106. Java. 



the Dutch derive from Java, and is the subject of much 

 abuse in this country, because it is the reverse of " free trade." 

 To understand its uses and beneficial effects, it is necessary- 

 first to sketch the common results of free European trade 

 with uncivilized peoples. 



Natives of tropical climates have few wants, and, when 

 these are suiDplied, are disinclined to work for superfluities 

 without some strong incitement. With such a people the 

 introduction of any new or systematic cultivation is almost 

 impossible, except by tlie despotic orders of chiefs whom they 

 have been accustomed to obey, as children obey their parents. 

 The free competition of European traders, however, intro- 

 duces two powei'ful inducements to exertion. Spirits or 

 opium is a temptation too strong for most savages to resist, 

 and to obtain these he will sell whatever he has, and will 

 work to get more. Another temptation he can not resist is 

 goods on credit. The trader offers him gay cloths, knives, 

 gongs, guns, and gunpowder, to be paid for by some crop 

 perhaps not yet planted, or some product yet in the forest. 

 He has not sufficient forethought to take only a moderate 

 quantity, and not enough energy to work early and late in or- 

 der to get out of debt ; and the consequence is that he accumu- 

 lates debt upon debt, and often remains for years or for life 

 a debtor, and almost a slave. This is a state of things which 

 occurs very largely in every part of the world in which men 

 of a superior race freely trade with men of a lower race. It 

 extends trade no doubt for a time, but it demoralizes the 

 native, checks true civilization, and does not lead to any per- 

 manent increase in the wealth of the country, so that the 

 European government of such a country must be carried on 

 at a loss. 



The system introduced by the Dutch was to induce the 

 people, through their chiefs, to give a portion of their time to 

 the cultivation of coffee, sugar, and other valuable products. 

 A fixed rate of wages — low indeed, but about equal to that 

 of all places where European competition has not artificially 

 raised it — was paid to the laborers engaged in clearing the 

 ground and forming the plantations under Government super- 

 intendence. The product is sold to the Government at a 

 low fixed price. Out of the net profits a percentage goes to 



