484 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Thus, a mine owner whose men go out on strike is, briefly, placed 

 in this position: He will lose a sum of money somewhat larger than 

 the amount of profit he could have made during the period of the 

 strike had it not occurred. His coal, however, is still there, and is 

 not less valuable — indeed, in the case of a prolonged strike, may 

 actually be more valuable — when the strike is over; work can easily 

 be resumed where it was dropped, and during the idle days the ordi- 

 nary running expenses of the mine cease. The greater part of the 

 loss sustained in the instance I have supposed is not out-of-pocket loss, 

 but merely the failure to realize prospective profits. 



On the other hand, a sugar estate in the tropics spends about eight 

 months out of the twelve in cultivating the crop, and the remaining 

 four in reaping and boiling operations. By the time the crop is ready 

 to reap many thousands of dollars have been expended on it by way 

 of planting, weeding, draining, and the application of nitrogenous 

 manures. If from any cause the labor supply fails when the cutting 

 of the canes is about to commence, every cent expended on the crop 

 is wasted; and if for want of labor the canes which are cut are not 

 transported within a few hours to the mills, they turn sour and 

 can not be made into sugar. It will thus be seen that in the case of 

 sugar-growing a perfectly reliable labor supply is the first requisite. 



The same might be said of the cultivation of tea, coffee, cocoa, 

 spices, and tropical fruits. 



This problem — the securing of a reliable labor supply — has been 

 solved in the case of several of the tropical possessions of England 

 by the importation of East Indian laborers under contract to serve 

 for a fixed period on the plantations. 



As, in my opinion, the East Indian contract laborer will play an 

 important part in the development of the tropics, I describe in detail 

 the most perfect system of contract labor with which I am ac- 

 quainted, that existing at the present time in the colony of British 

 Guiana. The system of imported indentured labor which is in force 

 in many of the British colonies has been referred to frequently, both 

 in this country and in England, as " slavery," " semislavery," " the new 

 slavery." The use of such terms to describe such a system indicates 

 a complete ignorance of the facts. As some of the best-informed 

 journals in this country, in noticing my writings on tropical subjects, 

 have fallen into this error, I hope that the description I give here, 

 which is based on several years' experience of the actual working 

 of the system, will serve to convince the readers of this article that 

 the indenture of the East Indian coolie in the British colonies is no 

 more a form of slavery than is any contract entered into between an 

 employer and an employee in this country. 



When the British Guiana planter was informed by the home 



