92 I'EESIDENTIAL ADDRKSS SECTION l". 



The first two alternatives may be ruled out. A " White 

 South Africa '" has been talked a1)out, but as the natives show 

 no sign of dying out — and, indeed, are increasing fast in 

 numbers — it coukl only be accomplislied by forcible migration 

 of some five million natives, which would be outside ail 

 practical politics. Xor is it to be expected that the emigration 

 of natives should come about because they could not stand the 

 economic competition of Europeans — it is much more likely to 

 be the other way about. But the second alternative is hardly 

 more likely than the first. The white people already amount 

 to a nation in numbers and self-consciousness; most of 

 them were born in the country, and know no other; they 

 certainlj^ would not give up their country to the Kaffirs 

 without armed struggles, unless, indeed, they were to find the 

 conditions of life so difficult for several generations that the 

 birth-rate dropped almost to zero. Such a suggestion may well 

 seem absurd when one thinks of the vigorous Africander race 

 of to-day. 



We come then to segregation as a policy that cannot be 

 dismissed quite so curtly. Nevertheless, to carry it out 

 effectiveh' would be a heroic policy beyond the power of any 

 statesman. The natives are so thoroughly incorporated in the 

 industries of South Africa that to exclude them and rec^uire 

 them to live in certain districts, while the Europeans lived in 

 others, would revolutionise the country. The work could not 

 be carried on without them until a new population of unskilled 

 labourers had been introduced to take their place, and this 

 could only be done in opposition to all the immediate interests. 

 Not only do manufacturers and farmers employ natives, but 

 the white workmen are used to being supervisors of native 

 labour. A segregation policy might in the end be to the 

 collective advantage of the white working classes, but the 

 immediate effect would almost certainly be a reduction in 

 wages, since employment would have to be found for so many 

 more whites. But if nearly all the voters in the country found 

 that a segregation policy would be contrary to their personal 

 interests, what chance has it of being carried out, however 

 beneficial we may think its ultimate consequences would be^ 



A policy of segregation in a limited way — dealing with 

 land ownership only — was inaugurated by tlie Government by 

 a law passed in 1913. Certain areas are set aside in which 

 only natives may own or lease ground, and they are forbidden 

 to own or lease ground elsewhere. There is, of course, 

 nothing to prevent their living elsewhere, as, e.g., the mine 

 workers do. This law is directed against certain minor evils, 

 especially the custom of allowing natives to " scjuat *' on farms 

 that should be thrown open for proper cultivation by European 

 methods. It may effect some improvements, but there is no 

 prospect of its leading to any more thorough measure of 

 segregation ; and it is to be noted that the areas reserved for 

 natives are scattered throughout tlie country, so tliat their 

 formation does not constitute a step towards delimiting any 

 compact region intended to be for white occupants onlv. 



If, then, no strenuous attempt at segregation is to be 



