-^^75 CORNELL 
 
 ^^ university: 
 
 ^y^ LIBRARY] 
 
Cornell university Library 
 HD4875.S6P341912 
 
 An experimemln alien 1^^^^^^^ 
 
 All books are subject to recall after two weeks. 
 Olin/Kroch Library 
 
 
 DATE 
 
 : DUE 
 
 
 'MtK't 
 
 irtir 
 
 
 
 onn 
 
 V •»>»*■ 
 
 
 
 ^ aiHlfc^W. 
 
 
 
 
 Mf^ 
 
 '?e84 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLOHD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010046922 
 
AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
THE UNIVERSITY OP CHICAGO PBESS 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
 Hgente 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY 
 
 THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 IjONDOII ASD XDINBXrBQH 
 
AN EXPERIMENT IN 
 ALIEN LABOR 
 
 BY 
 
 E. GEORGE PAYNE, PH.D. 
 
 Professor in Harris Teachers College 
 St: Louis 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS v" h'l '\ % 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS J / I'- ' '; 
 
 
 
 

 CoPYKiGHi igi2 By 
 The University op Chicago 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 Published January 19x2 
 
 / "^ " Composed and Printed By 
 
 >^ ( The University of Chicagfo Press 
 
 • 'x- Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 
 
 
 
 s^''> 
 
 ( _ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This study in immigration was undertaken while the writer was a 
 student in the Universities of Bonn and BerUn, and was presented as a 
 Doctor's thesis. The study grew out of his interest in the Asiatic prob- 
 lem as seen in this country, and the difficulties met in its solution here. 
 In addition to the writer's interest in the cooKe was his interest in the 
 Negro in the South, a race with which he had an intimate acquaintaiice. 
 In addition to the interest in both these problems as presented in this 
 coimtry, the experiment with the coolies in South Africa is rich in new 
 material for study and information. 
 
 Those introducing the Chinese into the Transvaal believed that 
 they had an inexhaustible source of cheap labor supply. The whole 
 plan of its use, however, was experimental on account of the nature of 
 the indenture under which the cooUes worked. 
 
 This book represents a translation and an elaboration of the original 
 study presented for the thesis. 
 
 The primary purpose of the work is to present a study of the Chinese 
 laboring under new conditions. It is hoped that it may contribute to 
 the solution of the problem which has agitated different parts of our 
 country in the past few decades, and which has not yet been entirely 
 solved. 
 
 It is a pleasure to acknowledge here the kindness of the Chamber of 
 Mines of Johannesburg in placing at the writer's disposal the reports 
 of the Chamber, and in furnishing additional information. The writer 
 wishes also to thank Miss Margaret McLaughlin of the EngUsh Depart- 
 ment of Teachers College for her valuable English criticism. Finally 
 he wishes to express his deepest obhgation and gratitude to Professor 
 Schumacher of Bonn for his numerous suggestions during the preparation 
 
 of the original of this work. 
 
 E. George Payne 
 
 Haeeis Teachees College 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 December, 1911 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 I. Introduction i 
 
 II. Chinese Immigration 5 
 
 in. The History or the Native Labor Question in South 
 
 Africa 10 
 
 rv. The Labor Force in South Africa 17 
 
 V. Causes of the Scarctty of Labor 21 
 
 VI. White Laborers 25 
 
 Vn. The Introduction of the Chinese Laborers ... 27 
 
 Vin. The Chinese as Laborers in the Mines 40 
 
 IX. The Value of the Coolies to the Transvaal ... 44 
 
 X. The Control of the Chinese 47 
 
 XI. Reasons for the Repatriation of the Chinese . . 57 
 
 Xn. Conclusion 68 
 
CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 For four thousand years, while empires were rising and falling in 
 western Europe and Asia, the Chinese territory lay undisturbed by its 
 western neighbors, and the people of this vast domain were working 
 out their own history. They had shut out all foreigners by means of 
 the great wall, and were content to remain within the confines of their 
 own territory, not knowing nor caring what other people thought of 
 them, so long as they were immolested. Even at the close of the fif- 
 teenth century, when they had settled in many countries not imder the 
 Chinese emperor's suzerainty,' they had not ventured beyond the 
 covmtries immediately surrounding the "Celestial Empire." It is only 
 in comparatively recent times that they have sought their fortunes 
 beyond oriental boundaries. Their emigration into foreign countries 
 has given rise to bitter opposition on the part of some sections of the 
 native population in those countries to which the Chinese have gone. 
 Many troublesome problems have arisen, for the immigrants, by reason of 
 their unusual thrift, have proved themselves to be dangerous competitors. 
 But no opposition to the Chinese has been so persistent as that in South 
 Africa; moreover, few labor experiments of any kind have presented so 
 many interesting problems as those which have grown out of the use of 
 the coolies in that country since the close of the Boer War. The history 
 and significance of this experiment form the subject of this pamphlet. 
 
 The subject we have under examination offers two phases for con- 
 sideration: first, the reasons for the employment of the Chinese in South 
 Africa; and second, the economic significance of that employment. 
 The first phase of the subject requires consideration of (i) the special 
 restrictions under which the Chinese were employed, (2) the relation 
 of the Chinese to the other races in Africa, and (3) the comparison of 
 their introduction and employment in South Africa with their immigra- 
 tion to, and labor in, other lands. The subject involves the treatment 
 of the value of cooHe labor, particularly for the mines in the Transvaal, 
 i.e., its consideration as a business enterprise for the mining industry, 
 and as a means of promoting the industrial and agricultural advance- 
 ment of the Transvaal colony. 
 
 'As early as 1520 the Portugese foxind large numbers of Chinese subjects in Java. 
 
2 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 The interest in our theme is greatly increased by the originality of 
 the experiment. Its importance is intensified by the influence of the 
 experiment upon the use of Chinese labor in the future. A profitable 
 study of the experiment will involve then a consideration of the aims, 
 of the history, and of the result of the use of the cooKes. 
 
 In this experiment with coolie labor the Transvaal hoped to avoid 
 the evils which resulted from the use of the coolies in America and 
 Australasia. Therefore, the Transvaal government placed certain 
 limitations upon the introduction of the Chinese, and imposed rigid 
 restrictions upon their employers. Both the laborers and the employ- 
 ers were restricted to definite terms by an indenture provided by the 
 Transvaal authorities and accepted by all parties before the introduc- 
 tion of the laborers. The indenture itself was an experiment, as it had 
 not been tried before in the case of Chinese employed by people of 
 European extraction. It is true that the Chinese had often labored for 
 Asiatic people imder indenture, but the terms of these contracts had 
 always been different. This experiment with the Chinese in South 
 Africa was the third method which people of European origin have tried 
 in the use of Chinese cooUes. At first the Chinese entered both America 
 and Australasia without restrictions. The antagonism which they pro- 
 voked, however, resulted in restrictions being imposed. Thus restricted 
 immigration was tried as a second method. But restricted immigra- 
 tion was also imsatisfactory, and the only way left to use the coolies 
 seemed to be under some form of indenture, and this plan was tried in 
 the Transvaal. The failure of the plan is very instructive in its bearing 
 on the use of coolies in the future. 
 
 Many, it seems, have not accepted the failiure of the experiments in 
 the use of the Chinese coolies in the Transvaal mines as a proof of their 
 inutiUty in great business enterprises in general. The Chinese Empire 
 continues to be looked upon as a source from which laborers may be 
 drawn to perform difficult and unpleasant work at a low price. The 
 employers in the German protectorates have in recent years employed 
 Chinese coolies in small niunbers. In the protectorates, however, there 
 is no significant white population except employers, state officers, and 
 soldiers, and the situation is not likely to change in the near future. 
 In these cases, therefore, there has been no cause for such opposition as 
 was manifested in English South Africa. Besides there never has been 
 a Chinese problem in tropical countries, at least so far as the whites 
 are concerned. There is no possibiUty for competition in such regions, 
 since the whites, on account of the enervating climate, are unable to 
 
INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 engage in long and continued strenuous physical activity.' President 
 Roosevelt thought of the Chinese as a possible source of labor supply 
 in the construction of the Panama Canal, but did not attempt to employ 
 them, probably because of the opposition to the yellow-skinned races 
 in the United States, especially on the Pacific Coast. Also in 1908, 
 when an uncompromising struggle was taking place in Cahfornia against 
 the continuance of Asiatic, especially Japanese, immigration, the lead- 
 ing farmers and fruit-growers of the state met in convention and sent 
 a memorial to Congress, insisting that since the exclusion of the Chinese 
 immigrants their fruit farms had ceased to be profitable, and that with- 
 out Chinese labor further progress would be impossible. They there- 
 fore requested Congress to remove immigration restrictions. 
 
 History affords several such illustrations and it is not difficult to 
 see why the Chinese are so persistently sought. They are competent 
 laborers and learn rapidly to adjust themselves to their work under 
 new conditions. Even xmder imfavorable labor and living conditions 
 they have shown great efficiency as laborers, as was indicated in the 
 construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. The supply of the Chinese 
 laborers seems to be unlimited, and their Hving/ requirements are such 
 that a high wage is not necessary. If these competent laborers could 
 then be employed for a wage not exceeding their lowest living require- 
 ments, the profits from their labor would be highly satisfactory. The 
 recognition that the coohes were competent laborers and the beUef 
 that they would show their characteristic efficiency when restricted to 
 natives' wages and conditions of employment were among the principal 
 reasons which led the employers in the mining district to make such 
 strenuous efforts to secure their introduction into the Transvaal. 
 
 This was a grand misconception on the part of those who urged the 
 
 ' "Labor, espedally arduous and continuous labor, is inconsistent with the physical 
 health and mental condition of the white man in the tropics. The vital processes will 
 not stand the strain, and the state of the will does not supply the energy for strenuous 
 exertion. This is especially true in the occupation by which life must be assured — 
 agriculture. The disturbance of tropical soils exposes the laborer to the action of 
 several germs, from which he is relatively protected if he refrains from labor. But to 
 make anything of the tropics, labor of a most arduous variety and in the greatest 
 quantity must be put forth; for while it may not be a necessary condition, it is none 
 the less a historical fact, that the characteristic tropical products which have been 
 profitable in the world's markets — cotton, sugar, and cofiee — cannot be raised on a 
 small scale. Owing to these conditions the white race has never been able to support 
 itself by its own efforts in the hot countries; the aid of an acclimatized labor force is 
 the only staff on which it can depend." — Gregory, Keller, and Bishop, Physical and 
 Commercial Geography, pp. 137-38. 
 
4 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 introduction of the Chinaman. The misconception and the consequent 
 treatment of the coolies led to many difficulties and incidentally pre- 
 sented a phase of Chinese character not brought out so clearly elsewhere, 
 if brought out at all. In addition to this special difficiQty we find 
 present all the problems of recent Chinese immigration combined with 
 the race problem in its most violent form. This experiment involves 
 then these two problems. It is the light that it throws upon these prob- 
 lems that leads us to present this special study. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 CHINESE IMMIGRATION 
 
 For many generations the children of the "Celestial Empire" have 
 been seeking their fortunes in strange lands, and, like other immigrants, 
 have met at times with opposition. No immigrants, however, have 
 met with such strenuous, persistent, and continuous opposition from 
 so many different peoples. This fact naturally raises the question 
 whether there are inherent in the Chinese national character certain 
 peculiarities which are the reasons for this opposition. A brief state- 
 ment here of the history of the Chinese in other lands affords material 
 for an answer to this question. 
 
 Until comparatively recent times the Chinese government always 
 opposed the emigration of its subjects into foreign lands. First in i860 
 the emperor of China entered into an agreement with England allowing 
 the Chinese, imder certain conditions, to emigrate to, and receive employ- 
 ment in, the English colonies, and thus virtually the right of the Chinese 
 to emigrate was established.' The opposition to emigration which 
 persisted through these centuries is characteristic of the spirit of the 
 Chinese. They express this spirit in a way that is obnoxious to the 
 white race. This spirit is manifested especially in the care and anxiety 
 exercised by the rulers over the subjects in foreign lands.* 
 
 This strong racial and national feeling operated against emigration 
 so that chiefly the less desirable classes of the population sought occu- 
 pations in other lands. Many chose emigration as a means of earning 
 support for their families, and others for the purpose of evading pun- 
 ishment for crimes committed. Therefore, some of the worst elements 
 
 ' A Convention between the United Kingdom and China, Respecting the Employment 
 of Chinese, Blue Book (Cd 2246), pp. i B. 
 
 ' For the sentiment of the government cf. the following excerpt from an edict of 
 the emperor of China (October 12, 1899) : "Since the opening of the treaty ports many 
 of our subjects have been drawn into foreign countries to engage in trade. In the 
 foreign land they retain, however, with unshakable loyalty, their memory of the father- 
 land. They cannot treasure their native country too highly and this is most com- 
 mendable. In a former message we requested the governors of the provinces to take 
 all returning emigrants under their especial protection, so that they might enjoy in 
 peace in their homes the money earned in the foreign countries. In our anxiety for 
 the welfare of our subjects, and especially those sojourning in foreign cotmtries, we, 
 herewith, command our ambassadors and consuls as far as is in their power, to extend 
 help and protection to the Chinese in their districts." — ^H. Gottwaldt, Die ueber- 
 seeische Auswanderung der Chinesen (Bremen, 1903), pp. 79 ff. 
 
 S 
 
6 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 of the Chinese population have been found among the emigrants; the 
 very poor, the imskilled, and in a great many cases criminals or crimi- 
 nally inclined. However they always departed with the intention of 
 returning as soon as circumstances permitted. In 1881 Frederick 
 Ratzel wrote: "On the whole it has been the day laborer and the trader 
 from the lowest classes whom we have had opportunity to compare with 
 the European. Therefore, a well-groimded comparison of the capa- 
 bilities of each cannot be made.'" The same may be said today, for 
 the Chinese who were introduced into South Africa are not unlike 
 former emigrants. There are several cases in which the Transvaal 
 government was forced to send laborers back to China because the 
 Superintendent of the Foreign Labor Department found that they had 
 been notorious criminals in China." 
 
 The worst of the emigrant Chinese found their way into distant 
 lands. These lands, however, contain only a small part of the emi- 
 grants. We may divide the places to which the Chinese have emi- 
 grated into two groups: first, colonies near China, where they have 
 come into contact principally with other yellow races; second, trans- 
 oceanic countries. The estimated number that had emigrated up to 
 1906 was: 
 
 A) Near China — 
 
 Formosa 2,800,000 
 
 Siam 2,500,000 
 
 Malay Archipelago 985,000 
 
 Simda 600,000 
 
 Hong Kong 374,543 
 
 Philippines 80,000 
 
 Indo-China 150,000 
 
 Macao 74,S68 
 
 Burma 40,000 
 
 Asiatic Russia 25,000 
 
 Japan 7,000 
 
 Korea , 3, 710 
 
 B) Distant Lands — 
 
 North and South America 273,889* 
 
 Australasia 30,000 
 
 South Africa SS,ooo 
 
 * In 1880 there were perhaps i3S,c30o Chinese in the United States, and there are perhaps 90,000 
 now. Chinese are found in several countries distant from China, as in Cuba, Hawaii, the Grerman protect- 
 orates, etc., but they do not need classification as their number and influence have been insignificant. 
 
 ' "Die chinesische Auswanderung seit 1876," Globus (1881), XXXIX. 
 
 ' "There were 2,142 Chinese returned to China in 1905 of which 354 were criminals, 
 37S sick, i,4i6 incompetent because of accidents." — Annual Report of the Foreign 
 Labor Department, igos-6, Johannesburg Blue Book (Cd 3338), p. 11. 
 
CHINESE IMMIGRATION 7 
 
 The Spanish in the Philippines, as early as the sixteenth century, 
 were the first to oppose the immigration of the Chinese seriously. After 
 the estabUshment of the Spanish in 1565, we read of many movements 
 against the Chinese. In 1603 a local war broke out in the islands in 
 which 25,000 Chinese men were killed. There were further demonstra- 
 tions against the Chinese in 1662, 1709, and 1820. Until 1804 they were 
 forbidden to settle outside of Manila; they dared live only in Parian 
 (a Chinese quarter) inside of Manila, and engage in certain branches 
 of trade subject to definite restrictions. 
 
 The strongest opposition to the Chinese immigration, however, has 
 come from the Anglo-Saxons, it being chiefly to English-speaking 
 coimtries that the immigration has taken place. In these countries 
 one of the chief causes of the antipathy felt toward them is to be 
 found in their racial peculiarities. They hold fast to their own reUgion, 
 customs, and habits of life. For economic purposes, as we shall see 
 later, and in order to maintain their reUgious cult, they preserve their 
 secret societies, whose members are pledged to see that their customs 
 are preserved, and that the bones of their dead are returned to China 
 for burial. In clothing and in personal habits the Chinese show them- 
 selves to be foreigners, indicating that their chief purpose in the foreign 
 land is to derive from it the greatest personal profit, and to return home 
 to enjoy a life of ease in their own coxmtry.' 
 
 This attitude of the Chinese immigrants is shown first by the fact 
 that they have seldom taken their families with them or allowed them to 
 follow. Although up to 1894 the Chinese were allowed to enter the 
 United States and have acqiiired a great deal of property here, they have 
 never brought their families with them. Sartorious von Walterhausen 
 says: "Practically only Chinese men enter the coxmtry, and only in the 
 last years has the munber of women immigrants increased to about 
 2 per cent. In 1880 there were about 2,000 Chinese women in the 
 States. Of these 150-200 were married; the remainder belonged to the 
 prostitution class."' When the Transvaal government decided to use 
 Chinese labor, the expenses of conveying the wives and children to and 
 from Africa, as well as their living expenses while there, were to be paid 
 by the employers of the Witwatersrand mines. Yet the report of the 
 Foreign Labor Department for the Transvaal for the year 1905-6 is 
 
 ' See Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, 1904 (Cd 1890), p. 79. 
 
 ' "Die Chinesen in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika," Tiibinger Zeitschrift 
 (1883), XXXDC, 324. 
 
8 • AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 as follows: "Three women and five children have accompanied the 
 laborers during the past year, whilst one woman and two children have 
 returned to China, leaving a total number of four women and twenty- 
 six children on the Rand."' 
 
 Another illustration of the attitude of the Chinaman in foreign 
 countries toward the institutions and people of the coimtry is afforded 
 by their isolation in all social and political life. This separation of the 
 Chinese and their assembling in "Chinatowns" are additional causes 
 of the opposition to them. They crowd themselves together under 
 insanitary conditions, and live a "dosed society" which baffles the 
 police in finding criminals and in maintaining law, order, and morahty. 
 Some writers have said that the grounds for the isolation and refusal 
 to share in political activity are found in the opposition of the 
 people among whom they live. This opinion is not entirely correct. 
 H. Gottwaldt says correctly: "The Chinese are nowhere so strongly repre- 
 sented, nowhere have they reached so many-sided developments as they 
 have in Siam. They control the whole economic life and leave all the 
 rough labor, principally farm labor, to the native to perform. It is only 
 through the Chinese that Siam has reached her present development."' 
 Yet in spite of this economic success, they have never sought to exercise 
 political influence. In California, moreover, great efforts were made to 
 teach the Chinese the European standards of civilization. Missions and 
 schools were estabUshed and large sums of money were given to carry 
 on the work. The Chinese flocked to the schools, but their only piurpose 
 was to learn the language that they might make better progress as 
 laborers and in business. They ceased to attend the schools when they 
 had accomplished this. Similar results were experienced in the mission 
 work. In 1876, after thirty years of missionary effort, there were 246 
 Chinese in California who had received Christian baptism, or one for 
 every three hundred immigrants. Some of these had given up their 
 adopted faith and returned to China.s The cause of Chinese isolation 
 is portrayed by von Walterhausen in a sharp contrast of the American 
 with the Chinese, as follows: 
 
 Artisans of the white and yellow races will not work in the same room. 
 Irish and yellow servants cannot get along together in the same residence. 
 
 ' Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, 1905-6, Blue 
 Book (Cd 3338), p. 32. 
 
 " Die ueberseeische Auswanderung der Chinesen (Bremen, 1903), p. 76. 
 
 3 Cf. von Walterhausen in his article, "Die Chinesen in den Vereinigten Staaten 
 von Amerika," Tiibmger Zeitschrift (1883), p. 392. 
 
CHINESE IMMIGRATION 9 
 
 The quarters of the yeEow laborers in the mine regions are separated from those 
 of the whites. The speech of the Chinese is an ear-splitting jargon to the 
 American; the residence contains an unbearable odor for him; the sight of 
 the protruding cheek bones and the characteristically set eyes and yellow skin 
 arouses antagonism in him. On the other hand, the white race appears to the 
 Mongolian to be far from the true civilization ia thinking and feeling.' 
 
 A recent writer coming to the defense of the Chinese contends that 
 their isolation in the United States is due, principally, to the refusal of 
 the American to allow them to assimilate. This writer says: "The 
 Chinaman was and is shut out because he is yellow and because he is 
 too industrious, not because he would not make a good American."' 
 It is true that his color and industry, more especially the latter, have 
 contributed largely to the opposition to him. On the other hand, there 
 is no evidence as yet that he will make a good American, as the author 
 seems to imply. The Chinaman and the American represent two 
 radically different civilizations, and racially cannot be harmonized. We 
 therefore do not agree with this writer when she says: "It does, indeed, 
 take two to assimilate, and non-assimilation is the least convincing and 
 most inconsistent of aU the arguments against Chinese immigration, in 
 the mouths of those who have not wished them to assimilate nor given 
 them an opportunity to do so, and who do not, even now, recognize that 
 many of them have become intelligent and patriotic Americans."' 
 
 The opposition to the Chinese due to political, social, ethical, and 
 racial characteristics is, however, secondary. The chief cause of the 
 hostility is the fear of the economic result from their entrance into indus- 
 trial life: the fear of them as competitors. This point wiU be discussed 
 in detail in a later chapter. The competency of the Chinese laborers 
 and their low living requirements make it possible for them to compete 
 to the great disadvantage of the whites. This is the groimd for opposi- 
 tion, and the whites have taken advantage of every opportunity and 
 every possible objection to create a sentiment against them. 
 
 ' Von Walterhausen, op. cit., p. 391. 
 
 ' Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (1910), p. 457. 
 
 J Ibid., p. 4S8. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE HISTORY OF THE NATIVE LABOR QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Turning for the moment from the Chinese themselves to the condi- 
 tions in the Transvaal which ^ necessitated the introduction of foreign 
 laborers, we need but a cursory glance at the periodicals of the English 
 colonies in South Africa during the past century to see that the labor 
 problem there is by no means a new one. Even as early as the seven- 
 teenth century the Dutch colonists suffered from a scarcity of laborers 
 and introduced slaves from India to supply the demand. Slaves were 
 used — ^both natives and Indians being detained in service — until 1833, 
 when slavery was forbidden. Since then the labor diflSculty has arisen 
 in its modern form. 
 
 The scarcity of laborers was first felt by the farmers of Natal, since 
 Natal was agricultural and required principally season laborers, espe- 
 cially at harvesting and planting time. The demand was not extensive, 
 but a reliable source of supply was absolutely essential in order to carry 
 on farming with any profit at all. The native was wholly unsuited for 
 supplying this demand, because he woiild work only when compelled to 
 do so in order to get food. For this reason at harvest time, when food 
 was plentiful, the supply of labor was totally inadequate. The natives, 
 therefore, in spite of the large number — ^more than 800,000 — could not 
 supply the demand of a white population of less than 100,000. After 
 the farmers had sought in vain to educate the natives to the point of 
 being willing to perform the season labor with regularity and reliability, 
 they were compelled to introduce the Indian coolies under indenture 
 to supply the demand. These were introduced in i860 — the first experi- 
 ment in the use of indentured laborers in Africa — ^and since that time the 
 farmers have had to depend largely upon indentured coolies for their 
 labor supply. Up to the year 1907 about 100,000 cooUes had been intro- 
 duced into Natal under indenture.' The Indians, however, so soon as 
 their indentures expired, became merchants and skilled artisans; for 
 this reason a new supply was always required to perform the unskilled 
 labor. The short term of service rendered by the Indian coolies in the 
 performance of unskilled labor made their employment unprofitable. 
 The farmers, unable to get satisfactory results in the use of Indians, 
 
 ' The Economist (London), December 14, 1907. 
 
 10 
 
THE NATIVE LABOR QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA ii 
 
 turned their attention again to the native with no better results than 
 before. 
 
 Although the labor problem appeared in its modern form in 1833, it 
 did not develop in its more serious aspects until the discovery of the 
 diamond mines in Rhodesia in 1870, and the discovery of the gold mines 
 in the Transvaal in 1889. The development of the diamond industry 
 proceeded without much difficulty on account of labor until the dis- 
 covery of gold. This development was possible, because the require- 
 ments of the farmers did not draw heavily upon the enormous native 
 population. A more important fact in the case of the diamond industry 
 is that the labor was constant and the laborer could be employed in 
 periods of food scarcity, and retained through periods of plenty. Other- 
 wise the .managers would have foimd difficulty in securing labor from 
 this source.' But the discovery and development of the gold mines 
 put new energy into every other industry in South Africa, especially in 
 the Transvaal. Not only was there a great demand for labor in the 
 mines, but also an even greater demand in the other industries which 
 were operated in connection with the mining activities. There resulted 
 such a scarcity that all the managers combined in their efforts to secure 
 laborers. They were, however, unsuccessful. The labor situation in 
 Cape Colony became so serious that the government was appealed to. 
 The governor responded by appointing a special commission to investi- 
 gate labor conditions. This act on the part of the government of Cape 
 Colony in 1890 marks the beginning of the period of critical labor 
 difficulties. The commission in its report to the governor of the colony 
 indicated this scarcity and noted that the cause of the pressure was the 
 fact that the natives had been drawn to the Transvaal to work in the 
 mines." 
 
 The report of this commission was inadequate, since an exhaustive 
 study of the native supply in the whole of South Africa had not been 
 made. In the study of the labor conditions and in the effort to create 
 the supply each colony and community looked to the supplying of its 
 own demands without attempting a statesman-Uke view of the whole 
 labor difficulty. The report of this commission is characteristic of this 
 short-sightedness. Not only was the report inadequate, but there was 
 
 ' Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission, 1903, Blue Book (Cd 1894), p. 6. 
 
 ' The commission appointed for the investigation was composed of Sir James 
 Sievewright, commissioner of crown lands, and six other citizens. It sought, first, to 
 determine the extent of the scarcity of laborers; and second, to ascertain what meas- 
 ures could be taken to remove the causes of the scarcity. 
 
12 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 no effort made to carry out the suggestions offered. It was an easy 
 matter, however, to appoint commissions, and so another followed. 
 This commission,' after careful work in collecting a great amount of 
 material, reported that "a want of available farm labor is acutely and 
 increasingly felt in the Western District; the supply of other laborers 
 in the same area is not adequate, and the supply of female servants is 
 insufficient.'" It is instructive to note the feeling prevailing at that 
 time in regard to the use of Asiatic laborers : " The commission is strongly 
 opposed to the introduction of Asiatics, and it is not possible that any 
 will be introduced; further discordant elements in the population are 
 not desirable."' We note here again that the commission does not go 
 beyond a mere report of conditions, and there is still no systematic 
 plan promulgated. 
 
 But the scarcity of the laborers was not confined to the farms and 
 domestic service. Cecil Rhodes endeavored to legislate for the scarcity 
 in the diamond mines, and induced Cape Colony to adopt the "Glen 
 Gray Act." By one of its provisions a tax of ten shillings was imposed 
 upon able-bodied male natives not in possession of land imder ordinary 
 quit rent or freehold. If the native could convince the magistrate that 
 he had been in service beyond the confines of his district he was per- 
 manently exempt from the tax.'' The author of this law beheved that 
 if the native were taxed he would seek work to meet the payment. He 
 hoped thus gradually to educate the Negroes to become regular laborers. 
 His plan, however, did not produce the desired improvement in the 
 labor supply, and the law was repealed. This was the first direct 
 attempt to relieve the situation by legislation. A still more serious 
 effort was made in the Transvaal at the time of the discovery of gold 
 mines on the Witwatersrand in 1889, by the estabUshment of the 
 Chamber of Mines.' Among its principal activities was that of pro- 
 
 ' The second comimssion was composed of six members of the Cape Parliament 
 chosen by the governor. 
 
 " See Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission, 11)03, Blue Book (Cd 1896), p. 3. 
 
 3tbid.,p.7. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 43. 
 
 s Reference is made so often to the Chamber of Mines and its work that it will 
 not be out of place to give here a short excerpt from its constitution. It is a private 
 corporation of employers, organized, according to its provisions, "to advance, promote, 
 and protect the mining interests of the Transvaal by the consideration and discussion 
 of all questions connected therewith or incidental thereto, and by the creation and 
 circulation of statistics and' information relative thereto, or calculated to be of value 
 or service to such interests, as well as all other means which may from time to time 
 
THE NATIVE LABOR QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 13 
 
 viding laborers for the mines. The complaints addressed to it on the 
 question of the scardty of laborers for the mines began with the first 
 meeting and continued without interruption. The first annual report 
 of the Chamber says: "The reports from the different mines of the 
 difficulty of securing and retaining a sufficient number of Kaffirs to 
 carry on the work of the farms and mines are constantly growing more 
 numerous and lurgent. There can be no doubt that the supply of 
 Kaffirs at present is totally inadequate; and this most difiScult question 
 has been engaging the serious attention of the Chamber." This scardty 
 of laborers led to such competition among the managers of the mines 
 that the high wages resulting consvmied the profits of the industry. In 
 1890 the Chamber turned to the government in the hope of securing 
 assistance. When it received no help from that quarter it created a 
 special standing committee of its own members to institute extraordinary 
 measxures to relieve the conditions. Later in 1891 the Chamber made 
 an appeal to the Volksraad but received no encouragement. The 
 Chamber, therefore, imable to ehdt the interest of the state authori- 
 ties, instituted new methods of recruiting, which it followed without 
 success until 1896. Recognizing again, and this time fully, the futility 
 of its own efforts, the Chamber appealed directly to the government 
 for assistance, insisting that the mines were greatly hindered in their 
 development by the inadequate labor supply. At the same time the 
 Minister of Mines was addressed in similar terms. The government 
 now acted by issuing orders to aU officials governing natives that all 
 possible help shoulci be given the employers in trying to seciure laborers; 
 and it began on its own part to investigate methods of improving the 
 supply. All efforts were, however, fruitless and the difficulty remained 
 unsolved. 
 
 At this juncture the employers proposed to the standing committee 
 the introduction of Chinese coolies on the groimd that they had proved 
 themselves good and cheap laborers in AustraUa. The committee was 
 so hostile to the suggestion that it gave the proposition no consideration 
 whatever. This attitude makes clear the fact that there was great 
 antipathy to the introduction of Asiatic laborers even among the mem- 
 seem advisable." The members are divided into three classes as follows: (1) ordinary 
 members, i.e., any limited liability company or syndicate, owning Transvaal mining 
 property; (2) extraordinary members, i.e., such companies as mentioned in the first 
 class living outside the Transvaal; (3) honorary members, i.e., all persons mterested 
 directly or indirectly in the industry and who wiU pay an entrance fee of $15.50. 
 The membership was composed largely of the first class, very few of the third class. 
 (Introduction to the Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, i8go). 
 
14 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 bers of the Chamber at this time, not long before the introduction of 
 the coolies. The committee continued its effort to secure native 
 laborers, and in 1898 began a new and fuller investigation than had been 
 attempted before. The committee believed that the method of secur- 
 ing the native laborers was inadequate and recommended that efforts 
 be put forth to find means of reaching the supply.' It recognized the 
 importance of the labor problem and estimated that the expenses for 
 labor at that time amounted to from 50 to 60 per cent of the whole cost 
 of production. It felt also that dividends must be increased by reducing 
 the cost of labor, which had gradually increased under competitive 
 methods of recruiting.' 
 
 During these years not only had the different governments and the 
 Chamber put forth every effort to secure labor, but the individual 
 employers had exercised all their powers. The history of the labor 
 diflSculty shows competition among the employers themselves bn the 
 one hand, and between the employers and the farmers on the other. 
 The struggle is accompanied by perennial appeals to the government 
 and constant investigations and reports of committees. Nevertheless 
 with all the efforts made the supply became less satisfactory and the 
 demand greater from year to year. Among other things, the employers 
 and the Chamber suggested to the government that the plan of forcing 
 the natives to work would be effective. But such a method was of 
 coiurse impossible under Transvaal law. Besides, the Boer government 
 was not enough interested in the mines which were conducted with 
 foreign capital to concern itself seriously with the question. In the 
 midst of the heated discussion between the Boer authorities and the 
 English mine owners and operators, the whole industry was brought 
 to a standstill by the opening of the Boer War in 1899. Very Uttle was 
 attempted until the year 1903, after its close and after sufficient time 
 had elapsed for the difficulties growing out of it to be settled. In that 
 year the Chamber called into existence the native labor organization. 
 This organization was composed of a body of employees under the 
 
 " The method used m seciiring laborers had been imsatisfactory from the first. 
 Recruiting agents, locally known as "touts," went out among the natives and induced 
 them in any way possible to engage for labor in the mines. As they were often secured 
 through misrepresentations, they were dissatisfied with the work of the mines, and 
 caused trouble to managers by running away. These "touts'' sold the recruited 
 laborers to the mine that would pay the highest price, and thus encouraged competition 
 and also increased the cost of the labor. The increase did not by any means all go to 
 the natives. 
 
 ' See Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, z8q8, pp. 4-5. 
 
THE NATIVE LABOR QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 15 
 
 direction of a superintendent. All were acquainted with the lives and 
 habits of the natives, and they searched out the unemployed natives 
 and tried to induce them to work in the mines. After the Chamber 
 created this organization, they put all recruiting in the hands of the 
 organization, and the natives on arriving on the Rand were assigned 
 by an official of the organization to one of the mines.' 
 
 Up to 1903 everyone connected with the mines beheved that there 
 were enough laborers in South Afijca, and that if the government had 
 earnestly tried it could have induced them to engage in work. The 
 employers, therefore, attributed the scarcity to the inactivity of the 
 government. With the change in the government brought about by 
 the war they beUeved that the scarcity was at an end, and they began 
 to organize the industry on a large scale, only to find that the scarcity 
 was more keenly felt than ever. The Chamber of Mines was then free 
 to organize as it pleased, and it proceeded to meet its problems sys- 
 tematically. The government was ready to do all it could. The Rand 
 party was in power pohticaUy and everything was favorable. In spite 
 of these favorable conditions and the combined efforts put forth the 
 supply was inadequate. The employers now realized for the first time 
 that government authorities could not instantaneously transform the 
 enormous mass of native population into regular, efficient laborers. 
 As we have noted, former investigations had ended with appeals to the 
 goverimient and failiure; the new government also failed. 
 
 Up to the time of the war, despite the many investigations into the 
 native labor supply, there had been no complete examination covering 
 the whole country. The investigations had been made for the employ- 
 ers, for the farmers, and for the different governments, but there had 
 not been a comprehensive examination of the labor supply from the 
 viewpoint of the needs of the industries throughout English South 
 Africa. After the war the investigations assumed a broader basis. 
 Therefore, a conference of representatives of the British colonies under 
 the presidency of the English High Commissioner met at Bloemfontein 
 for the purpose of looking into the condition of labor throughout the 
 whole of the South African colonies. From its conclusions we quote 
 the following significant excerpt: 
 
 This conference, after considering all the available statistics and hearing 
 
 'The plan of recruiting was now materially changed. Men were sent out to 
 recruit, and the assignments made to the different mines prevented further competition 
 between different employers. The combination and the elimination of competition in 
 South Africa followed closely upon the successful combination of capital in the United 
 States and was largely influenced by the success of combination here. 
 
i6 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 the reports of the highest authorities of the several states, has come to the con- 
 clusion that the native population south of the Zambesi does not comprise a 
 sufficient number of adult males capable of work to satisfy the normal require- 
 ments of the several colonies, and at the same time fmnish an adequate amoimt 
 of labor for the large industrial centers. Under these circimistances, it is 
 evident to the conference that the opening of new sources of labor supply is 
 necessary in the interest of all the South African states.' 
 
 The members of this conference saw the labor problem from an 
 entirely new point of view, and they realized that the only step now 
 possible was to examine the labor possibilities from this standpoint. 
 Short-sightedness they now recognized had caused them to attribute 
 the labor difficulties to the inactivity and hostility of the Dutch author- 
 ities. It was realized that the difficvilty lay deeper, and an earnest 
 effort to solve the problem was made. It was for this purpose that on 
 July 3, 1903, the governor of the Transvaal appointed a commission.' 
 The task of the commission was to ascertain the entire labor demand 
 in the Transvaal and to investigate all labor sources in Africa. It is 
 principally from the thorough investigation of this commission that we 
 learn the amoimt and condition of the labor supply. 
 
 » See Report of the Transvaal Native Labor Commission, igoj, p. 13. 
 
 "The commission was composed of twelve leading citizens of the Transvaal with 
 Mr. A. M. Niven as chairman. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE LABOR FORCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The demand for labor in the Transvaal, the commission foimd, was 
 of such a complex nature that the actual number of laborers needed 
 could never be ascertained with complete accuracy. The requirements 
 changed from time to time with the condition of the crops, with the 
 seasons of the year, and with the nature and amount of pubUc activity. 
 Besides, an increased demand might be expected to accompany indus- 
 trial and agricultmral progress. The most important business activities 
 requiring labor in the Transvaal were the mines, agriculture, and the 
 railroads. The more important minor activities were the building of 
 canals, harbors, bridges, roads, etc. 
 
 Information about the number of laborers required for agriculture 
 is somewhat indefinite on account of the lack of statistics upon this 
 point. The data available, however, show that there is a steady increase 
 in the demand due to extensive agricultural activities. South Africa 
 is capable of great agricultural development, but this development is 
 dependent to a large degree upon the extension of the means and ways 
 of transportation and an adequate supply of labor. Indeed, the future 
 of South Africa depends to a large entent upon its agriculture. Enor- 
 mous stretches of arable land he fallow for want of means of transpor- 
 tation, or are cultivated by the most primitive methods, due to the lack 
 of irrigation and farm machinery. As a result of this the Transvaal 
 imports large quantities of agricultural products for consumption. The 
 table on p. i8 showing articles imported will indicate the deficiencies of 
 home production. There can be no doubt that with a sufficient number 
 of laborers, the Transvaal could easily be supplied from home production 
 with aU the articles of consumption named. In fact, agricultural con- 
 ditions were so improved with the increase of laborers due to the intro- 
 duction of Chinese in 1904 that in the years 1904-6 an increase in exports 
 and a decrease in imports was shown, although the crops of these years 
 were poor on account of droughts and locusts.^ 
 
 ' See Further Correspondence Relating to Afairs in the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, igo6, Blue Book (Cd 3528), p. 36. 
 
 17 
 
i8 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 In the first six months of the year 1903 the Transvaal imported:' 
 
 Articles for Consumption Value 
 
 Cattle f 583,810 
 
 Meat (preserved) 1,639,930 
 
 Meat (fresh and game) 2,124,045 
 
 Rice 1,085,340 
 
 Flour 1,224,04s 
 
 Oats , 910,895 
 
 Butter 861,760 
 
 Milk 775,805 
 
 Eggs 305,170 
 
 Fresh fruit 309,395 
 
 Biscuits 223,500 
 
 Bran 146,500 
 
 Cheese 140,000 
 
 Barley i3,Soo 
 
 Beans 18,000 
 
 Hay 26,500 
 
 Peas 2,300 
 
 Rye and wheat 43,000 
 
 Fruit (canned) 165,000 
 
 Honey 4,000 
 
 Jams ^. 150,000 
 
 Meal 90,000 
 
 Pickles 80,000 
 
 Salt 40,000 
 
 Vegetables 265,000 
 
 MisceUaneous 390,000 
 
 Total $11,627,495 
 
 In 1903 the need of laborers in the mines was keenly felt, as a state- 
 ment of the condition of the mines at that time will show. In 1899 the 
 employers of the Rand district operated 6,240 stamps with 111,697 
 native laborers, while in 1903 they were operating only 3,724 stamps out 
 of a total 7,14s stamps ready for operation. They estimated the require- 
 ment at s,6i2 whites and 117,173 natives to put into operation all of the 
 mines then ready. This does not include new mines, nor the extension 
 of the industry to the territory ready for development. The accom- 
 panying table presents an estimate of the whole demand in the Trans- 
 vaal in 1903: 
 
 ' See Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission: Minutes and Proceedings, igoj, 
 Blue Book (Cd 1897), p. 556- 
 
THE LABOR FORCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 19 
 
 Occupation 
 
 No. Required 
 
 No. at Work 
 
 Shortage 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 80,000 
 
 197,644 
 
 69,684 
 
 16,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 403,328 
 
 27,715 
 68,820 
 69,684 
 
 12,402 
 
 3,848 
 
 182,469 
 
 52,285 
 128,824 
 
 Mines 
 
 Other industries* .... 
 
 Kailroads — 
 0) Repair work 
 
 3,598 
 
 36,152 
 
 220,859 
 
 b) New work 
 
 Total ." 
 
 •The number required for "other industries" has been estimated at the actual number at work 
 (1903), and in this item no shortage is shown, not because shortage does not exist, but because evidence as 
 to the requirement is not forthcoming. See Report of the Transvaal Later Commission, IQ03, Blue Book 
 (Cd 189s), p. 13. 
 
 The demand for laborers in 1903 was much greater than before the 
 war for several reasons. The natives had sold their cattle to the army 
 at a high price, and thus they were not compelled to work for their 
 daily food. They were not inclined to leave the quiet life of the 
 "kraals" where all necessary comforts were provided by the women. 
 The increased demand for laborers appeared everywhere, and is shown 
 by the requirements in various villages in different parts of the 
 country, as estimated before and after the war. The statistics are 
 as follows: 
 
 In examining the labor conditions in the Transvaal we cannot leave 
 out of account the situation outside of the Transvaal. While our study 
 has to do with the Transvaal mines, much of the labor for them comes 
 from other regions, and it thus becomes necessary to examine those 
 regions to see the condition, the fitness of the natives for, and the atti- 
 tude of the native toward, mine labor there. We find that some natives 
 prefer to work away from home and others prefer to stay at home. 
 Some like mine work and others object to it. Probably no laborers 
 are more influenced in the selection of their work by their feelings than 
 the natives. Also climatic conditions materially influence the supply 
 
20 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 in the Transvaal. We produce here a table giving the total population 
 
 of South and Central Africa in 1903: 
 South Africa — * 
 
 Cape Colony 1,652,036 
 
 Natal 791,010 
 
 Orange River Colony 129,787 
 
 Southern Rhodesia 563,271 
 
 German Southwest Africa 300,000 
 
 Bechuanaland Protectorate 147,000 
 
 Swaziland 60,000 
 
 Basutoland 262,561 
 
 Transvaal 605,666 
 
 Portuguese East Africa 1,815,180 
 
 Central Africa — * 
 
 Northern Rhodesia 565,000 
 
 British Central Africa 900,000 
 
 Uganda Protectorate 4,000,000 
 
 Portuguese Northeast Africa 1,815,180 
 
 Total 13,597,691 
 
 • See Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission, IQ03, Blue Book (Cd i8g6}, p. so- 
 
 Sir Godfrey Lagden, Transvaal labor commissioner, calculated that 
 one native in every eight to ten of the whole population is capable of 
 working in the mines/ The statistics for 1903 show that only one in 
 every eleven living in the Transvaal was working at aU, and that one in 
 twenty-five was at work ia the mines. It is quite evident that, so far 
 as numbers go, there were laborers enough to do aU the work. A study 
 of the character of the natives wiU. show us why they did not do it. 
 
 ' VM., pp. 58-59. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CAUSES OF THE SCARCITY OF LABOR 
 
 We have followed the history of the labor difficulties and have noted 
 the supply and demand, but we have not demonstrated the necessity 
 of securing outside laborers. We wish to note in this chapter the reasons 
 for the inadequacy of the native supply, and especially to inquire whether 
 the causes of the scarcity are of a permanent nature. 
 
 In the first place there are a number of temporary conditions pro- 
 ducing idleness among the natives, among which are the effects of the 
 Boer War, the lowering of the natives' wages by the mine employers, 
 and the difficulties the natives encounter in reaching the mines on 
 account of insufficient transportation facilities. These conditions are 
 not very significant, inasmuch as a systematic effort to remove them will 
 bring about satisfactory results in a reasonable period of time. They 
 are now very rapidly disappearing, for the employers have come to 
 realize they must depend upon the native for their supply, however 
 inadequate this soiurce may be. The more important reasons for the 
 scarcity of labor are those of a permanent natture, namely the habits of 
 life, the customs, and the character of the natives. 
 
 There are other causes which are more effective in determining the 
 native to avoid work in the mines. Among these may be mentioned 
 the danger inherent in mining, as shown in the high death-rate among 
 the natives. The new climatic conditions and the change in the mode 
 of hving, as well as the inabihty of the native to care for himself imder 
 such conditions, raise the death-rate to an alarming figure. The accom- 
 panying table (p. 22) shows the actual condition of native mortality 
 from 1903-6.' 
 
 We note here a decrease from 71 deaths per 1,000 laborers in 1903 
 to 35 in 1906, but there is a limit beyond which the number cannot be 
 decreased, and this limit is stiU partly prohibitive. The laborer has a 
 very limited understanding of health requirements, and learns them so 
 slowly that there is little hope of reducing the death-rate. In 1903 
 the health conditions in the mines and compounds were wretched. An 
 
 ' See Blue Books (Cd 2025), 1904, p. 45; (Cd 3528), 1907, p. 131; and Annual 
 Report of the Chamber of Mines, 1904, p. 46. The number of deaths from sickness 
 among the Chinese in the mines was 11 per 1,000, and among whites 14 per 1,000. 
 
22 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 Month 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 No. per i,ooo per year 
 
 1903 
 
 1904 
 
 1906 
 
 61 
 45 
 49 
 52 
 79 
 88 
 112 
 78 
 69 
 65 
 79 
 78 
 71 
 
 69 
 47 
 54 
 54 
 85 
 '97 
 113 
 88 
 
 79 
 76 
 
 87 
 90 
 78 
 
 42 
 42 
 38 
 46 
 55 
 53 
 48 
 40 
 44 
 53 
 65 
 48 
 
 47 
 43 
 33 
 32 
 34 
 34 
 33 
 31 
 31 
 36 
 33 
 32 
 35 
 
 awakened public conscience in England and in South Africa required 
 improvements to be made, and in 1906 the death-rate had been reduced 
 as much as lay in the power of the mine operators and public health 
 authorities. Further improvement depends upon the natives' under- 
 standing and practicing personal health requirements. The importance 
 of this point is emphasized by the accompanjdng table which gives the 
 death-rate for each sickness:' 
 
 Sickness 
 
 No. of Deaths 
 
 Percentage 
 
 Pulmonary diseases* 
 
 643 
 
 122 
 
 329 
 
 186 
 
 36 
 
 139 
 
 86 
 
 41.7 
 
 7-9 
 20.9 
 12.4 
 
 2.3 
 
 9 
 
 5-8 
 
 Brain fever. . 
 
 
 Scurvy 
 
 
 Other sicknesses 
 
 Accidents 
 
 
 * Fubnonary diseases (for 1Q04) 3,903; 60 per cent of all deaths. 
 
 It is, however, as has been said above, the character of the native 
 that is the chief cause of the labor difficulty. His necessities of hfe, 
 food, and clothing are exceedingly simple. His wants are few, even 
 when he lives among civilized people. He considers only the present 
 and the things of the day. If he is secured against hxmger and cold — 
 in many parts of Africa against hunger only — he leaves his work and 
 seeks the satisfaction of his crude desires, usually in those things which 
 are most injurious to himself, especially in alcohohc drinks. He does 
 not understand how to provide for the future; therefore he makes little 
 effort to acquire valuable property, even where he has had the advan- 
 
 " See Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, 1904, p. 46. 
 
CAUSES OF THE SCARCITY OF LABOR 
 
 23 
 
 tages of civilization.' The progress of the native will be especially slow 
 in Africa, because the fact that the European population there is rela- 
 tively small will compel him to remain a long time isolated from the 
 benefits of modern civilization. Africa will be settled very slowly by 
 Europeans, so that for a long time, at least, there will be a small white 
 population by the side of an enormous native one. This will leave the 
 native practically free in his modes of Ufe. It is quite impossible for the 
 South African governments to extend their institutions rapidly, and the 
 natives will make no effort to hasten progress. They inhabit a wide 
 stretch of country over which their cattle roam at will, grazing the entire 
 year, requiring the owner to provide neither food nor shelter. The 
 native, therefore, can live by hunting and fishing, and be suppUed at 
 all times with an abundance of meat. Other necessaries of hfe can be 
 provided for him by the wife and children who do the field work. The 
 clothing is likewise provided without much effort. In 1904 the whole 
 amount of goods sold to the natives in South Africa amounted to less 
 than $1.00 per head of the population." In Central Africa the goods 
 imported amount to very much less. The native, therefore, not being 
 compelled to work, remains in his "kraal" satisfied with what Natiure 
 brings to him. The following table, showing the amount of goods 
 imported into Natal and Basutoland for native trade, indicates the 
 limits of his wants.' 
 
 1894. 
 1895. 
 1896. 
 1897. 
 1898. 
 1899. 
 1900. 
 1901. 
 1902. 
 
 Natal 
 
 $ 700,410 
 675,500 
 775,350 
 644,250 
 821,500 
 800,00 
 803,200 
 1,150,000* 
 1,325,250* 
 
 Basutoland 
 
 $490,000 
 350,000 
 520,000 
 650,000 
 500,000 
 465,000 
 
 * In the years 1901-2 the whites used articles imported for native use, and this explains the greater 
 figures for these years. 
 
 The condition of the Negro in the southern states of this coxmtry 
 indicates even more clearly that his development is very slow. Here 
 
 ' William T. Thorn, "The Negroes in Sandy Springs, Maryland," Labor Bulletin 
 No. 38, Washington, D.C. The progress of the savage in Africa will be much slower 
 than that which has characterized the Negro in this country. 
 
 = See Report of the Transvaal Native Labor Commission, igoj, Blue Book (Cd 1894), 
 P-3S- 
 
 I Ibid. 
 
24 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 he does only the work necessary to satisfy his limited wants.' Without 
 further discussion it is evident from what has been said that the native 
 in Africa will not supply the labor needs for any permanent advance 
 in the agricultural and industrial interests of the Transvaal. We shall 
 proceed at once to investigate other sources of supply. 
 
 ' U. Bradford Laws says of the Negroes in Calumet, La. : " Each family has a garden 
 about its house, but people are discouraged from taking land in the field as they never 
 raise anything upon it. Very few cultivate even the house gardens, though many of 
 them spade and prepare the land. They rarely have enterprise enough to buy seed." 
 — "Negroes of St. Claire and Calumet, La.," Labor Bulletin No. 38. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 WHITE LABORERS 
 
 The employment of whites as imskilled laborers in the mines would 
 have been the ideal solution of the labor problem, and woiild still be 
 best for Africa, if whites could be used with profit to the mines and farms 
 and without serious social dangers. It is important that South Africa 
 increase the white population as rapidly as possible, but it is more impor- 
 tant that it maintain a high standard of Uving among the whites — a 
 standard that will insure the future of the white race in South Africa 
 and prevent irreparable harm to the whole social fabric. Serious social 
 dangers would follow the introduction of a low class of European whites 
 to supply the labor demand. Besides, economic conditions make it 
 impossible to use Eiuropean white labor. The whole South African 
 industry is inseparable from a cheap labor supply in its historical devel- 
 opment and present condition. An immediate change to high-priced 
 labor would entail serious consequences to all industries, especially 
 mining. Cheap labor is essential for the mines from the sitnple fact 
 that only the richest mines could be worked with high-priced labor, and 
 the niunber of rich mines is very limited. 
 
 The importance of the poorer mines is indicated by the following 
 figures' showing the production for 1903. The production amounted 
 to about $75,000,000 taken from 7,000,000 tons of ore at a cost of 
 $50,000,000 — a profit of $3.57 per ton. Of the 7,000,000 tons of ore, 
 about 4,000,000 were taken from mines yielding a profit of only $2.35 
 per ton. Of the $50,000,000, the cost of production, about $30,000,000, 
 went for wages, and from this sirni about $17,000,000 to about 11,000 
 white laborers at an average wage of $1,605 yearly, and the remaining 
 $13,000,000 to about 75,000 natives at an average wage of $171.25. 
 The poorer mines produced a profit of $9,000,000 and 30,000 natives 
 were employed in them. These natives received, besides food, $4,500,000 
 in wages. In case laborers had been employed who had received 
 higher wages, for instance whites, at a wage of $3 . 00 per day with double 
 the ability of the native in turning out work, the cost of labor itself 
 would have been $15,000,000, making all the mines in the latter class — 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony, igo4, Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 251. 
 
 2S 
 
26 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 or nearly 60 per cent of all mines — ^unprofitable and their abandonment 
 certain. 
 
 For this economic reason, apart from the difl&culty and danger of 
 emplojdng white and black laborers in the same industry, it seemed clear 
 that whites could not be used for the work of the South African mines, 
 and there was no other plan open but the introduction of Chinese coolies. 
 This was the conclusion that the Transvaal authorities reached in 1904, 
 and through the influence of the leading colonial statesmen the mother 
 country was induced to make a treaty with the ^ Chinese government. 
 The agreement was signed at London, May 13, 1904. The ordinance 
 had been passed by the colonial government in January of the same 
 year, and plans were already made for the use of these laborers. In 
 Jime of the same year the first shipment was ready for service. The 
 shipments continued till igo6, when the number in service had reached 
 S5,ooo. It was at this time that there was a change of government 
 and the new ministry determined, after careful consideration, to have 
 the coohes returned to China as soon as their indentures expired. The 
 failure of the experiment and the causes of the return of the coolies to 
 their native land wiU form the subject of the remaining part of this work. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CHINESE LABORERS 
 
 The idea of supplying the labor demand of the Transvaal by means 
 of Chinese coolies was not new in 1903. During the years of struggle 
 for a sufficient labor supply such a suggestion had often been made, but 
 no one had come forward to suggest a method by which they might be 
 employed. Even the agitation for employing this class of laborers had 
 fornid no systematic support, and the recurring suggestion met with 
 such positive opposition that no general interest in the proposal had 
 been aroused. At the close of the Boer War, when the Transvaal 
 seemed ready for an unhindered development of its promising agricul- 
 tural and its enormous mineral resources — especially its gold mines — 
 the labor problem was present in its acutest form. At this psychological 
 moment, when everyone saw the need of labor and wished, for his own 
 interests, as well as for the good of the community, that the develop- 
 ment might proceed unhindered, the Transvaal government, at the 
 initiative of the Chamber of Mines, determined to introduce Chinese 
 coolies for use exclusively in Witwatersrand mines. 
 
 The proposal of the Chamber and the government to introduce coolie 
 laborers precipitated a spirited contest, which was waged during the 
 few months in which a commission appointed by the governor of the 
 colony was investigating the condition of the native labor supply,' and 
 while the Colonial Council was debating the terms of the ordinance 
 under which the Chinese were to be introduced. Apparently every 
 white inhabitant of the Transvaal took part in the discussion by express- 
 ing his approval or disapproval. The other South African colonies 
 and even Australia took sides. The oppbsition was intense, not only 
 among the white laborers in the mines, but also among the people engaged 
 in occupations other than mining." The causes of the bitter opposition 
 to the use of the coohes do not appear upon a superficial examination. 
 There is not a proletariat of unskilled whites in South Africa as there is 
 in America and in Australia, and yet the opposition was as strongly 
 manifested as it ever was in either of the other places. Upon a closer 
 
 ' See discussion, chap. IV. 
 
 = See Correspondence Relating to the Afairs of the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony, igo4, Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 337- 
 
 27 
 
28 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 and more critical examination, however, we find that the objection to 
 the cooKes in Africa was the same as in America and Australia — the 
 fear of competition of coolie labor with white labor. But this fear of 
 competition was intensified in South Africa by certain local conditions 
 — the native problem and the problem of the Indian coolie. 
 
 As we have seen from the discussion of the native-labor question 
 in the South African colonies, there is an abimdant supply of natives 
 there. We have also seen that the labor difficulty was due to the unwill- 
 ingness of the native to work, which in turn was caused by the limited 
 nature of his wants and his ability to supply them without much efEort 
 on his part. The idleness of the native had been a problem of long 
 standing which the various governments had tried earnestly to solve 
 through various measures, the most important of which were the edu- 
 cation of the native children and the establishment of a system of 
 native taxes. From the history of the native problem we have seen 
 the deep interest which both the government authorities and the people 
 manifested in the native. In the first place they needed his labor, and 
 in the second place they wished to work out a better system of native 
 control. As the white population increased and agriculture improved, 
 the question of changing the tribal system and securing a satisfactory 
 and efficient means of land occupation, among other problems, engaged 
 more and more the attention of the people and government. It was 
 recognized that the native problem was growing more serious and this 
 made the people hesitate to take a step which might possibly complicate 
 it. This difficulty with the native became one of the local objections 
 to the introduction of the Chinese. The process of crowding the native 
 into smaller territory required that he adjust himself gradually to the 
 standards of civilization in his methods of living and of acquiring a live- 
 lihood. We have previously noted how slow this process has always 
 been with the natives of Africa. We have seen that the transformation 
 takes place only through a process of education and through contact 
 with the whites under as systematic labor as can be insisted upon. Now, 
 it was argued, if the Chinaman should be admitted and should become 
 a permanent settler, he might turn his attention to agriculture as he 
 has done in other places. The result of this would be that the native, 
 crowded and hampered, would abandon agriculture and revert to his 
 old system of living, which removes him from the control and influence 
 of the white settlers. Even if the coolie could be limited to the mines,' 
 he would ultimately supplant the native there, and the latter would 
 return to his "kraal," leaving the government with the difficulty of 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 29 
 
 forcing a still larger number of unemployed natives to adjust themselves 
 to advancing civilization. We do not need to follow this discussion 
 farther, as it is of a social-ethical and national-political nature and 
 touches the economic question only in so far as these conditions brought 
 about certain limitations under which the Chinese were introduced and 
 xmder which they labored in the Transvaal. 
 
 A second local situation that had much to do with creating the oppo- 
 sition to the introduction of the coohe laborer was caused by the Asiatic 
 problem with which the EngUsh South African colonies had to deal. The 
 experience with the Indian cooUes in South Africa led most people to 
 beUeve that a similar result would f oUow the introduction of the Chinese, 
 and that the Chinaman would actually become a serious competitor of 
 the white citizen. The knowledge of the history of Chinese immigra- 
 tion into America and Australasia, coimtries in many respects similar 
 to South Africa, intensified this feeling. 
 
 For a half centxuy, commencing in 1859, the people of Natal had 
 attempted to use Indian cooUes introduced under indenture for the 
 purpose of performing unskilled labor, with the result that they spread 
 all'over the South African colonies.' They entered into Uvely competi- 
 tion with the whites, and after their indentures expired did not confine 
 themselves to the unskilled labor for which they were introduced. A 
 member of the Transvaal Cotmcil described the situation in the follow- 
 ing words: "They are in the neighboring colony of Natal. The white 
 man is ousted by the Indian in the lower walks of trade and commerce, 
 in the market gardens and fruit growing, in town property and land. 
 In the government employ and railways, in hundreds of ways they are 
 cutting out some of the most desirable classes of white settlers."" The 
 
 ' See Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission, 1904, Blue Book (Cd 1896), p. 4. 
 
 The beginning of the oriental labor system in South Africa dates back to 1859, 
 when the land-owners of Natal petitioned for permission to introduce Indians under 
 indenture for use on the farms. Their petition was supported in the following words: 
 "Independently of measures for developing the labor of our own natives, we believe 
 your Excellency will find occasion to sanction the introduction of a Umited number of 
 coolies or other laborers from the East in aid of the new enterprises on the coast lands, 
 to the success of which suflScient and reliable labor is absolutely essential; for the fact 
 cannot be too strongly borne in mind that on the success or failure of these rising 
 enterprises depend the advancement of the colony or its sudden and rapid decline. 
 Experimental cultivation has abundantly demonstrated that the issue depends solely 
 on a constant labor supply." As a result of this poUcy the Indian population in Natal 
 has grown until it is greater than the white population. See Annals of the American 
 Academy of Social and Political Science, XXXIV, No. 2, 177. 
 
 ' See Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, 1904, Blue Book (Cd 1897), p. 275. 
 
30 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 competition which arose between the whites and the Indian settlers is 
 indicated by the statement of a witness before the Transvaal Labor 
 Conmiission, given mider oath. He says: "I see the Indians as car- 
 penters, and I see them in other trades. They work cheaper than the 
 European. The European must either get out of the country or starve."' 
 This statement, though somewhat exaggerated, is essentially true. 
 The competition into which the Indians entered with the whites led 
 to the exclusion acts in all the South African colonies. Out of the 
 attempt to prevent further immigration into South Africa from the 
 home country, and also to prevent local migration, has grown the so-caUed 
 "Asiatic Problem," the solution of which is not expected in the near 
 future. A large part of the citizenship of South Africa believed that the 
 experience with the Indians would be repeated ia the introduction of 
 the Chinese.^ But people did not need to observe the work of the 
 Indians to see what the Chinese might and could do. Between the 
 years 1889 and 1903, 930 Chinese had entered the Transvaal in spite of 
 the exclusion laws.^ The coolies had not sought or performed imskilled 
 labor, but had undertaken independent enterprises, and had shown what 
 might be accompUshed if their numbers were sufficiently increased.'' 
 
 These conditions in South Africa supplied a concrete example of the 
 results of competition with Asiatic laborers, but they alone did not 
 determine the opposition and the limiting terms under which the coolies 
 were finally introduced. The history of the experience with the Chinese 
 
 ' See Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission: Minutes and Proceedings, igo4' 
 Blue Book (Cd. 1897), p. 55°- 
 
 The Natal Census Report for 1904 gives the following statistics regarding the 
 occupations of the whites and Indians: 
 
 
 Europeans 
 
 Asiatics 
 
 
 658 
 1,252 
 213 
 306 
 423" 
 64 
 
 
 Storekeepers' assistants 
 
 1.323 
 11 
 
 
 drnrPTfi pnii f^witstaTltR , , 
 
 
 
 
 In addition to this list, there was a greater number of Asiatics in thirty-nine of the 
 leading vocations and enterprises than of whites. This indicated pretty clearly what 
 the Chinese could do if they were given a chance. See Annals of the A merican A cademy 
 of Political and Social Sciences, XXXIV, No. z, 178. 
 
 ' Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 38. a Ibid., p. 298. 
 
 4 "The unindentured Chinese in the Transvaal are chiefly laundrymen, hawkers, 
 and small tradesmen." — ^Letter from the secretary of the Chamber of Mines to the 
 author in March, igo8. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 31 
 
 in California and in Australasia was well known in South Africa. Let 
 us look into this history, so far as it sheds Hght upon our problem. 
 With the discovery of gold in CaUfornia in 1848 the Chinese entered this 
 country (California), principally as goldseekers, some as independent 
 men working mines for themselves, and some as wage laborers. 
 
 As the gold fever, however, passed away and their services were no longer 
 required in this industry, they entered into the sharpest competition in the 
 manufactures and in handicraft, in the fishing industry, and agriculture. They 
 entered first merely as wage-earners in the manufactures and in handicraft, and 
 gradually proved their abiUty to compete successfully in these vocations. 
 These occupations served a.s a school for the Chinese, who were soon able to 
 enter business enterprises for themselves, and were presently engaged in house 
 industry and small manufacturing. In a little while they became large manu- 
 facturers, and employed their own people as laborers. The Chinaman always 
 had another of his own race to work by his side as merchant, who would dispose 
 of the products he had manufactured. Naturally as he was able to secure an 
 unlimited niunber of Chinese laborers, and was skilled in managing them, the 
 white competitor could not withstand his opposition.' 
 
 By 1880 the Chinaman had proved himself to be an indispensable 
 factor in the construction of railways, in the draining of swamp lands for 
 cvdtivation, in the building of canals, and in many of the other enter- 
 prises that helped to develop California's vast natural resomrces.' He 
 had also taken a firm place as a laborer, as a handicraftsman, and even as 
 an employer in the manufacture of cigars, cigar boxes, cigarettes, shoes, 
 shirts, and in the converting of wool, silk, and hemp into cloth. His 
 adaptabihty to the industrial and economic situation is shown by the 
 varied vocations in which he was foimd working with extraordinary 
 success, such as laundering and tailoring, in addition to those mentioned 
 above. His persistent competition in these lines forced many whites 
 into other occupations and business enterprises in which production 
 soon exceeded consumption; therefore in these new industries the effect 
 of Chinese activity, cheaper production and underselling, was soon felt. 
 An unsettled condition was soon perceived in local production and trade 
 which was attributed to this activity. The manufacturing and labor- 
 ing classes alike arose in the strongest opposition to this ahen encroach- 
 ment. Moreover the coolies had also been extensively employed by 
 the large farmers in vegetable, fruit, and wheat culture. As the small 
 
 ' Handwoerterbuch der Staatswissensohaft (2d revised ed.), Ill, 46. 
 
 ' See Further Correspondence Relating to Afairs in the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, 1904, Blue Book (Cd 1895), P- 77- 
 
32 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 farmers could not compete with this cheap labor they also joined the 
 forces opposed to alien immigrants.' Finally, the American merchant 
 classes entered the opposition because the Chinese competed with them 
 and did not use their merchandise. The bitterness of the opposition 
 led to the limitation of cooUe immigration in 1882 and in 1894 to the 
 passing by Congress of the Chinese Exclusion Act." Since the passage 
 of this act the Chinaman has been limited to ever narrower spheres of 
 action because of the persistent opposition, hatred, envy, and antago- 
 nistic legislation of the Americans;' yet he continues as an efficient 
 laborer in certain vocations in the city, and as a mine laborer." 
 
 In Australasia the Chinese have been treated similarly. There, as 
 in the United States, the competition of the cooh'es with the whites was 
 the middle point toward which all contentions against him centered. 
 The white laborer and employer each took his position with reference 
 to the Chinese question as he felt himself touched by competition.' 
 One writer expresses the situation as follows: "The Chinese with their 
 restless emulation and their low Uving requirements threatened to drive 
 the whites from the field of labor. "s As in America, so in Australasia, 
 the Chinese were introduced into the, country to work in the mines, but 
 were excluded from the country before the end of the century. 
 
 The success of the Chinese is due to their willingness to labor inces- 
 santly under conditions which are impossible for the American or 
 European. The residence of the Chinaman is his shop, his food rice, 
 his clothing in general the most simple. He has neither social nor 
 political obligations, and if his activity is bringing him the desired result, 
 finds pleasure in devoting his entire time to his work. He has few 
 people dependent upon him, and those few, hving in China where the 
 
 ' Handwoerterbuch der Staatswissenschafi (zd ed.), Ill, 47. 
 
 ^ See Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, 1904, Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 78. 
 
 3 In California many acts of the city cotmcils are aimed at the elimination of 
 Chinese competition. For instance, a laundry license, when the laimdry has only one 
 horse, is $2.00 per month, with two horses, $4.00, with no horse, $15.00. Again 
 hucksters are charged $2.00 if they have a horse and wagon, and $10.00 if they have 
 none (Seward, Chinese Immigration, pp. 239 ff.). 
 
 ^ Chinese are employed in the gold mines in CaUfornia and the coal mines of 
 British Columbia. See Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal 
 and the Orange River Colony, 78-79. 
 
 s See Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal, etc., igo4, Blue 
 Book (Cd 189s), p. 78. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 33 
 
 requirements are few, need very little.' One writer says: ".The reason 
 that the American laborer and merchant experienced such sharp com- 
 petition from the Chinese is explained as much by those characteristics 
 of the coolies which lead them to adjust themselves to the customary 
 method of production, as it is by the fact that they have demands for 
 fewer of the necessaries of Ufe."^ This does not mean that the Chinese 
 work for smaller wages than those demanded by the whites. The fact 
 is the Chinese are not cheap laborers; they demand the current wages 
 and refuse to work for less. It is due to this very fact that much of the 
 difficulty arose in the Transvaal mines. Thanks to the endvirance, 
 the laborious patience, the thrift, and adaptabiUty of the Chinese, they 
 can displace the whites at the same wage. Upon this point a recent 
 writer says: 
 
 In the discussion of the Chinese labor competition only two conspicuous 
 qualities of the Chinese laborer himself are commonly mentioned: his thrift 
 and his laborious patience; yet he has several other characteristics of even 
 greater pertinence to the question. Free Chinese labor never remains cheap 
 for any great length of time. In CaUfomia they are receiving on an average 
 twice as much wages as in 1882 and more than similar classes of naturalized 
 Europeans. They are not only organized more thoroughly and minutely into 
 unions than Americans, but they have an adaptability and a keenness which 
 enable them to distribute themselves quickly to the districts and the occupa- 
 tions where competition is least and wages highest. They have left factory 
 labor and washing because wages are too low, although the Chinese laundry- 
 men are pa5dng twice the wages they paid twenty years ago. In fact, among 
 the fifty or sixty thousand Chinese remaining in California, the most of whom 
 were originally laborers, the majority are now the owners of small independent 
 businesses or employed in small independent undertakings. In Hawaii, where 
 the Chinese are preferred to any other class of common labor, the complaint 
 is that the Chinamen will not remain laborers and now expect to make white 
 men's profits in their business enterprises.' 
 
 The Chinese have reached this efficiency in spite of the fact that 
 they are old laborers, having for the most part come to America pre- 
 vious to 1894 when the Exclusion Act was passed. They are sought 
 as domestic servants and for agricultural labor, and they are much 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Ajffairs of the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony, igo4, Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 79. 
 
 " "Arbeiterfrage imd Lohn-PoUtik von St. Bauer," JahrbUcher fiir Nationalokon- 
 omie und Staatswissenchaft (1891), p. 650. 
 
 3 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, XXXIX No. 2, 
 128. 
 
34 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 more effident than the Japanese and the whites of a similar class. A 
 writer says: 
 
 Since the Chinese have become relatively very few among the California 
 wage-earners, their superiority to other foreigners, and even to the inferior 
 grades of white Amerjcan labor, which alone are available for the occupations 
 in which the Chinese are chiefly engaged, has caused them to become the 
 standard of efficiency by which other labor is measured. Their wages have 
 steadily risen and they have almost wholly deserted the lower-paid manu- 
 factures and common labor. Their efficiency, sobriety, and integrity are now 
 continually contrasted with the unsatisfactory qualities of white tramp 
 laborers and of the variegated foreigners who have taken their places. These 
 characteristics of the Chinese make it possible for them to accumulate wealth, 
 to compete with profit imder the hardest circumstances when the whites would 
 not be able to earn a livelihood; therefore, the Chinaman provokes the fear 
 and envy of the whites.' 
 
 The South African knew these characteristics of the Chinese. The 
 best that those favoring their introduction into the Transvaal could say 
 for them was: 
 
 There is an American experiment which shows that it will not do to receive 
 the Chinaman as a simple immigrant. He is a very undesirable citizen and 
 has an unpleasant way of not doing the hard work for which he is wanted and 
 of insinuating himself into the more congenial occupations of petty commerce 
 and hght labor. Consequently, if he is introduced at all, it must be on a system 
 of rigid contract, which shall keep him to mine work, isolate him from the 
 community, and provide for his deportation when he has served his term.^ 
 
 The opposition to the Chinese, as has been set forth in the foregoing 
 pages, and the consequent agitation, determined definitely that the 
 only possible way of using the Chinese laborer in South Africa was under 
 specific restrictions. 
 
 The limitations forced upon the Chinese were the following :3 (i) 
 
 ' Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (New York, 1910), p. 400. 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to the Afairs of the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, 11)04, Blue Book (Cd 1895), pp. 169-70. 
 
 3 It is not a mere accident that the planks in the anti-Chinese platforms in the 
 United States, in Canada, in Australasia, and in South Africa have been practically 
 identical. Summed up they are as follows: (i) the non-assimilation by the Chinese 
 of the Western ideas and customs; (2) the hoarding spirit inherent in the Chinese, so 
 that the greater part of their earnings is either taken with them out of the country or 
 remitted to their relatives in China; (3) the refusal by the Chinese to consume local 
 products, and their preference to trade with their own people; (4) the- successful 
 competition of Chinese labor brought about by (a) the willingness of the Chinese to 
 work longer hours, and (i) the very low standards of living among them, as a result of 
 which they can ejdst and live in relative comfort on a very much smaller wage than 
 would decently maintain a white man and his family. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 35 
 
 laborers were introduced under indenture; (2) the laborers were to be 
 returned to China as soon as they could be supplanted by native labor- 
 ers or as soon as machinery could be substituted; (3) they were Umited- 
 to the mines and allowed to perform only imskilled labor in so far as 
 their services were required to supplement the native-labor supply in the 
 mines. 
 
 In addition to these more general limitations, there were in the 
 ordinance under which they were introduced specific restrictions as to 
 their work in the mines. The character of these restrictions was deter- 
 mined by the experience of other nations in the use of Chinese, by the 
 experiences the employers had had with the natives, and by the resist- 
 ance offered to the introduction of the Chinese by citizens — a combina- 
 tion of circumstances not very favorable to the success of the Chinese 
 in their work. A strong effort was made by the government to intro- 
 duce into the ordinance restrictions which would prevent such a state 
 of affairs as had risen in America and in Australasia. The government 
 oflScials profited by the knowledge of the nature of the Chinese immi- 
 grants elsewhere and the history of their employment. Thus, so far 
 as knowledge went, the government was in an excellent position to carry 
 out its work well. There had been nearly a year's campaign in which 
 every possible objection to the Chinese had been raised and discussed. 
 Upon a close study of the whole situation one is impressed with the 
 effort of the members of the government to proceed with caution, and 
 avoid any possible error. They were unselfish in their devotion to the 
 interests of the Transvaal and believed this introduction necessary. It 
 is equally certain that the Chamber of Mines was cautious, because 
 the compensation for the immense outlay of introducing the laborers 
 and training them for service could come only from a long period of 
 work. The cost of returning the laborers would fall upon the employ- 
 ers who composed the Chamber; compensation would be greater if the 
 laborers were retained longer in service. It was, therefore, in the 
 interest of the employers to retain aU laborers as long as was possible. 
 An important element in the calculation also was the belief that the 
 Chinese introduced could be retained and that the initial cost would not 
 have to be repeated at the expiration of the contract. For the reasons 
 mentioned and also from observation of the conduct of those concerned 
 in this experiment it is evident that they exerted themselves to the 
 utmost to make the experiment a success. They did not, however, fully 
 appreciate the difficulties or the nature of the Chinese, and we shall 
 later see that much trouble arose from this lack of appreciation. 
 
36 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 With full knowledge of the opposition to coolie labor in South Africa 
 on the part of citizens, the English government signed a convention 
 with China for the introduction of the indentured coohes (1904), after 
 the passage of the Transvaal Labor Ordinance designating the terms 
 under which the laborers might be introduced. The restrictions imposed 
 upon the laborers by the ordinance, not already mentioned, may be 
 summarized as follows: (i) Both laborers and employers were sub- 
 jected to the statutes of the Transvaal colony, so far as there were not 
 special provisions in the ordinance for their government, conduct, labor, 
 and control in the mines. (2) The importers of the Chinese were to be 
 their employers. Only employers on the Witwatersrand mines who 
 had secured a special shipping hcense from the Transvaal authorities 
 could import and employ Chinese. (3) The coohes could perform only 
 unskilled labor in these mines. The employers in case they assigned 
 to the coohes other labor were heavily fined. The coohes were for- 
 bidden to foUow any trade, to acquire any property, or to have an 
 interest ia any personal property or real estate, or to engage in any inde- 
 pendent enterprise of any kind. (4) The laborers were limited to the 
 mine premises, being permitted to leave only for a period of forty- 
 eight hoiurs and then only under special permit. 
 
 The ordinance itself, under which the coohes were introduced, was 
 similar to a regular law. It stated definite things that the laborers 
 could and could not do; it maintained the regular machinery of the 
 government for the enforcement of its terms; that is, the regular courts, 
 pimishments, and prisons. In other words the ordinance was a law 
 with special apphcation, in that it appUed only to the Chinese and the 
 employers of the Witwatersrand district, and to these by mutual agree- 
 ment. As was found later the very nature of this special arrangement 
 had in it possibihties for trouble. 
 
 The Chinese were recruited for service in the mines by the Labor 
 Importation Agency of the Chamber of Mines. This agency was sub- 
 ject to, and supervised by, the representatives of the Transvaal and 
 Chinese governments.' Hong Kong was the central dep6t in which all 
 contracts were signed and from which all laborers were shipped during 
 the first year. Mr. Cowen, a capable and experienced officer, super- 
 vised the shipping." As the laborers were secured principally from 
 North China the dep6t at Hong Kong was closed at the end of the first 
 
 ^Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2786), p. 25. 
 
 " Ihid., (Cd 2401), p. 81. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 37 
 
 year, and the agency afterward recruited and shipped through Chifu 
 and Changwantu.' The duties of the government officials were to 
 supervise the importation in order to enforce the provisions of the 
 ordinance; to see especially that the coolies understood its terms and 
 entered into their contract after a thorough understanding of its pro- 
 visions; to see that the laborers were in no way forced to enter service 
 in the Transvaal.' The actual recruiting was the work of the agency's 
 representatives, who were paid a definite sum for each Chinaman 
 recruited. These representatives were required to have a license from 
 the agent of the Transvaal government stationed in China,' but they 
 were to a large extent irresponsible; their chief aim was to get the 
 laborer's consent to go, and there was no way of ascertaining whether 
 they had done this by means of false representations or not. After 
 inducing the cooUe to enHst they would get him through his medical 
 examination, and have him sign his contract. They did not make 
 inquiries about the character of the coolies they recruited; they rather 
 sought those who would enlist with the least discussion and explanation. 
 These agents obtained the aid of the Chinese in the process of recruit- 
 ing, by inducing the heads of families or the leaders of the guilds to act 
 as agents and solicitors for them in engaging coolies.t Chinese com- 
 munities, too, as in all cases of Chinese emigration, seized the oppor- 
 tunity to rid themselves of some of their worst members. Some who 
 had committed crimes also sought this method of escape.^ 
 
 In spite of the indifferent method of recruiting, the coolies on the 
 whole did not differ materially from those coolies who formerly emi- 
 grated into America and other countries which admitted them. With 
 the exception of a comparatively small number of professional criminals 
 the cooUes who went to the Transvaal were a harmless, law-abiding 
 body of peasants and artisans, who took this means of earning enough 
 money to enjoy the remainder of their lives in ease in the fatherland.* 
 
 'In all, 4,480 laborers signed contracts at Chifu and 10,628 at Changwangtu. 
 {Anmud Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, igos-6. Blue Book [Cd 
 3338], p. 13)- 
 
 ' Arts. II, IV, VIII, of the Convention; Blue Book (Cd 2246). 
 
 3 Further Correspondence Relating to the Transvaal Labor Question, zgo4. Blue 
 Book (Cd 1941), P- 39- 
 
 ■• Ibid., 190S, Blue Book (Cd 2786), p. 25. 
 
 s Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igoj, Blue Book 
 (Cd 2401), pp. 81 ff. 
 
 " Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, igos. Blue Book (Cd 
 3338), p. II- 
 
38 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 Under the terms of the indenture a different class of coolies could not 
 have been expected, even with the most careful supervision. The limi- 
 tations as to the work required and the restrictions as to promotions 
 prevented the more ambitious from going — except the adventurous and 
 criminally indined who hoped to evade these restrictions. There were, 
 to be sure, a greater number of criminals among the emigrants than there 
 would have been if the recruiting had been more carefully conducted.' 
 These criminals, moreover, did have some influence upon the result of 
 the experiment, but they did not determine the result. For an explana- 
 tion of the failure of the experiment we shall have to look to other causes 
 than the character of those who took service in the mines. The causes 
 are to be found in the Importation Ordinance and the effect of its limi- 
 tations upon the work of the Chinese. The difficulties in the ordinance 
 were emphasized, moreover, by the character of those who attempted 
 to operate it. 
 
 The administration of the ordinance was in charge of a superin- 
 tendent, appointed by the heutenant-governor of the Transvaal. The 
 superintendent appointed his staff of assistants, consisting of inspectors, 
 physicians, and clerks. The work of the staff was of a supervisory 
 nature and its purpose was to see that the provisions of the ordinance 
 were carried out. The staff inspected the mines and compounds, saw 
 that proper sanitation was secured, that a sufficient medical force was 
 arranged for, and that plenty of hospital space was provided. It also 
 heard complaints from Chinese who claimed to have been mistreated, 
 and performed many other supervisory duties." In other words, its 
 function was to insure the contentment and fair treatment of the labor- 
 ers and, at the same time, to assist in securing a satisfactory amount 
 of labor from them for their employers.^ 
 
 The employers, acting under the ordinance limitations and the 
 government supervision, sought to organize the laborers into a band of 
 efficient workmen. The pohce and control measures in detail were left 
 in their handsy though in many cases there was not a clear understand- 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igoj, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2786), p. 26. 
 
 " The superintendent of the Foreign Labor Department in his report for 1905-6 
 said: "The present staff of inspectors consists of ten, of whom six are officers in the 
 s.xmy."— Report for 1905-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), p. 8. 
 
 > Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igo$, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2786), p. 16. 
 
INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE LABORERS 39 
 
 ing of the dividing line between their powers and duties and those of 
 the government.' 
 
 The Chinese laborers, being Umited to the mine premises, as were 
 the natives, required special housing provisions. The compound' 
 method, which had been in use from the beginning with the natives, was 
 continued with the coolies. The compoimd was situated on the mine 
 premises where the Chinese worked, and there they were housed and 
 fed by the company for which they labored. Each company employed 
 from two thousand to three thousand coohes. These were under the 
 direct control of a mine manager who was in charge of the mine and the 
 compound. For the special administration of the compoimd a sub- 
 manager was provided. In most cases the managers were further 
 assisted in discipline and control by European Chinese-speaking con- 
 trollers, who came with the laborers from China, and took service 
 as overseers or controllers of the Chinese in the mines and compounds.' 
 Likewise each manager had an interpreter. Each mine had its quota 
 divided into twenty or thirty groups of one himdred each; each group 
 was placed in charge of a Chinese overseer, called "headman," "head- 
 boy," or "subheadman."'* A number of coolies also were selected for 
 police.' The Chinese and natives were in no case housed together and 
 so far as possible their work in the mines was separated.' 
 
 ' Telegraphic Correspondence Relating to the Transvaal Labor Importation Ordinance, 
 igo4, Blue Book (Cd i8g8), pp. 9 ff. 
 
 " The Chinese compounds were simply barracks arranged with a large dining-hall 
 in the center and surrounded by sleeping-rooms. 
 
 3 Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, ipoj. Blue 
 Book (Cd 2401), p. 82. 
 
 < "It is merely for the more efficient control of the laborers, that instead of having 
 a man in charge of 3,000 to 4,000 laborers they were divided into a certain number of 
 gangs or sections and a laborer placed at the head of each group, a laborer whose duty 
 was to report when any offense had been committed by any laborer in his gang. If he 
 failed to report them he was liable on conviction to .a penalty." — Ibid. (Cd 2786), 
 p. 69. 
 
 s Ibid. (Cd 2401), p. 82. 
 
 « Ibid. (Cd 2786), p. 23. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE CfflNESE AS LABORERS IN THE MINES 
 
 From the foregoing it will be seen that the Chinese were restricted 
 to very narrow limits, and yet were expected to prove efficient laborers. 
 The important question for us to consider now is the worth of their labor. 
 This we may view from two standpoints: first, from that of the employer, 
 and second, from that of the state. The employment of the coolies 
 might easily be of profit to the mining stockholders, and not be of 
 economic or social advantage to the whole community and vice 
 versa. 
 
 As a laborer the coolie demonstrated his competency.' His effi- 
 ciency was equal to that of the whites and double that of the natives. At 
 the same time wages paid to him were the same as those paid to the 
 native — ^that is, about $12 . 50 per month, in addition to all living expenses, 
 with transportation to and from the mines." The outlay for the Chinese 
 was somewhat greater than for the native before beginning work in the 
 mines, yet the superior earning ability of the coolie counteracted the 
 influence of this initial cost upon the final result or the value of the 
 Chinese. Although we must keep these minor differences of cost in 
 mind, we cannot arrive at a satisfactory conclusion by the comparative 
 study of such single it€ms of expense as wages, transportation, etc. 
 We have chosen to examine this experiment in Chinese labor from the 
 standpoint of the entreprenevir, and from his position we must consider 
 the whole cost of production, in whatever form there is an outlay of 
 money. If money is saved in wages and lost in other expenses created 
 by the introduction of the cooUes, then the experiment cannot be a 
 success, Tmless the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 
 
 With the introduction of the cooUes there was a remarkable increase 
 in the output of the mines, as a comparison of the production of the 
 years 1898 and 1905 shows. We give the figures for these years because 
 the mines reached the highest development possible with the use of whites 
 and natives in 1898; and in 1905 the mining industry had recovered 
 from the effects of the war, and was in fuU operation under Chinese, 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igo;, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2401), pp. 17-18. 
 
 ' Hid., igo4, Blue Book (Cd 2183), p. i. 
 
 40 
 
CHINESE AS LABORERS IN THE MINES 
 
 41 
 
 natives, and whites, the whites in both cases performing the skilled 
 labor.' 
 
 
 1898 
 
 190S 
 
 Percentage of 
 Increase 
 
 Mines of all kinds 
 
 Mine employees 
 
 Output of minerals 
 
 Accidents reported* . . . . 
 
 Mining rights held 
 
 License revenues 
 
 Number of officials 
 
 164 
 
 100,098 
 
 184,775,000 
 
 787 
 
 165,800 
 
 $1,410,000 
 
 170 
 
 $429,100 
 
 298 
 
 177,812 
 $115,720,000 
 
 1,507 
 
 274,000 
 
 $1,910,000 
 
 201 
 
 $520,500 
 
 63-41 
 77-15 
 36-63 
 91.49 
 65.26 
 35-38 
 18.24 
 24-40! 
 
 
 * The comparison in this instance is affected by the more stringent regulations now enforced as to 
 the definition of accidents which have to be reported. 
 
 t Cf. Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony CCd 
 3528), p. 18. 
 
 In order to understand the full significance of the development 
 indicated by these figures, we should note a number of facts. The 
 increase in the number of mines worked indicates not only the extension 
 of the industry, but also that the mines of less worth could be worked 
 profitably. Likewise the increase in the number of mining claims shows 
 a similar extension of the industry. We note, however, that the mine 
 taxes do not increase in proportion to the production. This fact is 
 favorable to the mine operators, but imfavorable to the government. 
 We submit (p. 42) a comparison of the efficiency of the Chinese, native, 
 and white labor for the years 1903-5.^ 
 
 On two points the tables do not give comparative costs in full. The 
 first of these is the initial expense of the two kinds of labor, which was 
 discussed above. The other point of comparison is in living expenses, . 
 which cost $1.75 per month for the native as against $2.75 for the 
 Chinaman. Some of the comparisons should be carefully noted, as, 
 for instance, the increased number of feet drilled and the increased 
 amoimt of dirt handled. The greater increase in the amount of work 
 performed, as compared with the output of gold, is very significant, 
 
 ' The Transvaal government must be regarded as virtually a partner in the labor 
 experiment. It was in the interest of the government as well as that of the mines that 
 the Chinese were introduced. The government bore a share in the expense and real- 
 ized a higher profit through mine taxation, etc. 
 
 ' This table is made up from data given in Blue Book (Cd 3528), pp. 134-84. 
 
42 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 WITWATERSRAND: PRODUCING AND NON-PRODUCING MINES 
 
 AVERAGE NUMBER IN SERVICE 
 
 Whites 
 
 Natives 
 
 Chinese 
 
 1903 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1904 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 190S 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1906 
 Jan.-June 
 
 10,697 
 11,704 
 
 12,228 
 13.823 
 
 15,522 
 15,925 
 
 15,844 
 
 52,640 
 64,824 
 
 70,351 
 74,149 
 
 93,489 
 88,671 
 
 83,756 
 
 167 
 11,112 
 
 34,668 
 47,859 
 
 50,041 
 
 SALAKIES AND WAGES 
 
 1903 
 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1904 
 Jan.-June 
 
 " July-Dec. 
 
 1905 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1906 
 Jan.-June 
 
 $ 8,852,370 
 10,558,155 
 
 10,535,000 
 11,916,215 
 
 13,333,945 
 15,145.615 
 
 15,581,535 
 
 $ 3,066,670 
 4,213,186 
 
 4,551,315 
 5,495,670 
 
 6,161,610 
 6,043,255 
 
 6,225,630 
 
 5 1,26s 
 "3,8SS 
 
 1.585,420 
 2,380,000 
 
 2,765,650 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINES 
 
 Feet Drilled 
 
 Machines in 
 Use 
 
 Tons of Earth 
 Handled 
 
 1903 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1904 
 Jan.-Jime 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1905 
 Jan.-June 
 July-Dec. 
 
 1906 
 Jan.-June 
 
 175,970 
 198,665 
 
 199,171 
 210,990 
 
 261,724 
 298.978 
 
 294.985 
 
 1,190 
 1,441 
 
 ^.578 
 1,722 
 
 1,477 
 1,882 
 
 2,053 
 
 7,439,950 
 9,439,950 
 
 10,650,028 
 12,168,080 
 
 17,241,569 
 10,504,248 
 
 17,611,03s 
 
 because it indicates that a lower grade of mines was being worked profit- 
 ably. The following table shows this more clearly : 
 
CHINESE AS LABORERS IN THE MINES 
 
 43 
 
 
 WiTWATEBSHAND 
 
 Outside Districts 
 
 Transvaal 
 
 
 Stamps 
 
 Value 
 
 Stamps 
 
 Value 
 
 Stamps 
 
 Value 
 
 1905 
 
 1904 
 
 6,930 
 
 5,555 
 
 199,958,340 
 77,695,095 
 
 405 
 280 
 
 $4,552,080 
 2,779,950 
 
 7,335 
 5,835 
 
 $104,020,370 
 80,772,545 
 
 Increase. . 
 
 1,375 
 
 $22,263,245 
 
 125 
 
 1,772,130 
 
 1,500 
 
 23,247,825 
 
 During the year 1905 the districts outside of the Rand showed in- 
 creased activity; the number of the companies paying dividends was 16 as 
 against 12 in 1904; the increase in production was 69,408 ounces of gold, 
 and the number of stamps increased 125 over those of the previous year.' 
 
 In this connection it is also necessary to regard the production of the 
 whole of the Transvaal after the introduction of the cooUes. The pro- 
 duction for the years 1905 and 1906, including all minerals, is: 
 
 Year 
 
 Gold 
 
 saver 
 
 Coal 
 
 Diamonds 
 
 Chemicals 
 
 Stones 
 
 19OS-6 
 
 1904-5 
 
 $1x0,439,185 
 91,805,720 
 
 $350,520 
 271,105 
 
 $4,185,880 
 4,374,080 
 
 $4,931,145 
 5,992,650 
 
 $161,010 
 123,170 
 
 $1,878,300 
 1,827,680 
 
 Increase * . 
 
 18,633,465 
 
 79,415 
 
 
 
 37,840 
 
 50,520 
 
 Decrease . 
 
 189,206 
 
 1,061,505 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * The net amount of increase was $I7,SS2,S3S. 
 
 We have already seen that among the natives the amount of sickness 
 was a serious hindrance to their successful employment. This difficulty 
 was a slight factor among the Chinese. Even the whites, doing only 
 skilled labor, showed a higher death-rate than the Chinese. A com- 
 parison of mortality, with cause of death, is given in the following table? 
 
 
 Whites 
 
 Chinese 
 
 Natives 
 
 Cause of Death 
 
 No. 
 
 Average 
 
 No. of 
 
 Laborers 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths 
 iniooo 
 
 No. 
 
 Average 
 
 No. of 
 
 Laborers 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths 
 iniooo 
 
 No. 
 
 Average 
 
 No. of 
 
 Laborers 
 
 No. of 
 Deaths 
 in zooo 
 
 Accident, murder, 
 suicide 
 
 99 
 
 281 
 
 19,447 
 
 145 
 
 397 
 538 
 
 47,545 
 
 8.1 
 II. I 
 
 629 
 4,930 
 
 112,225 
 
 5.1 
 
 
 35 -o 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 380 
 
 19,447 
 
 19.6 
 
 935 
 
 47,545 
 
 19.2 
 
 5,559 
 
 112,225 
 
 46. 1 
 
 
 
 ' Anrnial Report of the Chamber of Mines, 1905, p. xlviii. 
 
 " See Correspondence Relating to Afairs in the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony, igo7, Blue Book (Cd 3528), p. 151. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE VALUE OF THE COOLIES TO THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 The tables in the preceding chapter show a striking development of' 
 the mining industries due to the use of Chinese labor. It is evident that 
 the Chinaman is in every way more efficient than the native. It is 
 instructive here to read the opinion of the employers in 1905-6 as to the 
 value of coolie labor, as expressed by the president of the Chamber of 
 Mines, who, in his, farewell address, given upon retiring from office in 
 1905, said, after enumerating the advantages and disadvantages of 
 Chinese labor: "On account of the short experience in the use of the 
 Chinese and the many difficulties arising out of the newness of the situa- 
 tion, it is difficult to compare the work of the Chinese and the natives, 
 but taken as a whole, the efficiency of the Chinese can be pronounced as 
 distinctly satisfactory."' One year later, upon a similar occasion, the 
 president of the Chamber said in his address: "When due allowance has 
 been made for the novelty of the work performed by the Chinese in the 
 mines, and when the necessity of giving them time to learn their duties 
 has been considered, the standard of efficiency is very satisfactory. The 
 average cooKe is a steady worker."" After an able defense of the use of 
 the coolies in the mines and a statement of the advantages of the plan 
 to the community, he concludes his speech with the following words: 
 " By the figures which I have given you it is shown beyond a doubt that, 
 whatever its disadvantages may be, Chinese labor has contributed 
 greatly to that extension of industry which has taken place during the 
 past two years and which has been the means of giving emplojrment and 
 providing a living for thousands of people, for whom, but for the intro- 
 duction of the Chinese, there would have been no place on the Rand."' 
 
 These statements of the officers of the Chamber can be accepted as 
 correct, so far as the value of the coolie labor to the employers is con- 
 cerned, but, as regards the. ad vantages of this kind of labor to the com- 
 munity, it cannot be considered final. It was a partisan statement. In 
 fact there was a Rand party and an anti-Rand party in the Transvaal. 
 The Rand party was composed of the employers and those interested 
 directly in the mines; the anti-Rand party consisted of those living in 
 
 ' Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, igo4, p. xxx. 
 
 = Ibid., 1905, p. xxxi. s Ihid., p. kviii. 
 
 44 
 
VALUE OF COOLIES TO THE TRANSVAAL 
 
 45 
 
 the Transvaal and engaged in other occupations than mining. The 
 above statements represent the views of the Rand party, and from their 
 partisan viewpoint they did not regard the interest of the conmiunity as 
 a whole. The expression of opinion by members of the anti-Rand party, 
 who believed the Chinese were undesirable residents and who were 
 trjdng to bring about their return to China, has points of equal strength. 
 Regarding the views of each party for what they are worth, we find 
 some strong and reasonable grounds for opposition to the coolies. 
 
 The Chinese, in the first place, while engaged in the Rand mines, 
 were producers; they were not consumers of the products of the country; 
 at least, not to any great degree. In this respect they differed from the 
 natives. The following daily allowance of food, as stated in the con- 
 tract, shows that the requirements were almost exclusively for imported 
 products: 
 
 Rice, not less than i J lb. 
 
 Fish or meat § " 
 
 Fresh vegetables ij " 
 
 Salt 1 oz. 
 
 Sugar J " 
 
 Chinese tea J " 
 
 In addition to this bill of fare Chinese condiments in sufficient quantity 
 were required, though other products might be substituted for these if 
 they had equivalent nutritive value.' What the coolies actually used is 
 given in the following table of materials imported for Chinese con- 
 sumption in the years 1905-6:" 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Value 
 
 1906 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Value 
 
 Rice 
 
 Meats 
 
 Fish 
 
 Salt 
 
 Vegetables. . 
 
 Tea 
 
 Bread 
 
 Other foods . 
 Medicine. . . 
 
 16,388,232 
 
 5,832,319 
 
 103,373 
 
 459>S6i 
 
 8o,7S8 
 6,988,046 
 
 SSS,440 
 
 402,526 
 
 8,19s 
 
 S.oiS 
 
 244,220 
 
 14,170 
 
 272,700 
 
 36,640 
 
 36,880 
 
 18,450,739 
 
 7,038,526 
 
 270,204 
 
 S3i,"4 
 
 61,110 
 8,358,008 
 
 $ 598,285 
 
 550,195 
 20,065 
 
 5,065 
 
 158,400 
 
 11,040 
 
 332,875 
 
 40,575 
 
 42,500 
 
 Total value. 
 
 iJi,477,95o 
 
 $1,749,050 
 
 ' See Convention between the United Kingdom and China, etc., Blue Book (Cd 2246), 
 
 P-7- 
 
 ' Your conmiittee desires to record its appreciation of the assistance afforded by 
 the merchants in deahng with the difficult question of meeting the requirements of the 
 new branch of trade created to supply the wants of the imported laborers. — Report of 
 the Chamber of Mines; 1904, p. xxix. 
 
46 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 Articles of clothing and luxuries were also for the most part imported, 
 so that the only profit to the Transvaal from the Chinese as consumers 
 was that realized by the local merchants in the sale of Chinese goods, the 
 value of which was insignificant. 
 
 As producers their value may easily be overestimated. A certain 
 amoxmt of the products of their labor went directly to the government in 
 taxes, but we have already noted that this increase was not in proportion 
 to the increase in production. In so far as these laborers increased the 
 national income through the income of individuals, whether capitalists, 
 stockholders, white oflScials, or laborers, we may consider their pro- 
 ductivity profitable. Let us see to what extent there was this increase. 
 The stock in the Transvaal mines is held principally by foreigners, and 
 therefore the greater part of the increase from Chinese labor went to 
 foreign lands.' This would, of course, have been true imder any increase 
 in production, but we have shown that the coolies do not have the cor- 
 responding advantages, for the Transvaal, of other laborers. There was 
 an increase in the number of oflScials, and of white skilled laborers; 
 many of those out of employment were given work, and the community 
 was so far benefited. It must be noted, however, that this whole dis- 
 cussion of the value of coohe labor applies only to the Transvaal, and 
 does not indicate what these laborers might be worth to other com- 
 munities, except in so far as the same conditions might be repeated. 
 
 There were positive advantages resulting from the employment of 
 the Chinese. The labor scarcity was no longer felt, and the agricultural 
 development of the country proceeded, unhindered by lack of labor. 
 Similarly the demand for laborers for public works was satisfied, and 
 the increase in government fimds provided the necessary means for 
 carrying out some of the necessary improvements. Means of transpor- 
 tation were also provided, roads were made, and means for irrigation 
 were carried through. To this extent the Chinese certainly accomplished 
 the purpose for which they were introduced and rendered valuable 
 service to the Transvaal and to the whole of South Africa. 
 
 'The capital stock in the Witwatersrand mines in the year 1904 was divided 
 between the different nations as follows: England, 45 per cent; France, 30 per cent; 
 Germany, 15 per cent; South Africa, 7! per cent; Austria, 25 per cent; see Epstein, 
 Die Minenindustrie im engUschen Siidafrika, p. 109. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE CONTROL OF THE CHINESE 
 
 So far we have attempted to show what was the value to the mine 
 and to the community of the coolie laborers, and to what extent they 
 fulfilled the purpose for which they were introduced. We have also, as 
 far as possible, attempted to isolate the labor itself from the difficulties 
 and problems connected with it, and to examine simply the amount of 
 work performed, with its immediate costs and value to all concerned. 
 Such a method cannot, however, profi.tably be continued farther, because 
 the determination of the worth of the laborers is a complex problem and 
 cannot be separated from maintenance in the broadest sense of the term, 
 maintenance here standing for the whole expense caused by the employ- 
 ment of the Chinese. This includes not only living expenses and wages, 
 but also the outlay for discipline and control: the cost for the detection 
 and pimishment of crime, the support of prisons, and so forth. 
 
 Insubordination on the part of the coolies was not infrequent and 
 took the form either of opposition to the demands of the employers, or 
 of misdemeanors and crime against the colony. As an example of such 
 opposition to employers may be mentioned the refusal to work, or the 
 refusal to do more than a certain amount of work. This refusal to work 
 was made more effective by the concerted action of the laborers.' The 
 cooUes made use of the strike, against which the managers were even 
 more powerless than if the laborers had been whites; for the coolies were 
 capable of all the shrewdness of the whites without being subject to the 
 same restraint or the same code of morals. The following quotation 
 shows the method used by the laborers against the managers of the mines : 
 "The trouble at Aurora West occurred when a number of Chinese 
 damaged the compound and then ran away. On October 17, thirty-three 
 cooUes refused to work and a white overseer was knocked down."= 
 
 In the first six months of the employment of the Chinese there were 
 
 ' Headboys on the North Randfontein mines incited all other laborers on the 
 mines to drill only twelve inches during a shift of ten hours, a hole of thirty-six inches 
 being accepted as an ordinary day's work for unskilled laborers. — ^Blue Book (Cd 
 240X), p. 96. 
 
 'Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, 1903, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2401), p. 97. 
 
 47 
 
48 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 fourteen disturbances of a more or less serious nature. The character 
 of these distiurbances is illustrated by the following report: 
 
 The disturbance on the North Randfontein mine began by a fight between 
 a Kaffir and a Chinaman. The Kaffir took refuge in the timekeeper's office 
 and the Chinese headmen demanded his surrender in order to inquire into the 
 matter and punish him. This was refused and, after a short discussion, the 
 Chinese headmen ran off to the compoxmd, blew their whistles to call out the 
 aborers, and led them in a Kaffir-hunting expedition. Fortunately the Kaffirs 
 had bare feet, and the Chinese had on miners' boots, so that the Kaffirs were 
 not caught. They (the Chinese) then attacked a Kaffir location and began 
 pulling the huts to pieces, when a smaU body of police rode up, and after some 
 difficulty marshaled them aU back into their compounds.' 
 
 It would be wrong, however, to suppose that strikes and disturbances 
 on the part of the Chinese were the rule in the Transvaal. The amount 
 of work accomplished would have been impossible if the majority of the 
 laborers had not been energetic in the performance of their tasks. A 
 more serious difficulty presented itself in the crimes committed by the 
 Chinese. From the beginning much criminal activity was evident 
 among the coolies. As they became acquainted with the conditions 
 under which they worked, the nature of the crimes changed, but did not 
 become less frequent. The following table gives the crimes for which 
 Chinese were convicted, committed from 1904-6: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 a '5 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Month 
 
 fa 
 
 J 
 
 if 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 Jl 
 
 
 fl 
 
 •s 
 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 l| 
 
 J 
 
 •3 
 
 H 
 
 1904 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 July-Dec . . 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 299 
 
 140 
 
 484 
 
 11,112 
 
 190S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jan.-June . . 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 133 
 
 5 
 
 I 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1.136 
 
 79 
 
 i>394 
 
 34,688 
 
 190s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 July-Dec . . 
 
 1,^4 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 329 
 
 89 
 
 6 
 
 81 
 
 102 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 4,686 
 
 4 
 
 S,472 
 
 47,8S9 
 
 igo6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jan.-June . . 
 
 i«3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 3«i 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 
 131 
 
 108 
 
 S4 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 30 
 
 7,106 
 
 
 8,060 
 
 50,041 
 
 The above table gives the number of convictions but does not show 
 the real number of the crimes, as the Chinese were skilful in concealing 
 their ofienses. Their criminal record is much worse than that of the 
 natives. In the fiscal year 1905-6 there were about 49,000 Chinese 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue Book 
 (Cd 2401), p. 52. 
 
CONTROL OF THE CHINESE 
 
 49 
 
 working in the mines with 13,532 convictions, 29 . 6 per cent of the whole 
 number employed. In the same year there were about 85,000 natives 
 employed and only 3,824 were brought before the courts. This was 203 
 more than in the previous year, and was not less than the average num- 
 ber. Of the number brought before the court, 1,234 were convicted for 
 desertion, 456 for assault, 480 for thefts, 47 for housebreaking, 7 for rape, 
 13 for murder, 1,909 for dnmkenness, and 1,060 for violation of laws 
 against the use of alcohol.' 
 
 We do not need to follow this comparison farther, as it is only of 
 secondary importance. It indicates, however, the greater expense 
 imposed on the government for the preservation of law and order. 
 Moreover, the cost of the administration of justice was for definite 
 reasons very much greater in the case of the coolies. Very few of 
 the coolies paid their fines; instead, they went to prison at the 
 government's expense.^ The munber of Chinese convicted in July, 
 
 VIOLATIONS OF THE STATUTES* 
 
 Month 
 
 190s 
 
 July 
 
 August . . . . 
 September. 
 October . . . 
 November . 
 December . 
 1906' 
 January. . . 
 February. . 
 March .... 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 Total. 
 
 I^Q 
 
 43 
 
 -It 
 ao 
 
 7IS 
 
 28 
 
 307 
 
 226 
 
 »P4 
 
 218 
 
 ^1 
 
 ciJ S 
 .bo 
 
 .11 
 
 66 
 
 .a -3 
 
 16 
 
 O C4 
 .S d 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 147 
 
 94 
 
 97 
 
 143 
 
 208 
 
 152 
 167 
 178 
 200 
 146 
 149 
 
 1,781 
 
 Ill 
 
 ■SSS 
 .ss-g 
 lis 
 
 ^m o 
 
 43,iSS 
 44,565 
 44,44« 
 
 45,892 
 4S,8o6 
 
 47,917 
 
 47,115 
 49.935 
 49,877 
 49,187 
 50,944 
 52,328 
 
 * The table for ordinance violations is presented on page 53. 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colony, igoj. Blue Book (Cd 3528), p. 117. 
 
 " In October, 1905, the Transvaal Council passed a law deducting fines from the 
 wages of the Chinese, but it was repealed by the English Parhament. — Further Cor- 
 respondence Relating to Afairs in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue Book (Cd 2786) , p. 14. 
 
so AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 August, and September, 1905, was 2,401, and only 24 of these paid 
 fines.' 
 
 From the table given on p. 48 we can also see that the offenses increased 
 in niunber from the beginning. These offenses are of such significance 
 that we shall present them in detail by dividing them into two classes: 
 first, violation of the statutes, and second, violations of the ordinance.^ 
 
 A closer examination of tlie offenses in the foregoing tables indicates 
 that the character as well as the niunber of crimes tended to be more 
 serious as the laborers became acquainted with conditions. The laborers 
 possessed dangerous weapons which they had secured for use in their 
 attacks upon the farmers and the white merchants,^ and in a few cases 
 white farmers were actually murdered by these wandering Chinese.* 
 We present here another table of the convictions and fimes for two rep- 
 resentative months, indicating more nearly the nature of the offenses:' 
 
 September 1905 
 (44,484 Chinese laborers) 
 Crime: Housebreaking 
 
 2 Sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment 
 8 " "6 " 
 
 I " " I year's 
 
 Crime: Breach of Peace 
 
 16 Sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2563), pp. s, 10, 17, and (Cd 2786), pp. 5, 21, 40, 47. 
 
 " Annucd Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, jgos-6, p. 36. 
 
 3 In 1905 a law was passed forbidding the use of dangerous weapons, a list of 
 which follows: swords and daggers; knives with cutting edges of eight inches or more 
 in length; spears and loaded or spiked sticks; knuckle-dusters; sandbags; jumpers, 
 crowbars, or hammers exceeding three pounds in weight; axes and pickaxes. These 
 regulations appUed only to the Chinese. 
 
 4 A letter from General Botha to the governor of the Transvaal in May, 1906, 
 reads as follows: "I regret to trouble you again in connection with the Chinese who 
 continue to attack and injure the farmers. The house of Jacob Smith has been 
 attacked again and has been destroyed by dynamite. At the same time two Chinese 
 were shot. Mr. Schulte reports that the last lot of Chinese who were captured in his 
 vicinity had in their possession dynamite, presumably to blow up the houses where 
 farmers defended themselves. It becomes clear that the Chinese, in order to attain 
 their cruel purposes against the farmers, are going to use stiU more barbarous methods." 
 — Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, igo6, p. loi. 
 
 s Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal, etc., igo6, Blue Book 
 (Cd 3528), pp. I ff.; and (Cd 2786), pp. 48-49. 
 
CONTROL OF THE CHINESE 51 
 
 Crime: Theft 
 
 2 Sentenced to 7 days' imprisonment 
 I " " 14 " 
 
 1 " " 21 " 
 
 5 " " I month's 
 
 2 " "6 " 
 
 Crime: Forgery 
 
 6 Sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment 
 
 Crime: Assault 
 
 I Sentenced to 2 days' imprisonment 
 26 " " I month's 
 
 I " "6 weeks' " 
 
 I " "2 months' 
 
 4 " "6 " " 
 
 May igo6 
 (50,944 Chinese laborers) 
 Crime: Housebreaking 
 
 26 Sentenced to 7 days to 1 year, and one to 15 lashes additional 
 
 Crime: Theft 
 
 22 Sentenced from 3 months to 5 years, with 15 lashes and hard labor 
 7 " "7 days " 3 months 
 
 Crime: Forgery 
 
 29 Sentenced from 7 days to 8 months, with hard labor 
 
 Crime: Assault 
 
 52 Sentenced from 3 days to 12 months, and 10 to 15 lashes 
 
 Crime: Murder 
 
 6 Sentenced to death penalty 
 
 Crime: Dangerous Weapons 
 
 9 Sentenced from 6 weeks to 2 months, with hard labor 
 
 During the year the authorities instituted a change. For certain 
 offenses, instead of imprisoning the guilty they flogged them or sentenced 
 them to prison.' This change, however, did not accomplish the desired 
 results, for the laborers remained as stubborn as ever in their efforts to 
 
 ' The superintendents and inspectors had no jurisdiction to hold preliminary 
 inquiries into serious cases. They were obliged, therefore, to leave all cases, the 
 fitting punishment for which would exceed a fine of $375 .00 or imprisonment for more 
 
 than six months to the magistrates In case of a conviction for a second oflEense 
 
 lashes, not exceeding twenty-five, could be inflicted. — Blue Book (Cd 2786), p. 49. 
 
52 
 
 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 accomplish certain purposes for which they were striving. We have 
 shown that the crimes committed by the cooUes were a hindrance to 
 their usefuhiess, yet we should not exaggerate the seriousness of the 
 crimes themselves. The Chinese are, on the whole, a rather peaceable 
 people and many of them remained so in the Transvaal. But the con- 
 tinual gambling in the compounds involved them in debt, and they had 
 to find money for pa3anent. Accordingly they engaged in robbery as 
 the easiest method of securing the necessary funds.' 
 
 One important effect of the offenses of the coolies was that they 
 intensified the antagonistic attitude among the citizens. Of the 13,532 
 convictions in 1905-6, 11,785 were for the violation of the ordinance, as 
 follows:'' 
 
 VIOLATIONS AGAINST THE ORDINANCE 
 
 2t 
 
 3t 
 
 4V 
 
 S§ 
 
 611 
 
 8tt 
 
 Number of 
 Laborers 
 
 190S 
 
 July 
 
 August . . . 
 
 September 
 
 October. . 
 
 November 
 
 December . 
 igo6 
 
 January. . 
 
 February . 
 
 March . . . 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 3S^ 
 378 
 434 
 38s 
 SOI 
 S6S 
 
 809 
 787 
 724 
 569 
 890 
 605 
 
 218 
 4S2 
 36s 
 417 
 205 
 
 71 
 
 lOI 
 
 61 
 63 
 
 21 
 10 
 
 33 
 
 441 
 310 
 382 
 231 
 267 
 i6s 
 
 41 
 28 
 
 39 
 
 70 
 28 
 
 83 
 
 72 
 
 74 
 S4 
 
 25 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 12 
 
 IS 
 96 
 
 18 
 
 2S 
 17 
 14 
 
 7 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 43,iSS 
 44>S6S 
 44,484 
 4S,892 
 4S,8o6 
 47,217 
 
 47,117 
 49,9SS 
 49,897 
 49,789 
 50,944 
 52,328 
 
 * Desertions, refusal to work, unlawful absence from work. 
 
 t Absence from mine premises without permit, 
 
 i Failing to present permit if requested, when absent from the premises. 
 
 K Possession of opium. 
 
 § Practicing fraud in the performance of work and injuring property or using insulting language. 
 
 II Absence from roll call on Sunday. 
 
 ** Interest in trade or business. 
 
 tt Aiding other laborers in violation -of ordinances. 
 
 ' The coolie that cannot pay his debts has collective pressure brought to bear 
 upon him, and he is oppressed in the compounds to such an extent that life becomes a 
 burden to him. When in this position, two alternatives present themselves to him as 
 a means of escape: first, to desert for the purpose of robbery in order to get the ftmds 
 to liquidate the indebtedness; second, to commit suicide or to commit murder and go 
 to prison. — Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, igo6, p. 552. 
 
 ■• Annuid Report of the Foreign Labor Department, 1903-6, Blue* Book (Cd 3338), 
 p. 36. 
 
CONTROL OF THE CHINESE 53 
 
 Violations of the ordinance may be classed under three main heads, 
 as follows: first, desertions, or leaving the mines without the intention 
 of returning; second, absence from the mines without a permit; third, 
 refusal to show permit when found absent from the mines. The second 
 class of absences was made up largely of men who had deserted, either 
 the regular desertions, such as those mentioned in the first class, or of 
 those who had simply escaped from the premises with the hope of 
 returning before the absence was detected. Such escapes were for the 
 pmpose of securing opium, or obtaining weapons, or for the purpose of 
 punishing those who had taken advantage of them in former dealings in 
 these articles.' 
 
 It will not be without interest here to look into the efforts to prevent 
 these escapes. In the first year it became clear that the regular courts 
 could not handle all violations. These courts were located at some dis- 
 tance from the mines, and the inconveniences caused by the trials were 
 too great to be endured and involved too much expense to be con- 
 tinued. When we consider the number of convictions, and remember at 
 the same time that many laborers tried were not convicted and that 
 cases had to be tried in a magistrate's court more than three miles 
 distant from the mines, we can realize the extent of the hindrance to 
 their work. But, in addition, witnesses for and against the accused had 
 to be summoned, and oflicers had to be retained to serve summonses and 
 force witnesses to appear — ^not an easy matter with the Chinese. In fact, 
 aU the complicated machinery of a magistrate's court had to be operated, 
 and then perhaps, because of the crowded condition of the courts, the 
 cases were postponed or remanded for trial to an official in another 
 district. With such complications it was impossible to deal with all 
 violations in the regular courts. Therefore, provision was made for 
 special courts in which the legal process might be hastened. Superin- 
 tendents' and inspectors' courts were established in which the trial 
 might take place as informally as possible at the mines.' The following 
 offenses against the ordinance were tried in these courts :' refusal to be 
 
 • Many white merchants looked upon the coolie as a person from whom they could 
 make imfair exactions. The Chinamen were too shrewd for this and trouble often 
 resulted (Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, igo$-6, Blue 
 Book (Cd 3338), pp. II ff.). 
 
 " Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, ipos-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 pp. s ff- 
 
 3 Further Correspondence Relating to A^airs in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2786), p. 38. 
 
54 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 repatriated; assistance to other laborers in the violation of the ordinance; 
 opposition to officials; assistance to deserting Chinese; escape from 
 service; refusal to work when required; unlawful absence from work; 
 performance of other than unskilled labor; acceptance of work with a 
 manager other than the one importing cooUes; any interest in commerce 
 or trade; false complaint against officials; and the possession of opium, 
 gum, or gum extract. Since the Chinese had been accustomed to receive 
 corporal pimishment in China, the employers argued that this right, 
 conferred upon the managers and controllers, would induce the coolies 
 to perform the proper amoimt of work without the necessity of losing 
 time in trial and coiurt proceedings. The managers therefore allowed 
 its use in the mines and compounds. After three months' trial in the 
 closing months of 1905 with no improvement the government forced the 
 managers to put an end to corporal punishment." When these measures 
 failed — early in the year — the governor of the Transvaal, Lord Selboume, 
 selected a new superintendent for the administration of the ordinance, 
 in the hope of attaining the desired end. Two months after the change 
 the governor in his report says: "The Superintendent of the Foreign 
 Labor Department, Mr. Jameson, who is thoroughly acquainted with 
 the habits and idiosjmcracies of the northern Chinese, has only been 
 here for a period of two months, in which time he has had to make himself 
 acquainted with the conditions of the country and to organize the 
 department. He assures me that he is very confident that within a 
 short time, when he has a full stafi at his disposal, he wiU be able to get 
 control of laborers in the mines. He has received every assurance that 
 whatever staff is necessary for him to exercise proper control over the 
 .laborers he shall have."' In spite of this change in management and the 
 efforts put forth, the violations, especially escapes from the mines, con- 
 tinued, and necessitated other means of control. 
 
 These new measures of control included additional nimiber of police 
 guards. From the beginning of the introduction of the coolies the 
 nimiber of police outside of the mines was increased as a precaution 
 against desertion from the mines; but, Uke other measures, this increase 
 proved wholly inadequate. To secure against the possibility of future 
 desertions a special ordinance was passed by the Transvaal council 
 creating a farmer-citizens' poHce system, under which any farmer could 
 arrest a Chinese laborer found outside of the mine premises. Offices were 
 
 " Report of the Foreign Labor Department, igos-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), p. 4. 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igoj, Blue 
 Book (Cd 2786), p.. 16. 
 
CONTROL OF THE CHINESE 55 
 
 established in the country, and the police were stationed there for the 
 reception of the coolies captured and delivered by the farmers.' This 
 measure likewise failed to prevent desertions, and in 1906 the South 
 African constabulary was called into service, with the result described 
 by one writer as follows: "Arising out of the condition which has been 
 created by the desertion of the Chinese laborers from the mines, and the 
 consequent outrages upon the country-side, a military force of four 
 hundred men of the South African constabulary has been called into 
 service to arrest deserters and prevent predatory parties.'" This 
 military force formed a ring about the mines which prevented desertions 
 far into the country, as had occurred before, but did not prevent crimes 
 near the mines. The farmers had been provided with arms by the 
 government for protection against deserting Chinese, but with all the 
 precautions the menace continued to such an extent that the government 
 appointed a special commission to investigate means of preventing 
 crimes. This committee reported: "The opinion has been generally 
 expressed — ^and it is the opinion in which we concur — that even if the 
 strength of the present force were doubled it would not be effective in 
 checking the desertions and consequent excursions into the country-side 
 and outrages by the laborers."^ 
 
 Because of the conduct of the coohes it is not surprising that the 
 government should arrange for the repatriation of the laborers at the 
 expiration of their indenture. The governor in his speech at the opening 
 of Parliament on March 31, 1906^ stated: "My ministers are resolved 
 that the employment of the Chinese laborers on the mines of the Wit- 
 watersrand shall cease at the earliest possible moment."'' He added, 
 however, that if they were convinced that repatriation at the end of the 
 first period of the laborer's service would leave the mines without 
 laborers, they would be prepared to recommend to Parliament such 
 measures as would make possible a temporary renewal of indentures. 
 On June 14, 1906, after two years' experience with Chinese labor, the 
 governor of the Transvaal announced to Parliament that he and his 
 ministers would not interfere with the return of the coolies upon the 
 
 'The following prices were paid to farmers for capturing and delivering the 
 deserters: 25 cents for one or two Chinamen for each mile traveled; 45 cents for 
 three; 50 cents for four or five; 65 cents for six or seven; and 75 cents for eight. 
 {Annual Report of Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, igos-6, p. 43). 
 
 ' Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, igo6, p. S47- 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
 ■< Ibid., igo8, Introduction. 
 
$6 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 termination of the first contract. He gave two reasons for this action: 
 "the unalterable conviction that the system of Chinese labor is in the 
 highest degree inimical to the abiding interests of the Transvaal, and 
 the consideration that the supply of native labor is, and has been, for 
 some time in marked excess of the demand."' 
 
 The abtmdant supply of laborers at that time was due to two causes: 
 first, there were actually present more than 50,000 Chinese laborers; 
 and second, the unfavorable condition of the crops and the resulting 
 stagnation of public improvements made it necessary for the native 
 himself to seek employment in the mines and on the farms. Our con- 
 clusion nevertheless that the industrial and agricultural demands of 
 South Africa cannot be permanently supplied from the native sources is 
 not changed by such temporary conditions. The employers, as we have 
 seen, must find other laborers than the natives for the performance of 
 labor in the Transvaal if stagnation in industry is to be prevented per- 
 manently.' This was generally recognized, and the repatriation 
 ©ccurred, not because there were hopes of furnishing the future supply 
 from native sources, but because of the belief, resulting from two years' 
 experience in the use of the coolies, that "Chinese labor is inimical to 
 the best interests of South Africa." 
 
 " Annual Report of the Chamber of Mines, igo8, pp. 8-9. 
 
 " In 1909, in spite of the greatly increased number of a better quality of machines, 
 and in spite of the fact that there were 8,000 Chinese still on hand, there was a cry of 
 labor scarcity. The imperial government, in answer to this demand, temporarily 
 opened central Africa for recruiting. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 REASONS FOR THE REPATRIATION OF THE CHINESE 
 
 The causes of the failure of the experiment deserve a closer examina- 
 tion. In the first place the government and the Chamber of Mines did 
 not comprehend the vastness of the imdertaking that they had entered 
 upon. Thus they had not made the proper preliminary preparations 
 for the reception of the Chinese and for introducing them to their work. 
 It is not difficult to understand why they failed in this respect. The 
 Chamber of Mines, representing the mining interests, had waged a long 
 contest and had overcome many difficulties before securing the privilege 
 of introducing the Chinese. When permission was once granted, the 
 coolies were shipped at the earliest possible moment in the hope that the 
 opposition would cease when the laborers were once at their work. In 
 their anxiety to get the laborers, the employers neglected precautions 
 in preparation, a mistake they would hardly have made if they had 
 recognized the seriousness of the problem of control. A simple illustra- 
 tion of this lack of preparation is the fact that the quarters for the coolies 
 were not ready when they arrived in South Africa. 
 
 A second serious mistake was made at the outset in the selection of a 
 superintendent. On former occasions when Chinese laborers had emi- 
 grated, they had gone from South China, in the provinces of Kuantang 
 and Fukien.' In this particular case, Mr. H. R. Skinner, who had been 
 sent to investigate the possibihties of a labor supply from China, reported 
 that "it is from South China that the labor will have to be obtained in 
 the first instance, especially if it is wanted on short notice."^ The 
 governor, expecting the laborers to come from South China, selected a 
 superintendent who was acquainted with the South Chinese. The super- 
 intendent, in turn, surrounded himself with a staff of officers whose 
 experience was also limited to this class of coolies. The laborers, how- 
 ever, with the exception of 900 Cantonese, came from North China. 
 The field in North China had been opened up through the Russo-Japanese 
 War, and it was found that there was an enormous labor supply in this 
 part of China. North China had for many years furnished the agricul- 
 
 ^ Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, igo5-6. Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 P-3- 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to the Affairs of the Transvaal and the Orange 
 River Colopy, 1904, Blue Book (Cd 189s), p. 83. 
 
 57 
 
S8 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 tural laborers for Manchuria. The Chinese themselves preferred to 
 work in Manchuria, but since this field was dosed, they were willing 
 to accept work elsewhere. The North Chinese have been described by 
 one well acquainted with them as follows: "The northern man is of an 
 altogether larger and heavier build than the southern; but he is duUer 
 of intellect. He appeared to me to' be stronger constitutionally.'" 
 Further, the Chinese of the northern section differ from those of the 
 south in speech and in customs. On this account the officials, being 
 famiUar with the southern Chinese only, could not perform their work 
 of inspection and supervision satisfactorily.^ Communication between 
 government officers and Chinese was impossible, except through mine 
 overseers, who, being themselves frequently the object of the laborer's 
 complaint, would not report the grievances. The laborer, unable to 
 secure assistance, fair treatment, and sympathy, became at the very 
 beginning of his work in the mines prejudiced and discontented.^ When 
 the seeds of discontent were once sown it was difficult to eradicate the 
 dissatisfaction among the coolies, especially since there were new prob- 
 lems of control which continually engaged the attention of the officials 
 as they arose for solution.'* 
 
 It must, moreover, be recognized that the management of the Chinese 
 presented bther serious difficulties — difficulties that did not arise in the 
 case of white or native laborers. For instance, in case th6 white laborers, 
 
 ' Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal and the Orange River 
 Colony, Blue Book (Cd 1895)1 P- 79- 
 
 'The significance of having well-qualified government officials is recognized by 
 Lord Selboume when he said: "No proficiency, however, on the part of the officials 
 belonging to the mine management will obviate the necessity of the government being 
 provided with a staff of inspectors under the superintendent of foreign labor, who are 
 thoroughly conversant with the Chinese language. What is to be borne in mind is 
 that apart from the character of the Chinese themselves, the whole question is one of 
 management." — Ibid. (Gd 2786), pp. 26-27. 
 
 3 The difference between the character of the Chinaman and the European must 
 not be left out of accoimt here. One important difference which must be considered 
 is emphasized in the following quotation: "We make righteousness the standard; the 
 Chinese, humanity. We ask, 'Is it right?' The Chinese, 'Is it kindly?' With us a 
 man insists upon his rights and looks upon any infringement of them as wrong; in 
 Chirta a man considers his circumstances and what is to be expected in the case. 
 There is no harm in helping yourself to a little of what a rich man owns; but to steal 
 from a poor man is considered a great outrage." — Graves, Forty Years in China, p. 68. 
 The employers of the Chinese never recognized this difference. 
 
 ^ Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, igo5-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 PP- 3-4- 
 
REASONS FOR REPATRIATION OF CHINESE 59 
 
 alone or in a body, were insubordinate, they were discharged and that 
 ended the matter. The whites had the right to form unions and to 
 strike, a right they freely used; but pubUc sentiment required of them 
 at least fair reasons for striking, and the conduct of the whites was 
 determined in some degree at least by public sentiment. The whites, 
 moreover, could look forward to promotion if their work merited it. 
 Thus they had a strong incentive to good conduct. These conditions, 
 however, did not apply to the coolie. For him there was no possibility 
 of promotion, whatever his abihties might be, and therefore no special 
 inducement to earnest effort. What is still more significant is the fact 
 that no cooUe could be immediately discharged. There were two 
 possible places for the coolie in the Transvaal: the mine and the prison. 
 
 The indenture gave the laborer the right to work three years, and 
 nothing but a conviction in court could absolve the employer from 
 carr3dng out this contract. If the laborer sat down and refused to work, 
 as he often did, it was necessary for the manager to accuse him of refusiag 
 to work, have him arrested, tried, and convicted. Then the cooKe might 
 refuse to pay his fine, choosing rather to serve out the sentence imposed. 
 This deprived the employer of his labor besides leaving him without 
 compensation for the expense of importation.' If, after the coolie served 
 his sentence, he worked out the time lost while in prison, the manager 
 still had the inconvenience of the trial with no compensation for it. It 
 can readily be seen that the manage* was at the mercy of the cooUe. 
 The quick-witted Chinaman soon discovered the predicament of his 
 employer. In this situation the managers thought it inadvisable to 
 report minor offenses or cases of insubordination to the superintendents 
 and inspectors. The plan they adopted was to force recalcitrant cooUes 
 by means of physical violence to do their work.^ 
 
 The government officials, desiring an impartial administration of the 
 ordinance, met this conduct on the part of the managers by encouraging 
 the laborers to make complaint directiy to inspectors in case of mis- 
 treatment. This method on the part of the government officials angered 
 the managers, who insisted that such action was subversive of good dis- 
 cipline in the mines, and that the laborers should make complaint to 
 the mine officials first. Recognizing the impossibility of the laborers 
 securing fair treatment from irresponsible overseers, the government 
 authorities placed boxes in the mines and compounds in which written 
 
 " Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igos. Blue Book 
 (Cd 2786), p. 27. 
 '•IVid., p. 30. 
 
6o AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 complaints coiild be placed by the Chinese. Some of these boxes were 
 regularly emptied before the inspectors made their romids, others were 
 entirely destroyed, and still others were so guarded that the coolies were 
 intimidated from putting in complaints.' Closer supervision became 
 necessary on the part of the government, and this was obstructed on the 
 part of mine officials. Some Chinese criminals were suspected of having 
 taken shelter in the mines, and when managers were requested to assist 
 in capturing them, they remarked: "Having taken so much pains upon 
 yourselves, why not assume entire charge?"^ The managers thus 
 refused all co-operation with the government. 
 
 This lack of harmony between the state and mine officials became 
 evident to the laborers, who were shrewd enough to use the conffict to 
 their own advantage. As has already been pointed out, the managers 
 had to use some of the Chinese as overseers, since enough whites who 
 spoke the Chinese language could not be found. Many of these Chinese 
 overseers took part in destroying inspectors' boxes and in committing 
 other violations of the ordinance for the benefit of the mine and com- 
 pound managers. In a word, the coolies were to a certain extent trained 
 in the violation of the law. The foregoing discussion shows how pro- 
 ficient they became in the art of crime. 
 
 This conduct on the part of the managers was not such as to inspire 
 the coolie either with the spirit of obedience to the laws of the country 
 or with respect for authority in general. It was totally different from 
 the kind of conduct the Chinaman had assumed as characteristic of the 
 whites. The Chinaman had received his impression of the whites from 
 the missionary in China, the merchant, and the official, and had there- 
 fore, on the whole, a favorable impression. He had at least foimd him 
 to be honest and straightforward in his dealings. In the Transvaal, the 
 whites with whom the coolie came into contact, both in and out of the 
 mines, engaged in famiharities with him, played practical jokes, and 
 frequently cheated him, in addition to using him as a tool in the violation 
 of the law. These characteristics displayed by certain of the whites 
 weakened the coolie's respect for all the whites and caused him to refuse 
 obedience to them.' 
 
 The cooUe observed also the vulnerable points of the white compound 
 managers and took advantage of these. He brought opium and alcohol 
 into the mines and compounds, and spent much of his leisure time in 
 gambling. When he was detected in this conduct he bribed the managers 
 
 ' Report of the Foreign Labor Department, igos-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), p. 9. 
 
 ' Ibid. 3 Ibid. p. 13. 
 
REASONS FOR REPATRIATION OF CHINESE 6i 
 
 and the Chinese-speaking controllers, who allowed him to continue this 
 violation of the ordinance. Some of the more enterprising coolies even 
 engaged with profit in an iUicit trade in opium. When such conduct 
 was once commenced with the .tacit consent of the managers, the difficulty 
 of checking it became a giant task. Chinese headboys and poUce 
 working in collusion with the controllers and managers, committed 
 excesses for which they were never called to account. The government 
 officials who could not speak the language were wholly unable to cope 
 with the situation. 
 
 We shall return later to a discussion of the effect of this kind of Ufe 
 in the compounds upon the conduct of the cooUes. At present we wish 
 to notice a more fimdamental cause of the difficulties arising out of the 
 control measures. The supreme difficulty, and one that could never be 
 overcome with such a mass of coolies, was that of adjusting them to the 
 new laws and institutions by which they were governed. The Chinese 
 had grown to manhood, and many of these coolies in South Africa to 
 middle age, under completely different ideals and laws. 
 
 The Asiatic is fundamentally different from the European in his 
 character and ways of thinking. Moreover, the Chinese are at the 
 extreme limit of this differentiation, and their inability to understand 
 European ways and laws must be taken as a matter of course. Thje 
 Chinaman at home is governed by edicts and proclamations. He is 
 fully aware of what he can and cannot do. He knows the laws and the 
 pxmishments for their violations. He accepts his punishment as just if 
 he has committed the offense for which he is convicted. Out of such an 
 environment about SS,ooo coolies were transplanted within a year to a 
 country whose laws and institutions were the product of a different 
 civilization. In this country, instead of an edict which he imderstood, 
 the coolie had to obey laws of which he had no knowledge, and, con- 
 trary to all his ideas, ignorance did not save him from prosecution. 
 
 The complete change bewildered the cooUe, and in the attempt to 
 make him adjust himself to these conditions many serious difficulties 
 arose. The first obstacle was that of finding interpreters for the Chinese 
 language, and this led to many others. The dialects in the different 
 parts of China are so very diverse that the inhabitants of one part cannot 
 imderstand those of another. The person who understands thoroughly 
 the dialect of North China may not comprehend that of South China.' 
 He may even know well the dialect of one district in North China and 
 
 ' Annual Report of the Transvaal Labor Department, 1905-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 p. 7. 
 
62 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 not be able to understand that of another. As the Chinese could not 
 speak Enghsh there was no way to communicate with them except 
 through interpreters. There are in general five classes who can interpret 
 for the Chinese and the English. These are missionaries, men in the 
 government service in China, army officers, merchants in China, and 
 coolies who have learned English from traders in Hong Kong. Of these 
 five classes two were available, namely, army officers and the English- 
 speaking coolies. These two classes were the most deficient of all as 
 interpreters. The army officers knew little of the spoken language and 
 the cooUes could speak only a little of the trade language. With these 
 two classes as interpreters, exact commtuiication with the laborers was, 
 to a great extent, impossible.' 
 
 The court practice complicated the difficulty of the situation. The 
 coolie was brought for trial into a strange courtroom. He was sur- 
 rounded by imfamiliar and unsympathetic faces; he could not communi- 
 cate his thoughts to the jury or judge. The questioning and cross- 
 questioning, often through incompetent and unreliable interpreters, 
 bewildered him, so that a defense was impossible. Moreover, the 
 authorities showed their complete misimderstanding of the Chinaman in 
 believing that he would respect the oath of the English court, which as 
 a matter of fact meant nothing to him. The coolies, therefore, soon 
 learned to combine and give testimony to convict an innocent person 
 who was interfering with their purposes in any way. On the other hand 
 they gave testimony as freely to secure the acquittal of a guilty person 
 whom they needed to carry out their plans.^ The courts, as we have seen, 
 were so crowded that it was necessary to use all possible dispatch. This 
 combination of circumstances made it impossible in may cases to find 
 the guilty person, and the effect of this state of affairs, in which honest 
 coolies were the victims of the others who remained impunished, upon 
 the coolie was to cause extreme dissatisfaction and distrust; while to the 
 criminal it was an iticentive for him to continue his vicious practices. 
 The superintendent in his report for 1905-6 made the following statement 
 upon this point: 
 
 It is of course to be regretted that the prosecution cannot adduce conclu- 
 sive evidence adequate to secure a conviction, and the extreme care exercised 
 by the judiciary to prevent the miscarrying of justice is deserving of the 
 highest respect; but nothing can eradicate from the mind of the average 
 
 ^Annual Report of the Transvaal Labor Department, igos-6, Blue Book (Cd 
 3338), P- 7. 
 
 ' IhU., p. s. 
 
REASONS FOR REPATRIATION OF CHINESE 63 
 
 coolie the feeling that something is wrong somewhere, or from the mind of 
 the accused the belief that the law can be hoodwinked.' 
 
 The delays in the courts, the conviction of the innocent, the freeing 
 of the guilty, imprisonment instead of the summary corporal punishment 
 to which the cooUe had been accustomed, and most of all the possibiKty 
 of escaping pimishment entirely, all encouraged crime. 
 
 The inspectors' courts that were established had one advantage over 
 the regular tribunals: legal forms were reduced to a minimum and the 
 inspectors in loco parentis attempted to find out and pimish the real 
 offenders. Under honest, efficient, earnest, and sympathetic persons 
 who xmderstood the cooUes these courts would doubtless have relieved 
 many difficulties. But unfortunately so many abuses grew up in them 
 as a result of incompetent and tmsympathetic administration that their 
 continuance became an impossibility.^ 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the administration of justice had something to 
 do with the frequency of desertions. The chief cause of the desertions, 
 however, is to be foimd in the conditions of living in the compounds. 
 The crowding together of three thousand cooUes in barracks offered an 
 opportimity for gambling, and this in turn led to desertions and crime 
 in the country, as has been shown above. Lord Selbourne in speaking 
 of the desertions says: "Worse still is the man who has gambled away 
 all his wages in advance in the mine compounds. He has no further 
 inducement to work; everything he earns goes to those to whom he has 
 lost money, so he deserts in desperation."' The committee appointed 
 by the governor to inquire into the causes of desertion reports as follows: 
 " Much of the leakage from the mines into the surrounding country with 
 the invariable sequel of outrages and robbery was due to the fact that 
 the laborers had incurred heavy gambling debts in the mines and were 
 subject to undue pressure from their creditors."" In their leisure hours 
 in the compounds — and they had much more leisure than they had ever 
 been accustomed to — they had a chance to plan opposition and insubor- 
 dination. This they did effectively through the organizations which 
 prevailed among them. How far the desertions themselves were due to 
 premeditated plans cannot be stated definitely; however, from the 
 uniform action observed in other respects, and from the great number of 
 ' Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, 1905-6, Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 
 P-S- 
 
 'Ibid., p. 7. 'Ibid.,p.s- 
 
 •» Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines, igos, Blue Book 
 (Cd 2786), p. 40. 
 
64 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 desertions, we are justified in concluding that they were to a considerable 
 extent planned and carried out by the unions.' 
 
 But not only were the Chinese confined to the mine premises; they 
 were restricted to the performance of unskilled labor in the mines. 
 This was a cause of even more serious trouble. They soon recognized 
 their worth as laborers and objected to being placed in a position where 
 they could not sell their labor without restrictions for the highest possible 
 price, or where they might engage in independent undertakings. The 
 Chinaman has worked for many years in the Malay Peninsula xmder 
 indenture and his work has been satisfactory. This is because he has, in 
 the first place, the prospect of engaging independently in trade on the 
 termination of his contract; in the second place, the possibility of acquir- 
 ing property, real and personal; and in the third place, a chance for 
 speculation, for which much will be borne by the average Chinaman.* 
 The fact that the Chinaman makes a satisfactory laborer under these 
 conditions strengthens our contention that it is only when imhampered 
 by restriction that he will work well — that is, when he is free to select 
 both work and employer. 
 
 Under the ordinance the laborer could secure a pass and be absent 
 from the mines for forty-eight hours. These exciirsions into the town 
 and surroimding coxmtry showed him opportunities of bettering his con- 
 dition. In June, 1906, five Chinese were convicted for carrying on inde- 
 pendent enterprises. This is not a formidable list, but when we remem- 
 ber the strictness with which the Chinese were guarded, this number in 
 one month is not without significance. It is evident that the Chinaman, 
 knowing he could not engage in independent enterprises, hoped to force 
 his employers to give him better terms under which he might work. 
 There are many evidences in favor of the conclusion that the cooUe 
 wished to force better terms from his employer. First, the indentiure 
 granted the coolie the right to perform piecework whereby he might 
 
 ' The secret societies among the Chinese have been quite comprehensive in their 
 activities in all the lands where the Chinese have entered. In San Francisco there are 
 six companies or guilds and to one or other of these the great majority of the Chinese 
 belong and contribute. They transact business for the members, supervise labor 
 contracts, receive deposits of money, or remit same to China, and generally take a 
 lively interest in the welfare of the Chinese community. One writer says: "In many 
 ways they [the unions] might be beneficial and useful, but their power might also 
 become a danger, especially if they could suppose you were entirely dependent upon 
 them for unskilled labor." — Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal 
 and the Orange River Colony, igo4, Blue Book (Cd 1895), p. 79. 
 
 = 76j(i., pp. 80-81. 
 
REASONS FOR REPATRIATION OF CHINESE 65 
 
 increase his wage. Although this is usually a favorite method with the 
 coolie, he did not take advantage of it here. Second, the laborers refused 
 to work after driUing a definite amount. They acted together and set 
 upon and beat those who dared to drill more than the prescribed amount. 
 Third, all laborers were informed that they would be given free passage 
 to their homes in China by the Transvaal government if they desired to 
 return. Although practically none of the laborers accepted the offer of 
 return passage, they nevertheless continued to cause difficulties. Fourth, 
 some of the laborers, escaping, engaged in independent enterprises. 
 Fifth, many of the strikes and disturbances cannot be explained on any 
 other ground. 
 
 The effort of the coolies to force better terms from the mine operators 
 showed the completeness with which the laborers grasped their advan- 
 tageous position. They perceived the unworkable character of the 
 ordinance imder which they were employed. Working under it they 
 soon saw that they could make their labor unprofitable to the employers. 
 They knew also that in case a new contract was drawn they would be 
 in a much better place to demand terms that would be satisfacto^ to 
 themselves than they had been in the first instance. The knowledge 
 that the Chinese had of their superior position with reference to their 
 employers, and the inability of the employers to find a scheme under the 
 ordinance whereby they could force the laborers to fulfil their contracts 
 lie at the very bottom of the failure of the experiment with Chinese labor 
 in the Transvaal. 
 
 Simiming up all the causes of the failure of the experiment with the 
 Chinese we find that they are as follows: first, the lack of the preparation 
 on the part of the government and mine employers for so great an 
 undertaking; second, the impossibility of the coolies adapting themselves 
 to the requirements of the government; and third, the impossibility of 
 controlling the laborers under the Umitations imposed by the labor- 
 importation ordinance. 
 
 In studying the whole question we must keep in mind the peculiar 
 conditions of the country. The Transvaal, with its native race and 
 Indian problems for solution, with its enormous native population, its 
 backward industries — except mining — and its undeveloped institutions, 
 did not attract a population which placed public before private interests. 
 In fact, the majority of people were there because the country offered 
 exceptional advantages for the acquisition of wealth. A rough spirit of 
 speculation and "get-rich-quick" prevailed. The coimtry's develop- 
 ment xmder such conditions had created to an exceptional degree the 
 
66 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 desire for freedom from governmental restraint. The Rand party had 
 complained bitterly of the old Krueger regime and at the close of the 
 war the Rand party was supreme. It is no wonder that after the war 
 and readjustment the same men who had resisted the old regime should 
 find the restrictions of the new government arduous, except in so far as 
 they contributed to their own immediate interest. This could not better 
 be shown than in the conflict between the mine managers and the 
 governmental oflBicials, of which we have already spoken. 
 
 We need not discuss here at length the position of the white laborers 
 in the Transvaal. We have already shown that they bitterly opposed 
 the introduction of the Chinese in the first instance, because they feared 
 their competition. They wished also to retain a monopoly of the skilled 
 labor and did not wish other laborers to enter that might ultimately 
 transplant them. They were unable by their opposition to prevent the 
 introduction of the Chinese, but they were not prevented from using 
 all possible effort to make the experiment unsuccessful. In the complex 
 situations that developed many opportunities presented themselves for 
 effective opposition, and the white laborers let none of these oppor- 
 tunities pass. 
 
 In addition to this opposition of the white laborers, the inefficiency 
 of the administrative force of the mines was the cause of many difficulties; 
 but it was not possible to get a better class of men to serve as managers. 
 The work of the mines was uncertain and dangerous. It offered a great 
 deal of risk and, therefore, attracted in the main only persons who had 
 everything to gain and nothing to lose: persons who had immigrated to 
 try their fortimes and who were not particularly influenced by humani- 
 tarianism, sympathy, or a feeling of responsibility. They were men 
 who for the most part had come from the lower and middle classes of 
 Europe, especially England. Many of them were retired soldiers, who 
 had no experience in administration of any kind. 
 
 If experienced managers could have been secured in sufficient nmn- 
 bers there is no doubt that many of the difficulties could have been 
 avoided. But it was impossible to get reliable experts: first, the number 
 of persons familiar with the mining business and also having a knowledge 
 of the Chinese language and character is very limited; second, the cost 
 of bringing in such experts, even if they could have been found, would 
 greatly have increased working expenses; third, the local public had to 
 be considered. To have proposed to bring the whole administrative 
 force from other countries would have aroused a great deal of hostility. 
 The employers took under consideration a plan of sending young men 
 
REASONS FOR REPATRIATION OF CHINESE 67 
 
 to China to prepare for this work, but the uncertainty of the continuance 
 of coolie labor made this plan inadvisable.' Whether this would have 
 been feasible under a long tenure of service we need not discuss here. 
 To have brought the personnel of control' from the outside instead of 
 using the unemployed whites already there would have defeated one of 
 the purposes of the introduction of the cooKes. 
 
 Even under the management of trained experts it is doubtful whether 
 the coolies would have adapted themselves to the Transvaal system of 
 government. It is true that the Chinese have adjusted themselves to 
 other governments, but in such cases the number entering the country 
 has been small and the increase gradual, and the laborer has therefore 
 been free to pursue his own course. 
 
 ' Anmud Report of the Foreign Labor Department, iqo$-6. Blue Book (Cd 3338), 
 p. 10. 
 
CkAPTER XII 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 The experiment with Chinese labor in South Africa was a failmre, the 
 laborers were returned, and the whole matter was permanently closed. 
 The serious difficulty, as we have seen, was one of control, due on the 
 one hand to local conditions, and on the other to the fact that certain 
 restrictions were placed upon the coolie to which he would not submit. 
 Now, what is the future of the coohe ? Is he to take an important place, 
 as an immigrant laborer, in the civihzed nations? In the changing 
 conditions, in the technical advancement of industry, in the new 
 economic requirements, we cannot predict what the future will offer or 
 demand. We can, however, state with assurance what can be expected 
 of this class of laborers as conditions now exist. 
 
 The story of the Chinese in South Africa has brought out some of the 
 characteristics already familiar to those who knew the coohes in CaU- 
 fomia and Australasia; but it has indicated also quaUties not before 
 attributed to them. One writer, speaking of their nature as displayed 
 in CaUfornia, says: 
 
 The Chinese coolie is the ideal industrial machine, the perfect human ox. 
 He will transform less food into more work, with less administrative friction, 
 than any other creature. Even now, when the scarcity of Chinese labor and 
 the consequent rise in wages have eliminated the question of cheapness, the 
 Chinese stiU have the advantage over aU servile labor in convenience and 
 efficiency. They are patient, docile, industrious, and above aU "honest" in 
 the business sense that they keep their contracts. Also they cost nothing 
 but money. Any other sort of labor costs human effort and worry, in addition 
 to money. But Chinese labor, like any other commodity, can be bought for 
 so much per dozen or hundred. The Chinese contractor delivers the agreed 
 number of men at the stated time and place, for the agreed price, and if one 
 shovdd drop out he finds another in his stead. The men board and lodge 
 themselves, and when the work is done they disappear from the employer's 
 ken until again needed. The entire transaction consists in pa3dng the contrac- 
 tor an agreed number of dollars for a stated result. The elimination of the 
 human element reduces the labor problem to something the employer can 
 understand. The Chinese labor-machine from this standpoint is perfect.' 
 
 The conduct of the Chinese described here is very different from that 
 
 ' Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, XXXTV, No. 2, 4. 
 
 68 
 
CONCLUSION 69 
 
 of the coolie we have studied in South Africa. In fact the uncertainty 
 of the cooKe was one of the reasons why his labor proved unprofitable in 
 the Transvaal. Doubtless the conditions under which he worked, as 
 we have described them, had much to do with his change in bearing and 
 attitude. In regard to the perseverance which he usually displayed in 
 California another writer says: "His untiring industry and perseverance 
 made him successful in the placer mines, the Chinaman often working 
 over places abandoned by the white miner.'" 
 
 In one respect the result of the experiment in South Africa was the 
 same as in other countries: the impossibility of assimilation in the case 
 of the Chinese was fully demonstrated in the fact of his total inability 
 to comprehend the institutions of the country. This characteristic of 
 the Chinaman as shown elsewhere is told in the following quotation from 
 a well-known author: 
 
 We have to do with a race which in tenacious adherence to its culture 
 seems equal to our own. The question of receiving them, therefore, assumes 
 an entirely difEerent form from that of receiving immigrants from Europe. 
 The latter blend with the native stock and all become one people. The Chinese 
 remain isolated, and constitute an alien element in the midst of us. There 
 are but two solutions to such a problem as their coming presents. If they are 
 less in numbers than we, they remain an inferior class, doing the drudgery but 
 enjoying none of the rights and performing none of the duties of citizenship. 
 Such a solution is abhorrent to the principles of democracy and incompatible' 
 with the maintenance of our institutions. The other solution is that they 
 shall come in such numbers as to overwhelm our civilization, or at least to 
 give rise to continual race conflicts in certain parts of the continent. The 
 interests of civilization forbid the opening of even the possibility of such a 
 conflict.' 
 
 This statement seems to me to be a fair presentation of the question; 
 upon its truth the students of the problem are practically agreed. It 
 holds good not only of America but of all countries where European 
 civilization dominates. The conclusion of the experiment in the Trans- 
 vaal emphasizes anew the correctness of this judgment. 
 
 ' Mayo Smith, Emigration and Immigration, p. 138. 
 ' Mayo Smith, op. cit., pp. 247-48. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Andree, K. Geographie des Welthandels. Stuttgart, 1872. 
 
 Bauer, St. "Arbeiterfrage imd Lohnpolitik in Australien," Jakrbuecher fUr 
 
 Nationaloekonomie und Staatswissenschaft, 1891. 
 Bonn, Dr. M. Julius. Die eingeborenen Politik im brittischen Siiedafrika. 
 
 Berlin, 1908. 
 Coolidge. Chinese Immigration. New York, 1910. 
 Epstein, Max. Die engUsche Goldminenindustrie. Dresden, 1904. 
 Gottwaldt, H. Die iiberseeische Auswanderung der Chiriesen und ihre Ein- 
 
 wirkung auf die weisse und gelbe Rasse. Bremen, 1903. 
 "Indicus." Labor and Other Problems in South Africa. London, 1903. 
 Cooke, Sir Clement. Chinese Labor. London, 1906. 
 Lion, Dr. Alexander. Die Kulturfaehigkeit des Negers. Berlin, 1908. 
 Monroe, A. E. The Transvaal Labor Problems. London, 1904. 
 Plehn, C. "Labor in California," Yale Review. New Haven, 1890. 
 Ratzel, Frederick. Die chinesische Auswanderung. Breslau, 1876. 
 . "Die chinesische Auswanderung seit 1876," Globus, 1881, Bde. 
 
 39-40- 
 
 Seward, George F. Chinese Immigration. New York, 1881. 
 
 Smith, R. Mayo. Emigration and Immigration. New York, 1908. 
 
 von Walterhausen, Satorius. "Die Chinesen in den Vereinigten Staaten 
 von Amerika," Zeitschrift fur die gesamte Staatswissenschaft. Tubingen, 
 1883., 
 
 — . North American Review, Vols. CXLVIII, CLV. New York, 
 
 . Statesman's Year Book. New York and London. 1889-1908. 
 
 . Symposium in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 
 
 Science, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2. Philadelphia, 1909. 
 
 . "Die CtaaeseniieLge," Hatiduioerterbuch der Staatswissenschaft. Leip- 
 zig, 1898-1901. 
 
 BULLETINS OF THE DEPARTMENT OE LABOR, WASHINGTON, D.C. 
 
 Dubois, W. E. No. 10. Conditions of the Negro in Various Cities. 
 
 . No. 22. The Negro in the Black Belt. 
 
 . No. 27. The Negro of FarmvUle, Va. 
 
 Thom, W. T. No. 32. The Negroes of Sandy Springs, Md. 
 
 . No. 37. Negroes of Lilwalton, Va. 
 
 Laws, J. Bradford. No. 38. The Negro of St. Clair Factory and Calumet 
 
 Plantation. 
 See also Bulletins of the Bureau of Labor of California. 
 
 70 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 71 
 
 SOURCES 
 
 Publications of the Chamber of Mines, Annttal Reports, 1889-1908. Johan- 
 nesburg. 
 Blue Books: London, Weymans & Sons: 
 
 Reports of the Transvaal Labor Commission (Cd 1894), 1904. 
 
 Further Correspondence Relating to the Affairs of the Transvaal and 
 
 Orange River Colony (Cd 1895), 1904. 
 Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission (Cd 1896), 1904. 
 Report of the Transvaal Labor Commission, Minutes of Proceedings 
 
 and Evidence (Cd 1897), 1904. 
 Telegraphic Correspondence Relating to the Transvaal Labor Importa- 
 tion Ordinance (Cd 1898), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Regarding the Transvaal Labor Question 
 
 (Cd 1899), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Regarding the Transvaal Labor Question 
 
 (Cd 1941), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Regarding the Importation of Laborers into the 
 
 Transvaal (Cd 1945), 1904. 
 Convention between the United Kingdom and China Regarding the 
 
 Employment of Chinese Labor (Cd 1956), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence' Relating to the Transvaal Labor Question 
 
 (Cd 1986), 1904. 
 Correspondence Relating to Conditions of Native Labor Employed in the 
 
 Transvaal Mines (Cd 2025), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to the Transvaal Labor Importation 
 
 Ordinance (Cd 2026), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines 
 
 (Cd 2183), 1904. 
 Cffnvention between the United Kingdom and China Respecting the 
 
 Employment of Chinese (Cd 2246), 1904. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines 
 
 (Cd 2401), 1905. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal and 
 
 Orange River Colony (Cd 2563), 1905. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to Labor in the Transvaal Mines 
 
 (Cd 2786), 1905. 
 Correspondence Relating to Legislation Affecting Asiatics in the Trans- 
 vaal (Cd 3308), 1907. 
 Annual Report of the Foreign Labor Department, Johannesburg, 1905-6 
 
 (Cd 3338), 1907- 
 Correspondence Relating to the Introduction of Laborers into the Trans- 
 vaal in Excess of License Issued (Cd 3405), 1907- 
 
72 AN EXPERIMENT IN ALIEN LABOR 
 
 Letters Patent and Restrictions Relating to the Orange River Colony 
 
 (Cd 3526), 1907. 
 Further Correspondence Relating to Affairs in the Transvaal and 
 Orange River Colony (Cd 3528), 1907. 
 Economist (London), 1903 to the present. 
 Times (London), 1903 to the present. 
 
 South African papers, 1889 to the present, especially the Rand Daily Mail, 
 the Transvaal Leader, the Star, and the South African News, all of 
 Johannesburg.