wilderness, but its development is marked by very little show of independence. The Liberian bears the stamp of his dependent origin on his forehead, and one of his most conspicuous faults is the tendency to cry to America for help in every difficulty. Handicrafts are not flourishing, the official service

HE

THE LATEST REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL, ALBERT DE CHENCLOS.

Le Correspondant, Paris, December 25.

and manufactures are neglected. Thrift is very little developed. There are not wanting marked exceptions, but their number is small. On the surface, the most striking characteristics are love of personal display, and the development of the social talent. There is not wanting a certain tact and dignity in the "higher circles" of Monrovian society; the highly developed club and Church societies offset the inferior ministrations of pastors and teachers; the Temperance societies have not labored in vain. Precisely as in America, too, the negro here shows an innate tendency to the Methodist and Baptist denominations, whose camp-meetings flourish, but exercise less influence on the Bush negroes than might have been expected. Still, a certain measure of culture is being diffused, and Büttikoser even notices the narrative of a journey, by a Liberian. But while he with perfect justice controverts the views of those who pronounce Liberia an utter failure, he admits that, since the establishment of the colony, there has been but very little progress, and that, in some respects, there has been retrogression.

This not very brilliant picture of Liberia gains nothing by comparison with the adjoining English colony of Sierra Leone, which, like Liberia, was settled by emancipated negro slaves, but from British colonies.

A comparison of Monrovia with Freetown, the chief city of Sierra Leone, is very instructive. The former has certainly all the advantages of climate and position, and its framing of rich and varied natural vegetation renders it very picturesque and in pleasing contrast to the treeless region of Freetown, where the pitiless sun strikes down fiercely on the shadeless streets. But Freetown has its waterworks, which supply the city with pure, cold water throughout the year; and its public and private buildings, if not handsome, are kept in good repair. In Freetown one finds horses and wagons, asses, and draught oxen, whereas in Liberia and even in Monrovia the native negroes carry all the burthens. Sierra Leone produces more and in greater variety than Liberia. The Monrovian market presents a poverty-stricken appearance in contrast with the liberally supplied markets at Freetown. Even the simple garments of the women, who in Sierra Leone wear a long blue robe and turban, is in pleasing contrast to the caricatures of European or North American costumes in Liberia. Almost all the trade of Liberia is in the hands of three foreign firms, Woermann and Müller, both Dutch, and Yates, of New York. The principal exports are palm oil, dates, rubber, coffee, and redwood. The shipping trade is also in foreign hands (German and English). It is a remarkable fact that the chief imports are food substances, especially rice, flour, and preserves. Famines before harvest are by no means rare, and there is an utter absence of a great many products, especially garden products, which are raised in Sierra Leone in abundance. The principal work is performed by the native population towards whom the Liberians play the role of an enlightened and dominant race. But the Arabs are pressing forward from Mandingo land, Moorish products are in growing demand, and the prospects are that the influence of Arab civilization, spreading from within outward will surpass any influence which Liberia can bring to arrest its progress,

In his summary, Büttikoser expresses a very low estimate of the capacity of the negro to raise himself. Liberia, he says, is neither politically independent nor a bulwark of Christianity, and in industrial development is far behind Sierra Leone, directed and maintained in order by a few English officials and soldiers, and is quite incapable of holding its own against the onward march of Islam. If Liberia is to be retained for Christendom, it must be by the aid of some European Colonial Power, or the United States.

tion numerous signs of imperialism and many of them are talking about the restoration of the empire.

With an irony not quite as sharp as the point of a lightningrod, the English compare General Peixotto to a condottiere of the fifteenth century. As well as can be judged at this distance, the present President of the United States of Brazil appears to be a General of the kind in fashion at the end of our century, who, unembarrassed by prejudices, or by taking a side, practices the principle of independence of heart.

Peixotto passed for the intimate friend of Mt. de Ouro Preto up to the time of the proclamation of the republic. He commanded the garrison of Rio Janeiro; and the rank of adjutantgeneral, which he received from de Ouro Preto, made him the highest military authority in the country. Three days before the Emperor and his family were swept out, Peixotto wrote to the Prime Minister: "Your Excellency can count on me absolutely. I have means sufficient to put down all insurrection.” The same day, in the course of a mysterious interview, he promised his support to Marshal Fonseca, perceiving probably that the Marshal held the winning cards.

Nevertheless, Peixotto remained until the last moment by the side of Mr. de Ouro Preto, giving orders and trying, in appearance, to retard the ruin of the empire. Then, when Fonseca arrived at the head of his revolted troops, Peixotto rushed to meet him, and passed over to the rebels with his soldiers. To-day Peixotto succeeds this same Fonseca in the the exercise of political power. These are two amusing acts of political comedy. A Chilian said: “In order to understand the case of Balmaceda, you must be a Chilian." Perhaps, in order to understand the case of General Peixotto, you must be a Brazilian.

If others speak much, Peixotto writes enormously, and as. soon as he was in power he set to work to blacken paper with manifestoes and what not. In his second manifesto he demanded the immediate cessation of the insurrectional movement in the province of Rio Grande do Sul. The hearing or eyesight of the rebels seems to be defective, for in answer to the manifesto they ordered the mobilization of the national guard.

The case of this province puts in a clear light the relaxation of federal bonds in Brazil. The excellent climate of the province, which is as large as the third of France, its numerous population (650,000 souls, of whom 200,000 are Germans), and the extent of its commerce, give it the first place in the list of Brazilian States. The Separatist party in Rio Grande numbers. numerous adherents, and, not long since, the newspapers openly advocated the annexation of this German colony to the country of Goethe and Schiller.

The empire of Germany would not be unwilling, perhaps, to annex to its colonial domain this jewel of a Rio Grande, a formidable rival of Uruguay, which it will probably absorb some day, and from which the Baron von Liebig has procured those advantages for mankind well known to everyone.

It is true the partisans of the implacable Monroe Doctrine would not take calmly so grave an encroachment. Nevertheless, you may rest assured that the great American Republic will content itself with a platonic protest. What are its means of adding acts to threats? Let us not forget that its fleet is. yet in embryo, and that the necessity of employing against a serious enemy, what it pompously calls its naval forces, would embarrass it cruelly.

The insurgents of Rio Grande, under the command of General Osorio, were marching north with the intention of invading the State of Santa Catharina, and of proceeding from there to Rio Janeiro, when they learned of the abdication of

Fonseca. They halted. Was it for the purpose of deliberating or to wait for new orders? We shall never know.

However that may be, the province of Rio Grande does not find the political change sufficient, and the pessimists fear new complications. General Peixotto has, however, shown cleverness in choosing the greater portion of his Ministers from among the deputies of Rio Grande. One of these Ministers, Mr. de Paula Rodriguez Alves, the Finance Minister, is a financier of the first order. He was Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, and is one of the most determined enemies of the ex-Minister of Finance, Mr. Ruy Barbosa.

From a general survey of the situation can result but one conclusion, that Brazil has fallen into militarism, and that the situation much resembles that of Chili. Every rising of a province or a town is signed by the name of some General; and under the peaceful title of Republic, two threatening words vaguely appear: Military Dictatorship.

The closer you look at affairs in Brazil the more clearly you recognize that the army plays the strongest part in Brazilian politics. Instead of preserving neutrality, the officers sit in Congress; they make and unmake ministries. The revolution of the 15th of November, 1889, which drove away the old emperor, was a military coup d'état. The revolution of the 23d of November, 1891, had the same origin. It is even said that the Brazilian naval officers are divided into three classes: those who sustain Fonseca, those who sustain the insurgents, and a third faction which belongs to neither one nor the other.

What will be the end of all this? Will this pronunciamiento be the last? That is the question, our good friends across the English Channel would say. Anarchy is knocking at the door. Will she get in? Is this vast country going to crumble to pieces? Will the present revolution be the signal for disintegration, and will this end of a century which has given us so many surprises, exhibit, after a brief delay, the spectacle of the Disunited States of Brazil? Who knows?

THE

SOCIOLOGICAL.

SOCIAL ECONOMY IN FAMINE.

W. KLIX.

Russische Revue, St. Petersburg, October-December.

HE famine resulting from a universal failure of the harvest engages the attention of all classes of Russians, and especially of the Press. All are anxious to lend a hand, all recognize that, in spite of the doubts that have been expressed abroad, the famine is a very serious one. The Government has already contributed enormous sums to secure seed for the coming crop, and provide for present consumption in the districts most threatened, the whole country displays a patriotic and praiseworthy desire to share with the necessitous and practical activity prevails in the transmission of stocks of grain. But, while thoroughly appreciating the general disposition to aid in tiding over the difficulty, we feel constrained to offer some observations from the economic standpoint, which call for the most serious consideration.

The investigations of the Government show that the supply of rye is 250,000,000 pud (over 4,000,000 long tons, or 160,000,ooo bushels) short of the actual requirements of the people. Now, if we were to begin at once, immediately after harvest, to ship rye from the most favored to the most necessitous districts, and spend money to the amount of the estimated needs, we should not reduce the deficiency of rye by one pud. If an equal distribution of existing stocks provide for immediate necessities everywhere, it will in the end render the absolute deprivation universal. This is a very serious danger. Where shall we turn to make good the deficiency, with foreign countries suffering from short harvests, or where shall we raise the necessary purchase money at the high rates which would result

from the enormous demand, if we were to compete with the buyers in foreign markets?

Necker, the financial minister of Louis XVI. of France says, in his Essai sur législation, et le commerce des grains": "In a country with a population of 24,000,000, a shortcoming in the food-supply equal to the requirements of 200,000 persons would be easily met by dividing the deficiency over all, and economizing to the necessary extent. If the deficiency is not noticed until the beginning of the last month, there would be a deficiency of 2,000,000 rations to divide; at the close of the last week but one there would be a deficiency of 10,400,000 rations but if the deficiency were not discovered until four days before the close of the year the whole population would be subjected to starvation.

Accepting, then, the results of the official investigation we have, for a population of approximately ninety millions, a deficiency of 250,000,000 pud (160,000,000 bushels) of rye. The average annual consumption per head is approximately 8 puds 25 lbs. (313 lbs.); the supply is consequently equal to the needs of 60,000,000 only, leaving 30,000,000 without bread or the possibility of getting it at home or abroad if the 60,000,000 consume the normal quantity.

The pressing gravity of the situation brings us face to face with the problem how to economize the existing stock. so as to guard against being left absolutely without bread before the close of the year." The cardinal question is: In what manner shall we provide against an actual deficiency of 160,000,000 bushels of rye in the bread supply of the year? The entire Russian press urges benevolence, but none of them venture to grapple with the vital question of possibility.

The deficiency cannot be covered by purchase, and there is only one way out of the difficulty-estimate and economize— and that at once. There is no need for anxiety if we begin to economize at once, but the difficulties will be certain and enormous f we delay until the stocks are seriously diminished. But how can we economize?

The peasant is the principal consumer of rye, which constitutes nine-tenths of his food. Morning, noon, and night his frugal table is supplied with a thin weak broth (brotscha) of turnips or other watery vegetable, or barley water, with or without fat, and in summer, of water with a little green onions. This is taken with bread of which a man will eat nearly a pound at a meal. Peas, lentils, beans, etc., are less common, and used only in very thin soup. Meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese are indulged in only on high days and holy days.

During the many fast days, the pious peasant substitutes a little oil, or dry fish for his thin soup, and he is fortunate if he can always get salt.

Under these conditions the average annual consumption of rye for a family of five persons is 313 lbs. In the Western provinces, a similar family, indulging in vegetables, peas, beans, and more meat and dairy products, consumes only 250 lbs. of rye; and further west beyond the Russian border, a similar family with a more generous diet, consumes only 180 lbs. of rye per annum.

These marked differences afford an explanation of why Russia consumes so much rye; and we cannot forbear the eflection on the remarkable anomaly that while all he peasants' teachers, from the highest officials to the smallest newspaper, urge on him the importance of an abundance of nitrogeneous food for his cattle and his land, no one ever thought of recommending a liberal diet for the 80,000,000 peasantry.

But this is precisely what is wanted to raise the status of the peasant, and what is especially needed as a means to tide us over the present crisis. The present ration of the peasant is no more than what is necessary to his healthy existence. It is useless to talk of making an eight months' supply of rye cover twelve months, unless the short ration is to be eked out by an equivalent in other food.

We must limit the bread consumption, and substitute for

the deficiency such other food supply as is available. We have the necessary substitutes in our own country. At this moment we have adequate supplies of meat, fat, bacon, grits, oatmeal, peas, beans, etc., and fruit, which measured by their nutritive contents are all cheaper than rye.

If, now, by universal resort to these substitutes we economize the consumption of rye by one-third, the deficiency will be covered, and the people benefited by the change of diet.

Moreover, this proposed change of diet is facilitated by the very conditions which render it necessary: the supply of fodder is short, rendering the slaughter of cattle to a large extent a matter of prudent economy. The peasantry will, however, have to be guided in so important a matter as a sudden change of diet. This can be done through the influence of the officers of the agricultural institutions, the magistrates, the clergy, the school-teachers-all of whom come into close contact with the people, and command their confidence. Here we require ceaseless explanation, advice, and pressure. Further, the Government should at once introduce meat as a substitute for bread in the diet of the army.

We are dependent on our own resources to tide us over the present difficulty, but those resources are ample if the difficulty be only met with prudence and forethought. Public charity is to be commended and greeted warmly, but let no one be misled by the supposition that charity can cover the deficiency in the rye crop.

WH

INTEMPERANCE IN RUSSIA.

Demorest's Family Magazine, New York, February. HEN in France a man is the worse for drink he is said to be ivre comme un Polonais, which means as drunk as a Pole." But honor to whom honor is due-and I must candidly say that the Poles are not such habitual drunkards as the Russians, and I say so not because I wish to damage either one or the other, but simply because I have been convinced of the indisputable fact by my own eyes, for I have traveled a good deal over Russia.

When I say the Russians, I mean the poorer and lower class; but I must say, with all due respect to them, that they are of all nations, the most addicted to drunkenness. I respect and like the Russians, who are the most hospitable people on the face of the earth-hospitable not because they wish to show it, but because it is in their nature, and they are perfectly sincere in it; for a Russian will willingly share his last morsel with you, and will be offended if you do not accept it. But strong liquor is the weakness of the lower classes, who will give their last kopeck for a drink of wodki (raw brandy). No matter whether he is hungry or thirsty, happy or miserable, whether he feels cold or hot, if he goes to a funeral or a wedding, the first thing he thinks of is a glass of wodki, that being the cheapest drink he can obtain.

The wodki the poorer classes drink is not distilled; it is pure alcohol (when I say pure, I mean raw).

In Russia, besides Sundays, there is a great number of holidays, which, if taken together with the Sundays, make from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty days in the year, so that the laborer works only eight months in the year, and is drunk the rest of the time; for a Russian peasant will never call a Sunday or a holiday by its proper name if he be not brought home insensible.

The middle classes, although they do not get insensibly drunk, also like to feel the jolly state. The higher classes and the aristocracy can afford to drink the purest, dearest, and so-called "best," drinks, such as old wine, brandy, and champagne, all of which in their effects are as injurious as alcohol. During the past year meetings have been held to discuss the question of intemperance among the lower classes, but as yet no means have been found to stop it, or in any way to prevent its increase. Several temperance societies were started, and they have come to the conclusion that the "struggle against

intemperance is not only the business of the Government, but every individual man, with all legitimate means in his possession, ought to aid in putting aside this cursed vice, which is the cause of domestic troubles as well as both moral and physical sufferings of the people."

Alas!

"Is not only the business of the Government!" what mockery. The clergy have undertaken this difficult task, the Government giving no aid whatever. The priests are something like the House of Commons in England they talk, argue, and eason, but do nothing. Have they tried anything? No; they keep on talking and wasting time, and adjourning "until another day," and the evil continues.

The causes of intemperance in Russia are first, ignorance, and second, the indifference of the Government to the liquor traffic. Private institutions may in some way prevent intemperance, but in Russia the Government is the only body that can stop it, that hideous vice which makes man either a bigot, a fool, or a slave; for a drunkard will not reason, and if a man does not reason he is a bigot, if he cannot, he is a fool, and if he dare not, he is a slave.

[The writer shows from statistics that in Poland the average consumption per head is 16 gallons per year, or over a third of a pint of spirits daily.]

The only way to prevent the spread of intemperance in Russia is education. Educate the child; let him read; let him reason give him a good example, and instead of following the example now set him he will see the error of his parents'

ways.

The Russian peasant is a rough, ignorant fellow, but many a noble heart lies hidden under an unpromising exterior; and if he could only be made to understand his social and political value, be taught to work not only with his hands but also with his head, he would see the riches of his country; and if the Government aided but a ittle to make him a man instead of a beast, as he is now, Russia would soon become one of the richest countries of the world, for there is, so to speak, gold at every step you make.

CAN SOCIALISM TRIUMPH WITHOUT BLOODSHED? HENRI BRISSAC.

La Revue Socialiste, Paris, December. MAN there be a peaceful transition from the present social condition of things to politico-economic collectivism? Let us consider the conditions.

As to the political order, kings will have to consent to break their sceptres, in order to become fellow-citizens of their subjects in a republic. Generals and colonels will have to take off their uniforms, in order to become simple producers in a pacific unity.

As to the economic order, capitalists will have to consent to say: We give our millions to be poured into the social treasury. Are not these improbable, if not miraculous, consents? To speak of capitalists only. There have been suggested many ingenious combinations—and a hundred others could be invented-to find a less heroic remedy. Thus, it has been proposed, to eave capitalists their rents, revenues, interest, for twenty years, and then exercise the right of taking away their capital; or to let them enjoy their incomes for life; or to impose on large inheritances a tax of fifty per cent. and more, and so on.

These offers, however, no more than confiscation, have up to the present time been able to convert the capitalists, and such offers never will convert them. Then, the revolutionary advance guard of subjects, in order to bring about the Republic; the revolutionary advance guard of civilians and soldiers, in order to bring about the unity of the peoples; the revolutionary advance guard of people without property, in order to bring about joint ownership of property, will be obliged to make a Revolution.

So numerous are the contingences which may arise before

unity of the peoples and unity of ownership of the means of work can be unalterably brought about, that plans for bringing them about pacifically have but a speculative value, deranged as they may be by unforeseen occurrences.

In taking even the peoples and men as they exhibit themselves to-day, still disfigured by the mould of atavism and the most detestable traditions, and without recognizing in them any altruistic aspiration, any need of progress, and-even admitting that they are influenced by two desires only: that of living and that of enriching themselves-there is a very simple way of destroying pacifically the old social order in twenty-four hours; let us soften the hyperbole by saying in a few weeks.

This way consists in having recourse to suffrage truly universal (women, it is needless to say, would no longer be thought unworthy of voting equally with men), for the peoples of Europe; but, instead of inviting them to choose representatives like Monsiegneur Freppel, for example, two questions, intelligible to all, should be put to all candidates in all tongues, and in all patois-questions which, in their most elementary form, may be stated thus:

Peoples! in order that wars and armies may no longer cost you rivers of blood and heaps of your millions, it is necessary for frontiers and kings to disappear; will you consent to that? Citizens! (our senators prefer the word Gentlemen ") in order that you proletaires, that is to say, those without a cent, may no longer die from misery, when you cannot find work, may no longer die from fatigue, when you are compelled to work like brutes; in order that you, small proprietors of all kinds, may no longer fear to lose the little you have the good luck to possess, since it is barely sufficient to live on; in order that both of you, those without a cent and those with a little property, instead of being completely wretched or half-poor, may receive, by working like human beings, a fair share of wealth, what is necessary? You must be willing to declare that personal property not exceeding in amount four thousand dollars shall alone be considered legal, and that all property in excess of that sum shall be confiscated for the benefit of the public treasury, and become common property. Will you consent to that?

There can be no manner of doubt what the answers will be. All the peoples, except the kings and their followers; nearly all the men except those-save the Collectivists-who possess more than four thousand dollars, will answer both of our questions in the affirmative.

Thus, the small agricultural and industrial proprietors, the small tradesmen, the people who derive a petty income from investments, will take part in the Revolution, instead of opposing it, will consider the Revolution legitimate and not illegitimate, because they will understand that it will benefit in place of ruining them.

They will continue their little individual tillage of the ground, their little individual industry, their little individual trading as long as they can, combining with it public services; the small proprietors will continue to receive their little income—until the new order of things is established.

Assuredly this sort of mutilated Collectivism, where a part of the soil would still be given up to an elementary cultivation; where the interests of manufacturers and traders would be antagonistic to the interest of consumers; where small proprietors, still in the vigor of their age, would, if it should so please them, live without producing; where money, the impersonal sign of wealth, would yet circulate with its special character of being able to cover over all indignities—this state of things would not be a model society.

All the same, the transition would be superb and short; it would bring about a formal rupture with our civilization; it would afford the advantage also of furnishing a period, perhaps necessary, for inevitable practical experiments and groping in the dark; it would form more than an introduction-it would be the first chapter of the book.

What if this benignant transaction shall not be realized, and if the kings and capitalists wiil not permit the two questions outlined to be put to their subjects and those who are used for purposes of gain?

The consequence will be Revolution.

THE EFFECT OF TAXATION UPON PAUPERISM. BOLTON HALL.

Charities Review, New York, January.

ARIOUS societies seek the cause of pauperism in intem

that these things are themselves mainly the result of social conditions.

Of these social conditions, taxes and the laws are chief factors. Drunkenness is not a cause; it is not natural to ordinary men any more than dirt and disease. Poor, dirty, unchaste, intemperate! How can ten persons in one room be clean? How can a girl grow up pure amid such surroundings? What relaxation or excitement can a cardriver or a sweat-shop tailor get except by drinking? Where are the clubs of the tenement-houses but in the saloons?

Ignorance is not a cause: How can a child put to work at seven years of age be other than ignorant? The wonder is not that men are so wicked, but that they are so virtuous.

Excessive taxation, injudiciously laid, has made indolent paupers of the Turks, who were once so vigorous as to overrun Europe; of the mild East Indians, in whom crime is hardly an element. It has pauperized Spain, a nation of the deepest religious tendencies; Italy, the successor and descendent of the mighty empire of Rome. It breeds pauperism in every civilized country. It is not to be inferred that I would suspend all charity until we can amend the tax laws; but the remedy for a wrong distribution of wealth is a restoration of justice.

I. Every practical worker knows that the first great difficulty in dealing with pauperism is to find continuous and paying employment for the poor. For remunerative employment, three things are necessary: encouragement to work, profitable work to be done, and a proper place to live while doing it. Our present system of taxation militates against all these conditions. Taxes laid upon personal property tend to discourage the production of it. They lessen the amount of work, and they so crowd the cities as to make moral and physical health impossible.

We must not discourage the production of wealth if we are to alleviate poverty. All wealth, even capital, comes from labor exercised upon land or upon other natural opportunities, and as the resources of nature are practically a fixed quantity, any increase of wealth must come from labor. Taxes upon raw materials or upon labor are charged over, and with a profit, to the consumers of the goods produced. This is agreed upon by all political economists. All taxes must eventually fall upon the source of wealth. These taxes are no insignificant factor. A saving of a hundred dollars a year in taxes will make a farmer's family independent at the end of forty years.

The small returns, hard work, and unattractive conditions of the farmer's life iead to the over-crowding of cities. This will continue until the farmer is relieved from taxes upon what he produces and what he consumes, and given a chance to accumulate a competence. Besides the farmer's, there are a thousand other occupations using nothing but bare land, which, were they only unimpeded by taxes and restrictions, would drain off a portion of our urban population. Such a drain would raise wages, and raise them without increasing the price of living. An increased production will reduce the price of commodities.

II. The great problem is to check the increase of population in the cities, which makes morality and decency almost impossible. As long as that exists, charities cannot do their full work, nor do it effectively. For where there are more workers than can be employed, they must bid against each other for the work, and they will get the job who can exist upon the least pay. As the result of foolish laws we find that we have to provide hospitals, dispensaries, asylums, homes, refuges,

meals free, at an enormous expense, and all to do those things which men would do of themselves and do under healthier conditions, did we but let them alone and leave to them the sums which we now take from them in taxes, direct and indirect.

We must remit the fines for giving work: taxes or productive capital. We must remit the fines for doing work: farmers' taxes. Remit all taxes on personal property, which only the farmer pays-pays because he cannot hide his cattle, or machines, or crops-but which are a mere threat to owners of notes, or bonds, or diamonds. Raise the revenues by taxing real estate which is very valuable in the cities and of little worth in the country. Tax only what everybody uses, what all can see, what anyone can value. If we would keep people away from the towns, we must make life in the country less burdensome, and work in the country more remunerative.

III. This is no socialistic scheme. Much unnecessary poverty is the result of unwise and cramping legislation. It is this which, not by making new laws, but by doing away with old ones, we may hope to alleviate.

THE SLAVE TRADE IN AFRICA AND IN SINGAPORE

DOCTOR C. Snouck HurGRONJE, OF BATAVIA. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.

Vol. 45, No. 3.

N announcements of

work on my

Mecca," the

In some of the de tour I defend slave trading and slave-n unte

ing. At this misunderstanding of my position I am not altogether surprised, since the present blind antislavery enthusiasm will scarcely admit of a temperate discussion of the subject. U prejudiced observers in the East will agree with me in the following conclusions:

1. The slave-hunting trade of Africa cannot be stopped by any sudden force-measures, but only indirectly by the spread of a higher state of culture in the Dark Continent, which can only be accomplished gradually.

2. Slavery in Mohammedan lands is an old established institution which meets an absolute want and which cannot be abolished by decrees, and besides this, from a social point of view, slavery is a lesser evil to the negroes than their abuse by the Europeans.

3. The manner in which the pioneer" representatives of European civilization have deported themselves in Africa, deprives both them and the associations that sent them of all rights to declaim against the slave-hunters and to represent to the general public that the greatest need of the negro is the speedy extermination of the slave trade.

4. The modern antislavery craze is an honestly meant agitation on the part of the public in general; with the leaders it is, as a rule, a political trick. The time will come when wellinformed men will be ashamed of having been drawn into participation with them.

In order to make plain the actual state of affairs I will present a remarkable document from the "extreme East" which gives us a picture of what kind of slave trade is carried on in British territory. I refer to the importation of Chinese women into Singapore for the purpose of concubinage and prostitution. Singapore is a regular market for the coolie trade for the surrounding plantations; and this business is not altogether an unmixed evil. But the actual fact is that in this place Chinese girls are regularly sold to Malays, Arabs, Chinese, or Europeans as concubines, or taken to the brothels. The character of this trade is apparent from a singular document which a pious Mohammedan addressed to a doctor of Moslem law, asking how a true Mohammedan should conduct himself in these cases. After the introduction, stating the facts of the sales, as also that the Mohammedan buyer on taking these

boys or girls stolen from China makes Mohammedans of them, the writer asks:

1. Do such boys or girls legally become slaves when a Mohammedan buys them in this way?

2. Are we allowed to use such women as concubines?

3. In case this is admitted, does this right begin with their conversion or before?

4. Is their conversion lawful, even if they have not yet reached the age of puberty?

5. If they are not legally slaves, is the owner allowed to make a Mohammedan of such a woman before the age of puberty, so that he is enabled to marry her, or is her conversion legal, only if made after the age of puberty?

The answers of the learned Mohammedan lawyer are such as to sanction this system of slavery, and guide us to the following conclusions:

1. That in Singapore, at the present time, a regular slave trade is carried on with the Chinese, and that the dealers have little or no trouble in circumventing the formalities of the laws enacted for the protection of imported laborers.

2. That these living commodities imported at Singapore are of both sexes, and that, too, of such as have not yet reached the age of puberty.

3. That Chinese slaves are, by their owners, compelled to become Mohammedans, and that the female slaves whether arrived at puberty or not, are forced to become concubines.

From what is here stated it must not be concluded that at Singapore it is only the Mohammedans who are engaged in this business. So extensive is the business, that when I was at Mecca, I found quite a number of Chinese slaves in the sacred city, who had been brought from Singapore. Much could be added to the above. Only a short time ago public attention was drawn to an entire slave colony on the island of Cocob, an island belonging to the Rajah of Djohor, but under British protection. The slaves were natives of Dutch India. They were making a pilgrimage to Mecca. On the road their money gave out, and they could not pay their way back, and by the trick of a transportation agent they virtually sold themselves as slaves. The English authorities have done absolutely nothing to right this great wrong. When a person is acquainted with the character of the slave trade in Singapore, in British territory, then the antislavery crusade on the Red Sea and further south strikes the unprejudiced observer of Eastern affairs as an absurdity, and he is not to be blamed, if he cannot share the antislavery zeal now prevailing at such a fever heat in Europe.

EDUCATION, LITERATURE, ART.

THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGES AND

IT

UNIVERSITIES.*

ANDREW D. WHITE.

School and College, Boston, February.

T seems to me that there ought to be, and will be, first of all, a process of differentiation. A certain number of the larger and stronger institutions, say possibly a dozen or twenty, will by and by withdraw more and more from collegiate work, and will devote themselves to university work. The greater part of the remainder will, I trust, do what can be more properly called collegiate work-that is, the work between public and private schools of a good grade on the one side, and the universities on the other; serving as a connecting link between

the two.

For the universities great endowments will be required. I have shown in sundry articles published elsewhere how great the demands upon these institutions for advanced instruction

are.

It happened to the writer of this article to be severely criti*This is the substance of a speech made in the Senate Chamber of the State of New York, at the last annual convocation of the State University, July 9, 1891.