January 3, 1918 
LAND & WATER 
13 
German Rule of Native Races 
By Bishop Frodsham 
Bishop Frodsham, now Canon Rcsidcnliary in Gloiiccslcr, 
uorkcd for seventeen years in Queensland, being Bishop of 
Norlh Queensland foi eleven of them. His knouledge of 
German methods in the Pacific Archipelago is, therefore, 
intimate and first hand. Contrast the opinions expressed 
here with the views put forward by Connt Czernin at Brest- 
Litovsk last week ; " The fact that the natives of the German 
colonies, despite the greatest difficulties and the slight 
prospects of success in the struggle against an enemy many 
Utiles superior, and disposing of unlimited overseas rein- 
forcements, have through thick and thin loyally adhered to 
their German friends, is proof of their attachment and their 
resolve under all circumstances to remain with Germany. 
a proof which in .seriousness and in iceight far exceeds every 
possible demonstration of wishes by voting." 
PROFESSOR LOWELL, of Harvard University, has 
done well in emphasising the moral duty which has 
been laid upon the Allied Powers to "deliver not 
only the smaller nations of Europe, but still more 
the undeveloped races of Africa and of the Pacific from 
the horror of German domination. American and English 
tra\-ellcrs are almost invariably misled by what they sec of 
native peoples under German rule. They are impressed by 
the organisation. They compare the buildings, the sanita- 
tion, and tha regulations with regard to native labour, witli 
those under British or even American rule unfavourably to 
the latter. What they do not see is the cold inhuman policy 
of native exploitation" that lies beneath the German colonising 
policy. 
The Americans in the Philippines and the British in their 
splieres of influence make many mistakes and raise many 
troubles for themselves by treating natives as though they were 
black or brown replicas of democratic voters, but they regard 
themselves as tnistecs of the races which are yet in their 
minority. The Germans, on the other hand, regard the un- 
dc\cloped races of mankind just as they would regard wild 
animals who are capable of domestication. Some they con- 
sider to be better shot, while others are worth preserving 
and propagating, so long as they behave themselves and 
ser\e the purposes of Germany. To put the matter baldly, 
the English and Americans look upon the undeveloixxl 
races of mankind as human beings who need looking after in 
their own interests, while the Germans regard them as human 
beings, perhaps, but as human beings of the slave variety. 
To hear a German talk on a hotel verandah in the tropics 
about the nati\'e races is what one would imagine an ancient 
Israelite would say about his duty in caring for the children of 
Gibcon, who were allowed to exist just because they could 
split wood and draw water. Until this tnith with regard to 
the Germans is recognised it will be impossible to get their 
colonising methods into proper focus. 
Pacification by Bloodshed 
The pacification of tlic South Sea Islanders by the Germars 
probably never involved anything like the volume of blood- 
shed which was the case in East and South-West Africa. The 
Berlin official reports enumerated the native losses in East 
Africa on one occasion at 120,000 men and women. This re- 
port, and ^■on Trotha's infamous proclamation that the 
Hereros, male and female, armed or imarmed, were to be shot 
at sight, are treasured in the Imperial archives as records of 
their successful colonising methods. The massacres of natives 
in all the South Sea Islands may not have reached more than 
a tithe of the figures in East Africa, and no Island proclama- 
tions like Von Trotha's have reached the outer world, but the 
fact remains that a fine manly race has been tamed by the 
Germans somehow or another. At first, after the process of 
pacification, they sciu-ricd away like frightened rabbits 
whenever they saw a white man. An .Australian has re- 
counted how he stood on a broad white road in the neighbour- 
hood of Wilhehnshavon in Papua, which ran through cum- 
{^ativcly well-populated countrv. There was not a native 
in sight. They preferred tu slink along through the scrub 
to sliaring a highway with a whitt- man wjio might be a Ger- 
man. This fear has been removed. It did not pay the Ger- 
mans, who required labour on their plantations, that the natives 
should fly like frightened anim lis or die like rotten sheep. 
The natives to-day are well cared for, but let them raise their 
voices as free men witli riglits and opinions, and they will 
be treated as the Belgians and Poles are treated under sim- 
ilar circumstances. Thcsr are not surmises. They are solid 
facts, as every mm who has had personal kiiowkctg of Ger- 
man colonies knows well. 
The methods by which the Germans maintain tlic sub- 
jugation of the native races in their colonics turn not only 
upon the force, but upon the native ownership of land! Here 
e.xpcricnce in the South Seas casts a valuable liglit upon 
darkest Africa. .All over the Pacific the natives have been 
from the first inclined to sell their birthrights without in the 
least comprehending what the transaction actually meant. 
Similar ignorance must be credited to white men who did not 
realise at first the complicated character of - land tenure 
among all the South Sea Islanders. I'ndcr the native laws 
of custom it is impossible for any individual to sell rights 
which belong not to him alone but by reversion tu hundreds 
of others also 
Native Rights 
This mutua;l misunderstanding led to extraordinary results. 
Men sold and bought land in Samoa alone to such an extent 
that it would have necessitated reclaiming the foreshore for 
twenty-five miles out to sea all round the island in order to 
satisfy the claims lodged by the white purchasers. No nation- 
ality of traders is altogether free from complicity in the 
pernicious polic\' of land-grabbing, but care should be taken 
to differentiate between the action of traders and the action 
of Governments. The American and British Governments 
have upheld native rights throughout the Pacific. The 
German Government , on the other hand, not only condoned 
but facilitated the transfer of land from native ownership. 
By this policy the Germans affected the whole future of the 
islands in a fashion destructi\-e of native freedom. Wherever 
they could, they bore down native opposition with brutal 
force, and though their purposes were generally effected by 
such methods and peace restored thereby, it was upon terms 
which meant perpetual servitude to the subdued. This 
point should be understood very clearly by all who wish to 
estimate the German colonial question from a moral stand- 
point. ' 
The British policy with regard to native land has entailed 
difficulties in the Pacific which did not arise in German 
colonies. In Fiji, for instance, the Fijians adopted a ddlci: 
far nientc life, preferring the pleasures of landlordism to 
irksome work on sugar plantations. But the Fijians are 
free men because they have their feet firm on their own land ; 
the Papuans, the Marshall and the Caroline Islanders, on the 
other hand, while under German domination, were not free. 
They had to work under any conditions the Germans con- 
sidered most profitable to German capitalists, because needs 
must when hunger drives. The question is, are the Allies 
prepared to hand the South Sea Islanders in Papua, in the 
Marshall and the Caroline Islands, in the Bismarck Archipelago 
and in beautiful Samoa, back to the hopeless servitude of 
landless men — a servitude from which the Australians, the 
New Zealanders and the Japanese have delivered them? 
To this question only one answer seems possible when the 
facts are known. 
The British and .\merican poHcy of trusting the people 
may have failures, but it has successes impossible to German 
slave methods. A case in point has arisen in the Gilbert 
and Ellicc Islands, which are adjacent to the Marshalls. The 
inhabitants of these islands have been bewildered by the war. 
Tiiey are naturally warhke, but their martial activities have 
been sternly repressed by both the Germans and the British. 
That these two great white races, whose wisdom had caused 
wars to cease in the islands, should be ." visiting each other's 
islands and driving home the spear " made the white men 
seem more human. The fact that the war was longer than 
their customary three days fights was not surprising, because 
the white men's "islands" were big and far apart. As 
months went by, it was gradually realisq^l by the old men that 
the war was of an unknown kind which would not end with 
" a little shedding of blood." This fact caused them to be 
silent over their own vast exploits in tribal wars. 
Then it was rumoured that the native races were being 
allowed to take tlieir place with the British troops to fight 
against the hated Germans, and the islands under British 
protection volunteered to a man. When it was learned that 
their services could not be utilised, but that they could con- 
tribute to war relief funds, they were again profoundly sur- 
prised. The \-ery idea that " Big I'Vllow Go\-ernmcnt " 
needed money and not men from the " boys " was the climax 
of their bewilderment. But when once they realised that 
their help was actually renuiixd, the effect was spontaneous. 
Tlic nati\cs ot Ocean Island asked lca\c to giNe all their 
