【英文读物】John Chinaman on the Rand.docx

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1、【英文读物】John Chinaman on the Rand I have read the following account of the importation of Chinese coolies into South Africa with the keenest pain and sorrow. It is an authentic story of one of the foulest tragedies in our British annals; the witness of one who has seen the facts for himself. It is an

2、indictment packed with sifted evidence, written with knowledge; but also with the indignation of the patriot and of the humanitarian, against wrongs wantonly inflicted upon our fellow-men and sanctioned by the Parliament of the Empire. The balance of evil is overwhelmingly proved. It is an economic

3、blunder. It is another blood-stained page in the history ofPg viii the inhumanity of man to man. It violates the domestic and the social ideals. It is a blight upon our Empire; and, chiefest of all, it is inevitably and overwhelmingly immoral; productive of vices and crimes that cannot be named with

4、out shame and wrath. And yet these foreigners who sell men for gold are declaring that this system must remain undisturbed. Never! It must go. It is building the Empire on the blood of souls. It is not a necessity. It is a wanton iniquity. It is not freedom; and it is shuffling of the meanest kind t

5、o say that it is not slavery. Let Britishers realize their responsibility and bring to a speedy and final end this return to barbarism! JOHN CLIFFORD. The Publishers beg to thank the Editor of the Morning Leader for permission to use the Illustrations contained in this volume.CHAPTER I ENSLAVING THE

6、 RAND In the following pages I have made no reference to the founder of the Christian faith. There is a particular form of blasphemy current in Great Britain which ascribes to the highest and noblest Christian motives actions which are prompted by the meanest passions of cupidity and self-interest.

7、Any shadow is good enough for the criminal to creep into in the hope of escaping detection; but blasphemy is not too hard a word to express the attitude of those advocates and supporters of Chinese slavery in the Rand who actually creep under the shadow of the Cross itself for moral protection. With

8、 reservations, the Archbishop of Canterbury has blessed the movement, having satisfied himself, with an ease somewhat extraordinary, that it was all above-board and moral. ThePg 14 Bishop of Bristol has commended it. The Rev. T. J. Darragh, Rector of St. Marys Church, Johannesburg, saw in it nothing

9、 but an opportunity to teach the doctrines of Christianity to the heathen. I am much attracted by the possibility of evangelistic work among those people under very favourable conditions, and I hope to see many of them sent back to their country good practising Christians. It will be a glorious oppo

10、rtunity for the Church. Almost it would seem that the logical conclusion of this estimable priest was that all the heathen nations of Asia should be packed into Lord Selbornes loose-boxes and carted over to Johannesburg in order that the evangelistic genius of the Rector of St. Marys might have full

11、 scope, and countless souls be added to the fold of Christ, so long as their duties of digging gold for German Jews at a shilling a day were not interfered with. As these advocates and supporters of Chinese labour have convinced themselves that the Ordinance, so far from being opposed to the princip

12、les of Christianity, is likely to be of use in spreading the doctrine of love, I realize that it would be hopeless to attempt to prove to them that the importation of Chinese to the Rand finds no support in the doctrines promulgated in the four Gospels. Indeed, to expect spiritual ideals on the Rand

13、 is too ridiculous for words. The man who searches the Bible for a text to suit his line of argument might perhaps find one forPg 15 the Rand lords from the Old Testament, and preaching from the sentence that silver was counted as naught in the days of Solomon might argue that all practices were jus

14、tifiable to bring about a state of affairs which apparently had the Divine approval. The ideal of the Rand is money. All imperial, social and religious considerations have no weight with the masters of the gold mines. Their object is to get gold, and to get it as cheaply as they can, and with this i

15、n view they realize that they must obtain two things1. Political control of the Transvaal; 2. Slave labour. To attain the first, all Englishmen, with their democratic ideas of liberty and freedom, must be kept out of the country. This first object attained, the introduction of slave labour would be

16、extremely simple. How they achieved their object is the history of South Africa for the last eight years. As long ago as 1897, when mines were booming and vast fortunes were being made, the leaders of the mining industry suddenly realized by a simple arithmetical calculation that more money could be

17、 made if their workmen were paid less. Representations were made to President Kruger, a Government Commission was appointed, and the possibility of reducing the wages of Kaffir workmen was discussed in all its bearings. Mr. George Albu, who was then the chairman of the Chamber of Mines, pointed out

18、that 2s. 3d. a shift was being paid to thePg 16 Kaffirs, and that this could be reduced to 1s. 6d. a shift for skilled labour and 1s. or less for unskilled labour. When he was asked how this could be accomplished, he replied, By simply telling the boys that their wages are reduced. Mr. Albu, however

19、, declared that a much better state of affairs would be brought about if a law was passed compelling the Kaffir to do a certain amount of work per annum, though he admitted that nowhere in the world was there a law enabling any particular industry to obtain forced labour. President Krugers Governmen

20、taccounted corrupt and irradical in those days, but now regarded by comparison throughout the Transvaal and Orange River Colony by both English and Dutchmen alike as most benevolent and beneficentrefused to sanction a system which would not only have been in opposition to the Conventions with Great

21、Britain of 1852, 1854, and 1884, but would have been opposed to the spirit of humanity that should exist among all civilized communities. Then came the war. The Boer Government was swept away. Two hundred and fifty millions and 21,000 English lives was the price exacted for planting the union Jack i

22、n Pretoria and Bloemfontein. During the war the magnates, with a persistence worthy of a better cause, kept before them those objects which I have enumerated. The consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields reported to a meeting of miningPg 17 representatives at Cape Town that dividends could

23、 be increased by two and a half millions by reducing Kaffir wages, and it was agreed that on the opening of the mines Kaffirs wages should be reduced by 33 per cent. When peace came it was found that the Kaffirs were not prepared to work on these terms. They had grown rich during the war, and in the

24、 independence of their new-found wealth they refused to be treated as so much human machinery. It was bad enough for them to work at their original wages in the Rand mines, without their consenting to such a large reduction in their wages. The rate of mortality in the Rand mines was seventy per thou

25、sand per annum; the rate of mortality in the De Beers mines was only thirty per thousand per annum. The De Beers never had any difficulty in obtaining what native labour they required, because they treated their men well, looked after their interests, did not sweat them, and admitted that a black ma

26、n, although black, was still a man. But even under these circumstances, had the magnates of the Rand offered the scale of wages that pertained before the war, they would have found black labour in abundance. But even with a black man a minimum of 30s. and a maximum of 35s. a month with food is hardl

27、y tempting enough to draw him from his kraal. The alternative of white labour was, of course, never seriously considered. The mere Englishman who had fought for the country was not to be allowed to settle in the country or toPg 18 work in the country. The Angots, the Beits, the Ecksteins, the Hanaus

28、, the Kuchenmeisters, the Rosenheims, the Schencks, the Taubs, the Wernhers, and the rest of the gentlemen delighting in similar grand old English names were determined not to permit it. The foolish Englishman would want to vote; would have ideas about personal liberty and personal freedom; would ha

29、ve ridiculous notions about Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights; would, in short, think that the nation that had spilt its blood and spent its money for the Rand was entitled to a vote in its management. With almost unparalleled insolence the Rand lords frankly declared that the introduction of Engl

30、ish labour would place the control of the country in the hands of Englishmen, and would lead to that trail of the serpent, the formation of labour unions. It was to meet with this that two hundred and fifty millions was spent by the English people, 25,000 died, 25,000 were permanently maimed. That w

31、hite labour could be used, and be used profitably, was proved beyond a doubt. Even when the higher wages were taken into account, it was found that in the cyanide works of the gold mines the Kaffirs cost per ton was 5s. 3d., against the Whites 4s. 9d. In developing and stopping actual work of the mi

32、ning underground, the Kaffirs cost 4s. 8d. and the Whites 4s. 2d. per ton. It was only in the machine drill work that the Kaffirs proved slightly cheaper than the Whites. There Kaffir labourPg 19 worked out at 6s. 4d. per ton, white labour at 6s. 9d.; a difference of 5d. per ton, so small a differen

33、ce as to be almost a negligible quantity. It was not until later that any pretence was put forward that white labour could not be employed. The real reason, and the reason frankly admitted, was the fear of the political power they would possess. Mr. F. H. P. Cresswell, general manager of the Village

34、 Main Reef, worked his mine upon a system of joint black and white labour, and the mine returned a dividend of 35 per cent. for the year 1903 and 20 per cent. for the first half of 1904. In the report upon the working of this mine it was declared that the efficiency of the mine was increasing, and t

35、he output greater, while the working cost was lower. This was proof conclusive that white labour could be employed in the mines if the magnates wished to employ it. That they did not wish to employ it is proved beyond the shadow of doubt by a letter from the late Mr. Percy Tarbutt, of St. Swithins L

36、ane, to Mr. Cresswell Dear Mr. Cresswell,With reference to your trial of white labour for surface work on the mines, I have consulted the Consolidated Goldfields people, and one of the members of the board of the Village Main Reef has consulted Messrs. Wernher, Beit & Co., and the feeling seems to b

37、e of fear that, having a largePg 20 number of white men employed on the Rand in the position of labourers, the same troubles will arise as are now prevalent in the Australian colonies, viz. that the combination of the labour classes will become so strong as to be able, more or less, to dictate not o

38、nly on the question of wages, but also on political questions, by the power of their votes when a representative Government is established. Foiled in their attempt to get cheap black labour, threatened with an inundation of Englishmen, the cosmopolitan Rand lords tried to obtain the slaves they requ

39、ired from Central Africa. This was not a success. It was admitted by a speaker at a commercial meeting in Johannesburg in July 1903 that various experiments had been tried to get native labour, and that the best results had been obtained at the Robinson Deep, which paid 25 per cent. dividend. They i

40、mported 316 natives from Central Africa only three weeks ago. So far only eight had died(laughter)but there were 150 in the hospital, and by the end of the month the whole will be in hospital. (Hear, hear.) They were coming in at the rate of thirty a day. These men cost 30 a head, and were not worth

41、 a bob a head when they arrived. (Cheers.) What were the mine lords to do? If only they were allowed they were quite prepared to employ slaves. Their amazing reduction in wages had not induced the Kaffir to come toPg 21 the Rand. In the words of the native chief the natives did not like to go to Joh

42、annesburg, because they went there to die. The majority at the Labour Commission had proved that if good wages and treatment were extended to the Kaffirs, hosts of natives would flock to the mines. But the Rand lords cared nothing about kindness, and they were determined to reduce wages. It was at t

43、his juncture that the question of Chinese indentured labour was seriously mooted. The black men were tired of being carted about in trucks, and herded like cattle, and beaten and maimed for life without any chance of compensation. It was said that the Chinaman was docile and tractable, and would wor

44、k for practically nothing, with extremely little food, for as many hours as he might be requested. Chinese labour, therefore, it was decided to obtain. But the Rand lords had to proceed with guile. They did this country the credit to believe that any hasty determination to import thousands of Chinam

45、en would have met with an outburst of popular indignation against which they could not have hoped to have stood firm. Forming a pretty accurate estimate of the leading passions that guide mens minds they determined to appeal to the cupidity of the Englishman at home. Their press began to pour forth

46、a torrent of sobs over the lamentable decay of the gold industry in the Transvaal. The country was ruined, they said; the industryPg 22 had gone to pieces. For ridiculous considerations of hypocritical morality the Rand, for which Great Britain had sacrificed so much, was to be made bankrupt. In a w

47、ord, it was bankruptcyor Chinese. They found many powerful supporters in this country. The trail of their wealth was on a section of the press, and that section echoed whatever principles it might please the cosmopolitan gentlemen of Johannesburg to give voice to. Even now one can recall the despair

48、ing moans of leader writers over the ruin that had overtaken the Transvaal. This was in June 1903. Somewhat unexpectedly Lord Milner at this juncture refused to echo the gloomy forebodings of the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines; in fact, his tone was joyously optimistic. The production of gold, he sa

49、id, even now is greater than in 1895 or 1896, when the Transvaal really was, and had been for some time, the marvel of the world in the matter of gold production. The world progresses; but whatever was fabulous wealth years ago is not abject poverty to-day. Not only that, but the rate of production is steadily increasing. What he said was quite right. The output of gold in the district of Johannesburg in 19