Salt Lake Tribune | 1913-08-31 | Page 11 | South Africa Has Its Race Problem

SOUTH AFRICA IS ITS RAMBLE! I Attacks by Blacks Upon I White Women Subject of I Official Study. 19 CONDITIONS ARE GRAVE 1 Investigation Shows Whites l Largely Responsible for jl Existing Evils. Hj CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aujr. 30. IjH That the problems incidont to rest- uH dence In the samo land of whites and. 9m blncks are becoming as acuto in South. jjH Africa as In America, i3 indicated by H a late report from tho commission un- jfl der tho chairmanship of Sir Molius d H Villiers, appointed to iuvestigato at- tacks on women. S Tho commission did its work with, H great thoroughness, visiting every por-tion por-tion of the union except the purely na-tivo na-tivo territories whero tho holdinc of a formal inquiry would have been inju- dicious or unnecessary. It recoived H statements from 300 persons able to JjR testify from first hand knowledgo of M tho subject under investigation. Tho JM statistics and oth'or information gath- H erod by tho commission shows that a jil serious evil in respect to attacks on jjH white women by natives doos exist, and ffll that on tho whole it is increasing. In HJ 1001 the total numbor of convictions of fl negroes for this crime throughout tho jjfl union was 11; in 1912 it had grown to jjfl 70. In tho year preceding it was 80. ;H Whites Are to Blame. jjfl The commission declares there would jlfl be little reason to fear this peril if all l tho whito Gettlers could bo depended III upon to behave in a manner befitting jjH members of a stronger race and heirs jfl of a superior civilization. Tho report J indicates that tho illicit liquor trado on H tho Rand is creatine a class of "whites H who are bringing tho name of whito jjH womanhood into disrepute. Tho com- ;M missioned also declare that thoro aro jH white women and girls criminally care- -1H less in their treatment of black hoiiBO- iH boys. The roport also asserts that 4H there aro instances where white women, H mistresses or servants, are saddled with HI a much graver and more shameful 1 culpability. ' I Suggested Remedy. jl The practical recommendations of tho IB commission promise to raise a storm when the' aro presented to parliament. ; The commission recommends that tho name of the victim of an attack or any detail by which she could be rccog- ; nized be not published, in the interests both of justice and humanity. An- f other suggestion, that the namo otf tho j accused be supprossed, probably r will meet with considerable oppojitionv Legal prohibition of miscegenation is one of the strongest recommondationa of the report, which proposos also the raising or tho age of consent. : The Durban system of Kaffir beer drinking and eating shops, under mu- j nicipal control, is recommonded for , tho whole union, as is the adoption j of tho Kiraberly system of closed com- pounds. This latter proposal will bo ( stoutly opposed by the trading com- 5 munity of Johannesburg, for it would j involve many storekeepers in ruin. , Another recommendation to whiph v two of tho most experienced commissioners, commis-sioners, Sir Melius do Villiers and Sir John Graham, dissent Is for the abolition aboli-tion of jury trial in cases of attack when tho races and sexes are involved.