, which lock-up shall be deemed to -be a jail."</p> - -<p>Again, in the event of labourers on the mines organizing a conspiracy, -refusing to work, creating a disturbance, intimidating or molesting any -person on the mine, the superintendent or inspector is empowered to -impose a collective fine on the labourers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> - -<p>Insomuch as this new Ordinance once and for all destroys the myth with -which Rand lords endeavoured to surround their slave-owning ideals, I -consider it to be a decided improvement upon the original Ordinance, -with its innumerable pleasures and pretences for the moral and -spiritual welfare of the Chinamen.</p> - -<p>That unfortunate and much-deluded man the Colonial Secretary, once -declared in the House of Commons that the Chinaman would have just as -free access to a court of justice as any British subject. He certainly -now-a-days possesses free access to a court, if not to a court of -justice. Access is so easy to it that the court actually follows him -wherever he goes, watches him while he works in the mine, watches him -while he is in the compound, and is ready to punish and fine him, or to -lock him up in the compound prison, without any of those old-fashioned -formalities which, while they may embody the machinery of justice, are -at least guarantees of its purity and disinterestedness.</p> - -<p>It would of course be very interesting to know how many of these fines -have ever reached the Colonial Treasury. Armed with such extraordinary -powers as these, it is highly probable that the Rand lords imposed -through their superintendents and inspectors unlimited fines which, -instead of benefiting the Colonial Revenue, merely reduced the wage -bill.</p> - -<p>The last clause which I have quoted contains the phrase "organizing a -conspiracy." A conspiracy, of course, is anything in the nature of a -trade union.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - -<p>I don't say that this new Ordinance was not justified. I think it was -fully justified. No efficiency can be obtained by half measures. The -ablest political trimmers are incapable of serving both God and Mammon. -If God is out of the question, a whole-hearted worship of Mammon is -really better. In short, it would have been far more in the interests -of the Transvaal if the Rand lords had from the first gone the whole -hog and insisted on having Chinese slaves in name as well as in fact.</p> - -<p>The state of affairs in August last wanted extraordinary legislation. -But, of course, this must not be held to justify Chinese labour. -That was criminal. But once the principle of Chinese labour had been -accepted by the Government on behalf of an unwilling and protesting -nation, I fail to see how the unfortunate remnants of British subjects -in the Transvaal could be properly protected without these measures. -I don't see how, when once the Chinese had been brought into the -country, the brutalities that have been committed could have been -avoided. I think the superintendent and the inspector and the overseer -should have the right to shoot men down in cold blood. I think the -compounds should be surrounded by artillery. I think all the ideals -of Russian autocratic rule should be brought to bear upon these men. -The awful brutality with which they have been treated is justified. -The superintendent, the inspector and the overseer should be forced to -make a special study of the methods adopted by Hawkins<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> and Magree. -The British Government wanted Chinese labour to be introduced into the -Transvaal, and if they had been efficient and sensible they should -have accumulated in their Ordinance the wisdom of all the slave-owning -traditions of centuries.</p> - -<p>But from an unbiassed perusal of the Rand press one would have imagined -that all these extraordinary measures were unjustified.</p> - -<p>The statements that the Chinese were committing outrages, were -insolent, were bestial, which have from time to time appeared in the -British press, were referred to by the Rand press as "more Chinese -lies," "Chinese canards," and such headings. They persistently -impressed upon their readers that the Chinese were leading an -industrious, idyllic life, that they were treated with kindness and -humanity by the overseers, that no happier community ever existed on -the face of the earth than the 40,000 odd Chinamen in their compounds -on the Rand.</p> - -<p>Of course, they only kept up this pretence for a time. It was -impossible for long to pretend to be a newspaper at all and yet deny -facts which were personally known to the majority of their readers.</p> - -<p>The object of this extraordinary legislation was, of course, that the -Chinese preferred to go to prison rather than pay fines.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of August there were more than one thousand Chinamen -in jail undergoing various terms of imprisonment, rather than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> deduct -from their shilling a day, the amounts they were called upon to pay for -disobeying the laws laid down in the Ordinance.</p> - -<p>The amended Ordinance now forced them to pay by withholding from them -a portion of their wage equal to the amount of the fine. It has been -found useless, in fact, to pretend that other than a reign of terror -pertains in the Transvaal. The Chinamen have broken loose, and only -their prompt deportation can prevent a very grave crisis. Neither fines -nor floggings have any terror for them, and from their earliest years -they have been accustomed to regard death without a semblance of fear.</p> - -<p>I will relate some of the more notorious instances in which these -yellow slaves have figured in the last year. The list includes, murder, -rape, robbery with violence, and that class of criminal assault with -which we deal in England under the Criminal Law Amendment Act.</p> - -<p>While working in the mines the Chinaman does exactly what he pleases. -The overseers dare not interfere. Their policy of putting the black -man on to the yellow man has resulted in murder. The Chinaman has a -short way with any white or black man who tries to interfere with his -sense of liberty. He kills the man. Every Chinaman belongs to a secret -society, and when he has determined to kill a white or a black man he -reports his decision to the society. He knows that the deed which he -meditates will be rewarded by his own death:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> but for this he cares -nothing. All his preparations are made beforehand. His secret society -probably consists of from four to five thousand members. All these -members contribute something like sixpence a-piece to make up a sum, -say of £100. When this amount is collected, it is sent over to his wife -and family in China. Having thus made all the necessary provision for -his wife and children, the Chinaman perpetrates the deed. He is then -arrested, sentenced and hanged. And he meets his end with a stoical -indifference, quite content that he has secured his revenge and set his -worldly affairs in order.</p> - -<p>In the face of such sentiments compulsion is futile.</p> - -<p>On Wednesday, September 13, a gang of Chinese coolies working at the -Geldenhuis Deep Mine decided to take a holiday. The management of the -mine were instructed to offer them extra pay if they would work. They -refused, and took their holiday. They promised, however, that they -would start their first shift at midnight on the following Sunday, -September 17. When midnight on Sunday, September 17, arrived, they -determined to keep their holiday up. The compound manager endeavoured -to use force. The Chinese met force by force. The police were called -in. The riot at that juncture had reached a most alarming state. -The police were ordered to fire: they obeyed, killing one Chinaman -and wounding another; but not before the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>compound manager had been -attacked and somewhat seriously injured. Finally the Chinamen were -driven to their work.</p> - -<p>On the same Sunday the utter uselessness of the compound system -was proved. One hundred Chinamen bolted from the French Rand Mine. -Somebody, it is supposed, had spread among them the report that the -Boers were enlisting coolies at £4 a month to fight the English. In -vain has the number of police in the Witwatersrand district been -increased. Gangs of deserters are wandering about the country murdering -and looting.</p> - -<p>"Last night," wrote a young South African policeman to his parents in -England, "I captured six Chinamen who had run away from the mines. They -are giving a lot of trouble—5000 of them started rioting last week, -and 100 foot police and 200 South African Constabulary had to go to -stop them, and a nice old job we had. They threw broken bottles and -stones when we charged them. Some of our fellows were very badly cut. -The Chinamen also made dynamite bombs and threw them at us, and we had -to shoot into the crowd to drive them back. We aimed low and wounded -a good many of them. They are nasty devils to tackle, and always show -fight when there are a lot of them together. The six I captured were -trekking across the veld. I chased them on horseback and they ran on -top of a kopje and commenced to roll rocks down. I managed to get a -shot at one with my revolver: the bullet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> struck him on the wrist. Then -they all put up their hands and surrendered. I managed to get some -niggers working in the mealie patch to escort them back to our camp. -The niggers were very proud of themselves. When they passed through the -other native kraals I think if I had not been there the Kaffirs would -have assegaied them. They hate the Chinamen like poison."</p> - -<p>These are the sort of incidents that occur daily. All the measures -taken by the Government and the mine owners to prevent desertion have -proved ineffective. The country around the Witwatersrand Mines has -taken upon itself the aspect of the whole of the colony during the late -war. Mounted constables with loaded revolvers organize drives. The -whole district is patrolled, and every effort is made to bring back the -deserters to the compounds. But as soon as one lot has returned another -escapes. Every day you may see a mounted policeman riding down towards -the law courts, followed by a string of Chinese deserters.</p> - -<p>The Johannesburger lives in a daily state of terror. He rarely meets a -Chinaman without immediately seeking the protection of the police and -insisting on an inquiry being held then and there, as to whether the -man has a permit to be at large in the Golden City.</p> - -<p>Writing on October 2, the Johannesburg correspondent—one L. E. N.—of -a London morning paper gives a graphic account of the wonderful City -of Gold at that date. "Gold of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the value of over £20,000,000 a year," -he says, "is extracted from that stretch of dusty upland called -The Reef.... But look closer. The white workers on the mines carry -revolvers; the police are armed with ball cartridge and bayonet; camped -yonder at Auckland Park is a mobile column of mounted men ready to move -against an enemy at a moment's notice; the country folk on the other -side of the swelling rise are armed to the teeth, and live at night in -barricaded and fortified houses." What a beautiful commentary on life -as it is lived—under the British flag—in the commercial and political -hub of the great sub-continent!</p> - -<p>The Boers, who through their political organization the Het Volk have -refused to take any active part in the management of the country, -determined with a sort of grim humour, since the British sought to -destroy the corrupt Government of their late President, they shall be -allowed to mismanage the country as they will, have been led to break -their political silence to petition the Government for more protection. -At a meeting held at Krugersdoorp at the beginning of October, they -decided to forward a resolution to the Imperial Government requesting -that the importation of Chinese coolies should be discontinued, and -those already in the country should be repatriated. Regret was further -expressed at the danger to life and property, and it was pointed -out that the policy of not allowing the Boers to carry firearms -prevented them from properly protecting the lives of their families.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i087.jpg" alt="GOOD SPORT" /></div> - -<p class="bold">GOOD SPORT.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> - -<p>General Botha did not exaggerate the dangers which resulted from the -importation of Chinamen, and he voiced the common sentiment of Boer -and Briton when he asked that a Commission should be appointed to -investigate the treatment of the Chinese coolies, and ascertain the -cause of the disturbances.</p> - -<p>The mine owners' press informed the public that there are very few -cases of desertion; that when any number of Chinamen do desert the -South African Constabulary deal with them efficiently. They are hunted -down, rounded up, and brought in by their pigtails for trial. At the -trial they are convicted, or were before the amendment of the Ordinance -in August last, and locked up.</p> - -<p>Any one going through the Transvaal will see hundreds of these Chinese -convicts working in large batches on the roads. White men are placed -in charge of these convicts, and when the repairing and macadamizing -of the roads is not done to their liking, the Chinamen are flogged, -and flogged in the open. They are subjected to every kind of brutal -treatment; and it is probable that almost as many desert from the -convict prisons as desert from the slave compounds.</p> - -<p>In "C" Court, Johannesburg, on October 3 (or 4, I am not sure of the -exact date), before Mr. Schuurman, several Chinese labourers were -prosecuted for wandering from the mines in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> which they were employed, -without possessing the necessary permission. They all pleaded guilty, -and were fined £1 each. When asked what excuse they had to offer, three -of them said they were homesick, and were on their way to China; two -others stated that they had only gone for a short walk, and were close -to the mine when arrested. The policeman, however, declared they were -twenty-five miles from the mine. A few of the accused stated that they -were ill-treated, and consequently deserted. The magistrate sapiently -advised them that in such a case, instead of absconding, they should -complain to the representative of the Labour Importation Association -when he called at the mine.</p> - -<p>Under the new regulations, sixty-five Chinamen, including an alleged -professional robber, were arrested on October 18. A Johannesburg -correspondent describes them as "a band of 450 coolies of bad -character." What has Lieut.-Colonel W. Dalrymple, the Rand mining man -who lately at Tunbridge Wells denounced the "infamous lies" which were -circulated in this country about the Chinese labour question—what, I -repeat, has Lieut.-Colonel Dalrymple to say to <i>that</i>?</p> - -<p>From the same telegram I learn that the measures which are now being -taken to prevent desertions are proving effective. The roll-call -of October 8—I am now quoting the immaculate Reuter—"showed 278 -absentees, and during the following week 245 were captured and brought -back to work. Last night," adds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> the correspondent, meaning the night -of October 17, "nine coolies attempted to raid a homestead in the -Krugersdoorp district. The farmer fired through a window, and shot one -Chinaman dead; the others fled." I commend these statements, together -with those quoted hereafter, to the earnest attention of the editor of -a certain yellow-covered weekly journal, devoted to the interests of -South Africa—the organ of the Rand lords in London—which persistently -pooh-poohs the "yellow slavery" cry.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile gangs of escaped Chinamen are wandering over the country -spreading terror everywhere. The Boer farmer goes to bed at night in -his lonely farmhouse on the veld as if he were still at war with Great -Britain. Long hidden rifles are brought out from the hay-ricks and -other hiding-places and got ready. Windows are boarded up, doors are -double locked. Every preparation is made to warn off the ever expected -attack of the yellow desperadoes.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of October two homesteads in the Boksburg district -were attacked by a party of Chinese, who attempted to gain an entrance -by breaking in the back doors and windows. In both cases, however, the -farmers had made every preparation for such an attack, and fired on -the marauders, one of whom was wounded in the chest and another in the -abdomen. The remainder made off.</p> - -<p>A similar outrage occurred in the middle of November. A lonely -farmhouse near <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>Germiston, occupied by an Englishman and his wife, -was attacked by a band of Chinese, who were armed with crowbars and -stones. The farmer opened fire, seriously wounding one of the Chinamen -in the jaw, and the rest decamped without entering. The injured man -was captured, but the whereabouts and identity of the others were not -discovered.</p> - -<p>In Johannesburg the talk is of nothing but murders and assaults by -gangs of ten or fourteen escaped labourers. House after house away on -the veld has been broken into and looted, and the inhabitants murdered -if they showed any signs of resistance; they have indeed in some cases -been murdered without showing any sign of resistance at all.</p> - -<p>Quite recently the Legislative Council of the Transvaal has re-amended -for about the tenth time the Ordinance. It has proposed to offer £1 a -head for the recapture of these yellow hooligans, an amendment which -would have placed the very much-bepatched Ordinance on a level with -the laws that prevailed in the Southern States of America before -the abolition of slavery. It is charged, however, with that strange -spirit of hypocrisy which has characterized all the proceedings of the -Rand lords into a reimbursement to the capturer of his out-of-pocket -expenses. This of course is only another way of offering £1 for -every recaptured Chinaman, for it may be taken for granted that the -capturer's expenses will always include the wear and tear of horseflesh -and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> moral damages and other matters which can only be estimated in the -abstract. According to the schedule of fees payable in respect of the -capture of Chinese deserters, which was published early in October, -they ranged from 1<i>s.</i> per mile for one or two arrests to 3<i>s.</i> for -eight or more.</p> - -<p>Here is a letter from another member of the South African Constabulary -to his people at home which emphasizes the state of affairs which exist -at present on the Rand.</p> - -<p>"The Chinese have been causing a lot of trouble. There was a whole -family murdered about a month ago. Several places have been broken -into. Last Sunday there was a storekeeper murdered about ten miles from -where I am staying. We have orders on no account to go out on patrol -without a revolver. The people are seeking police protection, and -are frightened out of their wits. I believe it is as much as a South -African Constabulary man's life is worth to be seen at some places on -the Rand in uniform. I am determined that if I meet any Chinamen, and -they show fight, I will shoot the first one dead."</p> - -<p>This is the spirit abroad—a spirit which every right-minded man -must regard as the inevitable result of the criminal action of the -Government in sanctioning the Chinese Labour Ordinance.</p> - -<p>Here is another case which has never been reported in the press:—</p> - -<p>At Germiston railway station twelve <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>Chinamen were waiting on the -platform for a train. A white woman happened to pass by, and as she -passed the Chinamen hurled some bestial insult at her. One of the -railway officials immediately called a policeman, who tried to take -the offending Chinaman into custody. He was promptly knocked down. -Three more policemen were hurried to the scene. These met with like -treatment, and even when two other comrades came to their assistance -they were utterly unable to effect the arrest. After twenty minutes' -violent fighting, during which the gang of Chinamen were absolutely -unhurt, six policemen were taken on stretchers to the hospital.</p> - -<p>Here are two or three more instances taken at random from the -"Butcher's Bill" of a Johannesburg correspondent, whose letter appeared -in the <i>Daily Mail</i> a few weeks ago:—</p> - -<p>"<i>Sept. 5.</i>—Chinese attack Kaffirs in the Lancaster Mine. They throw -one Kaffir in front of a train of ore, so that he is cut to pieces. A -second Kaffir dies of his injuries.</p> - -<p>"<i>Sept. 8.</i>—Homestead at Rand Klipfontein attacked and looted, and -£150 in money taken. The Chinese try to fire the house by throwing a -fire-ball through the window.</p> - -<p>"<i>Sept. 16.</i>—Band of Chinese rush a Kaffir kraal at Wilgespruit, on -the West Rand. Native woman's head nearly severed. Chinese armed with -knives 2 feet 6 inches long, made by a Sheffield firm.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> - -<p>"<i>Sept. 18.</i>—Riot Geldenhuis Deep. Compound manager assaulted. Mounted -police attacked by 1500 coolies armed with drills, stones, bottles, -etc., and forced to fire their revolvers. One Chinaman killed and a -number wounded."</p> - -<p>And so on and so forth. One more instance to show to what length -the Chinamen will go. A gang of the breed employed at the Van Ryn -Mine, where there had previously been a number of disturbances, -struck work and attacked the whites underground. A white man pulled -the signal cord, and police, galloping up, descended the shaft and -saved the whites. The ringleaders were arrested, and, adds the -correspondent somewhat ingenuously—"This phase of attacks underground -is disquieting." From the adjacent colony of Natal, too, come words -of complaint about Chinese stragglers; and it is significant in this -connection that "over a thousand rifles" were issued to the farmers in -the Transvaal at the end of September last. These are facts which Mr. -Reyersbach, of Messrs. H. Eckstein & Co., would be well advised to put -in his pipe and ponder.</p> - -<p>Of course the immediate cause which leads to the Chinese committing the -above-recorded acts of violence is the result of bad treatment.</p> - -<p>The murder of Mr. Joubert in the Bronkhorst Spruit Mine—for which, on -November 20, four Chinamen were executed in Pretoria jail—who received -some fifty stabs before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> succumbing, was due to starvation. The men -wanted to find food. They were not allowed to eat apparently, and so, -maddened by ill-treatment, overwork, and starvation, they committed -murder. Perhaps the most tragic part of the whole business is that one -cannot completely blame them for such an awful act. They have grown to -hate the white man. It is small wonder.</p> - -<p>There are now nearly 50,000 Chinamen on the Rand, and in the breasts of -all these men there seems to have been imbued a hatred and detestation -of the white man. It seems almost as if these slaves considered it fair -game to commit any outrage, however brutal, on white men and white -women whenever the opportunity occurs. They are treated outrageously -themselves. They get little justice from magistrates, so it is small -wonder that they are indulging themselves in a sort of blood carnival -of revenge.</p> - -<p>Discussing this question the other day with a representative of the -London journal <i>South Africa</i>, Dr. Corstorphine seriously declared -that the difficulties attendant on the Chinese labour question had -been magnified out of all proportion to the main facts. "We must -expect to find a few black sheep amongst the Chinese," sagely observed -the doctor. Ye gods!—a <i>few</i>. It would be interesting to know -what constitutes a "few" in the mind of the worthy geologist. Dr. -Corstorphine would probably indignantly deny the existence of yellow -slavery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> on the Rand. But possibly he would admit its existence under -another name, just as Sir Edward Grey did at Alnwick the other night. -Addressing his constituents, Sir Edward said he had never said that the -working of the mines by the Chinese in South Africa was slavery; but -the question he would put to those who said it was not, would be—"Was -it <i>Freedom</i>?" That is a question that I would put to Dr. Corstorphine, -Mr. Fricker, Mr. E. P. Mathers, and others of their kidney. If Chinese -labour on the Rand isn't slavery, what is it—is it <i>Freedom</i>? I pause -for a reply.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER V</span> <span class="smaller">THE YELLOW TRAIL</span></h2> - -<p>The mark of the yellow man is upon the Rand. He has set his seal upon -the country, and it is to be seen in a hundred things.</p> - -<p>Johannesburg was never an exactly heavenly place. A gold centre -attracts all the evil passions of men—draws to it, like the lodestone -draws the needle—every species of adventurer and world vagabond.</p> - -<p>President Kruger knew how to deal with the cosmopolitan hordes that -thronged the streets of the "Gold-Reef City." He put a check upon -the importation of undesirables, and always remembered before all -things that the Transvaal belonged to the Boer people and not to the -cosmopolitan. The British Government might well have taken a leaf -from his book. But they have failed to do so. Instead of making the -interests of the Briton paramount, they have deliberately allowed the -Rand to be overrun by every type of Continental adventurer.</p> - -<p>So Johannesburg, up to the summer of 1904, was never exactly peopled by -a moral, law-abiding population.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> - -<p>The fierceness of competition, the keenness to make money rapidly, -seems to electrify the sunny atmosphere of the Rand, and to produce a -community that knows no law.</p> - -<p>But since the summer of 1904 the Rand has suffered a change which at -one time was thought impossible; it has changed for the worse. To the -wild life in the mining city has been added the degrading vices of the -Orient. The Chinaman has brought with him all the worst vices of life -in a treaty port. Opium dens and gambling hells, in spite of the most -careful police surveillance, have sprung up. The yellow man has made -his name a terror. He has murdered, raped, robbed, and committed every -offence against law and morality. He has literally terrorized—and -still terrorizes—the Rand. The plutocrat Jew walks the familiar -streets in a state of trepidation; the Boer farmer sleeps with a rifle -by his side, and his farm house is surrounded by spring guns and -alarums. The life of no white man is safe, and the honour of no white -woman.</p> - -<p>"The Chinese reign of terror continues on the Rand," cabled the Durban -correspondent of the <i>Daily Chronicle</i> on November 1. "The latest -outrage is that perpetrated by a gang of coolies, who attacked a house -at Benoni, injuring its occupant, Mr. Vaughan, and wounding his wife -with a razor. They ransacked the house and stole the plate." These -are some of the men whose praises were sung by Sir George Farrar -at a political meeting at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> Nigel—and whose work as miners, he -declared, had proved "a great success." A "great success," perhaps, for -the Rand lords, but at what a terrible cost to the community of the -Witwatersrand!</p> - -<p>The <i>South African News</i> of Cape Town has rendered yeoman service to -the cause of those who are opposed—and their name is legion!—to the -Chinese labour question. The ridiculous contentions of the Rand lords -have been exposed again and again by the Cape Town journal, whose -fearlessness in grappling with the subject has been in marked contrast -to the majority of its contemporaries in the sub-continent, and has -earned, as it has deserved, the thanks of the thinking portion of the -community. Commenting on October 4 on the continuance of the reign of -terror on the Rand, "as it was bound to continue," the <i>South African -News</i> puts the case with unmistakable plainness;—"Unless the Chinese -are confined in such a way as the mine-owners themselves consider -fairly describable as slavery, they are a menace to the public. -Probably slavery would mean further outrages; it is clear that torture -of various kinds has been allowed on the Rand, and it is far less clear -that this is not the real cause of some of the excesses which have -shocked South Africa. Either we must have slavery and exasperation, -or we must have our people exposed to the danger of murder, outrage -and robbery; or we must demand the expulsion of the Chinese, and the -turning down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> of a disgraceful page in South African and English -history which has brought good to no one, and only serves as another -indication of the strength to which avarice will lead men in attempting -to bend nature into the service of their own greed."</p> - -<p>It was understood that the only conditions under which Chinese labour -could be introduced to the Rand was a system by which they were kept -apart, under lock and key, from the rest of the population. But this -system has broken down. Hordes of Chinese, as I have shown, are running -over the country. The utter futility of the compound system is proved -by the fact that as many as thirteen Chinese laundries have been broken -up by the police in one week, only for others to take their place.</p> - -<p>It was recognized by the Government that the Chinaman must not be -allowed to be a competitor. This was one of the reasons of herding him -with his fellows like cattle in a pen.</p> - -<p>But the Chinaman broke loose. With Asiatic unconcern he sets all the -rules of the Ordinance at defiance, and calmly sets up a laundry in the -town, caters for custom, carries on his business just as if he were a -free man and not a yellow serf, until some frightened cosmopolitan sees -him in the streets, and in a state of fear demands that the nearest -policeman shall see whether the creature has a permit or not.</p> - -<p>John Chinaman, who, of course, has no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> permit, is thereupon arrested, -his laundry business comes to an abrupt close, and he starts once again -his task of gold grubbing for a shilling a day.</p> - -<p>The amended Ordinance of August last contained this clause—</p> - -<p>"It is provided that labourers being in possession of gum, opium, -extract of opium, poppies, etc., shall be liable to a fine on -conviction of £20, or in lieu thereof of imprisonment for three months, -with or without hard labour."</p> - -<p>This ominous clause was rendered necessary by the steadily increasing -growth of opium dens.</p> - -<p>Twelve months before, some few weeks after the arrival of the first -batch of Chinamen, the Government had passed what was known as the -Poison Ordinance. The object of this Ordinance was to regulate the sale -of opium. It provided that only registered chemists and druggists might -sell opium, and that every package of the drug must be labelled with -the word "Poison."</p> - -<p>Of course, this was ridiculously inadequate, and it was soon found that -more stringent measures must be taken. It was decreed, therefore, that -opium could only be sold to persons known to the seller, and on an -entry being made in the poison-book. These further restrictions were -found perfectly futile. The sale of opium increased enormously.</p> - -<p>At a meeting of the Transvaal Pharmacy Board, the secretary of -the board read his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> report on the poison-books of the chemists in -Johannesburg. It transpired that an examination of the books of one -chemist had disclosed the following sales of opium on various dates in -July and August last—336 lbs., 18 lbs., 28 lbs., 7 lbs., 31 lbs., 48 -lbs. All this had been sold to Chinamen for smoking purposes.</p> - -<p>One lot was said to have been sold under a medical certificate, but the -doctor concerned denied all knowledge of such certificate. The chairman -of the board said, that while it was gratifying to know that only three -out of sixty-eight pharmacies along the Rand carried on traffic in -opium, the ugly fact remained that two of these chemists had imported -during August two tons of Persian opium for smoking purposes, and an -examination of their books disclosed that only a few pounds were unsold.</p> - -<p>In vain have the authorities attempted to put an end to this drug -habit. Recommendations have been made by the Pharmacy Board that any -chemist secretly supplying the Chinese with drugs should be sent to -prison, without the option of a fine. As if one evil were producing -another evil, it has been proved that not only are the Chinamen -demoralizing the Rand, but the Rand is demoralizing the Chinamen. The -majority of the Chinese labourers have been drawn from the north of the -Celestial Empire, where very little opium is used, on account of the -poverty of the people. The comparatively large salaries which these -labourers are now receiving enables them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> indulge their inherited -taste for the drug to their hearts' content.</p> - -<p>But in addition to this sale of opium by chemists on the Rand, opium -dens have sprung up all over the place. As soon as the police stamp -them out in one quarter they reappear in another. They are accompanied, -of course, by the usual gambling hells. These, too, the police -endeavour to suppress. All the money that they find is impounded; heavy -fines are exacted. But instead of decreasing they increase. The most -dangerous vice of the Orient is thus thriving luxuriantly upon the -favourable soil of the Rand.</p> - -<p>One cannot blame the Chinaman for drugging himself. It is difficult -even to blame him for the outrages that he commits. The opium habit, of -course, is a step towards other habits. If the Chinaman merely went to -the opium dens in his off hours, drugged himself, slept his celestial -sleep, and then returned to his labours prepared to work as hard as -any cart-horse, the Rand lords would be the last persons to forbid him -these indulgences. But the opium habit is demoralizing and degrading. -It excites passions almost beyond control.</p> - -<p>I have already pointed out that Mr. Lyttelton promised in the House -of Commons that the Chinaman should be allowed to take his womenfolk -with him if he wished, and a great point was made of the fact that the -morality of the Chinamen would be well looked after. No risks were to -be taken. The Archbishop of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> Canterbury had to be satisfied upon the -point before he made his regrettable necessity speech—"Show me that it -brings about or implies the encouragement of immorality in the sense -in which we ordinarily use the word, and, I am almost ashamed to say -anything so obvious, I should not call the so-called necessity worth a -single moment's consideration. In such a case there could be but one -answer given by any honest man. The thing is wrong, and please God it -shall not take place."</p> - -<p>The Most Reverend Primate should be satisfied by now that the system -deliberately set up in the Transvaal has brought about and encouraged -immorality.</p> - -<p>The Chinaman is always a frugal feeder, yet the strength of his -passions is notorious. There is no necessity to go back into the past -moral history of the Chinese race to contradict this statement.</p> - -<p>Gangs of escaped labourers have attacked farm houses on the veld, and -where they have found no men, or where the men have been overpowered, -they have committed all the most bestial assaults known upon the women -and children. One white woman was known to have been found raped, and -dead. It is not safe for any decent or respectable white woman to go -near a Chinaman. The way he looks at her is sufficient to raise the -most murderous thoughts in the mind of any white man present.</p> - -<p>A deputation of miners asked Lord Selborne for protection against the -Chinamen, stating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> that the way in which they spoke to and looked at -white women was intolerable, and pointed out further that, unless steps -were taken to protect the white population, the most horrible crimes -would be committed.</p> - -<p>That warning has proved true.</p> - -<p>Lord Milner has called the sentiment, which has arisen in the breasts -of nearly all Britons, of loathing for the introduction of Chinamen -into the Rand, Exeter Hall sentiment. It possibly is the sentiment of -Exeter Hall, but it is to be hoped it is the sentiment also of all -decent people who believe in virtue and morality, and who still cherish -a fine chivalrous ideal of woman.</p> - -<p>The Government have again and again declared that the protest of -the Opposition in the House of Commons was dictated purely by party -considerations—that Chinese labour was a good stalking horse. That -people really were concerned about the welfare of Chinamen on the -Rand they refused to believe. As a matter of fact it is really the -Government that are blinded by partisanship; they see everything -through a false medium. What they do not see falsely in the Transvaal -they do not see at all. For it cannot be that they really are in favour -of retaining on the Rand 50,000 Chinamen who commit the most loathsome -outrages on the white population. It is almost passing belief that they -should blind themselves to the fact that the womenfolk of the Transvaal -are absolutely unprovided with any adequate protection against these -hordes of Chinamen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> - -<p>Every day, as has been shown, desertions grow more numerous, and -with every Chinaman that escapes the terror increases. No steps have -been taken for the protection of his morals. Not even the most human -elementary step of letting him bring with him his wife has been taken. -And but few steps have been taken to protect the white population. The -most ordinary commonplace foresight has been wanting. The carnival -of lust and blood now going on in the Transvaal could have been -prevented. It was bad enough to introduce Chinese labour at all into -the Transvaal. The case becomes more damnable when they are introduced -without those restrictions which had been promised.</p> - -<p>"I am opposed," said Herbert Spencer, "to the importation of Chinese -labour, because if it occurs one of two things must happen. Either the -Chinese must mix with the nation, in which case you get a bad hybrid, -and yet if they do not mix they must occupy a position of slavery."</p> - -<p>The British Government, at the dictation of the Rand lords, attempted -to make the Chinaman occupy a position of slavery, failed to completely -establish this system, and is allowing the Chinamen to mix with the -population. Thus we shall have in the Transvaal the two evils which -Herbert Spencer raised his voice against. We have already slavery; we -shall certainly have a bad hybrid population. The degrading influence -of the Chinaman is shown in Johannesburg. White women are actually -marrying them. They are even mixing with the black races.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> The -Transvaal was bad enough before, when merely thronged with the scouring -of Europe. But it will be a thousand times worse before the last -Chinaman is repatriated.</p> - -<p>In a morning paper of November 2 I read that Mr. Lyttelton, the -Colonial Secretary, in a letter to Mr. George Renwick, M.P., defends -the action of the Government in regard to the employment of Chinese -labour. He refers to the demand for it in the South African colonies, -and says—"The opinion to which we came was based upon evidence taken -from many sources. That it was correct is borne out by the fact that -we have received not a single petition from the Transvaal for the -revocation of the Ordinance."</p> - -<p>Let not Mr. Lyttelton lay such flattering unction to his soul. If it -be true, as he states, that the Imperial Government have so far not -received a single petition from the other side against the Chinamen, -he need only <i>wacht een beitje</i>—wait a bit—as they say in South -Africa. The petitions will follow. By and by they will be thick -as leaves in Vallombrosa. Does Mr. Lyttelton never read the daily -papers? Is he unaware, for instance, that at a special meeting held at -Krugersdoorp on October 10, a resolution was carried praying that an -end might be put to the importation of Chinese, and that the Chinamen -now on the Rand might be sent back immediately after the expiration of -their contracts? Does he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that it -was announced at the time that this resolution would be sent to the -Imperial Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> through Lord Selborne? I cannot believe it. Let -Mr. Lyttelton note that the correspondent from whose message I quote, -significantly added—"<i>If this way of protesting has no result, it is -intended to send a deputation to England to discuss matters regarding -the Chinese question.</i>"</p> - -<p>Verily, it would seem that nothing short of a measure of the kind will -stir the conscience of Christian England to an appreciation of the -intolerable state of affairs now being endured in South Africa by those -whose lot is cast in proximity to the yellow man!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VI</span> <span class="smaller">THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES</span></h2> - -<p>The introduction of Chinese indentured labour to the Transvaal has been -a complete failure—(1) Financially, (2) Socially, (3) Politically.</p> - -<p>The slave-owning ideals of the Rand lords has made the Transvaal a -hell. It has not even made it a paying hell. Every security connected -with the Rand industry has decreased enormously. It is estimated that -the loss of capital runs to many millions of pounds sterling. It -cannot be said in excuse that this is the result of general commercial -depression throughout the Empire, for almost every other kind of -security, except Consols, has considerably appreciated in value.</p> - -<p>Certainly the record monthly output of gold has long been passed. More -gold has been produced each month than was ever produced before, even -during the pre-war period. But these record outputs mean nothing. -Even at 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a day the Chinese labourer has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> proved to -be an expensive luxury. He costs nearly 50 per cent. more than the -Kaffir. The expenses of nearly every mine where Chinese labour has been -employed have gone up; the expenses of every mine where Kaffir labour -is employed have gone down.</p> - -<p>Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell had something pertinent to say on this topic in -the admirable address on the Chinese labour question which he delivered -the other day at Potchefstroom. Dealing with the argument that white -labour was prohibitively expensive, and that in order to work low-grade -mines coolies must be employed, the indefatigable fighter of the yellow -man observed—</p> - -<p>"I have picked out at random a number of mines, and I find that the -mine showing the best results, the only one showing other than very -bad results with coolies, is the Van Ryn Mine. This mine in the June -quarter of 1904 was working at a cost of 24<i>s.</i> 5<i>d.</i> per ton, and -milled 30,000 tons in that quarter; they were then using native and, -I believe, no unskilled whites at all. A year before that they were -milling 24,500 tons, at a cost of 28<i>s.</i> 2<i>d.</i> per ton, with 1,000 -natives. In the June quarter of 1905 it worked at a cost of 21<i>s.</i> per -ton, and milled 60,000 tons. In that quarter it was using some 2,000 -coolies."</p> - -<p>Here is an instructive list which was compiled by the <i>Pall Mall -Gazette</i> on September 8 last:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/i112.jpg" alt="MINE EXPENSES" /></div> - -<p>Ever since the beginning of the war, we seem to have been watching in -a bewitched trance for the coming of the boom. Some people described -Johannesburg as the enchanted city waiting for the spell to be removed -for the boom to come. It has never come; and it never will come as long -as Chinamen are employed to do the work that can be done by Kaffirs or -white men.</p> - -<p>When the incurable idleness of the Chinaman and his cost of keep is -added to that 1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a day, he is dearer than the black man or the -white man.</p> - -<p>The Rand lord was anxious to procure cheap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> labour and subservient -labour. The white man could not be employed because he would have held -the management of the country in the hollow of his hand, have formed -trade unions, and insisted on proper wages and proper treatment. Enough -black men, if time had been given, would have worked at the mines even -at the reduced wages paid by the Rand lords.</p> - -<p>On this point, too, Mr. Cresswell, from whose Potchefstroom speech I -quoted just now, had something instructive to say. In dissecting the -official records, he observed—</p> - -<p>"They show that between June 1904 and the end of last August—the -last month for which statistics are available—the number of natives -on the producing mines of the Rand had increased by 19,000, or an -average increase of 1,355 a month. Does any man here for a minute -really believe that if no Chinese had come here at all the gentlemen -controlling the mines would not have done exactly the same from June -1904 to August 1905, as they did from June 1903 to June 1904? Does any -one believe that in the latter period, as in the former period, they -would not have managed to bring an average of a hundred more stamps -into operation, and into the producing mines, for every 1,085 natives -at least that they added to their force of native labour? If they had -merely added on 100 stamps for every 1,085 natives, as they did up -to June 1904, do you know how many stamps would have been working in -August 1905?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> They would have had 6,503 stamps at work. Do you know how -many they actually had at work? They had 6,845 stamps at work, or a -paltry 342 stamps more than if no Chinese had ever been imported!"</p> - -<p>But the Kaffir could not be forced to work. There was nothing to -prevent him from throwing up his employment when he had earned -sufficient money and was returning to his kraal. The only chance, -therefore, so the Rand lords argued, of acquiring the voteless and -subservient labour that they wanted, was to get Chinese labour. -The Chinaman is certainly voteless, but he has proved far from -subservient—far less subservient than a Kaffir.</p> - -<p>Belonging to a more intelligent race, the child of an old though -dormant civilization, he has known exactly how to deal with his -masters. Of the gold extracted from the mines so much goes to wages -and so much goes to dividends; the wages are spent in the country, the -dividends are spent in Europe. Raise wages and you will render South -Africa prosperous; lower wages and you will denude South Africa.</p> - -<p>The Chinese policy of so-called economy has ruined the small trader, -and turned the main stream of South African gold to Park Lane, Paris -and Berlin, with a thin stream to China. This country, which has given -so much for the Transvaal, has benefited least by the gold mines.</p> - -<p>The Kaffir does nearly 50 per cent. more work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> than the Chinese coolie, -and Mr. Cresswell has proved that for the actual work of mining it is -better to employ a white man than a Kaffir. These are not fanciful -deductions, but indisputable facts proved finally and conclusively.</p> - -<p>For almost two decades now the gold fields of South Africa have been -the most potent force in English society, a force more for evil than -for good. It is probable that we have lost more money in wars which -are the direct result of the gold fever than we have ever made from -the gold mines. If we were to estimate the cost of maintaining a large -military force in South Africa, the financial effect of the unrest -which existed in the pre-war period, the serious effect of the Jameson -Raid on the money market, the £250,000,000 that we spent on the war, -the millions that we have spent since in the work of repatriation, if -we were to compare these figures with the amount of wealth extracted -from the Rand, and made a simple profit and loss account, it is highly -probable that we should find ourselves very considerably out of pocket.</p> - -<p>And yet, as if hypnotized by the glamour of gold, we continue to treat -the mine owners as if they were some particularly favoured class. We -continue to submit to their dictation, which has proved so ruinous in -the past, and we deliberately disregard the voices of the whole Empire -in their favour. Such a policy is neither good sense nor good business.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> - -<p>The introduction of Chinese labour into the Rand on the top of all -these grave financial and economical failures cannot be distinguished -for a moment from madness. It would seem, indeed, that we were -deliberately bent on destroying the Empire for the sake of the Jewish -and un-British houses in Johannesburg. "He whom the gods intend to -destroy they first make mad," is an ancient proverb, which seems -strangely applicable to those gentlemen who are responsible for the -management of our vast Empire.</p> - -<p>They say here in Britain that the stories of gangs of murderers roaming -over the Transvaal are so many political fairy-tales, the result of -party feeling, the usual bait for the hustings, the stalking-horse to -bring into office one set of men and to throw out of office the other. -They say that the objection of the British public to Chinese labour -is a matter of hypocritical sentiment; that they really have none of -those fine ideals which they pretend to; that they have no passion for -liberty and freedom and the rights of man. Is not the Chinaman better -off than he is in his own country?</p> - -<p>Such casuistry would justify the beating to death with the knout in -this country of a black criminal, because in his own country capital -punishment was carried out by the more cruel process of burying him -alive in an ant-heap to be eaten by the ants in the heat of the African -sun.</p> - -<p>It has brought terror and fear into the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>Transvaal. And terror and fear -breed passions and vices which are a danger to every social community. -It emphasizes the cruelty and cunning in a man's nature. It destroys -in him that kindliness and sympathy—those "virtues of the heart," as -Dickens used to call them—which in spite of all are still noble and -fine sentiments to cherish.</p> - -<p>Professor James Simpson, of New College, Edinburgh, who lately visited -South Africa with the British Association, takes the view, I see, that -ere long the more evilly-disposed among the Chinese will have been -worked out of their ranks, and the whole body will settle down to -"strenuous, if automatic, labour." It is devoutly to be hoped that such -will be the case, but up to the present there is nothing to indicate -that it will be so. On the contrary, everything points to the fact that -the Chinaman, emboldened by his successful efforts at checkmating the -representatives of law and order, will perpetrate fresh outrages with -increased impunity, and that the last phase of the yellow terror will -be worse than the first.</p> - -<p>I had just written the foregoing when, happening to pick up an evening -paper, the following Reuter message from Johannesburg, dated November -3, caught my eye:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Chinese Secret Society on the Rand.</span></p> - -<p class="right">"<i>Johannesburg</i>, November 3.</p> - -<p>"Evidence given at the trial here of some Chinamen charged with -being concerned in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> disturbance at the New Modderfontein Mine, -disclosed the existence of an organized secret society among -the Chinese called the 'Red Door,' the object of which is the -committal of crime. The members, who are all of bad character, -are sworn to render each other assistance. The authorities are -breaking up the society and repatriating the ringleaders."</p></blockquote> - -<p>What has His Grace of Canterbury to say to this?</p> - -<p>I have seen in a recent election in England a poster evidently intended -as a counterblast to the posters issued by the Opposition. It is a -poster, in which Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is addressing an English -miner, while in the distance two happy Chinamen grin pleasantly in the -clean, well-laid-out mine. Says Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in effect, -"My dear man, these men are robbing you of your labour." "Not at all," -replies the white miner, "for every batch of these yellow men one white -man is employed."</p> - -<p>This is intended as a defence of the statement made by Lord Milner -on March 20, 1904, who then stated that he was prepared to stake his -reputation on the estimate that for every 10,000 coloured labourers -introduced there would be in three years' time 10,000 more whites in -the country. In effect, the implication underlying this statement was, -of course, that for every yellow man introduced, one white man would -come into the country and find employment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<p>Six months later—on September 5, 1904—the Colonial Secretary replied -as follows, to a correspondent who wrote asking him whether it would be -now advisable for a man to go out to the Transvaal.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Lyttelton," so ran the answer, "would certainly not advise any one -to go out without a definite prospect of employment."</p> - -<p>So far from 50,000 white men finding employment in the Transvaal since -the introduction of 50,000 Chinamen, the proportion is thousands below -this number, and not even the poverty-stricken state of Poplar or -West Ham can compare with the impecuniosity to be met with at every -street corner of the Gold Reef City. There are thousands of men in -South Africa who have been lured there by the prospects of the Rand -in a daily state of destitution. The streets of Johannesburg are -crowded with unemployed. The evil seeds of poverty and destitution -have been scattered throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. -Business in Durban is in a parlous condition. In Cape Town there are -thousands of absolutely destitute men, women, and children who have to -be provided for weekly out of funds now almost exhausted. Night after -night these unfortunate wretches are compelled to sleep on the mountain -slopes, whether it be winter or summer, and quite recently a man was -found on one of the seats in the Public Gardens in such a state of -starvation—for he had tasted nothing for five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> whole days—that he -died an hour and a half after.</p> - -<p>This is the boasted prosperity which was to have come to the country -through the introduction of Chinese labour. And yet Mr. Balfour writes -to Mr. Herbert Samuel on November 22—<i>vide</i> the correspondence in -<i>The Times</i>—that he can see "nothing in the condition of things to -induce the Government to reverse a policy which was recommended by an -overwhelming majority in the Transvaal Legislative Council, with the -approval of the great bulk of the white population."(!)</p> - -<p>Many attempts have been made to justify the pledge made by Lord -Milner, that for every 10,000 introduced, 10,000 white men would find -employment. This is a side of the question which was admirably put by -Lord Coleridge in May last:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>The Government's policy seems to be that of the mine owner, or -rather to serve that of the mine owner—to get labour as cheaply -as possible, and, above all, to keep out the white man for fear he -should grow independent. Mr. Lyttelton, speaking at Exeter on May -5, said:—</p> - -<p>"The result of the introduction of Chinamen has been that 3000 -white men are employed on the mines in addition to those that were -employed before the introduction of that labour, and the result -is that, in round figures, £500,000 has been received by British -artisans."</p> - -<p>And so on. That is a completely misleading statement. I say, -and I think I shall show, that the employment of Chinese has -led to a decrease in the amount of white labour employed. Take -the year from June 1903 to June 1904. The proportion of white -men to Kaffirs during those twelve months remained practically -stationary, at one in six, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> round figures. On March 31, -1905, which is the date of the last Return we have, there were -105,184 Kaffirs working in the mines, and at the proportion of -one-sixth there would have been 17,530 white men. But the number -of white men employed at that date was only 16,235. Following -that proportion, if the Chinese had not arrived we should have -had at least 1300 or 1400 more white men employed than there are -now. In addition to that there are over 34,000 Chinese employed -not represented by a single white man, and Lord Milner does not -hold out any hope that the proportion of white men to coloured -labourers will in future be greater than one in fourteen.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Crime and outrage are all that this degrading policy of Chinese slavery -has brought to the country. There is an old text that says, "Be sure -your sins will find you out." But rarely does it happen within the -space of a year and a half, that a national crime meets with its reward.</p> - -<p>Immediately after the war one could not say that the Transvaal was -peopled by a happy, industrious community, but it was a veritable -heaven compared with the Transvaal of 1905; a veritable paradise of -plenty. This has been the social effect of the importation of Chinese -labour. The political effect is quite as serious.</p> - -<p>It has been said that the ultimate object of our rule in South -Africa is the federation of all the states of South Africa into one -commonwealth. It was the dream of Cecil Rhodes that South Africa should -take her place among the commonwealths of the Empire. A constitution, -such as exists in Australia at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> present moment, was to be given to -South Africa. The states of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange River Colony -and the Transvaal—all free, self-governing units—were to be welded -together into one great self-governing Imperial unit. The introduction -of Chinese labour in the Transvaal has rendered this impossible. Until -these Chinamen are repatriated there will be no commonwealth for South -Africa.</p> - -<p>In the first place, one of the essentials for such a federation -would be that each state should be a self-governing colony. The mine -owner knows, and the Government of Great Britain must know by now, -that once self-government is given to the Transvaal, Chinese slavery -would be at an end. Therefore the mine owners, who really "boss" the -Transvaal, would take care to suppress any agitation in favour of -self-government. As they refused the referendum so will they refuse the -Boer and the Briton the right of free constitution. Hence the granting -of responsible government to the Transvaal is deferred, and hence the -federation of South Africa is postponed indefinitely.</p> - -<p>Again, Cape Colony would never consent to the federation of the -Transvaal unless the Chinese labourers were repatriated. They have -stated their opinion in no uncertain language. They would have no -desire to enter into a partnership arrangement with a community which -was hampered with such a grave social problem as Chinese labour. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> -Transvaal has done harm enough to Cape Colony, without adding this last -straw to the load of evil which the gold mines of the Rand have bred -for her.</p> - -<p>This is one of the Imperial political disasters resulting immediately -from the importation of Chinese labour.</p> - -<p>There is another Imperial consideration even more serious.</p> - -<p>No one can read the protests sent to the Colonial Office by the great -self-governing colonies that fought in the war, without realizing the -gravity with which such a breaking away from the traditions of the -Empire has been received by these colonies. Had we known it was to be -war for the Chinese miners, the appeal made to Australia for men and -arms would have had a very different effect. This is the substance of -Australia's protest. Sentiment is a thing easily destroyed. Not even -the Government, I think, can realize the indignation felt in Canada, -Australia, and New Zealand by the Indentured Labour Ordinance. It -should have been the policy of the Imperial Government to foster the -tie that binds all the units of the Empire together. Mr. Chamberlain -has voiced this opinion times out of number; our Imperial bards have -sung it. The Government, which has always boasted that it was more -Imperial than the Opposition, more wrapped up in the honour and the -greatness of the Empire, has made this sentiment a commonplace in every -election speech. And yet they have done<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> more to destroy this bond than -any other party in the state.</p> - -<p>Again, some attention should have been paid to the Dutch problem in the -Transvaal. No attention was paid to it. We hear little now of the war. -The Transvaal might have been ruled from the beginning by the British -Government. Now and again the English papers mention casually the once -familiar name of General Botha as having addressed the Het Volk. But -the Dutch problem is never considered at all in England by the great -men of the people. And yet it is a very vital and important question. -Next to the native question it is, perhaps, the most vital question -with which South Africa has to deal.</p> - -<p>Throughout South Africa the Boers are to-day the most thrifty, the most -industrious, and almost the most agricultural section of the community. -Of their ability in war we have had a long experience. Of their courage -and patriotism we gained a knowledge at a great cost. They outnumber -the English population in the Transvaal and Cape Colony. And South -Africa will never be absolutely secured to the British Empire until the -proportion of Boers to the total white population is reduced.</p> - -<p>It should have been the object of the Government, immediately after the -war, to pack the Transvaal with Englishmen, to act as a counterbalance -to the Boer population. This would have been a dangerous experience if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> -there was no excuse for introducing such a large number of Englishmen. -But the excuse was to hand. A splendid opportunity of reducing the -population of the Boers to the total white population occurred at the -re-opening of the mines. Increased use of white labour in the mines -would have given to the Transvaal that preponderating majority of -Britons which the safety of the Empire demands. The home Government did -not take that opportunity, and South Africa has been left in exactly -the same dangerous condition as she was after the war.</p> - -<p>Instead of performing this obvious duty to the country, the Government -listened to the objections of the mine owners to swarming the country -with white labour, upon the grounds that they would prove a disturbing -element socially and politically, and agreed to the importation of the -Chinamen.</p> - -<p>There is yet another grave political aspect of this deplorable problem. -As the British people are apt to forget that the Boers outnumber the -Britons in the Transvaal, so they forget, when considering the problem -of South Africa, that there is a vast population of natives within our -territory.</p> - -<p>These black tribes are utterly demoralized, and, it is recognized, by -the war of the white man against the white man, and certain causes -which could not have been foreseen, have increased the unrest and -lawlessness.</p> - -<p>From Lagos to the Cape the same story has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> been told for the last two -years: that the black man is growing restive under the white man's -rule, that the white man is losing rapidly that superstitious authority -which up till then he had always carried with him. The cause of this -is the utter failure of the Germans to bring the war in Damaraland -to a successful conclusion. The continued successes scored by the -Hereroes have undoubtedly set aflame the ambitions of the black tribes -throughout the south-west coast and inland. In some cases it has been -fomented and worked up by Mahommedan and Ethiopian missionaries. In -addition to these disturbing elements the death of Lerothodi, the -paramount chief of Basutoland, has increased the natives' restlessness. -The spectacle of Chinese bands roaming the country, looting farms, -killing white men and raping white women has added to these symptoms of -native disaffection.</p> - -<p>A rising among the Basutos—which more likely than not would be -followed by a general rising of natives throughout Swaziland, Zululand -and the Transvaal—would engage all our strength to suppress. We should -have to make use of the constabulary which is now with great difficulty -keeping under control the Chinese labourers. It is not hard to imagine -the terrible state of affairs that would result from such a rising. -While we suppress the black man the Chinaman would be left unguarded -and unpoliced free to desert and to commit outrages. Indeed, should the -Chinaman rise with the black<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> man the safety of both Briton and Boer -would be in the gravest jeopardy.</p> - -<p>These are the deplorable risks which are being run by maintaining in -the Transvaal some 50,000 Chinamen.</p> - -<p>Financially the Chinamen have been a failure, a very grave failure. -Socially their importation has proved disastrous. Instead of bringing -wealth they have brought stagnation. Instead of bringing employment -for the white man they have brought destitution and abject poverty. In -introducing them it was recognized that some system must be devised by -which they could be prevented from mixing with the population. That -system has failed utterly and completely. They were to have brought -wealth; they were to have brought employment for the white man. All -they have brought is chaos. All they have done is to increase the -output of gold at a cost which has decreased instead of increasing -the mining companies' dividends. They have spread a terror throughout -the length and breadth of the Transvaal. Economically and socially -the policy proposed by the mine owners and forced upon the Government -has proved deplorable. Their introduction has been a grave Imperial -error which has aroused in the great self-governing Colonies anger and -indignation. It has already loosened the bonds which the common danger -of war had tightened.</p> - -<p>Their continued stay in South Africa, and the continued introduction of -more coolies has given rise to the possibility of danger that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> is awful -to contemplate. The rising of the black man would leave the policing of -nearly 50,000 Chinamen in the hands of a few white men.</p> - -<p>It is not too much to say that no greater sin against the ideals of -the British people, no more vicious and ruinous policy, has ever been -adopted.</p> - - -<p class="center space-above">THE END</p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<p class="center"><i>Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay.</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/ad1.jpg" alt="MUSIC FOR THE CHILDREN" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/ad2.jpg" alt="BLUE ANCHOR LINE" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 60959-h.htm or 60959-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/0/9/5/60959">http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/9/5/60959</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: John Chinaman on the Rand - - -Author: Anonymous - - - -Release Date: December 18, 2019 [eBook #60959] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND*** - - -E-text prepared by deaurider, Martin Pettit, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 60959-h.htm or 60959-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60959/60959-h/60959-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60959/60959-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/cu31924083851547 - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Text enclosed by plus signs is in bold face (+bold+). - - - - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - - - * * * * * * - -_SOUTH AFRICAN HOTELS_ - - -PORT ELIZABETH -(ALGOA BAY) - -Palmerston -Hotel - -Terminus Road, - -PORT ELIZABETH - -Close to Station and Jetty - -_Best brands of_ ... - -_WINES, SPIRITS -and CIGARS...._ - -Porters meet all Trains - -H. HEAD, Proprietor - - -CAPE TOWN. - -Princess Royal -Hotel - -Corner of Long and Riebeek Sts., - -_Two Minutes from Railway Station_. - -CAPE TOWN. - -Newly Erected Superior -Furnished Bedrooms. - -Fine Balcony Views of -Table Bay and Mountain. - -Excellent Billiard Table -(Thurston's Best). - -Good Attendance. -Perfect Sanitary Arrangements. - -_SPECIAL TERMS FOR RESIDENT -BOARDERS._ - -Visitors from England Up-Country -will find Accommodation -Unequalled. - -_S. S. PALMER, Proprietor._ - - -EAST LONDON - -Hotel National - -EAST LONDON - -The most centrally situated Hotel -- - in Town - - - -A First-class, Up-to-date Family -and Commercial Hotel - -Large airy Rooms. Excellent Cuisine. -Good Stabling and Billiard Room - -_Best Wines and -Cigars only stocked_ - -CHAS. COLLINS, Proprietor - - -BLOEMFONTEIN -(O.R.C.) - -_Replete with every -Comfort._ - -EXCELLENT CUISINE. - -FAMILY AND COMMERCIAL. - -Polley's Hotel - -MARKET SQUARE, -BLOEMFONTEIN. - -Perfect Sanitation. -Porters meet all trains. - -Under the personal supervision -of the Proprietor, - -_A. E. POLLEY_. - - * * * * * * - - -[Illustration: A NEW FORM OF TORTURE. _Frontispiece_] - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - -by an English Eye Witness - -With Introduction by Dr. John Clifford, M.A., Ll.B. - -And Frontispiece and Four Illustrations - - - - - - -London -R. A. Everett & Son -10 & 12 Garrick Street, Covent Garden, W.C. -1905 -[All rights reserved] - -Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, -Bread Street Hill, E.C., and -Bungay, Suffolk. - - - - -_INTRODUCTION -BY -DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, M.A., LL.B._ - - -_I have read the following account of the importation of Chinese -coolies into South Africa with the keenest pain and sorrow. It is an -authentic story of one of the foulest tragedies in our British annals; -the witness of one who has seen the facts for himself._ - -_It is an indictment packed with sifted evidence, written with -knowledge; but also with the indignation of the patriot and of the -humanitarian, against wrongs wantonly inflicted upon our fellow-men -and sanctioned by the Parliament of the Empire. The "balance of evil" -is overwhelmingly proved. It is an economic blunder. It is another -blood-stained page in the history of the inhumanity of man to man. -It violates the domestic and the social ideals. It is a blight upon -our Empire; and, chiefest of all, it is inevitably and overwhelmingly -immoral; productive of vices and crimes that cannot be named without -shame and wrath._ - -_And yet these foreigners who sell men for gold are declaring that this -system must remain "undisturbed." Never! It must go. It is building -the Empire on the blood of souls. It is not a "necessity." It is a -wanton iniquity. It is not "freedom"; and it is shuffling of the -meanest kind to say that it is not "slavery." Let Britishers realize -their responsibility and bring to a speedy and final end this return to -barbarism!_ - -_JOHN CLIFFORD._ - - - - -_The Publishers beg to thank the Editor of the 'Morning Leader' for -permission to use the Illustrations contained in this volume._ - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - I. ENSLAVING THE RAND 13 - - II. 'AVE, CROESUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT' 27 - -III. THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND 46 - - IV. THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM 77 - - V. THE YELLOW TRAIL 98 - - VI. THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES 110 - - - - -JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ENSLAVING THE RAND - - -In the following pages I have made no reference to the founder of the -Christian faith. - -There is a particular form of blasphemy current in Great Britain which -ascribes to the highest and noblest Christian motives actions which are -prompted by the meanest passions of cupidity and self-interest. Any -shadow is good enough for the criminal to creep into in the hope of -escaping detection; but blasphemy is not too hard a word to express the -attitude of those advocates and supporters of Chinese slavery in the -Rand who actually creep under the shadow of the Cross itself for moral -protection. - -With reservations, the Archbishop of Canterbury has blessed -the movement, having satisfied himself, with an ease somewhat -extraordinary, that it was all above-board and moral. The Bishop of -Bristol has commended it. The Rev. T. J. Darragh, Rector of St. Mary's -Church, Johannesburg, saw in it nothing but an opportunity to teach -the doctrines of Christianity to the heathen. "I am much attracted -by the possibility of evangelistic work among those people under -very favourable conditions, and I hope to see many of them sent back -to their country good practising Christians. It will be a glorious -opportunity for the Church." - -Almost it would seem that the logical conclusion of this estimable -priest was that all the heathen nations of Asia should be packed into -Lord Selborne's loose-boxes and carted over to Johannesburg in order -that the evangelistic genius of the Rector of St. Mary's might have -full scope, and countless souls be added to the fold of Christ, so long -as their duties of digging gold for German Jews at a shilling a day -were not interfered with. As these advocates and supporters of Chinese -labour have convinced themselves that the Ordinance, so far from being -opposed to the principles of Christianity, is likely to be of use in -spreading the doctrine of love, I realize that it would be hopeless to -attempt to prove to them that the importation of Chinese to the Rand -finds no support in the doctrines promulgated in the four Gospels. - -Indeed, to expect spiritual ideals on the Rand is too ridiculous for -words. The man who searches the Bible for a text to suit his line -of argument might perhaps find one for the Rand lords from the Old -Testament, and preaching from the sentence that "silver was counted -as naught in the days of Solomon" might argue that all practices were -justifiable to bring about a state of affairs which apparently had the -Divine approval. The ideal of the Rand is money. All imperial, social -and religious considerations have no weight with the masters of the -gold mines. Their object is to get gold, and to get it as cheaply as -they can, and with this in view they realize that they must obtain -two things--1. Political control of the Transvaal; 2. Slave labour. -To attain the first, all Englishmen, with their democratic ideas of -liberty and freedom, must be kept out of the country. This first object -attained, the introduction of slave labour would be extremely simple. - -How they achieved their object is the history of South Africa for the -last eight years. - -As long ago as 1897, when mines were booming and vast fortunes were -being made, the leaders of the mining industry suddenly realized by a -simple arithmetical calculation that more money could be made if their -workmen were paid less. - -Representations were made to President Kruger, a Government Commission -was appointed, and the possibility of reducing the wages of Kaffir -workmen was discussed in all its bearings. Mr. George Albu, who was -then the chairman of the Chamber of Mines, pointed out that 2s. 3d. a -shift was being paid to the Kaffirs, and that this could be reduced -to 1s. 6d. a shift for skilled labour and 1s. or less for unskilled -labour. When he was asked how this could be accomplished, he replied, -"By simply telling the boys that their wages are reduced." Mr. Albu, -however, declared that a much better state of affairs would be brought -about if a law was passed compelling the Kaffir to do a certain amount -of work per annum, though he admitted that nowhere in the world was -there a law enabling any particular industry to obtain forced labour. - -President Kruger's Government--accounted corrupt and irradical in -those days, but now regarded by comparison throughout the Transvaal -and Orange River Colony by both English and Dutchmen alike as most -benevolent and beneficent--refused to sanction a system which would -not only have been in opposition to the Conventions with Great Britain -of 1852, 1854, and 1884, but would have been opposed to the spirit of -humanity that should exist among all civilized communities. - -Then came the war. The Boer Government was swept away. Two hundred -and fifty millions and 21,000 English lives was the price exacted for -planting the Union Jack in Pretoria and Bloemfontein. - -During the war the magnates, with a persistence worthy of a better -cause, kept before them those objects which I have enumerated. The -consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields reported to a -meeting of mining representatives at Cape Town that dividends could -be increased by two and a half millions by reducing Kaffir wages, and -it was agreed that on the opening of the mines Kaffirs' wages should -be reduced by 33 per cent. When peace came it was found that the -Kaffirs were not prepared to work on these terms. They had grown rich -during the war, and in the independence of their new-found wealth they -refused to be treated as so much human machinery. It was bad enough -for them to work at their original wages in the Rand mines, without -their consenting to such a large reduction in their wages. The rate of -mortality in the Rand mines was seventy per thousand per annum; the -rate of mortality in the De Beers mines was only thirty per thousand -per annum. The De Beers never had any difficulty in obtaining what -native labour they required, because they treated their men well, -looked after their interests, did not sweat them, and admitted that -a black man, although black, was still a man. But even under these -circumstances, had the magnates of the Rand offered the scale of wages -that pertained before the war, they would have found black labour in -abundance. But even with a black man a minimum of 30s. and a maximum of -35s. a month with food is hardly tempting enough to draw him from his -kraal. - -The alternative of white labour was, of course, never seriously -considered. The mere Englishman who had fought for the country was not -to be allowed to settle in the country or to work in the country. The -Angots, the Beits, the Ecksteins, the Hanaus, the Kuchenmeisters, the -Rosenheims, the Schencks, the Taubs, the Wernhers, and the rest of the -gentlemen delighting in similar grand old English names were determined -not to permit it. The foolish Englishman would want to vote; would -have ideas about personal liberty and personal freedom; would have -ridiculous notions about Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights; would, -in short, think that the nation that had spilt its blood and spent its -money for the Rand was entitled to a vote in its management. - -With almost unparalleled insolence the Rand lords frankly declared -that the introduction of English labour would place the control of the -country in the hands of Englishmen, and would lead to that trail of the -serpent, the formation of labour unions. It was to meet with this that -two hundred and fifty millions was spent by the English people, 25,000 -died, 25,000 were permanently maimed. - -That white labour could be used, and be used profitably, was proved -beyond a doubt. Even when the higher wages were taken into account, -it was found that in the cyanide works of the gold mines the Kaffirs' -cost per ton was 5s. 3d., against the Whites' 4s. 9d. In developing and -stopping actual work of the mining underground, the Kaffirs cost 4s. -8d. and the Whites 4s. 2d. per ton. It was only in the machine drill -work that the Kaffirs proved slightly cheaper than the Whites. There -Kaffir labour worked out at 6s. 4d. per ton, white labour at 6s. 9d.; -a difference of 5d. per ton, so small a difference as to be almost a -negligible quantity. - -It was not until later that any pretence was put forward that white -labour could not be employed. The real reason, and the reason frankly -admitted, was the fear of the political power they would possess. - -Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell, general manager of the Village Main Reef, -worked his mine upon a system of joint black and white labour, and -the mine returned a dividend of 35 per cent. for the year 1903 and 20 -per cent. for the first half of 1904. In the report upon the working -of this mine it was declared that the efficiency of the mine was -increasing, and the output greater, while the working cost was lower. -This was proof conclusive that white labour could be employed in the -mines if the magnates wished to employ it. That they did not wish to -employ it is proved beyond the shadow of doubt by a letter from the -late Mr. Percy Tarbutt, of St. Swithin's Lane, to Mr. Cresswell-- - - - "DEAR MR. CRESSWELL,--With reference to your trial of - white labour for surface work on the mines, I have consulted the - Consolidated Goldfields people, and one of the members of the - board of the Village Main Reef has consulted Messrs. Wernher, - Beit & Co., and the feeling seems to be of fear that, having a - large number of white men employed on the Rand in the position of - labourers, the same troubles will arise as are now prevalent in - the Australian colonies, viz. that the combination of the labour - classes will become so strong as to be able, more or less, to - dictate not only on the question of wages, but also on political - questions, by the power of their votes when a representative - Government is established." - - -Foiled in their attempt to get cheap black labour, threatened with an -inundation of Englishmen, the cosmopolitan Rand lords tried to obtain -the slaves they required from Central Africa. This was not a success. -It was admitted by a speaker at a commercial meeting in Johannesburg -in July 1903 that various experiments had been tried to get native -labour, and that the best results had been obtained at the Robinson -Deep, which paid 25 per cent. dividend. "They imported 316 natives -from Central Africa only three weeks ago. So far only eight had -died--(laughter)--but there were 150 in the hospital, and by the end of -the month the whole will be in hospital. (Hear, hear.) They were coming -in at the rate of thirty a day. These men cost L30 a head, and were not -worth a 'bob' a head when they arrived. (Cheers.)" - -What were the mine lords to do? If only they were allowed they were -quite prepared to employ slaves. Their amazing reduction in wages had -not induced the Kaffir to come to the Rand. In the words of the native -chief the natives did not like to go to Johannesburg, "because they -went there to die." The majority at the Labour Commission had proved -that if good wages and treatment were extended to the Kaffirs, hosts -of natives would flock to the mines. But the Rand lords cared nothing -about kindness, and they were determined to reduce wages. - -It was at this juncture that the question of Chinese indentured labour -was seriously mooted. The black men were tired of being carted about in -trucks, and herded like cattle, and beaten and maimed for life without -any chance of compensation. It was said that the Chinaman was docile -and tractable, and would work for practically nothing, with extremely -little food, for as many hours as he might be requested. Chinese -labour, therefore, it was decided to obtain. - -But the Rand lords had to proceed with guile. They did this country the -credit to believe that any hasty determination to import thousands of -Chinamen would have met with an outburst of popular indignation against -which they could not have hoped to have stood firm. - -Forming a pretty accurate estimate of the leading passions that guide -men's minds they determined to appeal to the cupidity of the Englishman -at home. Their press began to pour forth a torrent of sobs over the -lamentable decay of the gold industry in the Transvaal. The country was -ruined, they said; the industry had gone to pieces. For ridiculous -considerations of hypocritical morality the Rand, for which Great -Britain had sacrificed so much, was to be made bankrupt. In a word, -it was bankruptcy--or Chinese. They found many powerful supporters -in this country. The trail of their wealth was on a section of the -press, and that section echoed whatever principles it might please the -cosmopolitan gentlemen of Johannesburg to give voice to. Even now one -can recall the despairing moans of leader writers over the ruin that -had overtaken the Transvaal. - -This was in June 1903. Somewhat unexpectedly Lord Milner at this -juncture refused to echo the gloomy forebodings of the Witwatersrand -Chamber of Mines; in fact, his tone was joyously optimistic. "The -production of gold," he said, "even now is greater than in 1895 or -1896, when the Transvaal really was, and had been for some time, -the marvel of the world in the matter of gold production. The world -progresses; but whatever was fabulous wealth years ago is not abject -poverty to-day. Not only that, but the rate of production is steadily -increasing." - -What he said was quite right. The output of gold in the district of -Johannesburg in 1900 was 237,000 ozs., and there were 59,400 Kaffirs -employed. - -But for six months the agitation continued. It was put forward as a -theory that the only chance for the Transvaal was to employ Chinese -labour. The supporters of the Rand lords hailed the theory with -delight, as if it was something new, something that they had never -imagined before. Clearly this was the direction in which prosperity -lay. They must have Chinese labour. Then shares would go up, dividends -would become enormous, and everybody would be wealthy and happy. The -Transvaal would be something like a Mohammedan heaven, with Great -Britain as an annexe. White men were to pour out to the colonies--not -to labour on the mines, for that work was only fit for Chinamen; -besides, white men it was said could not do it--and the Rand was to be -prosperous and life was to be a veritable bed of roses. Was England to -be denied the fruits of her victory? For what had the war been waged -if the Transvaal was to be left a barren, unproductive corner of the -Empire? Were the fruits of victory to be Dead Sea apples? - -By such arguments did they appeal to the British public. The dummy -figure of despair and ruin that they had set up served a very useful -purpose. It frightened the monied classes into the belief that their -investments were not secure. It frightened the patriots into thinking -that the war had been waged in vain. Few people troubled to make -inquiries as to whether the statement of the Rand's impending ruin was -true or not. There certainly was a slump in Kaffir shares. This was -held to be indicative of the state of the gold industry. It apparently -did not occur to anybody that just as Kaffir shares were made to -fluctuate during the war--when the mines were not being worked--so -they could be made to slump if only the Rand lords wished. - -In six months they convinced the majority of the House of Commons, they -convinced the Government, and they even made Lord Milner eat his own -words. His dispatches began to take on a garb of gloom. In August they -were of the mitigated grief shade; in September the shade darkened; -in October it was more than half mourning; in November it had become -black; in December it was as black as the Egyptian plague. His lordship -talked of crises; of what would happen unless some noble, national -sacrifice was made to save the sinking ship. Chinese labour was the -only cure for the deplorable condition of the gold industry in the -Transvaal! - -Meanwhile, a Labour Commission had been appointed, a mission consisting -of ten persons, eight of whom were known to be in favour of the -introduction of Asiatic labour. This Commission was authorized to find -out whether a scarcity of Kaffir or white labour existed, but was -forbidden to answer the question which was in the minds of all, whether -it would be proper or desirable to introduce Chinese labour. - -The agitation proved successful, and it was decided to import Chinese -labour. The grave disasters attendant on the impending crisis Lord -Milner insisted in his dispatches in December 1903 had to be met. - -It is curious, of course, to compare the statement of Lord Milner in -December 1903 with his statement in June 1903. In June the output of -gold was 237,000 ozs., and according to Lord Milner everything was -satisfactory. The production of gold, in his own words, was greater -than in 1895 or 1896. Six months later, in December, the output was -286,000 ozs., an increase of 49,000 ozs. Yet, according to Lord -Milner, the prosperity of the gold industry was in inverse proportion -to the output of gold! Two hundred and thirty-seven thousand ounces -per month was prosperity in June; 286,000 ozs. in December was grave -disaster, and the rest of it. Moreover, in those golden days of June -1903 there were 59,400 Kaffir labourers working on the mines. In that -dark, cheerless December, when the output of gold had increased 49,000 -ozs., and the gold industry was rapidly sinking back into the pit -of gloom and disaster, the number of labourers employed was 68,800, -being an increase of 9400--or 15 per cent. Moreover, in this terrible, -deplorable month the production of gold was greater than it had ever -been before, except during that period between the beginning of 1898 -and the commencement of the war. As to the question of labour, the -production per labourer per month in December 1903 was 4 ozs. of gold. -In 1899 it was only 3.4 ozs.; that is to say, it had been increased by -the use of machinery by one-seventh, so that six labourers in December -1903 were equal to seven labourers in the golden period before the -war. Actually, therefore, those 68,800 labourers were doing the work -of 80,262 labourers, and were doing it at wages 33 per cent. less than -they were before the war. But this was not prosperity. The dividends -were not large enough. - -The report of the consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields -still rang in the ear of the Rand lords. "Cut down the wages 33 per -cent. and you will add two and a half millions to the dividends." - -An unlimited number of Kaffirs would not come to the mines under -these conditions; they would not submit to bad wages as well as bad -treatment. White men would combine to manage the country and to take -the political power out of the hands of the Rand lords. "If we could -replace 20,000 workers by 100,000 unskilled whites," said one of the -directors, "they would simply hold the government of the country -in the hollow of their hand; and without any disparagement to the -British labourer, I prefer to see the more intellectual section of the -community at the helm." - -Hence the gloomy picture painted of the gold industry in that December -1903. Hence the slump in the Kaffir market. Hence that cry that native -labour would not come and that whites could not do the work. Hence that -more ominous cry that Chinese labourers must be employed. The Transvaal -was not to be for Englishmen. It was to be governed by the intellectual -genius of Mr. Rudd and his bevy of German Jews and non-British -Gentiles. Even if white labour was economically possible the Rand lords -did not want it. It _was_ possible--it _was_ economical. But they -wanted labour that would be _voteless_ and _subservient_! - - - - -CHAPTER II - -'AVE, CROESUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT' - - -"The problem is a very urgent problem. The necessity of going forward -is an urgent and vital necessity in the economical condition of the -country. I will tell the House why in a sentence. The mines are 30,000 -natives short of the number engaged in the pre-war period." - -These were the words subsequently used by Mr. Lyttelton, the Colonial -Secretary. The matter _was_ urgent. Already protests were pouring -in from every part of the Empire. Imperial meetings, white league -meetings, anti-slavery meetings, political meetings--all the machinery, -in short, of protest and obstruction was being got under weigh, and to -the Rand lords it seemed as if the ideal of slavery for which they had -struggled so long and so hard was to be denied them at the last hour. -The anguish of Sir Lancelot when a vision of the Holy Grail was denied -him after all his trials and tribulations was not greater or more -poignant than the trepidation of the mine owners. It became, indeed, a -very urgent problem for them, for unless they could bring the matter -to a head, not even the strongest Government of the century could hope -to withstand the popular will when once it was organized sufficiently -to voice its petition loudly enough. - -But of economical necessities there were none. - -It was natural after such a devastating war that some time should -elapse before the mines could get into full working order and attain -that wonderful output of gold which prevailed immediately before the -outbreak of hostilities. The progress of the gold industry after the -war had to be gradual; but so far from it being depressed or showing -signs of being stagnant, it had, as I have already shown, increased -enormously. Already it was within measurable distance of the output of -the pre-war period. The economical necessity was not the necessity of -importing cheap labour, but the necessity of paying a proper wage to -the Kaffir and of treating him well. - -Already Dr. Jameson, who in no sense was a partisan opponent of the -Rand capitalists, had declared in November 1903 that the De Beers -Company would not employ Chinamen--that they had plenty of labour, -white and black, because they treated their people well. - -But the Rand mine owners not only did not pay their Kaffirs a proper -wage, but meted out to them such treatment that the death-rate among -them had increased since 1902 to an extent which, to express it in -mild terms, was appalling. I quote the figures below-- - - -NATIVE MORTALITY ON MINES - -IN JOHANNESBURG, KRUGERSDORP, BOKSBURG, GERMISTON, AND SPRINGS. - -Period: November 1902--July 1903. - - - No. of Death-rate - During the Month. Natives No. of per 1000 - Employed. Deaths. per annum. - November 1902 46,710 247 63.4 - December " 48,542 324 80.90 - January 1903 49,761 253 61.01 - February " 55,288 207 44.9 - March " 57,022 235 49.4 - April " 62,265 269 51.8 - May " 65,371 431 79.1 - June " 68,819 492 85.7 - July " 70,474 627 106.7 - Average number of natives employed per month 58,250 - Average number of deaths per month 343 - Average death-rate per 1000 per annum per month 70.6 - - -This was the economical necessity that should have occupied the -attention of his Majesty's Government, and not the question of -introducing Chinese indentured labour into the colony. That the mine -owners have successfully baulked in the past all inquiry as to their -treatment of natives is proved conclusively by the fact that even these -statistics did not draw forth a commission from the Government to -inquire into such a terrible state of affairs. Instead of the question -being, "Why is it Kaffirs die at the rate of seventy per thousand -per month?" the problem they set themselves was how to provide an -alternative to these quick-dying wage-wanting niggers. Attempts had -been made to procure coolie labour from India, and Lord Curzon never -did a greater or a nobler thing than when he refused the sanction of -his Government to such a step. - -Mr. Chamberlain said in the Commons that Lord Curzon should have been -overruled; an inexplicable remark from a man who had had the courage -to say to the miners that it was better they should be governed from -Downing Street than from Park Lane. - -In December 1903 General Ben Viljeon informed a labour commissioner -that a petty chief had told him recently that if he sent 100 boys -to the Rand only 66 returned, and some of them had scurvy. It was -not wonderful, therefore, that black labour was scarce; but it -was wonderful that his Majesty's Government did not take steps to -put an end to a state of things which they must have known to be -terrible, instead of merely substituting for the ill-used, underpaid, -criminally-treated but free labouring Kaffirs Chinamen who were to be -nothing better than slaves. - -But the drawing up of the draft Ordinance went forward. It was hurried -on at an incredible rate. Until the last minute it was kept back from -Parliament, and the Blue-book dealing with the alleged necessities for -introducing yellow labour was only placed in the hands of the members -of the House of Commons a few days before Mr. Herbert Samuel moved his -famous amendment to the King's Address--"It is highly inexpedient that -sanction should be given to any Ordinance permitting the introduction -of indentured Chinese labourers into the Transvaal Colony until the -approval of the colonists has been formally ascertained." - -At one end of the cable sat Lord Milner, pricked on by the Rand -lords, at the other end sat the Colonial Secretary, anxious to be -fair, anxious to be humane, anxious to do nothing contrary to the -historic principles of British rule, but bemused by the clamour of the -Transvaal, and seeing in the protests against the Ordinance only party -moves and party partisanship. The clamour for the Ordinance increased -day by day. - -Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman had managed to extract a pledge from the -Government, by which Lord Milner was instructed to introduce into -the Ordinance a clause suspending its operation pending further -instructions from home. But it was pointed out that the matter was of -such great urgency that his Majesty's Government could not undertake to -postpone their decision longer than the termination of the debate on -the Address. - -As a matter of fact, they had already made up their minds. It was -stated that if a colony desired Chinese labour it was not for the -Imperial Parliament to interfere. To have done so would have been -contrary to the traditions of Imperial Government. But when Mr. Herbert -Samuel asked that the Ordinance should not be permitted until the -approval of the colonists in the Transvaal had been formally obtained -by the natural expedient of a referendum, Lord Milner asserted that to -hold a referendum was impossible--it would occupy too much time, that -at any rate it was an expedient unknown in any part of the British -Empire. - -As a matter of fact, a referendum has been put in practice in South -Australia, in New Zealand, in New South Wales, and was used more -recently to decide upon the important question of the Australian -Commonwealth. That it would have occupied six months to take such a -referendum, during which period the gold of the Transvaal would have -vanished, everybody would have refused to work, and the Kaffir market -would have been blotted out, was preposterous. Yet, at the moment when -Lord Milner made this statement, a census of the colony was taken, -which only occupied seven weeks. It is not unreasonable to assume that -such a referendum would have occupied more than a month. - -All the arguments of the Opposition were in vain against such -plausibility. It was useless to point out that while the educated -Chinese were good citizens, the bitter experience of Australia, -Canada, the United States and New Zealand proved conclusively that the -uneducated Chinamen, wherever they went, were vicious, immoral and -unclean, hated by the white man, loathed and feared by every decent -white woman. The Government admitted the danger of allowing 50,000 -Chinamen to be planted down in a colony without any restrictions. Their -introduction was a regrettable necessity; and so it was proposed to -keep them in compounds, to round them up every night like sheep, to -make them liable to heavy penalties if they wandered abroad without a -permit. This was the only way, they declared, in which these necessary -evils could be used. Of the necessity of utilizing the evil at all they -were convinced, and no argument succeeded in shaking their faith. It -was pointed out to them that this would be semi-slavery, if not indeed -actual slavery. The Chinaman was not to be employed in any position -but that of a miner; he could not improve his position; he could not -give notice to one employer and go to another. He could never leave the -compound without permission. If he struck work he could be imprisoned. -He was bound to reside on the premises of his employer, in charge of a -manager appointed for the purpose. Permission to leave these premises -might or might not be granted; but in any case he could never be -absent for more than forty-eight hours at a time. If he escaped, he -could be tracked down, arrested without a warrant and imprisoned by a -magistrate, while anybody who harboured or concealed him was fined L50, -or imprisoned in default of payment. - -The Ordinance was without parallel in the Empire. Because the Chinese -were competitors, because they were a moral and social danger, the -supporters of the Ordinance were compelled to devise some system under -which it could become law in the Transvaal, and by which they could yet -prevent any one of the Chinamen brought in being able at any time to -leave his employment and turn to other and more profitable undertakings. - -Only a casuist could call this anything else but slavery. One of our -most unsuccessful ministers tried to find a parallel between this -system and the life of our soldiers--a parallel so bright and so -pleasing that no one, I think, has yet attempted to spoil the bloom of -this flower of grim humour by disclosing its absurdity. The Transvaal -Government had, in fact, gone to the statute books of the slave states -of America for a model for their Ordinance. - -It was soon seen and realized that any attempt to negative the -Ordinance must prove abortive. All that the Opposition could do was to -render it as innocuous as possible, and to secure as many guarantees -as they could for the proper moral and physical treatment of the -unfortunate Chinamen. They extracted pledges and promises galore, most -of which have been completely broken. - -On March 21, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton, after stating that the average Kaffir -wage was 50s. for thirty days' work, made this statement in the House -of Commons--"Chinamen would receive in the Transvaal at least 2s. a -day. I stand here and give the House my assurance that the Chinese -will receive at least the amount I have specified." - -At that time, when this well-meaning pledge was made, the Kaffir was -only receiving 33s. per month. But even had he been receiving 50s. a -month, which Mr. Lyttelton in his ignorance imagined, was it at all -likely that the Rand owner would pay the Chinaman 2s. a day, or 60s. -a month, that is to say, 10s. a month more than they were presumably -paying the Kaffirs? Of course, the mine magnates were not going to pay -the Chinaman more than the 33s. they were paying the Kaffir. - -Mr. Lyttelton's pledge was summarily disposed of by Lord Milner and the -mine owners. - -After at first insisting on a minimum of 1s. a day instead of 2s., -Lord Milner finally made this plausible promise, that if within six -months the average pay was not more than 50s. for thirty days' work, -the minimum should be raised from 1s. to 1s. 6d. a day. Mr. Lyttelton's -maximum of 2s. a day was thus reduced to a possible minimum of 1s. 6d. -a day. - -Another delightful pledge was also given. It seemed almost indeed as -if the Transvaal Government were continually advising Lord Milner to -cable, saying, "Promise anything in heaven or earth, but let's get this -Ordinance through." - -With somewhat unusual consideration, the opinion of the Chinese -Government had been asked on the subject. Speaking through their -ambassador, the Chinese Government insisted that the immigrant should -have free access to the courts of justice to obtain redress for injury -to his personal property. - -On March 10, 1904, Mr. Lyttelton stated that the Chinese labourers -would have the same right of access to the courts as all the other -subjects of his Majesty's dominions. Any subject of his Majesty's -dominions has the right to appear before a court when he has any -grievance. That is the right of all subjects of his Majesty's -dominions. The Chinaman, according to Mr. Lyttelton, was to have the -same right. As a matter of fact, he has no right of access to the -courts, except by leave of an inspector. - -Again, Mr. Lyttelton declared, when the Chinese Government raised the -point of flogging, that there was no power in the Ordinance to impose -flogging. There was not at that time. But four months later, on July -28, an Ordinance was assented to by which the resident magistrate had -the right to flog in cases where the conviction was a conviction of -robbery, in cases of any statutory offence for which flogging could be -only given for the second conviction, in cases of assault of a grave -character or intended to do serious bodily harm, or, indeed, to commit -any offence. - -I shall deal later in detail with the punishments that have been -inflicted on the yellow slaves that work in their slavery under the -Union Jack. It is at present only my object to outline the policy -of promising anything and making all sorts of preposterous pledges -in order that the clamours of the Rand lords might be gratified. In -Johannesburg they knew well that if once indentured labour was agreed -to in principle, it would be easy to make what alterations they wished -in the spirit or the letter of the Ordinance. - -In February 1904 Mr. Lyttelton stated with regard to the importation of -women with the Chinese--"We are advised in this matter by men of the -most experience in the whole Empire on the subject of Chinese labour. -We are advised that the coolies would not go without their womenfolk. -Manifestly it would be wrong that they should go without their -womenfolk if they were desirous of taking them with them." - -To quiet the lethargic conscience of that adept courtier, his Grace -the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was declared that the interests of -public morality demanded that the Chinamen should be accompanied by -their wives, and that this was one of the essential conditions of the -Ordinance. It was pointed out at the time that once the mine owners -had 5000 indentured labourers, they would not take upon themselves the -burden of supporting their wives, with an average of three children -apiece. It would mean 250,000 women and children. And it is almost -inconceivable that even Mr. Lyttelton could have imagined that the -cosmopolitan proprietors of the Transvaal would have taken upon -themselves the superintendence of human beings utterly incapable of -dragging gold from the earth. - -As a matter of fact, Chinese have never taken their wives into foreign -countries, and therefore the moral question, which so concerned Dr. -Davidson for one brief day, was not settled. As a matter of fact, it -was stated at the beginning of this year by the Colonial Secretary that -while 4895 wives were registered as accompanying their husbands, only -two women and twelve children had actually been brought over! - -It was stated by Mr. Lyttelton, at the same time as he satisfied the -conscience of the most Reverend Primate, that the Chinaman would be so -well fed and so lightly worked that in the interests of morality it -was physically necessary that he should be accompanied by his wife. -In explaining the fact that only two women and twelve children had -accompanied the thirty or forty thousand Chinamen up to the beginning -of 1905, the Colonial Secretary remarked in effect that this fact would -not lead to immorality, because the Chinaman's food was so frugal and -his work was so steady that he would be almost physically incapable of -those passions which are a source of so much trouble, of so much crime, -of so much happiness, and of so much beneficence to the white man, the -black man, the red man, and the brown man. Life under the Rand lords, -in short, was practically emasculating, and therefore immorality was -impossible. - -I shall deal with this subject later on. For the present I will point -out that this was the fourth pledge that had been given in the House -of Commons, only to be broken, not, I admit, by Mr. Lyttelton and the -Government, but by their masters, the mine owners on the Rand. - -The Opposition steadily opposed the Government in the House. - -Major Seely and Mr. Winston Churchill left the Conservative Party, -Major Seely resigning his seat to test the temper of his constituents -in the Isle of Wight on this very subject. The electors in the Isle of -Wight were of no uncertain temper. They returned Major Seely to the -House, thereby proving, as all subsequent by-elections have proved, -that the Chinese Labour Ordinance is bitterly opposed by the vast -majority of freedom-loving Britons. - -It had been the custom during the war to submit very largely to the -opinion of the colonies. In fact, the influence of colonial opinion -had partly directed the policy of the Government for several years. -Mr. Chamberlain constantly submitted to it, before, during, and after -the war. He had based his bold venture of Tariff Reform on this very -opinion. It was because the colonies would think this or would say -that, that the British workman was to submit to a tax upon corn, a tax -upon clothes, a tax upon everything else. It was reasonable to expect, -therefore, that on such an important Imperial question, touching the -welfare of a colony, to possess which the whole of the Empire had -risen in arms, and men had poured from the snows of Canada and the -rolling plains of the Bush, the opinions of the Five Nations would -have been consulted. But even if the Government did not submit to this -recognition of their services, to this acceptance of a common Imperial -interest, it was only natural to have supposed that they would have -at least taken into account the advice of Canada, Australia, and New -Zealand, who had experienced the evils of Chinese immigration. - -I have travelled all over the Orange River Colony, Natal, Cape Colony, -and the Transvaal, and the colonial people and the Dutch were all -unanimously against the introduction of the Chinese on the Rand. I -have never yet met one person in favour of the Ordinance. And since -the Ordinance became law, and the yellow slaves began their work at -the mines, nearly every person I have met in South Africa has openly -regretted the war, and declared that they preferred the days of Paul -Kruger, whose Government may have been corrupt, but was at any rate -based on the principle that it is the duty of a white government to -look after the moral and social welfare of its white subjects. - -Mr. Chamberlain himself declared that there was considerable -indignation expressed throughout South Africa at the proposal to -introduce Chinese labour, and that a vast majority of the people -throughout South Africa were bitterly opposed to the Ordinance. - -The colonies were not slow in sending passionate protests to the -Colonial Office against the Ordinance. Mr. Seddon wired--"My Government -desire to protest against the proposal to introduce Chinese labour -into South Africa. They foresee that great dangers, racial, social and -political, would inevitably be introduced by Chinese influx, however -stringent the conditions of introduction and employment may be." - -Mr. Deakin, the Premier of Australia, declared that Australia had been -told that the war was a miners' war, but not for Chinese miners; a war -for the franchise, but not for Chinese franchise. The truth, if it had -been told, would have presented a very different aspect, and would have -made a very different appeal to Australia. - -Cape Colony, which was more intimately concerned with the welfare of -the Transvaal than any other portion of the Empire, passed a resolution -in the Cape Parliament, "That this House, taking cognizance of the -resolution passed at the recent Conference held at Bloemfontein on the -subject of the qualified approval of the importation of Asiatic labour, -desires to express its strong opposition to any such importation as -prejudicial to the interests of all classes of people in South Africa." - -This last resolution had been sent to the Government as long before as -July 1903, when the first steps were being taken to pave the way for -yellow slavery. - -But of all these protests the Government took no notice whatever. -They met all questions with a statement that the Transvaal was to be -allowed to decide on its own internal affairs; and when the Opposition -demanded that the opinion of the Transvaal should be taken, so that -these principles could be carried into effect, they replied that a -referendum, the only means of ascertaining this opinion, would take six -months, during which time the Transvaal would be ruined. - -Never was the logic of any of the characters in _Alice in Wonderland_ -so unanswerable. - -In the Transvaal itself loud and indignant protests were made against -the proposal. But the Rand lords asserted their supremacy with ruthless -severity. The _Transvaal Leader_, the _Transvaal Advertiser_, and the -Johannesburg _Star_ all opposed the introduction of Asiatic labour. -Their respective editors, Mr. R. J. Pakeman, Mr. J. Scoble, and Mr. -Monypenny, were compelled to resign because they refused to sacrifice -their opinions for their proprietors. Some idea of the pressure that -was brought to bear, may be seen in the valedictory editorial which Mr. -Monypenny wrote on retiring from the editorship of the Johannesburg -_Star_:-- - -"To the policy of Chinese immigration, to which the Chamber of Mines -has decided to devote its energies, the present editor of the _Star_ -remains resolutely opposed, and declines in any way to identify himself -with such an experiment. To the ideal of a white South Africa, which, -to whatever qualifications it may necessarily be subject, is something -very different from the ideal of a Chinese South Africa, he resolutely -clings, with perfect faith that whatever its enemies may do to-day -that ideal will inevitably prevail. But as the financial houses which -control the mining industry of the Transvaal have for the present -enrolled themselves among its enemies the present editor of the _Star_ -withdraws." - -It is not difficult to read between the lines here and see the -determination of the mining magnates to crush every opposition to their -will. - -Mr. Cresswell, who had stood out for white labour on the Village -Main Reef mine, and had proved conclusively that white labour could -be employed at a profit greater than that at which black labour was -employed, was compelled to resign his general managership. Mr. Wybergh, -Commissioner of Mines, and for long a distinguished servant of the -Government, had dared to protest against Chinese serfdom, and was -forced also to resign. - -Every day it became more clear that the Transvaal was to be no place -for an Englishman. The white man's blood and the white man's treasure -may have been spent to win it for the one-time flag of freedom, but the -Englishman was not to make his home or earn his living upon the land. -"We want no white proletariat," Lord Milner had said. - -But the magnates did not stop at merely coercing the press. Indignation -meetings were held at Cape Town and Kimberley, and they employed men -to break them up at 15s. per head. - -At a meeting at Johannesburg, held by the African Labour League, it -was arranged that a proposal should be put to the vote deploring the -importation of Asiatics, and protesting against the action of the -Government, and demanding a referendum in the colony. At this meeting -several men were present, paid by a certain Mr. B. of Johannesburg to -create a disturbance. Their efforts were so successful, they shouted so -long "You want the Chinese," that the meeting became an uproar, and the -speakers were unable to be heard. - -But all protests were unavailing and futile. All opposition was -considered as a party move. The cry of "Yellow slavery" was attributed -to shameless Radical tactics. The Liberal Party, it was said, would -stoop to anything with which to besmirch the fair name of the -Conservative Party. The Ordinance passed the House after having been -debated at length. It has since been altered in some of its most -important details, thereby emphasizing the fact that in permitting the -question to be debated in the House the Government only regarded the -discussion as a sham. - -But even in the Conservative Party there were men whose consciences -pricked them over the Ordinance. One old respected member, who has -recently died, declared privately on the day that the vote was -taken that for the first time in his life he had voted against his -conscience, at the urgent instance of the Conservative whips. He for -one realized, when it was too late, that the introduction of the -Chinese on the Rand was--as Mr. Asquith lately remarked at Leven--"a -most gigantic and short-sighted blunder." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND - - -"It must be admitted that the lot of the Chinese labourer does not -promise to be very gay or very happy from our point of view" (extract -from _The Times_). - -Experience has shown that it is not economical to employ Chinese under -the only conditions in which public opinion will allow them to be used, -that is, under semi-servile conditions. This was the experience of all -other parts of the Empire, but it was the last thing to have any weight -with the mine owners. Their one idea of economy was to get labour cheap. - -If you deduct 33 to 40 per cent. from the money that has to be paid in -wages, that 33 to 40 per cent. is money saved--is money which will go -to swell the dividends to an amount, so it had been estimated, of two -and a half millions. - -The simplicity of this calculation should have given them pause. -Financiers, at least, should be aware that nothing is so untrustworthy -as the abstract profit and loss account. Men who had used figures to -such good advantage should have understood that while on paper the -difference between the price paid to the Chinese and the price paid to -the white or black labourer was profit, in actual practice it would -prove nothing of the sort. - -The mine owners have learnt this lesson by now. They have discovered -that Chinese labour is an economical failure. - -But in the summer of 1904 they were all eagerness for the coming of the -yellow man. To their imaginations these men were to be nothing better -than slaves. They were to work as long as they wanted them to work at -prices which they would settle themselves. Craftily-concocted laws -enabled them to bring the same sort of brutal pressure to bear upon the -yellow man as the slave owner of old brought upon the black man. He -could be fined, flogged, driven, coerced by all means to tear the gold -from the bowels of the earth at whatever rate the masters might wish. -They had treated the black men pretty much as they liked. But the black -men had the knack of dying in thousands under such treatment (thereby, -as I have already noted, affording hearty amusement for gatherings of -the Chamber of Mines), or of throwing up their work and going back to -their native kraals. - -The Rand lord had not had complete control of the black man. Foolish -people at home, influenced by what Lord Milner once called Exeter Hall -sentiments, had insisted that the black man must possess those personal -rights of liberty and freedom which, until recently, were given to all -races who paid allegiance to the Sovereign of the British Dominions -beyond the Seas. - -For the first time the mine owner was to have forty to fifty thousand -men who were to live under strict surveillance in a sort of prison -yard, who were to be absolutely at his mercy and at his will, who were -to work every day of the week, Sundays included--the evangelizing -enterprise of the Rector of St. Mary's, Johannesburg, did not seem to -have run to indoctrinating the Rand lords or their slaves with the -principles of the Fourth Commandment--who were to be forced into doing -whatsoever their masters wished by all sorts of ingenious punishments -and penalties. - -They of course forgot the all-important factor in this dream of theirs -that a Chinaman will willingly consent to an arrangement which, as _The -Times_ admitted, would make their lot neither very gay nor very happy. - -But none the less this was the spirit in which the Chinaman was -recruited in China and first treated on his arrival. - -Quite the most frivolous of all the pledges given by Mr. Lyttelton on -behalf of the Rand lords, was one in which he solemnly declared that -to every Chinese labourer recruited from his native land the Ordinance -would be carefully explained by the recruiting officer. - -I do not recollect that the House of Commons was moved to an outburst -of Olympian mirth at this most ridiculous statement. If I recollect -aright, the statement was received with that solemn British expression -of approval, "Hear, hear!" - -"The Ordinance," said Mr. Lyttelton, "will be explained carefully to -each labourer before he consents to embark for South Africa." - -Now, the Ordinance is a long and complicated document. It would be -impossible to explain it to the most intelligent Chinaman in under an -hour. Actually, it would probably take him a whole day to completely -understand the sort of life he was going to lead on the Rand. For one -man to explain the Ordinance to 40,000 of them would have taken about -nine years. At the recruiting offices established in China for the -purpose of obtaining these yellow slaves, it would have taken at least -three years to make all the forty to fifty thousand Chinamen still -working on the Rand to thoroughly understand the Ordinance. - -This was a _reductio ad absurdum_ argument, which one would have -thought must have occurred to the minds of the Government, but if it -did occur to them they kept it in the background with due solemnity. - -Seeing that the recruiting and sending over to South Africa of more -than 40,000 Chinamen occupied less than a year, it is clear that this -pretence of allowing the Chinaman to enter upon his engagement with -the Rand lords with his eyes open was a pretence, and nothing else. -But even if the simplest arithmetical calculation failed to convince -the Government, their knowledge of human nature should have made them -realize the absurdity of imagining that the recruiting of these men -would be carried out on such principles. The recruiter, whether for the -Army, or for any other purpose, is very much like a barrister with a -brief. He has only to see one side of the argument; he has to close his -mind firmly to all considerations other than the fact that it is his -duty to get men for the particular purpose for which he is recruiting. -Whoever found the recruiting-sergeant telling an embryo Tommy Atkins -about the hardships of a life in the Army, of the punishments to which -he renders himself liable, of the powers of a court-martial, and the -like? He only tells him of the splendid chance he has of serving his -King and country; of his handsome uniform; of the influence of that -uniform on the female breast, and the like. I have met men who have -recruited in South Africa for the Philippines, who have recruited in -England for revolutionary committees for some of the South American -republics, and I know that the one picture that these men do not paint -to their recruits is the picture of their possible hardships. If the -white recruiter acts like this to men of his own colour, how was he -likely to act towards men of a different colour whom centuries of -traditional prejudice led him to regard with contempt and dislike? - -I am convinced that ninety-nine out of every hundred of the Chinamen at -present working on the Rand neither knew then nor know now the exact -terms on which they were brought from their homes. Again, it is well -known that the Chinaman has a hereditary dislike to forfeiting his -freedom of action. However bad his Government may be, he has the same -instinct for freedom as the white man in Great Britain. All the best -authorities on China agree that he would never of his own free-will -have consented to bind himself to the Rand lords on the terms set forth -in the Ordinance. - -What happened, of course, was that the Chinese local authorities, when -asked to assist in the recruiting of men for the Rand, made out a -list of all the wastrels, semi-criminals and hooligans who kept their -Governments in a state of anarchy and unrest, and forced these men -to indenture themselves. In fact, the situation on the Rand is very -much as if we had emptied our prisons and turned out all our thieves, -murderers and hooligans loose on the veld. - -One cannot blame the Chinese Government for so acting. It is a proof -rather that that ancient empire still retains, amidst a great deal that -is bad and corrupt, a spirit of elementary justice. - -It would have been criminal to have sent Chinese citizens to the -Transvaal. It was quite another matter to send batches of criminals. - -The ease with which men were recruited and shipped to the Transvaal -seemed to confirm the Rand lords in their delusion that at last they -had got hold of people who would increase their dividends for them -without demanding rights and privileges. - -_The Times_ had called them masculine machinery. Lord Selborne had -said that they would be crammed in loose-boxes and taken over. When -at first the long procession of pigtails and blue shirts appeared at -Johannesburg they certainly seemed to be so much masculine machinery, -so much cattle to be crammed into cattle-trucks at one port and -unshipped at another. - -But all delusions or illusions were soon destroyed. - -It was found that the Chinaman actually thought for himself; that he -had a sense of fair play, and that he was not prepared to work like a -horse for a shilling or so a day. - -The compounds in which these yellow slaves were herded together are -pieces of land in close proximity to the mine, surrounded by a high -fence, guarded by armed police. They look exactly what in fact they -are--prisons, and nothing else. Hospitals have been erected in each -of the compounds, and an ample supply of gods have been procured for -the Chinamen, possibly as a set-off to the evangelistical zeal of the -Rector of St. Mary's, for there is no knowing what a Chinaman might do -if he became thoroughly inculcated with the doctrines of love and mercy -which were preached in the Sermon on the Mount. - -The compound in other respects is very like a village. No one can -go into this village unless he has got some special business or -has obtained a permit. These restrictions serve a double purpose. -They prevent the possibility of a white man or a white woman being -insulted by the slaves, and also put a check upon that inquiry into the -treatment of the yellow men which the Rand lords are moving heaven and -earth to baulk. - -The huts in which labourers live are identical with those made for -Kaffirs. They hold one or two, as the case may be. - -The labourers have to work day and night in shifts of eight hours. When -it is time for a batch of labourers to begin their shift, they are -herded together and marched off to the mine, care being taken to keep -them quite apart from the Kaffirs and whites. - -At the pit mouth they are driven into the cage and dropped down into -the bowels of the earth. When the cage is opened the Chinaman is driven -out, and if he show some hesitation about leaving the cage, he is -kicked out as if he were an animal. At least, that is the treatment to -which they were at first subjected. Now, however, their treatment in -the mine is hardly so severe. Indeed, it would not be too much to say -that the Chinaman now does his share of the "kicking." For example, -on September 23 last, the Chinese at the Lancaster Mine attempted to -murder the skipman by placing a beam in the path of the descending -skip--a collision with which, as a writer in the _Daily Mail_ lately -pointed out, "would have sent the skip a drop of a thousand feet." The -obstruction was noticed. When the skipman got out he was assaulted, but -managed to escape. - -The white overseer at first felt that instinctive fear of and dislike -for the Chinaman that is peculiar to all Englishmen. He was one man -against hundreds. In the majority of cases he had been bitterly opposed -to the introduction of Chinese labour. He realized by the restrictions -that had been placed by the Ordinance on the Chinamen that they were -feared, and, in turn, he feared them himself. It was his duty to see -that they worked. It was his duty to make them work. Unable to speak -their language, instinctively disliking them, he used the only means -of asserting his authority which came to his hands: that was generally -a boot or a crowbar. Physical fear is the power by which nearly all -primitive communities are ruled. The white races look upon the Chinamen -as belonging to a primitive community, forgetting that they are the -children of a civilization thousands of years older than any that -exists in Europe. - -The white man soon dropped trying to rule by force. The Chinaman showed -him that he feared blows as little as he feared death. If he didn't -want to work he wouldn't work, and showed that fear was not the basis -of Chinese morals. Once in the mine the docile, tractable Chinaman of -the Rand lords' dream did just as he liked, and continues to do just as -he likes. - -When he leaves the compound he, perhaps, takes with him half a loaf -of bread. When he feels hungry, he stops work, coils himself upon the -ground, and takes his meal. Let the language of the white man be as -terrible as he is capable of, let him rain blows upon the Chinaman's -back, the Chinaman takes no notice, but continues his meal. When he -has finished his bread he rolls a cigarette, and smokes in calm and -indifferent quietness. If the Englishman remonstrates with him, John -Chinaman replies, "Me get one little shilling. Me do plenttee work for -me pay." - -And he speaks the truth. He does quite enough work for a shilling a -day. There is a wide difference between what he considers sufficient -work and what the Rand lords consider sufficient. There is the increase -of two and a half millions which the cosmopolitan mine owner hopes to -make by using the Chinaman as a slave, and which he never will make -either with the Chinaman or the black man. He does his best, however. - -The idea that this heathen, whom he has brought over with so much -difficulty, in the face of so much opposition, should actually refuse -to work like a machine, but should have ideas about the time when he -wants to eat, and should even demand a few minutes' quiet smoke after -eating, drives him almost to the point of insanity. It is almost as bad -as those white workmen, who have a mania for forming trade unions and -require fair wages for fair work. - -In the face of this Chinese intractableness while working in the -mines, the Rand lords have urged on the white overseers to force the -Chinese to do their work. When the overseer points out that if he -resorts to violence his life will not be worth a moment's purchase, he -is met with the reply that it is his duty to see that the Chinaman does -his work, and if he cannot do that they must find somebody else to take -his place. Under this threat of dismissal, the overseer has had only -one resource. He has had to raise up a race feud, from which he stands -apart. - -The Kaffirs already hate the yellow man, realizing that they have -deprived them of their work. The white overseer has fomented this -racial animosity. When the Chinaman has proved recalcitrant and -disobedient, when he has refused to do more than a certain quantity -of work, the overseer turns the black man on to him to force him once -again to his task. - -The result is bloodshed and murder of black men and Chinamen. - -It is the old problem of leading a horse to the water and trying to -make him drink. - -The Chinaman has been dragged from his native land in the face of -the opposition of the whole Empire to increase the dividend paying. -But he won't hurry, he won't work too hard, and in the mine he will -do, as I have said, exactly as he pleases. All illusions as to the -Chinaman's capacity for hard work have vanished. Even Mr. S. B. -Joel--one of the Rand lords--practically admitted as much in his speech -at the annual meeting of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment -Company on November 23. With much reluctance, as may be imagined, the -light-hearted "Solly" admitted that "the Chinese had not yet proved -quite so suitable for underground work as natives"--but, lest this -statement might affect the market price of the shares, the chairman -of "Johnnies" expressed the hope that they would attain greater -efficiency. No--the Chinaman does not work hard. It is true that he -takes his employment seriously, and that what he does he will do well -and with a certain efficiency. But he is not the masculine machinery or -the cattle of Lord Selborne's imagination. He has enough intelligence -to realize that he is the man who is wanted, and acts accordingly. If -he works for a shilling a day he will only do a shilling's worth of -work. He knows that he must be employed; nobody else can be got to do -his job, and he acts, in fact, just as the Rand lords feared the white -labourer would act. He won't be bullied into doing any more work than -he wants to do. True, he forms no trade unions such as the white men -form, but there is among all the Chinese a much more powerful weapon -of opposition than the trade unions. Every Chinaman has his secret -society, and these societies act together as one man. If the society -decides to stop work, they stop work, and neither the fear of death nor -the most callous or brutal treatment can move them from their purpose. -He hates the white man with the same intensity as the white man hates -him. If he can get the white man into any difficulty he will do so. -His ingenuity for creating trouble is worthy of a better cause. With a -sort of diabolical foresight he realizes exactly the complaints that -will be showered upon the overseer's head by the masters of the mines. -If the output falls, he knows that there will be trouble for the white -man, so he stops work. He squats down and smokes cigarettes, realizing -that by so doing he will be laying up a store of trouble for the -overseer. - -To show how much the Chinaman is now the master of the situation on -the Rand I may quote the following instance--On the night of October -24, the Chinese at the Jumpers Deep Mine refused to work until two -of their compatriots, who had been arrested for an infringement of -the mining regulations, were released. Every artifice was resorted -to to get the stubborn Chinamen to resume their toil, but in vain. -Eventually, the Government superintendent of the Chinese, acting under -recently-extended powers, had forty of the head men arrested. Twenty -of these were afterwards sentenced, some to two and others to three -months' hard labour--sentences which probably moved to quiet mirth the -parties most concerned, who could do that sort of punishment "on their -head," so to speak. - -It has been said, of course, that the miners along the reef have always -worked against the Chinese. It is not to be wondered at if they have. -Nobody could reasonably blame them--except the Rand lords. But so far -from this being true, the white miners have done their best to work -with them. Even the chairman of the Chamber of Mines has confessed that -the innumerable riots that have occurred down in the mines were not the -result of the white men's machinations. The white man does his best, -but under circumstances without parallel in the history of labour. He -works always with the certain knowledge that at any moment he may be -killed. To him the yellow terror is not a myth or the dream of fiction -writers. He knows what it means. It is present with him every hour -of his work. Down the mine in the stopes a white man has under him -thirty or forty Chinese. If any grievance, real or imaginary, arose, -the Chinese could turn round and take his life. He has no protection -whatever. He has to stand by and listen as best he can to the insults -heaped upon him by the children of the Celestial Empire; and insults -heaped not only upon him but upon his womenfolk. He has to see that -the work is done efficiently, or he is dismissed from his employment. -But there is little wonder that his anger or fear gets the better of -his discretion. It is bad enough that Chinamen are doing the work that -should be done by white men, but it becomes even a greater scandal -when the white men, who sacrificed so much blood and treasure for the -Transvaal, should be insulted by these yellow slaves. - -The low-class Chinaman is probably the most bestial and degrading -brute on this earth. He is intelligent enough, but his mind is as vile -and unwholesome as a sewer. The bestial insults which he heaps upon -the white overseers, and, indeed, upon every white man that he comes -across, three years ago would not have been tolerated in any quarter -of the British Empire. It is tolerated to-day in the Transvaal by the -sanction of German Jews and un-British Gentiles. - -Lord Selborne, when the matter was brought to his notice, declared--"No -wonder a white miner who has had such language said to him would fail -to have roused within him feelings which would take a certain natural -direction of satisfying themselves. But where has the Chinaman learnt -this kind of language? he did not come here knowing it." - -Lord Selborne's implication was, of course, that the Englishmen, in -their conversation in the presence of Chinamen, were accustomed to use -this bestial talk. - -I don't pretend that the conversation of miners is always savoury. I am -sure that the method of conversation in vogue in some of the Yorkshire -and Lancashire factories would scandalize decent, quiet-living people, -but such language on the part of the British workman is the result of -his inability to express himself properly. What he says is said for -emphasis. He does not, like a more educated man, add vigour to his -conversation by making use of the endless variations of his mother -tongue; he simply peppers his talk with epithets which in no way are -used in their original meaning. If they were used in their original -meaning, if the British workman really meant what he said, all the -deadly sins in thought or in practice would be committed millions -and millions of times a day. But the Chinaman is noted for his taste -for all the most bestial vices which the imagination of man has ever -conceived. What the miner may say in a coarse moment the Chinaman will -commit without any hesitation. - -Lord Selborne asked where the Chinamen learnt this kind of language, -and added that they did not come to the Transvaal knowing it. If Lord -Selborne visited some of the treaty ports in China he would soon become -aware that the Chinaman has added to his taste for committing all the -vile and bestial vices, a knowledge of how to express these vices in -all the vile and bestial language of Europe. As most of the criminal -classes are to be found within the fringe of European civilization, and -as, moreover, the Chinese Government has drafted, with a certain grim -humour, a large number of the criminal classes into the Transvaal, I -think the question as to where the Chinaman learnt his bestial language -is answered equally as well as the statement, that he did not come to -the Transvaal knowing it, is contradicted. - -This is the state of affairs in the mines themselves. But if these -yellow slaves are intractable in the mines, they are even more -intractable in the compounds. - -What they want to do that they will do, and not all the prisons and -ingeniously-compiled penal laws can prevent them. They soon realized -that if they wished they could be masters of the Rand. They foresaw -that the Rand lord would be chary of using force, would hesitate to put -into execution his slave-owning ideals, for fear of public opinion at -home; that is to say, to put them into full force. - -But the Rand lords were not the type of men who would be chary of -impressing upon the Chinamen in secret the full meaning of their -position on the Rand. - -As it is the case in the mines, so is it the case in the compounds. - -The white man not only hates the yellow man, but fears him. He knows -that at any moment he may be murdered, and with this fear in his heart -has resorted to all sorts of brutality. - -The Chinamen can be flogged by law for almost any act. The Ordinance -says that a Chinaman cannot leave the compound without a permit, and -prescribes his life for him on absolute machine-like lines. The amended -Ordinance of July 1904 says that he can be flogged in cases of assault -with intent to commit any offence. Of course, an assault with intent -to commit any offence might consist in hustling his neighbours in an -attempt to escape from his compound, in pushing against the white -overseer, in refusing to work. In short, the law was so ingeniously -amended that the Chinaman could be flogged for anything. - -But the law was really not needed. The manager of the Croesus Mine -admitted that when he considered a Chinaman wrong he had flogged him; -that it might be against the law to flog him, but he had done so, and -would continue to do so. - -And he was not only flogged for disobeying the regulations under -which--knowingly, it is said--he had indentured himself, but for -refusing to work. An Ordinance might substitute corporal punishment for -imprisonment in the case of misdemeanours on the part of the Chinaman -and so escape the title of slavery; but to force a man to work by -corporal punishment is nothing but the essence of slavery. And yet -these yellow men have been whipped to their work again and again. - -But flogging is no new thing on the Rand, nor is it confined to the -Chinaman. The native knows the sjambok of the Rand lord well enough. "I -well recollect," says Mr. Douglas Blackburn (lately assistant editor of -the defunct Johannesburg _Daily Express_), writing to _The Times_ on -November 4,--"I well recollect seventy-two boys being flogged before -breakfast one morning in Krugersdorp gaol for the crime of refusing to -work for L2 per month, after being promised L5 by the labour agent." - -While these facts are well known in Johannesburg, while there are many -people who openly admit that they have thrashed the coolie, or ordered -him to be thrashed for refusing to do sufficient work, the Rand papers, -which are absolutely under the control of the mine owners, denied -again and again that flogging took place. It was only Mr. Lyttelton's -announcement that flogging must cease that at last compelled them to -admit that flogging had taken place. Mr. Lyttelton had himself denied -on several occasions that the Chinaman was flogged, and his command -therefore that flogging must cease was quite as amazing to the members -of the House of Commons as it was to the Rand lords. - -To anybody who has witnessed the development of Chinese slavery on the -Rand, it is almost incomprehensible that there should be any people -at home who deliberately refuse to believe that the Chinaman has been -treated otherwise than as a human being, made in the image of God, with -the rights that belong to all men of justice and freedom. The subject -is as openly discussed, and regarded as a matter of fact on the Rand, -as the Lord Mayor's Show. - -I cannot do better than quote from the now famous letters of Mr. Frank -C. Boland to the _Morning Leader_. These letters show the development -of yellow slavery in a nutshell, show how from flogging the yellow man -to his work the Rand lords finally resorted to torture:-- - -"At the Nourse Deep severe punishment was meted out. Every boy who -did not drill his thirty-six inches per shift was liable to be, and -actually was, whipped, unless he were ill, and could show that it was a -physical impossibility for him to do a day's work. A sjambok was used; -it was laid on relentlessly by Chinese policemen, the part of the body -selected being the muscles and tendons at the back of the thighs. Even -the sight of blood did not matter. The policeman would go right on to -the last stroke. Having been thus punished, the coolie would walk away; -but after sitting down for a time the bruised tendons would refuse to -work. Many of the coolies were sent to hospital to recover. - -"At a later date at this mine strips of rubber were substituted for a -sjambok. This rubber, while causing very sharp pain, does not cut. - -"After a time the mine officials found that the coolies were not -maintaining the monthly increase, and the management urged the Chinese -controller to 'do something.' He refused to thrash the coolies unless -they had committed some crime; and being informed by the manager -that his policy would not suit, he gave two months' notice of his -resignation. - -"Meanwhile, the management issued instructions, because of advice from -England, that flogging should be stopped as far as possible, but asking -that other forms of punishment should be substituted. - -"Thereupon certain forms of torture well known in the Far East were -adopted. One of these was to strip erring coolies absolutely naked, -and leave them tied by their pigtails to a stake in the compound for -two or three hours. The other coolies would gather round and laugh and -jeer at their countrymen, who stood shivering in the intense cold. - -"A more refined form of torture was to bind a coolie's left wrist with -a piece of fine rope, which was then put through a ring in a beam about -nine feet from the ground. This rope was then made taut, so that the -unhappy coolie, with his left arm pulled up perpendicularly, had to -stand on his tip-toes. In this position he was kept, as a rule, for two -hours, during which time, if he tried to get down on his heels, he must -dangle in the air, hanging from the left wrist. - -"Every mine has its lock-up for malingerers, deserters, and others. At -the Witwatersrand the coolies are handcuffed over a horizontal beam. - -"The floor is of concrete, and they may sit down, but the beam is so -far from the floor that it is impossible for any but exceptionally -tall men to sit while handcuffed. They must therefore squat, and for a -change raise themselves in a semi-standing posture. - -[Illustration: INSTEAD OF FLOGGING.] - -"When released, these prisoners stagger about until they regain the use -of their legs; then they take their skoff and go below to work. - -"With the abolition of flogging, compound managers are now inventing -other forms of punishment. In future, also, there will be an -extensive system of fines, and food will be withheld. - -"Meanwhile, with all these methods of punishment, the coolies are -still turbulent. Last Monday practically every boy on the Nourse -Deep--seventy-five in all--was sent to gaol for seven days. This step -is certain to foment trouble in the near future." - -It was this sort of inquisition that Great Britain had set up at the -point of her bayonets. - -Well might the Australian Government say in their letter of -protest--"Australia has been told that the war was a miners' war but -not for Chinese miners, a war for the franchise but not for Chinese -franchise. The truth, if it had to be told, would have presented a -very different aspect, and would have made a very different appeal to -Australia." - -It would, indeed, have made a very different appeal to the British -public. Would there have been so much killing of Kruger with our mouths -had we known that a white proletariat would not be wanted--in Lord -Milner's words--that the white labourer was not to be allowed into -the Transvaal because his trade unions would shackle the enterprise -of the Rand lords; that yellow slaves would have to be introduced -in the disguise of indentured labour; that these labourers would be -whipped and tortured into doing their work? Had they known that on the -Witwatersrand the average number of Chinamen flogged daily for one -month was forty-two--Sundays included--would there have been so much -Rule Britannia and music-hall Jingoism? - -It is quite true, of course, that had the British people accepted the -principle of importing Chinese labour into the Transvaal it would be -quite fair to blame, as Lord Salisbury was always so fond of blaming, -the system for the cruelty that inevitably followed. But the British -public have never accepted the principle of importing Chinese labourers -into the Transvaal. They have always been deliberately opposed to -it, as has every part of the British Empire. They are not to blame, -therefore, for the state of affairs on the Rand. - -As to the insane flogging administered for an offence, it cannot be -better described than by giving another quotation from Mr. Boland's -letter to the _Morning Leader_. Here is the method of procedure:-- - -"A coolie is reported either by a white shift boss or by a head-man for -an offence. He is called into the compound manager's office, charged, -and given a fair trial (except where the compound manager does not know -the Chinese language, and has to trust to his yellow interpreter). Then -the sentence is passed by the compound manager--ten, fifteen, or twenty -strokes, according to the crime. The coolie, with a Chinese policeman -on either side of him, is taken away about ten paces. Then he stops, -and at the word of a policeman drops his pantaloons, and falls flat on -his face and at full length on the floor. One policeman holds his -feet together; another, with both hands pressed firmly on the back of -his head, looks after that end of his body. Then the flagellator, with -a strip of thick leather on the end of a three-foot wooden handle, -lays on the punishment, severely or lightly, as instructed. Should -the prisoner struggle after the first few strokes, another policeman -plants a foot in the middle of his back until the full dose has been -administered. - -[Illustration: LAYING ON THE PUNISHMENT.] - -"In another form of flogging practised, a short bamboo was used. The -coolie would strip to the waist and go down on his knees with his head -on the floor. His castigator would then squat beside him, and strike -him across the shoulders with lightning rapidity. The blows, though -apparently light, always fell on the one spot, and raised a large red -weal before cutting the flesh. During the first quarter of this year no -fewer than fifty-six coolies were whipped, after 8 p.m. one evening, at -the Witwatersrand Mine, the dose varying from five to fifteen strokes." - -In Mr. Douglas Blackburn's letter to _The Times_, from which I quoted -just now, we are told that much of the resultant mischief was due -to the incompetence and mismanagement of the men in charge of the -compound. "I assert unequivocally," he says, "that most of the white -interpreters and compound managers had not a working acquaintance -with the Chinese language, and, therefore, frequently misunderstood -the complaints and requests made to them by the coolies.... This is -no place for detail, but the following incident, which occurred in -my presence, may be accepted as typical and illustrative. A compound -manager was examining the passes of a number of coolies. When we -left the compound we were followed by two Chinamen who shouted and -gesticulated violently, and clutched at the arm of the manager. I could -see that he failed to understand them, for he shouted wildly in return, -exhibited signs of great alarm, and eventually knocked them both down, -called the guard, had the pair locked up, and later in the day he -flogged them for insubordination. Next day he confided to me that he -was in fault. He had inadvertently put the passes into his pocket and -misinterpreted the clamouring request for their return into threats -against himself. That manager is now seeking another engagement." - -The twenty thousand soldiers who went to their death fighting what they -imagined was for their country, might well, instead of singing "God -save the King" and the like, have marched to the battle-fields of the -Transvaal and the Orange River Colony crying, like the old gladiators, -"Ave, Croesus, morituri te salutant." - -[Illustration: CUTTING THE FLESH.] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM - - -When Mr. Lyttelton said that flogging must cease, flogging ceased on -the Rand, and the Oriental methods of torture were adopted instead. - -But even this penal system--reminding one so strongly of the days of -Stephen, when the wretched, tortured peasantry openly said that Christ -and His saints slept, for Pity had veiled her face and Mercy had -forgotten--had to be practised with great secrecy owing to the force of -public opinion at home. - -These methods were, however, unavailing to check the growing insolence -and insubordination of the Chinese slaves. No better idea of the -condition of the Rand during the last few months can be gathered -than from the new Ordinance, which was drafted at the beginning of -last October. This Ordinance took the power of punishing the Chinese -coolies from the hands of the resident magistrates and placed it -in the hands of the inspectors, thereby giving the welfare of the -Chinese slaves solely and entirely into the mercy of the Rand lords. -Before, an attempt had been made to cloak the slave Ordinance with a -pretence of law and justice as conceived by the British public. But the -draft Ordinance of August put an end to this piece of hypocrisy. The -superintendents and the inspectors of the Chinese, for all practical -purposes the servants of the mine owners, were to be not only the judge -and the jury, but the plaintiff. It conferred on the superintendents -and inspectors jurisdiction, in respect of offences against the -Ordinance, of a resident magistrate. - -Clause I states--"This power will be granted provided such offences -are committed under the Ordinance and within the area of any mine or -mine compound where such labourer resides. The fines to be inflicted -in the case of conviction will be the same as those imposed by the -magistrates under the existing laws, and on conviction the labourer's -employer will be notified, and the amount of the fine will be deducted -from the labourer's wages and paid over for the benefit of the Colonial -Treasury." - -Another clause states that--"For the purpose of confining prisoners -awaiting trial, it is provided that the employers of labourers shall -erect a lock-up on their properties, which lock-up shall be deemed to -be a jail." - -Again, in the event of labourers on the mines organizing a conspiracy, -refusing to work, creating a disturbance, intimidating or molesting any -person on the mine, the superintendent or inspector is empowered to -impose a collective fine on the labourers. - -Insomuch as this new Ordinance once and for all destroys the myth with -which Rand lords endeavoured to surround their slave-owning ideals, I -consider it to be a decided improvement upon the original Ordinance, -with its innumerable pleasures and pretences for the moral and -spiritual welfare of the Chinamen. - -That unfortunate and much-deluded man the Colonial Secretary, once -declared in the House of Commons that the Chinaman would have just as -free access to a court of justice as any British subject. He certainly -now-a-days possesses free access to a court, if not to a court of -justice. Access is so easy to it that the court actually follows him -wherever he goes, watches him while he works in the mine, watches him -while he is in the compound, and is ready to punish and fine him, or to -lock him up in the compound prison, without any of those old-fashioned -formalities which, while they may embody the machinery of justice, are -at least guarantees of its purity and disinterestedness. - -It would of course be very interesting to know how many of these fines -have ever reached the Colonial Treasury. Armed with such extraordinary -powers as these, it is highly probable that the Rand lords imposed -through their superintendents and inspectors unlimited fines which, -instead of benefiting the Colonial Revenue, merely reduced the wage -bill. - -The last clause which I have quoted contains the phrase "organizing a -conspiracy." A conspiracy, of course, is anything in the nature of a -trade union. - -I don't say that this new Ordinance was not justified. I think it was -fully justified. No efficiency can be obtained by half measures. The -ablest political trimmers are incapable of serving both God and Mammon. -If God is out of the question, a whole-hearted worship of Mammon is -really better. In short, it would have been far more in the interests -of the Transvaal if the Rand lords had from the first gone the whole -hog and insisted on having Chinese slaves in name as well as in fact. - -The state of affairs in August last wanted extraordinary legislation. -But, of course, this must not be held to justify Chinese labour. -That was criminal. But once the principle of Chinese labour had been -accepted by the Government on behalf of an unwilling and protesting -nation, I fail to see how the unfortunate remnants of British subjects -in the Transvaal could be properly protected without these measures. -I don't see how, when once the Chinese had been brought into the -country, the brutalities that have been committed could have been -avoided. I think the superintendent and the inspector and the overseer -should have the right to shoot men down in cold blood. I think the -compounds should be surrounded by artillery. I think all the ideals -of Russian autocratic rule should be brought to bear upon these men. -The awful brutality with which they have been treated is justified. -The superintendent, the inspector and the overseer should be forced to -make a special study of the methods adopted by Hawkins and Magree. -The British Government wanted Chinese labour to be introduced into the -Transvaal, and if they had been efficient and sensible they should -have accumulated in their Ordinance the wisdom of all the slave-owning -traditions of centuries. - -But from an unbiassed perusal of the Rand press one would have imagined -that all these extraordinary measures were unjustified. - -The statements that the Chinese were committing outrages, were -insolent, were bestial, which have from time to time appeared in the -British press, were referred to by the Rand press as "more Chinese -lies," "Chinese canards," and such headings. They persistently -impressed upon their readers that the Chinese were leading an -industrious, idyllic life, that they were treated with kindness and -humanity by the overseers, that no happier community ever existed on -the face of the earth than the 40,000 odd Chinamen in their compounds -on the Rand. - -Of course, they only kept up this pretence for a time. It was -impossible for long to pretend to be a newspaper at all and yet deny -facts which were personally known to the majority of their readers. - -The object of this extraordinary legislation was, of course, that the -Chinese preferred to go to prison rather than pay fines. - -At the beginning of August there were more than one thousand Chinamen -in jail undergoing various terms of imprisonment, rather than deduct -from their shilling a day, the amounts they were called upon to pay for -disobeying the laws laid down in the Ordinance. - -The amended Ordinance now forced them to pay by withholding from them -a portion of their wage equal to the amount of the fine. It has been -found useless, in fact, to pretend that other than a reign of terror -pertains in the Transvaal. The Chinamen have broken loose, and only -their prompt deportation can prevent a very grave crisis. Neither fines -nor floggings have any terror for them, and from their earliest years -they have been accustomed to regard death without a semblance of fear. - -I will relate some of the more notorious instances in which these -yellow slaves have figured in the last year. The list includes, murder, -rape, robbery with violence, and that class of criminal assault with -which we deal in England under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. - -While working in the mines the Chinaman does exactly what he pleases. -The overseers dare not interfere. Their policy of putting the black -man on to the yellow man has resulted in murder. The Chinaman has a -short way with any white or black man who tries to interfere with his -sense of liberty. He kills the man. Every Chinaman belongs to a secret -society, and when he has determined to kill a white or a black man he -reports his decision to the society. He knows that the deed which he -meditates will be rewarded by his own death: but for this he cares -nothing. All his preparations are made beforehand. His secret society -probably consists of from four to five thousand members. All these -members contribute something like sixpence a-piece to make up a sum, -say of L100. When this amount is collected, it is sent over to his wife -and family in China. Having thus made all the necessary provision for -his wife and children, the Chinaman perpetrates the deed. He is then -arrested, sentenced and hanged. And he meets his end with a stoical -indifference, quite content that he has secured his revenge and set his -worldly affairs in order. - -In the face of such sentiments compulsion is futile. - -On Wednesday, September 13, a gang of Chinese coolies working at the -Geldenhuis Deep Mine decided to take a holiday. The management of the -mine were instructed to offer them extra pay if they would work. They -refused, and took their holiday. They promised, however, that they -would start their first shift at midnight on the following Sunday, -September 17. When midnight on Sunday, September 17, arrived, they -determined to keep their holiday up. The compound manager endeavoured -to use force. The Chinese met force by force. The police were called -in. The riot at that juncture had reached a most alarming state. -The police were ordered to fire: they obeyed, killing one Chinaman -and wounding another; but not before the compound manager had been -attacked and somewhat seriously injured. Finally the Chinamen were -driven to their work. - -On the same Sunday the utter uselessness of the compound system -was proved. One hundred Chinamen bolted from the French Rand Mine. -Somebody, it is supposed, had spread among them the report that the -Boers were enlisting coolies at L4 a month to fight the English. In -vain has the number of police in the Witwatersrand district been -increased. Gangs of deserters are wandering about the country murdering -and looting. - -"Last night," wrote a young South African policeman to his parents in -England, "I captured six Chinamen who had run away from the mines. They -are giving a lot of trouble--5000 of them started rioting last week, -and 100 foot police and 200 South African Constabulary had to go to -stop them, and a nice old job we had. They threw broken bottles and -stones when we charged them. Some of our fellows were very badly cut. -The Chinamen also made dynamite bombs and threw them at us, and we had -to shoot into the crowd to drive them back. We aimed low and wounded -a good many of them. They are nasty devils to tackle, and always show -fight when there are a lot of them together. The six I captured were -trekking across the veld. I chased them on horseback and they ran on -top of a kopje and commenced to roll rocks down. I managed to get a -shot at one with my revolver: the bullet struck him on the wrist. Then -they all put up their hands and surrendered. I managed to get some -niggers working in the mealie patch to escort them back to our camp. -The niggers were very proud of themselves. When they passed through the -other native kraals I think if I had not been there the Kaffirs would -have assegaied them. They hate the Chinamen like poison." - -These are the sort of incidents that occur daily. All the measures -taken by the Government and the mine owners to prevent desertion have -proved ineffective. The country around the Witwatersrand Mines has -taken upon itself the aspect of the whole of the colony during the late -war. Mounted constables with loaded revolvers organize drives. The -whole district is patrolled, and every effort is made to bring back the -deserters to the compounds. But as soon as one lot has returned another -escapes. Every day you may see a mounted policeman riding down towards -the law courts, followed by a string of Chinese deserters. - -The Johannesburger lives in a daily state of terror. He rarely meets a -Chinaman without immediately seeking the protection of the police and -insisting on an inquiry being held then and there, as to whether the -man has a permit to be at large in the Golden City. - -Writing on October 2, the Johannesburg correspondent--one L. E. N.--of -a London morning paper gives a graphic account of the wonderful City -of Gold at that date. "Gold of the value of over L20,000,000 a year," -he says, "is extracted from that stretch of dusty upland called -The Reef.... But look closer. The white workers on the mines carry -revolvers; the police are armed with ball cartridge and bayonet; camped -yonder at Auckland Park is a mobile column of mounted men ready to move -against an enemy at a moment's notice; the country folk on the other -side of the swelling rise are armed to the teeth, and live at night in -barricaded and fortified houses." What a beautiful commentary on life -as it is lived--under the British flag--in the commercial and political -hub of the great sub-continent! - -The Boers, who through their political organization the Het Volk have -refused to take any active part in the management of the country, -determined with a sort of grim humour, since the British sought to -destroy the corrupt Government of their late President, they shall be -allowed to mismanage the country as they will, have been led to break -their political silence to petition the Government for more protection. -At a meeting held at Krugersdoorp at the beginning of October, they -decided to forward a resolution to the Imperial Government requesting -that the importation of Chinese coolies should be discontinued, and -those already in the country should be repatriated. Regret was further -expressed at the danger to life and property, and it was pointed -out that the policy of not allowing the Boers to carry firearms -prevented them from properly protecting the lives of their families. - -[Illustration: GOOD SPORT.] - -General Botha did not exaggerate the dangers which resulted from the -importation of Chinamen, and he voiced the common sentiment of Boer -and Briton when he asked that a Commission should be appointed to -investigate the treatment of the Chinese coolies, and ascertain the -cause of the disturbances. - -The mine owners' press informed the public that there are very few -cases of desertion; that when any number of Chinamen do desert the -South African Constabulary deal with them efficiently. They are hunted -down, rounded up, and brought in by their pigtails for trial. At the -trial they are convicted, or were before the amendment of the Ordinance -in August last, and locked up. - -Any one going through the Transvaal will see hundreds of these Chinese -convicts working in large batches on the roads. White men are placed -in charge of these convicts, and when the repairing and macadamizing -of the roads is not done to their liking, the Chinamen are flogged, -and flogged in the open. They are subjected to every kind of brutal -treatment; and it is probable that almost as many desert from the -convict prisons as desert from the slave compounds. - -In "C" Court, Johannesburg, on October 3 (or 4, I am not sure of the -exact date), before Mr. Schuurman, several Chinese labourers were -prosecuted for wandering from the mines in which they were employed, -without possessing the necessary permission. They all pleaded guilty, -and were fined L1 each. When asked what excuse they had to offer, three -of them said they were homesick, and were on their way to China; two -others stated that they had only gone for a short walk, and were close -to the mine when arrested. The policeman, however, declared they were -twenty-five miles from the mine. A few of the accused stated that they -were ill-treated, and consequently deserted. The magistrate sapiently -advised them that in such a case, instead of absconding, they should -complain to the representative of the Labour Importation Association -when he called at the mine. - -Under the new regulations, sixty-five Chinamen, including an alleged -professional robber, were arrested on October 18. A Johannesburg -correspondent describes them as "a band of 450 coolies of bad -character." What has Lieut.-Colonel W. Dalrymple, the Rand mining man -who lately at Tunbridge Wells denounced the "infamous lies" which were -circulated in this country about the Chinese labour question--what, I -repeat, has Lieut.-Colonel Dalrymple to say to _that_? - -From the same telegram I learn that the measures which are now being -taken to prevent desertions are proving effective. The roll-call -of October 8--I am now quoting the immaculate Reuter--"showed 278 -absentees, and during the following week 245 were captured and brought -back to work. Last night," adds the correspondent, meaning the night -of October 17, "nine coolies attempted to raid a homestead in the -Krugersdoorp district. The farmer fired through a window, and shot one -Chinaman dead; the others fled." I commend these statements, together -with those quoted hereafter, to the earnest attention of the editor of -a certain yellow-covered weekly journal, devoted to the interests of -South Africa--the organ of the Rand lords in London--which persistently -pooh-poohs the "yellow slavery" cry. - -Meanwhile gangs of escaped Chinamen are wandering over the country -spreading terror everywhere. The Boer farmer goes to bed at night in -his lonely farmhouse on the veld as if he were still at war with Great -Britain. Long hidden rifles are brought out from the hay-ricks and -other hiding-places and got ready. Windows are boarded up, doors are -double locked. Every preparation is made to warn off the ever expected -attack of the yellow desperadoes. - -At the beginning of October two homesteads in the Boksburg district -were attacked by a party of Chinese, who attempted to gain an entrance -by breaking in the back doors and windows. In both cases, however, the -farmers had made every preparation for such an attack, and fired on -the marauders, one of whom was wounded in the chest and another in the -abdomen. The remainder made off. - -A similar outrage occurred in the middle of November. A lonely -farmhouse near Germiston, occupied by an Englishman and his wife, -was attacked by a band of Chinese, who were armed with crowbars and -stones. The farmer opened fire, seriously wounding one of the Chinamen -in the jaw, and the rest decamped without entering. The injured man -was captured, but the whereabouts and identity of the others were not -discovered. - -In Johannesburg the talk is of nothing but murders and assaults by -gangs of ten or fourteen escaped labourers. House after house away on -the veld has been broken into and looted, and the inhabitants murdered -if they showed any signs of resistance; they have indeed in some cases -been murdered without showing any sign of resistance at all. - -Quite recently the Legislative Council of the Transvaal has re-amended -for about the tenth time the Ordinance. It has proposed to offer L1 a -head for the recapture of these yellow hooligans, an amendment which -would have placed the very much-bepatched Ordinance on a level with -the laws that prevailed in the Southern States of America before -the abolition of slavery. It is charged, however, with that strange -spirit of hypocrisy which has characterized all the proceedings of the -Rand lords into a reimbursement to the capturer of his out-of-pocket -expenses. This of course is only another way of offering L1 for -every recaptured Chinaman, for it may be taken for granted that the -capturer's expenses will always include the wear and tear of horseflesh -and moral damages and other matters which can only be estimated in the -abstract. According to the schedule of fees payable in respect of the -capture of Chinese deserters, which was published early in October, -they ranged from 1s. per mile for one or two arrests to 3s. for eight -or more. - -Here is a letter from another member of the South African Constabulary -to his people at home which emphasizes the state of affairs which exist -at present on the Rand. - -"The Chinese have been causing a lot of trouble. There was a whole -family murdered about a month ago. Several places have been broken -into. Last Sunday there was a storekeeper murdered about ten miles from -where I am staying. We have orders on no account to go out on patrol -without a revolver. The people are seeking police protection, and -are frightened out of their wits. I believe it is as much as a South -African Constabulary man's life is worth to be seen at some places on -the Rand in uniform. I am determined that if I meet any Chinamen, and -they show fight, I will shoot the first one dead." - -This is the spirit abroad--a spirit which every right-minded man -must regard as the inevitable result of the criminal action of the -Government in sanctioning the Chinese Labour Ordinance. - -Here is another case which has never been reported in the press:-- - -At Germiston railway station twelve Chinamen were waiting on the -platform for a train. A white woman happened to pass by, and as she -passed the Chinamen hurled some bestial insult at her. One of the -railway officials immediately called a policeman, who tried to take -the offending Chinaman into custody. He was promptly knocked down. -Three more policemen were hurried to the scene. These met with like -treatment, and even when two other comrades came to their assistance -they were utterly unable to effect the arrest. After twenty minutes' -violent fighting, during which the gang of Chinamen were absolutely -unhurt, six policemen were taken on stretchers to the hospital. - -Here are two or three more instances taken at random from the -"Butcher's Bill" of a Johannesburg correspondent, whose letter appeared -in the _Daily Mail_ a few weeks ago:-- - -"_Sept. 5._--Chinese attack Kaffirs in the Lancaster Mine. They throw -one Kaffir in front of a train of ore, so that he is cut to pieces. A -second Kaffir dies of his injuries. - -"_Sept. 8._--Homestead at Rand Klipfontein attacked and looted, and -L150 in money taken. The Chinese try to fire the house by throwing a -fire-ball through the window. - -"_Sept. 16._--Band of Chinese rush a Kaffir kraal at Wilgespruit, on -the West Rand. Native woman's head nearly severed. Chinese armed with -knives 2 feet 6 inches long, made by a Sheffield firm. - -"_Sept. 18._--Riot Geldenhuis Deep. Compound manager assaulted. Mounted -police attacked by 1500 coolies armed with drills, stones, bottles, -etc., and forced to fire their revolvers. One Chinaman killed and a -number wounded." - -And so on and so forth. One more instance to show to what length -the Chinamen will go. A gang of the breed employed at the Van Ryn -Mine, where there had previously been a number of disturbances, -struck work and attacked the whites underground. A white man pulled -the signal cord, and police, galloping up, descended the shaft and -saved the whites. The ringleaders were arrested, and, adds the -correspondent somewhat ingenuously--"This phase of attacks underground -is disquieting." From the adjacent colony of Natal, too, come words -of complaint about Chinese stragglers; and it is significant in this -connection that "over a thousand rifles" were issued to the farmers in -the Transvaal at the end of September last. These are facts which Mr. -Reyersbach, of Messrs. H. Eckstein & Co., would be well advised to put -in his pipe and ponder. - -Of course the immediate cause which leads to the Chinese committing the -above-recorded acts of violence is the result of bad treatment. - -The murder of Mr. Joubert in the Bronkhorst Spruit Mine--for which, on -November 20, four Chinamen were executed in Pretoria jail--who received -some fifty stabs before succumbing, was due to starvation. The men -wanted to find food. They were not allowed to eat apparently, and so, -maddened by ill-treatment, overwork, and starvation, they committed -murder. Perhaps the most tragic part of the whole business is that one -cannot completely blame them for such an awful act. They have grown to -hate the white man. It is small wonder. - -There are now nearly 50,000 Chinamen on the Rand, and in the breasts of -all these men there seems to have been imbued a hatred and detestation -of the white man. It seems almost as if these slaves considered it fair -game to commit any outrage, however brutal, on white men and white -women whenever the opportunity occurs. They are treated outrageously -themselves. They get little justice from magistrates, so it is small -wonder that they are indulging themselves in a sort of blood carnival -of revenge. - -Discussing this question the other day with a representative of the -London journal _South Africa_, Dr. Corstorphine seriously declared -that the difficulties attendant on the Chinese labour question had -been magnified out of all proportion to the main facts. "We must -expect to find a few black sheep amongst the Chinese," sagely observed -the doctor. Ye gods!--a _few_. It would be interesting to know -what constitutes a "few" in the mind of the worthy geologist. Dr. -Corstorphine would probably indignantly deny the existence of yellow -slavery on the Rand. But possibly he would admit its existence under -another name, just as Sir Edward Grey did at Alnwick the other night. -Addressing his constituents, Sir Edward said he had never said that the -working of the mines by the Chinese in South Africa was slavery; but -the question he would put to those who said it was not, would be--"Was -it _Freedom_?" That is a question that I would put to Dr. Corstorphine, -Mr. Fricker, Mr. E. P. Mathers, and others of their kidney. If Chinese -labour on the Rand isn't slavery, what is it--is it _Freedom_? I pause -for a reply. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE YELLOW TRAIL - - -The mark of the yellow man is upon the Rand. He has set his seal upon -the country, and it is to be seen in a hundred things. - -Johannesburg was never an exactly heavenly place. A gold centre -attracts all the evil passions of men--draws to it, like the lodestone -draws the needle--every species of adventurer and world vagabond. - -President Kruger knew how to deal with the cosmopolitan hordes that -thronged the streets of the "Gold-Reef City." He put a check upon -the importation of undesirables, and always remembered before all -things that the Transvaal belonged to the Boer people and not to the -cosmopolitan. The British Government might well have taken a leaf -from his book. But they have failed to do so. Instead of making the -interests of the Briton paramount, they have deliberately allowed the -Rand to be overrun by every type of Continental adventurer. - -So Johannesburg, up to the summer of 1904, was never exactly peopled by -a moral, law-abiding population. - -The fierceness of competition, the keenness to make money rapidly, -seems to electrify the sunny atmosphere of the Rand, and to produce a -community that knows no law. - -But since the summer of 1904 the Rand has suffered a change which at -one time was thought impossible; it has changed for the worse. To the -wild life in the mining city has been added the degrading vices of the -Orient. The Chinaman has brought with him all the worst vices of life -in a treaty port. Opium dens and gambling hells, in spite of the most -careful police surveillance, have sprung up. The yellow man has made -his name a terror. He has murdered, raped, robbed, and committed every -offence against law and morality. He has literally terrorized--and -still terrorizes--the Rand. The plutocrat Jew walks the familiar -streets in a state of trepidation; the Boer farmer sleeps with a rifle -by his side, and his farm house is surrounded by spring guns and -alarums. The life of no white man is safe, and the honour of no white -woman. - -"The Chinese reign of terror continues on the Rand," cabled the Durban -correspondent of the _Daily Chronicle_ on November 1. "The latest -outrage is that perpetrated by a gang of coolies, who attacked a house -at Benoni, injuring its occupant, Mr. Vaughan, and wounding his wife -with a razor. They ransacked the house and stole the plate." These -are some of the men whose praises were sung by Sir George Farrar -at a political meeting at the Nigel--and whose work as miners, he -declared, had proved "a great success." A "great success," perhaps, for -the Rand lords, but at what a terrible cost to the community of the -Witwatersrand! - -The _South African News_ of Cape Town has rendered yeoman service to -the cause of those who are opposed--and their name is legion!--to the -Chinese labour question. The ridiculous contentions of the Rand lords -have been exposed again and again by the Cape Town journal, whose -fearlessness in grappling with the subject has been in marked contrast -to the majority of its contemporaries in the sub-continent, and has -earned, as it has deserved, the thanks of the thinking portion of the -community. Commenting on October 4 on the continuance of the reign of -terror on the Rand, "as it was bound to continue," the _South African -News_ puts the case with unmistakable plainness;--"Unless the Chinese -are confined in such a way as the mine-owners themselves consider -fairly describable as slavery, they are a menace to the public. -Probably slavery would mean further outrages; it is clear that torture -of various kinds has been allowed on the Rand, and it is far less clear -that this is not the real cause of some of the excesses which have -shocked South Africa. Either we must have slavery and exasperation, -or we must have our people exposed to the danger of murder, outrage -and robbery; or we must demand the expulsion of the Chinese, and the -turning down of a disgraceful page in South African and English -history which has brought good to no one, and only serves as another -indication of the strength to which avarice will lead men in attempting -to bend nature into the service of their own greed." - -It was understood that the only conditions under which Chinese labour -could be introduced to the Rand was a system by which they were kept -apart, under lock and key, from the rest of the population. But this -system has broken down. Hordes of Chinese, as I have shown, are running -over the country. The utter futility of the compound system is proved -by the fact that as many as thirteen Chinese laundries have been broken -up by the police in one week, only for others to take their place. - -It was recognized by the Government that the Chinaman must not be -allowed to be a competitor. This was one of the reasons of herding him -with his fellows like cattle in a pen. - -But the Chinaman broke loose. With Asiatic unconcern he sets all the -rules of the Ordinance at defiance, and calmly sets up a laundry in the -town, caters for custom, carries on his business just as if he were a -free man and not a yellow serf, until some frightened cosmopolitan sees -him in the streets, and in a state of fear demands that the nearest -policeman shall see whether the creature has a permit or not. - -John Chinaman, who, of course, has no permit, is thereupon arrested, -his laundry business comes to an abrupt close, and he starts once again -his task of gold grubbing for a shilling a day. - -The amended Ordinance of August last contained this clause-- - -"It is provided that labourers being in possession of gum, opium, -extract of opium, poppies, etc., shall be liable to a fine on -conviction of L20, or in lieu thereof of imprisonment for three months, -with or without hard labour." - -This ominous clause was rendered necessary by the steadily increasing -growth of opium dens. - -Twelve months before, some few weeks after the arrival of the first -batch of Chinamen, the Government had passed what was known as the -Poison Ordinance. The object of this Ordinance was to regulate the sale -of opium. It provided that only registered chemists and druggists might -sell opium, and that every package of the drug must be labelled with -the word "Poison." - -Of course, this was ridiculously inadequate, and it was soon found that -more stringent measures must be taken. It was decreed, therefore, that -opium could only be sold to persons known to the seller, and on an -entry being made in the poison-book. These further restrictions were -found perfectly futile. The sale of opium increased enormously. - -At a meeting of the Transvaal Pharmacy Board, the secretary of -the board read his report on the poison-books of the chemists in -Johannesburg. It transpired that an examination of the books of one -chemist had disclosed the following sales of opium on various dates in -July and August last--336 lbs., 18 lbs., 28 lbs., 7 lbs., 31 lbs., 48 -lbs. All this had been sold to Chinamen for smoking purposes. - -One lot was said to have been sold under a medical certificate, but the -doctor concerned denied all knowledge of such certificate. The chairman -of the board said, that while it was gratifying to know that only three -out of sixty-eight pharmacies along the Rand carried on traffic in -opium, the ugly fact remained that two of these chemists had imported -during August two tons of Persian opium for smoking purposes, and an -examination of their books disclosed that only a few pounds were unsold. - -In vain have the authorities attempted to put an end to this drug -habit. Recommendations have been made by the Pharmacy Board that any -chemist secretly supplying the Chinese with drugs should be sent to -prison, without the option of a fine. As if one evil were producing -another evil, it has been proved that not only are the Chinamen -demoralizing the Rand, but the Rand is demoralizing the Chinamen. The -majority of the Chinese labourers have been drawn from the north of the -Celestial Empire, where very little opium is used, on account of the -poverty of the people. The comparatively large salaries which these -labourers are now receiving enables them to indulge their inherited -taste for the drug to their hearts' content. - -But in addition to this sale of opium by chemists on the Rand, opium -dens have sprung up all over the place. As soon as the police stamp -them out in one quarter they reappear in another. They are accompanied, -of course, by the usual gambling hells. These, too, the police -endeavour to suppress. All the money that they find is impounded; heavy -fines are exacted. But instead of decreasing they increase. The most -dangerous vice of the Orient is thus thriving luxuriantly upon the -favourable soil of the Rand. - -One cannot blame the Chinaman for drugging himself. It is difficult -even to blame him for the outrages that he commits. The opium habit, of -course, is a step towards other habits. If the Chinaman merely went to -the opium dens in his off hours, drugged himself, slept his celestial -sleep, and then returned to his labours prepared to work as hard as -any cart-horse, the Rand lords would be the last persons to forbid him -these indulgences. But the opium habit is demoralizing and degrading. -It excites passions almost beyond control. - -I have already pointed out that Mr. Lyttelton promised in the House -of Commons that the Chinaman should be allowed to take his womenfolk -with him if he wished, and a great point was made of the fact that the -morality of the Chinamen would be well looked after. No risks were to -be taken. The Archbishop of Canterbury had to be satisfied upon the -point before he made his regrettable necessity speech--"Show me that it -brings about or implies the encouragement of immorality in the sense -in which we ordinarily use the word, and, I am almost ashamed to say -anything so obvious, I should not call the so-called necessity worth a -single moment's consideration. In such a case there could be but one -answer given by any honest man. The thing is wrong, and please God it -shall not take place." - -The Most Reverend Primate should be satisfied by now that the system -deliberately set up in the Transvaal has brought about and encouraged -immorality. - -The Chinaman is always a frugal feeder, yet the strength of his -passions is notorious. There is no necessity to go back into the past -moral history of the Chinese race to contradict this statement. - -Gangs of escaped labourers have attacked farm houses on the veld, and -where they have found no men, or where the men have been overpowered, -they have committed all the most bestial assaults known upon the women -and children. One white woman was known to have been found raped, and -dead. It is not safe for any decent or respectable white woman to go -near a Chinaman. The way he looks at her is sufficient to raise the -most murderous thoughts in the mind of any white man present. - -A deputation of miners asked Lord Selborne for protection against the -Chinamen, stating that the way in which they spoke to and looked at -white women was intolerable, and pointed out further that, unless steps -were taken to protect the white population, the most horrible crimes -would be committed. - -That warning has proved true. - -Lord Milner has called the sentiment, which has arisen in the breasts -of nearly all Britons, of loathing for the introduction of Chinamen -into the Rand, Exeter Hall sentiment. It possibly is the sentiment of -Exeter Hall, but it is to be hoped it is the sentiment also of all -decent people who believe in virtue and morality, and who still cherish -a fine chivalrous ideal of woman. - -The Government have again and again declared that the protest of -the Opposition in the House of Commons was dictated purely by party -considerations--that Chinese labour was a good stalking horse. That -people really were concerned about the welfare of Chinamen on the -Rand they refused to believe. As a matter of fact it is really the -Government that are blinded by partisanship; they see everything -through a false medium. What they do not see falsely in the Transvaal -they do not see at all. For it cannot be that they really are in favour -of retaining on the Rand 50,000 Chinamen who commit the most loathsome -outrages on the white population. It is almost passing belief that they -should blind themselves to the fact that the womenfolk of the Transvaal -are absolutely unprovided with any adequate protection against these -hordes of Chinamen. - -Every day, as has been shown, desertions grow more numerous, and -with every Chinaman that escapes the terror increases. No steps have -been taken for the protection of his morals. Not even the most human -elementary step of letting him bring with him his wife has been taken. -And but few steps have been taken to protect the white population. The -most ordinary commonplace foresight has been wanting. The carnival -of lust and blood now going on in the Transvaal could have been -prevented. It was bad enough to introduce Chinese labour at all into -the Transvaal. The case becomes more damnable when they are introduced -without those restrictions which had been promised. - -"I am opposed," said Herbert Spencer, "to the importation of Chinese -labour, because if it occurs one of two things must happen. Either the -Chinese must mix with the nation, in which case you get a bad hybrid, -and yet if they do not mix they must occupy a position of slavery." - -The British Government, at the dictation of the Rand lords, attempted -to make the Chinaman occupy a position of slavery, failed to completely -establish this system, and is allowing the Chinamen to mix with the -population. Thus we shall have in the Transvaal the two evils which -Herbert Spencer raised his voice against. We have already slavery; we -shall certainly have a bad hybrid population. The degrading influence -of the Chinaman is shown in Johannesburg. White women are actually -marrying them. They are even mixing with the black races. The -Transvaal was bad enough before, when merely thronged with the scouring -of Europe. But it will be a thousand times worse before the last -Chinaman is repatriated. - -In a morning paper of November 2 I read that Mr. Lyttelton, the -Colonial Secretary, in a letter to Mr. George Renwick, M.P., defends -the action of the Government in regard to the employment of Chinese -labour. He refers to the demand for it in the South African colonies, -and says--"The opinion to which we came was based upon evidence taken -from many sources. That it was correct is borne out by the fact that -we have received not a single petition from the Transvaal for the -revocation of the Ordinance." - -Let not Mr. Lyttelton lay such flattering unction to his soul. If it -be true, as he states, that the Imperial Government have so far not -received a single petition from the other side against the Chinamen, -he need only _wacht een beitje_--wait a bit--as they say in South -Africa. The petitions will follow. By and by they will be thick -as leaves in Vallombrosa. Does Mr. Lyttelton never read the daily -papers? Is he unaware, for instance, that at a special meeting held at -Krugersdoorp on October 10, a resolution was carried praying that an -end might be put to the importation of Chinese, and that the Chinamen -now on the Rand might be sent back immediately after the expiration of -their contracts? Does he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that it -was announced at the time that this resolution would be sent to the -Imperial Government through Lord Selborne? I cannot believe it. Let -Mr. Lyttelton note that the correspondent from whose message I quote, -significantly added--"_If this way of protesting has no result, it is -intended to send a deputation to England to discuss matters regarding -the Chinese question._" - -Verily, it would seem that nothing short of a measure of the kind will -stir the conscience of Christian England to an appreciation of the -intolerable state of affairs now being endured in South Africa by those -whose lot is cast in proximity to the yellow man! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES - - -The introduction of Chinese indentured labour to the Transvaal has been -a complete failure--(1) Financially, (2) Socially, (3) Politically. - -The slave-owning ideals of the Rand lords has made the Transvaal a -hell. It has not even made it a paying hell. Every security connected -with the Rand industry has decreased enormously. It is estimated that -the loss of capital runs to many millions of pounds sterling. It -cannot be said in excuse that this is the result of general commercial -depression throughout the Empire, for almost every other kind of -security, except Consols, has considerably appreciated in value. - -Certainly the record monthly output of gold has long been passed. More -gold has been produced each month than was ever produced before, even -during the pre-war period. But these record outputs mean nothing. -Even at 1s. 6d. a day the Chinese labourer has been proved to be an -expensive luxury. He costs nearly 50 per cent. more than the Kaffir. -The expenses of nearly every mine where Chinese labour has been -employed have gone up; the expenses of every mine where Kaffir labour -is employed have gone down. - -Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell had something pertinent to say on this topic in -the admirable address on the Chinese labour question which he delivered -the other day at Potchefstroom. Dealing with the argument that white -labour was prohibitively expensive, and that in order to work low-grade -mines coolies must be employed, the indefatigable fighter of the yellow -man observed-- - -"I have picked out at random a number of mines, and I find that the -mine showing the best results, the only one showing other than very -bad results with coolies, is the Van Ryn Mine. This mine in the -June quarter of 1904 was working at a cost of 24s. 5d. per ton, and -milled 30,000 tons in that quarter; they were then using native and, -I believe, no unskilled whites at all. A year before that they were -milling 24,500 tons, at a cost of 28s. 2d. per ton, with 1,000 natives. -In the June quarter of 1905 it worked at a cost of 21s. per ton, and -milled 60,000 tons. In that quarter it was using some 2,000 coolies." - -Here is an instructive list which was compiled by the _Pall Mall -Gazette_ on September 8 last:-- - - - MINES WITH CHINESE LABOUR - - EXPENSES GOING UP - - June 1905. Avge., 1904. - s. d. s. d. - Durban Roodepoort Deep 28 2 27 5 - Geldenhuis Deep 22 11 19 1 - Glen Deep 24 0 20 8 - Nourse Deep 28 9 26 7 - Rose Deep 21 9 17 2 - Jumpers Deep 27 9 23 0 - - - MINES WITH KAFFIR LABOUR - - EXPENSES GOING DOWN - - June 1905. Avge., 1904. - s. d. s. d. - Ferreira Deep 21 7 26 5 - Crown Deep 19 3 20 2 - Langlaagte Deep 22 2 20 9 - - -Ever since the beginning of the war, we seem to have been watching in -a bewitched trance for the coming of the boom. Some people described -Johannesburg as the enchanted city waiting for the spell to be removed -for the boom to come. It has never come; and it never will come as long -as Chinamen are employed to do the work that can be done by Kaffirs or -white men. - -When the incurable idleness of the Chinaman and his cost of keep is -added to that 1s. 6d. a day, he is dearer than the black man or the -white man. - -The Rand lord was anxious to procure cheap labour and subservient -labour. The white man could not be employed because he would have held -the management of the country in the hollow of his hand, have formed -trade unions, and insisted on proper wages and proper treatment. Enough -black men, if time had been given, would have worked at the mines even -at the reduced wages paid by the Rand lords. - -On this point, too, Mr. Cresswell, from whose Potchefstroom speech I -quoted just now, had something instructive to say. In dissecting the -official records, he observed-- - -"They show that between June 1904 and the end of last August--the -last month for which statistics are available--the number of natives -on the producing mines of the Rand had increased by 19,000, or an -average increase of 1,355 a month. Does any man here for a minute -really believe that if no Chinese had come here at all the gentlemen -controlling the mines would not have done exactly the same from June -1904 to August 1905, as they did from June 1903 to June 1904? Does any -one believe that in the latter period, as in the former period, they -would not have managed to bring an average of a hundred more stamps -into operation, and into the producing mines, for every 1,085 natives -at least that they added to their force of native labour? If they had -merely added on 100 stamps for every 1,085 natives, as they did up -to June 1904, do you know how many stamps would have been working in -August 1905? They would have had 6,503 stamps at work. Do you know how -many they actually had at work? They had 6,845 stamps at work, or a -paltry 342 stamps more than if no Chinese had ever been imported!" - -But the Kaffir could not be forced to work. There was nothing to -prevent him from throwing up his employment when he had earned -sufficient money and was returning to his kraal. The only chance, -therefore, so the Rand lords argued, of acquiring the voteless and -subservient labour that they wanted, was to get Chinese labour. -The Chinaman is certainly voteless, but he has proved far from -subservient--far less subservient than a Kaffir. - -Belonging to a more intelligent race, the child of an old though -dormant civilization, he has known exactly how to deal with his -masters. Of the gold extracted from the mines so much goes to wages -and so much goes to dividends; the wages are spent in the country, the -dividends are spent in Europe. Raise wages and you will render South -Africa prosperous; lower wages and you will denude South Africa. - -The Chinese policy of so-called economy has ruined the small trader, -and turned the main stream of South African gold to Park Lane, Paris -and Berlin, with a thin stream to China. This country, which has given -so much for the Transvaal, has benefited least by the gold mines. - -The Kaffir does nearly 50 per cent. more work than the Chinese coolie, -and Mr. Cresswell has proved that for the actual work of mining it is -better to employ a white man than a Kaffir. These are not fanciful -deductions, but indisputable facts proved finally and conclusively. - -For almost two decades now the gold fields of South Africa have been -the most potent force in English society, a force more for evil than -for good. It is probable that we have lost more money in wars which -are the direct result of the gold fever than we have ever made from -the gold mines. If we were to estimate the cost of maintaining a large -military force in South Africa, the financial effect of the unrest -which existed in the pre-war period, the serious effect of the Jameson -Raid on the money market, the L250,000,000 that we spent on the war, -the millions that we have spent since in the work of repatriation, if -we were to compare these figures with the amount of wealth extracted -from the Rand, and made a simple profit and loss account, it is highly -probable that we should find ourselves very considerably out of pocket. - -And yet, as if hypnotized by the glamour of gold, we continue to treat -the mine owners as if they were some particularly favoured class. We -continue to submit to their dictation, which has proved so ruinous in -the past, and we deliberately disregard the voices of the whole Empire -in their favour. Such a policy is neither good sense nor good business. - -The introduction of Chinese labour into the Rand on the top of all -these grave financial and economical failures cannot be distinguished -for a moment from madness. It would seem, indeed, that we were -deliberately bent on destroying the Empire for the sake of the Jewish -and un-British houses in Johannesburg. "He whom the gods intend to -destroy they first make mad," is an ancient proverb, which seems -strangely applicable to those gentlemen who are responsible for the -management of our vast Empire. - -They say here in Britain that the stories of gangs of murderers roaming -over the Transvaal are so many political fairy-tales, the result of -party feeling, the usual bait for the hustings, the stalking-horse to -bring into office one set of men and to throw out of office the other. -They say that the objection of the British public to Chinese labour -is a matter of hypocritical sentiment; that they really have none of -those fine ideals which they pretend to; that they have no passion for -liberty and freedom and the rights of man. Is not the Chinaman better -off than he is in his own country? - -Such casuistry would justify the beating to death with the knout in -this country of a black criminal, because in his own country capital -punishment was carried out by the more cruel process of burying him -alive in an ant-heap to be eaten by the ants in the heat of the African -sun. - -It has brought terror and fear into the Transvaal. And terror and fear -breed passions and vices which are a danger to every social community. -It emphasizes the cruelty and cunning in a man's nature. It destroys -in him that kindliness and sympathy--those "virtues of the heart," as -Dickens used to call them--which in spite of all are still noble and -fine sentiments to cherish. - -Professor James Simpson, of New College, Edinburgh, who lately visited -South Africa with the British Association, takes the view, I see, that -ere long the more evilly-disposed among the Chinese will have been -worked out of their ranks, and the whole body will settle down to -"strenuous, if automatic, labour." It is devoutly to be hoped that such -will be the case, but up to the present there is nothing to indicate -that it will be so. On the contrary, everything points to the fact that -the Chinaman, emboldened by his successful efforts at checkmating the -representatives of law and order, will perpetrate fresh outrages with -increased impunity, and that the last phase of the yellow terror will -be worse than the first. - -I had just written the foregoing when, happening to pick up an evening -paper, the following Reuter message from Johannesburg, dated November -3, caught my eye:-- - - - "CHINESE SECRET SOCIETY ON THE RAND. - "_Johannesburg_, November 3. - - "Evidence given at the trial here of some Chinamen charged with - being concerned in the disturbance at the New Modderfontein Mine, - disclosed the existence of an organized secret society among - the Chinese called the 'Red Door,' the object of which is the - committal of crime. The members, who are all of bad character, - are sworn to render each other assistance. The authorities are - breaking up the society and repatriating the ringleaders." - - -What has His Grace of Canterbury to say to this? - -I have seen in a recent election in England a poster evidently intended -as a counterblast to the posters issued by the Opposition. It is a -poster, in which Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is addressing an English -miner, while in the distance two happy Chinamen grin pleasantly in the -clean, well-laid-out mine. Says Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman in effect, -"My dear man, these men are robbing you of your labour." "Not at all," -replies the white miner, "for every batch of these yellow men one white -man is employed." - -This is intended as a defence of the statement made by Lord Milner -on March 20, 1904, who then stated that he was prepared to stake his -reputation on the estimate that for every 10,000 coloured labourers -introduced there would be in three years' time 10,000 more whites in -the country. In effect, the implication underlying this statement was, -of course, that for every yellow man introduced, one white man would -come into the country and find employment. - -Six months later--on September 5, 1904--the Colonial Secretary replied -as follows, to a correspondent who wrote asking him whether it would be -now advisable for a man to go out to the Transvaal. - -"Mr. Lyttelton," so ran the answer, "would certainly not advise any one -to go out without a definite prospect of employment." - -So far from 50,000 white men finding employment in the Transvaal since -the introduction of 50,000 Chinamen, the proportion is thousands below -this number, and not even the poverty-stricken state of Poplar or -West Ham can compare with the impecuniosity to be met with at every -street corner of the Gold Reef City. There are thousands of men in -South Africa who have been lured there by the prospects of the Rand -in a daily state of destitution. The streets of Johannesburg are -crowded with unemployed. The evil seeds of poverty and destitution -have been scattered throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. -Business in Durban is in a parlous condition. In Cape Town there are -thousands of absolutely destitute men, women, and children who have to -be provided for weekly out of funds now almost exhausted. Night after -night these unfortunate wretches are compelled to sleep on the mountain -slopes, whether it be winter or summer, and quite recently a man was -found on one of the seats in the Public Gardens in such a state of -starvation--for he had tasted nothing for five whole days--that he -died an hour and a half after. - -This is the boasted prosperity which was to have come to the country -through the introduction of Chinese labour. And yet Mr. Balfour writes -to Mr. Herbert Samuel on November 22--_vide_ the correspondence in -_The Times_--that he can see "nothing in the condition of things to -induce the Government to reverse a policy which was recommended by an -overwhelming majority in the Transvaal Legislative Council, with the -approval of the great bulk of the white population."(!) - -Many attempts have been made to justify the pledge made by Lord -Milner, that for every 10,000 introduced, 10,000 white men would find -employment. This is a side of the question which was admirably put by -Lord Coleridge in May last:-- - - - The Government's policy seems to be that of the mine owner, or - rather to serve that of the mine owner--to get labour as cheaply - as possible, and, above all, to keep out the white man for fear he - should grow independent. Mr. Lyttelton, speaking at Exeter on May - 5, said:-- - - "The result of the introduction of Chinamen has been that 3000 - white men are employed on the mines in addition to those that were - employed before the introduction of that labour, and the result - is that, in round figures, L500,000 has been received by British - artisans." - - And so on. That is a completely misleading statement. I say, - and I think I shall show, that the employment of Chinese has - led to a decrease in the amount of white labour employed. Take - the year from June 1903 to June 1904. The proportion of white - men to Kaffirs during those twelve months remained practically - stationary, at one in six, in round figures. On March 31, - 1905, which is the date of the last Return we have, there were - 105,184 Kaffirs working in the mines, and at the proportion of - one-sixth there would have been 17,530 white men. But the number - of white men employed at that date was only 16,235. Following - that proportion, if the Chinese had not arrived we should have - had at least 1300 or 1400 more white men employed than there are - now. In addition to that there are over 34,000 Chinese employed - not represented by a single white man, and Lord Milner does not - hold out any hope that the proportion of white men to coloured - labourers will in future be greater than one in fourteen. - - -Crime and outrage are all that this degrading policy of Chinese slavery -has brought to the country. There is an old text that says, "Be sure -your sins will find you out." But rarely does it happen within the -space of a year and a half, that a national crime meets with its reward. - -Immediately after the war one could not say that the Transvaal was -peopled by a happy, industrious community, but it was a veritable -heaven compared with the Transvaal of 1905; a veritable paradise of -plenty. This has been the social effect of the importation of Chinese -labour. The political effect is quite as serious. - -It has been said that the ultimate object of our rule in South -Africa is the federation of all the states of South Africa into one -commonwealth. It was the dream of Cecil Rhodes that South Africa should -take her place among the commonwealths of the Empire. A constitution, -such as exists in Australia at the present moment, was to be given to -South Africa. The states of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange River Colony -and the Transvaal--all free, self-governing units--were to be welded -together into one great self-governing Imperial unit. The introduction -of Chinese labour in the Transvaal has rendered this impossible. Until -these Chinamen are repatriated there will be no commonwealth for South -Africa. - -In the first place, one of the essentials for such a federation -would be that each state should be a self-governing colony. The mine -owner knows, and the Government of Great Britain must know by now, -that once self-government is given to the Transvaal, Chinese slavery -would be at an end. Therefore the mine owners, who really "boss" the -Transvaal, would take care to suppress any agitation in favour of -self-government. As they refused the referendum so will they refuse the -Boer and the Briton the right of free constitution. Hence the granting -of responsible government to the Transvaal is deferred, and hence the -federation of South Africa is postponed indefinitely. - -Again, Cape Colony would never consent to the federation of the -Transvaal unless the Chinese labourers were repatriated. They have -stated their opinion in no uncertain language. They would have no -desire to enter into a partnership arrangement with a community which -was hampered with such a grave social problem as Chinese labour. The -Transvaal has done harm enough to Cape Colony, without adding this last -straw to the load of evil which the gold mines of the Rand have bred -for her. - -This is one of the Imperial political disasters resulting immediately -from the importation of Chinese labour. - -There is another Imperial consideration even more serious. - -No one can read the protests sent to the Colonial Office by the great -self-governing colonies that fought in the war, without realizing the -gravity with which such a breaking away from the traditions of the -Empire has been received by these colonies. Had we known it was to be -war for the Chinese miners, the appeal made to Australia for men and -arms would have had a very different effect. This is the substance of -Australia's protest. Sentiment is a thing easily destroyed. Not even -the Government, I think, can realize the indignation felt in Canada, -Australia, and New Zealand by the Indentured Labour Ordinance. It -should have been the policy of the Imperial Government to foster the -tie that binds all the units of the Empire together. Mr. Chamberlain -has voiced this opinion times out of number; our Imperial bards have -sung it. The Government, which has always boasted that it was more -Imperial than the Opposition, more wrapped up in the honour and the -greatness of the Empire, has made this sentiment a commonplace in every -election speech. And yet they have done more to destroy this bond than -any other party in the state. - -Again, some attention should have been paid to the Dutch problem in the -Transvaal. No attention was paid to it. We hear little now of the war. -The Transvaal might have been ruled from the beginning by the British -Government. Now and again the English papers mention casually the once -familiar name of General Botha as having addressed the Het Volk. But -the Dutch problem is never considered at all in England by the great -men of the people. And yet it is a very vital and important question. -Next to the native question it is, perhaps, the most vital question -with which South Africa has to deal. - -Throughout South Africa the Boers are to-day the most thrifty, the most -industrious, and almost the most agricultural section of the community. -Of their ability in war we have had a long experience. Of their courage -and patriotism we gained a knowledge at a great cost. They outnumber -the English population in the Transvaal and Cape Colony. And South -Africa will never be absolutely secured to the British Empire until the -proportion of Boers to the total white population is reduced. - -It should have been the object of the Government, immediately after the -war, to pack the Transvaal with Englishmen, to act as a counterbalance -to the Boer population. This would have been a dangerous experience if -there was no excuse for introducing such a large number of Englishmen. -But the excuse was to hand. A splendid opportunity of reducing the -population of the Boers to the total white population occurred at the -re-opening of the mines. Increased use of white labour in the mines -would have given to the Transvaal that preponderating majority of -Britons which the safety of the Empire demands. The home Government did -not take that opportunity, and South Africa has been left in exactly -the same dangerous condition as she was after the war. - -Instead of performing this obvious duty to the country, the Government -listened to the objections of the mine owners to swarming the country -with white labour, upon the grounds that they would prove a disturbing -element socially and politically, and agreed to the importation of the -Chinamen. - -There is yet another grave political aspect of this deplorable problem. -As the British people are apt to forget that the Boers outnumber the -Britons in the Transvaal, so they forget, when considering the problem -of South Africa, that there is a vast population of natives within our -territory. - -These black tribes are utterly demoralized, and, it is recognized, by -the war of the white man against the white man, and certain causes -which could not have been foreseen, have increased the unrest and -lawlessness. - -From Lagos to the Cape the same story has been told for the last two -years: that the black man is growing restive under the white man's -rule, that the white man is losing rapidly that superstitious authority -which up till then he had always carried with him. The cause of this -is the utter failure of the Germans to bring the war in Damaraland -to a successful conclusion. The continued successes scored by the -Hereroes have undoubtedly set aflame the ambitions of the black tribes -throughout the south-west coast and inland. In some cases it has been -fomented and worked up by Mahommedan and Ethiopian missionaries. In -addition to these disturbing elements the death of Lerothodi, the -paramount chief of Basutoland, has increased the natives' restlessness. -The spectacle of Chinese bands roaming the country, looting farms, -killing white men and raping white women has added to these symptoms of -native disaffection. - -A rising among the Basutos--which more likely than not would be -followed by a general rising of natives throughout Swaziland, Zululand -and the Transvaal--would engage all our strength to suppress. We should -have to make use of the constabulary which is now with great difficulty -keeping under control the Chinese labourers. It is not hard to imagine -the terrible state of affairs that would result from such a rising. -While we suppress the black man the Chinaman would be left unguarded -and unpoliced free to desert and to commit outrages. Indeed, should the -Chinaman rise with the black man the safety of both Briton and Boer -would be in the gravest jeopardy. - -These are the deplorable risks which are being run by maintaining in -the Transvaal some 50,000 Chinamen. - -Financially the Chinamen have been a failure, a very grave failure. -Socially their importation has proved disastrous. Instead of bringing -wealth they have brought stagnation. Instead of bringing employment -for the white man they have brought destitution and abject poverty. In -introducing them it was recognized that some system must be devised by -which they could be prevented from mixing with the population. That -system has failed utterly and completely. They were to have brought -wealth; they were to have brought employment for the white man. All -they have brought is chaos. All they have done is to increase the -output of gold at a cost which has decreased instead of increasing -the mining companies' dividends. They have spread a terror throughout -the length and breadth of the Transvaal. Economically and socially -the policy proposed by the mine owners and forced upon the Government -has proved deplorable. Their introduction has been a grave Imperial -error which has aroused in the great self-governing Colonies anger and -indignation. It has already loosened the bonds which the common danger -of war had tightened. - -Their continued stay in South Africa, and the continued introduction of -more coolies has given rise to the possibility of danger that is awful -to contemplate. The rising of the black man would leave the policing of -nearly 50,000 Chinamen in the hands of a few white men. - -It is not too much to say that no greater sin against the ideals of -the British people, no more vicious and ruinous policy, has ever been -adopted. - - -THE END - - -_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ - - - - -MUSIC FOR THE CHILDREN! - -_NOW READY, BOOKS 1 to 12, of_ - -"Our Little Folks' Nursery Rhymes" - -_FOR VOICE AND PIANO_, - -Each containing Words and Music (old notation and tonic sol-fa), of -+Seven Nursery Rhymes+, and Thirty New Pictures (20 pp. with -coloured wrapper). - -Price 1d. each. By Post 1-1/2d. each. The 12 parts, post free, 1/6. - -_Specially designed for School and Kindergarten use._ - -THE SCHOOLMASTER says:--"Daintily illustrated and clearly -printed, each number contains seven old nursery rhymes. Words, pictures -and music (piano and voice) all for one penny. Truly wonderful!" - -THE PEOPLE'S STANDARD PIANOFORTE TUTOR - -is the most up-to-date and comprehensive Work of its kind yet offered, -and the largest Tutor ever published at +_ONE SHILLING_+. - -Easily and yet progressively arranged, the Tutor is so attractive in -character, that by its aid the pupil's taste is Instinctively guided -into a practical acquaintance with some of the most melodious examples -of Modern and Classical Music. - -_68 pp. 1/- net By Post 1/3._ - -_Write for complete catalogue of copyright music at popular prices._ - - -NEW & ENLARGED NOW READY. COMPLETING 10th - EDITION THOUSAND - -Cloth. 2/-. Postage, 3d. - -MNEMONICS IN A NUTSHELL; or - -HINTS ON MEMORY TRAINING. - -By Rev. ARTHUR C. SIDEY. - -Invaluable to _Ministers, Students, Lecturers, Readers, Teachers_, and -all who wish to improve their memory. - -_Extract from Introduction._ - -Mnemonics is the name applied to a system of rules and forms used to -assist the memory. - -Among those who have from time to time revived the science are Drs. -Pick and Grey--Appleby, Stoke and Fairchild. - -A careful perusal of the various systems leads one to the conclusion -that in most cases, notwithstanding the genius displayed by the -authors, they have failed to bring about the desired end. - -Usually, the complexity of the system, or the lack of simple -demonstration, renders the whole thing an impenetrable mystery. - -The _modus operandi_ of the writer in this treatise is to lay before -the student a series of memory helps which, _having been subjected to -experimental practice_, he believes will prove highly satisfactory. - -Common-sense is the basis of this work, and is also the key by which -the reader will be successful in gaining a useful knowledge of -"Mnemonics in a Nutshell." - - -R. 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