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JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND
* * * * * *
_SOUTH AFRICAN HOTELS_
PORT ELIZABETH
(ALGOA BAY)
Palmerston
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Terminus Road,
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Close to Station and Jetty
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and CIGARS...._
Porters meet all Trains
H. HEAD, Proprietor
CAPE TOWN.
Princess Royal
Hotel
Corner of Long and Riebeek Sts.,
_Two Minutes from Railway Station_.
CAPE TOWN.
Newly Erected Superior
Furnished Bedrooms.
Fine Balcony Views of
Table Bay and Mountain.
Excellent Billiard Table
(Thurston's Best).
Good Attendance.
Perfect Sanitary Arrangements.
_SPECIAL TERMS FOR RESIDENT
BOARDERS._
Visitors from England Up-Country
will find Accommodation
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_S. S. PALMER, Proprietor._
EAST LONDON
Hotel National
EAST LONDON
The most centrally situated Hotel
- - in Town - -
A First-class, Up-to-date Family
and Commercial Hotel
Large airy Rooms. Excellent Cuisine.
Good Stabling and Billiard Room
_Best Wines and
Cigars only stocked_
CHAS. COLLINS, Proprietor
BLOEMFONTEIN
(O.R.C.)
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EXCELLENT CUISINE.
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Porters meet all trains.
Under the personal supervision
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* * * * * *
[Illustration: A NEW FORM OF TORTURE. _Frontispiece_]
JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND
by an English Eye Witness
With Introduction by Dr. John Clifford, M.A., Ll.B.
And Frontispiece and Four Illustrations
London
R. A. Everett & Son
10 & 12 Garrick Street, Covent Garden, W.C.
1905
[All rights reserved]
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
Bread Street Hill, E.C., and
Bungay, Suffolk.
_INTRODUCTION
BY
DR. JOHN CLIFFORD, M.A., LL.B._
_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 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 blunder. It is another
blood-stained page in the history of 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 without
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 to 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._
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. ENSLAVING THE RAND 13
II. 'AVE, CROESUS, MORITURI TE SALUTANT' 27
III. THE YELLOW MEN ON THE RAND 46
IV. THE GROWTH OF TERRORISM 77
V. THE YELLOW TRAIL 98
VI. THE EFFECT OF CHINESE LABOUR. PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES 110
JOHN CHINAMAN ON THE RAND
CHAPTER I
ENSLAVING THE 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. 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 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. The Bishop of
Bristol has commended it. The Rev. T. J. Darragh, Rector of St. Mary's
Church, Johannesburg, saw in it nothing 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
opportunity 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 Selborne's loose-boxes and carted over to Johannesburg in order
that the evangelistic genius of the Rector of St. Mary's might have
full 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 principles 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 is too ridiculous for
words. The man who searches the Bible for a text to suit his line
of argument might perhaps find one for 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
justifiable 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 in view they realize that they must obtain
two things--1. 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 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 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 that 2s. 3d. a
shift was being paid to the 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, 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 Kruger's Government--accounted 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 beneficent--refused to sanction a system which would
not only have been in opposition to the Conventions with Great 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 in 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 mining representatives at Cape Town that dividends could
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 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 thousand 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 man, 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 hardly 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 to work in the country. The
Angots, the Beits, the Ecksteins, the Hanaus, 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 have
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 English 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 white 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 mining 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 labour worked out at 6s. 4d. per ton, white labour at 6s. 9d.;
a difference of 5d. per ton, so small a difference 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 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 the 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. Swithin's Lane, 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 be of fear that, having a
large 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 only 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 required 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 imported 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 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 to the Rand. In the words of the native
chief the natives did not like to go to Johannesburg, "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 this 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 work 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
Chinamen 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
men's minds they determined to appeal to the cupidity of the Englishman
at home. Their press began to pour forth a torrent of sobs over the
lamentable decay of the gold industry in the Transvaal. The country was
ruined, they said; the industry 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 word,
it was bankruptcy--or 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 despairing 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 said, "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 1900 was 237,000 ozs., and there were 59,400 Kaffirs
employed.
But for six months the agitation continued. It was put forward as a
theory that the only chance for the Transvaal was to employ Chinese
labour. The supporters of the Rand lords hailed the theory with
delight, as if it was something new, something that they had never
imagined before. Clearly this was the direction in which prosperity
lay. They must have Chinese labour. Then shares would go up, dividends
would become enormous, and everybody would be wealthy and happy. The
Transvaal would be something like a Mohammedan heaven, with Great
Britain as an annexe. White men were to pour out to the colonies--not
to labour on the mines, for that work was only fit for Chinamen;
besides, white men it was said could not do it--and the Rand was to be
prosperous and life was to be a veritable bed of roses. Was England to
be denied the fruits of her victory? For what had the war been waged
if the Transvaal was to be left a barren, unproductive corner of the
Empire? Were the fruits of victory to be Dead Sea apples?
By such arguments did they appeal to the British public. The dummy
figure of despair and ruin that they had set up served a very useful
purpose. It frightened the monied classes into the belief that their
investments were not secure. It frightened the patriots into thinking
that the war had been waged in vain. Few people troubled to make
inquiries as to whether the statement of the Rand's impending ruin was
true or not. There certainly was a slump in Kaffir shares. This was
held to be indicative of the state of the gold industry. It apparently
did not occur to anybody that just as Kaffir shares were made to
fluctuate during the war--when the mines were not being worked--so
they could be made to slump if only the Rand lords wished.
In six months they convinced the majority of the House of Commons, they
convinced the Government, and they even made Lord Milner eat his own
words. His dispatches began to take on a garb of gloom. In August they
were of the mitigated grief shade; in September the shade darkened;
in October it was more than half mourning; in November it had become
black; in December it was as black as the Egyptian plague. His lordship
talked of crises; of what would happen unless some noble, national
sacrifice was made to save the sinking ship. Chinese labour was the
only cure for the deplorable condition of the gold industry in the
Transvaal!
Meanwhile, a Labour Commission had been appointed, a mission consisting
of ten persons, eight of whom were known to be in favour of the
introduction of Asiatic labour. This Commission was authorized to find
out whether a scarcity of Kaffir or white labour existed, but was
forbidden to answer the question which was in the minds of all, whether
it would be proper or desirable to introduce Chinese labour.
The agitation proved successful, and it was decided to import Chinese
labour. The grave disasters attendant on the impending crisis Lord
Milner insisted in his dispatches in December 1903 had to be met.
It is curious, of course, to compare the statement of Lord Milner in
December 1903 with his statement in June 1903. In June the output of
gold was 237,000 ozs., and according to Lord Milner everything was
satisfactory. The production of gold, in his own words, was greater
than in 1895 or 1896. Six months later, in December, the output was
286,000 ozs., an increase of 49,000 ozs. Yet, according to Lord
Milner, the prosperity of the gold industry was in inverse proportion
to the output of gold! Two hundred and thirty-seven thousand ounces
per month was prosperity in June; 286,000 ozs. in December was grave
disaster, and the rest of it. Moreover, in those golden days of June
1903 there were 59,400 Kaffir labourers working on the mines. In that
dark, cheerless December, when the output of gold had increased 49,000
ozs., and the gold industry was rapidly sinking back into the pit
of gloom and disaster, the number of labourers employed was 68,800,
being an increase of 9400--or 15 per cent. Moreover, in this terrible,
deplorable month the production of gold was greater than it had ever
been before, except during that period between the beginning of 1898
and the commencement of the war. As to the question of labour, the
production per labourer per month in December 1903 was 4 ozs. of gold.
In 1899 it was only 3·4 ozs.; that is to say, it had been increased by
the use of machinery by one-seventh, so that six labourers in December
1903 were equal to seven labourers in the golden period before the
war. Actually, therefore, those 68,800 labourers were doing the work
of 80,262 labourers, and were doing it at wages 33 per cent. less than
they were before the war. But this was not prosperity. The dividends
were not large enough.
The report of the consulting engineer of the Consolidated Goldfields
still rang in the ear of the Rand lords. "Cut down the wages 33 per
cent. and you will add two and a half millions to the dividends."
An unlimited number of Kaffirs would not come to the mines under
these conditions; they would not submit to bad wages as well as bad
treatment. White men would combine to manage the country and to take
the political power out of the hands of the Rand lords. "If we could
replace 20,000 workers by 100,000 unskilled whites," said one of the
directors, "they would simply hold the government of the country
in the hollow of their hand; and without any disparagement to the
British labourer, I prefer to see the more intellectual section of the
community at the helm."
Hence the gloomy picture painted of the gold industry in that December
1903. Hence the slump in the Kaffir market. Hence that cry that native
labour would not come and that whites could not do the work. Hence that
more ominous cry that Chinese labourers must be employed. The Transvaal
was not to be for Englishmen. It was to be governed by the intellectual
genius of Mr. Rudd and his bevy of German Jews and non-British
Gentiles. Even if white labour was economically possible the Rand lords
did not want it. It _was_ possible--it _was_ economical. But they
wanted labour that would be _voteless_ and _subservient_!