4 2 Minnie Throop England 



in hot climates among white troops, he claims, generally is caused 

 by bad habits of living, the inexperience of the officers and the 

 generally unsanitary conditions of the country and not by the 

 heat. 143 The most convincing evidence that the white man can- 

 not hope to become acclimated to the tropics is presented by 

 Woodruff in Effects of Tropical Light on White Men, in which 

 he shows that the white man is gradually but surely eliminated 

 under excessive stimulation of light. 



Turning to the free blacks as a possible source of labor supply, 

 experience teaches that for the most part they have proved unre- 

 liable. 144 Frequently it is said that native labor would be ade- 

 quate "if properly encouraged." In British East Africa it is 

 claimed that where the settler is fair and just in his dealings he 

 has little or no trouble in securing labor. 145 The division of land 

 into small holdings is also frequently beneficial in stimulating the 

 native to work. The complaints of labor scarcity come chiefly 

 from large plantations. This shows that the primitive man, like 

 the average person, prefers to be his own master. It was hoped 

 that education would stimulate native labor, but it has been 

 found in the tropics that where education, other than technical 

 or industrial, has been most freely provided, natives are least 

 inclined to work. 146 It is believed by some that the development 

 of communication and transportation will do much to remove 

 labor difficulties, because it will render the colonies more pros- 

 perous and greater inducements in the way of pay will make the 

 natives more willing to work. Increase in remuneration is the 

 normal way of stimulating labor. Even a native recognizes the 

 difference between working for something and working for noth- 

 ing. Yet to offset this advantage it often happens that when 

 wages are doubled native laborers instead of showing a greater 

 willingness to work reduce their labor-time by half. 147 Ireland 

 holds that, except in countries where pressure of population is 



Bigelow, Children of the Nations, 293. 

 Ireland, China and the Powers, 14-15. 

 Eliot, East Africa Protectorate, 50. 

 1 Ireland, Far Eastern Tropics, 136-137. 

 Ibid. 



218 



