4° Minnie Throop England 



gold and silver proved the ruin of Spain, sugar played the same 

 part in Cuba, and in the Dutch Indies spices were the origin of 

 trouble. 139 Morris says : 



" In the work of colonization, every nation undertaking the 

 task seems to single out some article of production as the object 

 around which its care and solicitude turn ; it is the commodity 

 from which wealth is anticipated ; all else is subordinated to it 

 and, as compared with it, considered valueless. The government, 

 zealous to promote the single coveted specialty, surrounds its 

 cultivation or extraction with detailed regulations, retains an ex- 

 clusive control over it, and expects to derive from it an exag- 

 gerated profit. Generally the hopes so highly strung are vain 

 and deceptive.- A great output may be attained, vast fortunes 

 made, immense revenues raised, a monopoly established, glory 

 and magnificence may ensue ; but invariably, like the golden apple 

 so beautiful to the eye, this success is corroding the heart, cor- 

 rupting the character, and implanting in the national constitution 

 the germs of senility, decay, and decline." 



To overcome this difficulty of a one-product system England, 

 Netherlands and, in more recent years, France and Germany have 

 taken some steps toward a systematic study of colonial conditions 

 with a view to improving agricultural methods and encouraging 

 variations in crops. But a considerable period of time must 

 elapse before these efforts bear much fruit. 



The second obstacle to the development of tropical and indeed 

 of all colonial trade is the scarcity of capital for investment as 

 compared with the needs of the colonies. Production in Portu- 

 guese Angola is greatly impeded by lack of communication. The 

 crying need of the German colonies is also for more railroads. 

 The French colonies will require a great deal more money ex- 

 pended in transportation facilities before any great results in 

 trade can be expected. " What Tunisia needs is capital, and 

 everybody knows it." 140 The French, it is sometimes said, lack 

 patience in waiting for results and desire to profit immediately 



139 Morris, History of Colonisation, i : 325. 



140 Mansfield, In the Land of Mosques and Minarets, 69. 



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