| Show making tomorrows tom arrows 4 W wa I 1 oal a by altel WL TEl ER WILLIAMS awn of the of the I 1 FREE HOLLANDS HOLLAND S SLAVE ISLANDS batavia java was only six alx years old slight of figure and short of 0 stature she appeared ovon even younger yo her namo name in javanese m moaning 0 a n I 1 n g tiny ono one had been given her at birth not because she bho was small but as expression of endearment K T li 0 i javanese a smili smila A n s g bright eyed b brown r 0 w n skinned race are devoted t to a their children sins who was kechuan 0 I 1 d 0 a t i sister the first born of the family ameto came to the java home her parents names were wera changed according to au an dent clent native custom and they were thereafter hereafter known by words that mean in n our prosaic english pa sins and zia sina the baby Is an Im important t Vers personage in tho the javanese home life practical peonage enforced when kecell wont went to work in tho the porting room of the big tea estate she eho was scarcely five years of age ia lor bor was needed at tho the tea estate how lover the dutch rulers of tho the east indies archipelago have a century old system of of labor which technically abolished in some islands and for some purposes exists in actual practise almost to peonage in districts off tho the tourists beaten track nowhere in the dutch archipelago Is there a child labor law nowhere Is there compulsory school attendance why seek seck to compel tho the attendance of children at schools when thero there are not schools enough provided to accommodate those who go voluntarily why have a child labor law lav when it would interfere with the profits of at the dutch owned estates the very idea seemed ridiculous to the courteous manager of tho the estate As for sending girls to school bahl bah that might do in europe and ot 0 courso course in america where he had beard they even sent black girls to school and did other mad things or possibly in batavia and tho the big towns but not in the 60 country districts no indeed no protection for laborers nor is there a mini minimum muni wage law pr or any other legislation which gives protection to the native laborer yo boing ing or old in java it hard work said tho manager this sorting of tea the baskets with the tea are light these handled by the young girls girla weigh but a few pounds the hours are only from six in the morning until four in the afternoon with time tor for lunch there way may bo be a difference of if opinion as to tho the work to slake a sieve holding ten pounds of ten teat more oil oi less tor for nine or ten hours a day in a climate of tropical heat might ho be regarded ly by some per sons sona as rather hard bard work in the tha sorting room with kechul were a hundred other laborers girls and women the wages replied tho manager wo we pay according to the work vork done our jur scale of wages is about a halt half cent higher than that usually paid some of the mory moro skillful women can earn 50 or 60 cents a day dutch money in american money 20 to 24 cents bechil the tiny one had bad been working a year she was paid the equivalent of four cents american i money koneya a day the overseer Jo houseye Hou housekeeper aper 11 Xe chils mother and two slaters sisters work in the factory her oldest sins hd had worked there she did not lot now she had a dash of at rose color in n her rounded cheeks was graceful nd and to look upon with the merry laugh anti and chatter characteristic tioff of tho the javanese cavano 0 o one evening tile tho overseer called sina into his bung bungalow a sho she struggled elod but of no avail her fattier father appealed to tho the magistrate but with no more success tho the double standard of justice exists in java one standard tor for tho the europeans and another save in a few notable cases for the native sina remained as housekeeper in tho the ove overseers racers bungalow her predecessor being no longer pleasing in tho the musters masters eight bight shedid not return to tho the tea factory nor did tho the color return to her cheeks checks Ko kochies chils fattier father and brothers javanese of intelligence and strength could relate it II they dared stories of their own enforced labor which make tho the dutch islands in the far east mistakenly called model colonies seem slave clave islands her father could toll tell and did tell under pledge of at secrecy as to lilt his name some things from his own exper experience lenco and others from the common stock of native knowledge few more fertile countries are to bo be found in all the world than java its inhabitants aro are born farmers skilled in irrigation methods and with expert with hydraulics i and yet living in a land where the richest harvests come with scarcely an effort large territories are periodically visited by fit firmine mine the cause of this said J F Schol tema has to be sought in a system of colonial exploitation plot tation which made the natives raise products tor for the european markets by forced labor and deliver them into the government storehouses whence they were shipped to holland and eold ut at an enormous profit this system called after count van den bosch on whose recommendation it was introduced to meet hollands financial has now been abandoned though the carvee tho th calling out of tile the in un paid service for tho the mending of broadi etc continues as before even now novi however it would be too much to say bay that native toll when demanded by direct or indirect pressure always commands wages sufficient to keep body and soul to together geiber the word coffee still has an especially ominous sound in native ears for it reminds them of the oppression connected with the growing of that commodity for government purposes purpose a rico the principal food ot of the tha people it they can afford it to is also their principal crop and yet yel for reasons closely 1 4 I 1 S V A 4 ZI Z a natives of java connected with tile governments methods re referred ferrad to tho the production does not come up to the consumption java thanks largely to tho the official tourist bureau is the best known of the islands constituting the netherlands east indies it is also tho the best governed tho the most prosperous and the one where the most consideration slight though this may be has been shown hy by the dutch government for the welfare of the natives java lias has a population of at more mora than otie one third the population ot of tho the united states six hundred to a square ralle alv live a ou the island borneo sumatra and celebes all islands in the dutch archipelago exceed t java in size in these the conditions are oven even less favorable to tile the development 0 of the native population I 1 have no political rights in java the primary schools open to natives are few and inadequate and except recently for doctors there are no higher institutions of learning the native wishing higher education must go to holland taxation Is high particularly for the native and tho the returns he receives aro are few lai Int loed leed ile he has no voice olce in any administration of at the islands affairs I ile he le cannot vote nor hold office ot of any im por tanco the dutch government sterner la in A administration in tho the than tho the holland at homo home believe or wish has been forced to taker take cognizance of tho the awakening demand for liberty and justice tho the mohammedan organization though its chief alm i Is a r lous has haa had some effect nin in tal disclosing conditions and urging social c 1 u tind political reform moreover in a country whore where the discussion ot of politics Is not net merely discouraged but by ina forbidden it to Is hopeful to and n n p political society well organized li iti with v ll 11 moro more than members tho the Ind lacho or indian party tile tho avowed purpose of which Is equality before tho the law for all inhabitants of tho the lalands islands this society includes in its ita membership nil all classes and Is dlinn nn an excellent educational work though prudent us ns its leaders are anro in tho the main it comes frequently into collision with tho the local government tho lorgan organ of tho the society Is the java express edited nt at Ban Bando doong eng by 11 II C Kalte kakebeeke beeke a dutchman by birth a real resident dent of java but by naturalization a citizen of the united states the express Is IB the best edited newspaper in java and has tile tho largest circulation Hec till sina their father and brothers and tile the of tho the samo same race are not without a strong advocate alms of reform society the object of tile tho Ind ischo party explained mr kakebeeke Kakebe oko la is to awaken n tile the patriotism of all indiana for the soil that nurtures them to create a desire for political equality in an all indian fatherland and thus prepare the way for independence it was w this hint at possible future independence that caused the governor gou gen oral eral to decline to permit the incorporation po ration of tho the society under tile tho forms of law the Ind ischo party purposes said bald mr kakebeeke Kakebe eko to teach tho the history of these people to them in order to awaken the latent national sentiment wo we would abolish all special privileges that attach to race or caste we are opposed to religious sectarianism or strife wo pool the establishment of 0 technical seb schola that the natives may become skilled to do their own technical work rather than bo be compelled to import men to do it wo we wish freo free education for all morality taught in tile tho schools and no difference in education because ot of race or sex wo we favor ono one law tor for europeans and natives alike wo we do sire to enlarge the influence of the native in the government by giving him the right to participate in it wo we wish to equalize taxation to protect the laborer to improve economic and social conditions and to do all these things within the law robbery by tax collectors col electors lectors lec tors conditions far worse than those which the In dische party books to remedy in java exist in the other islands of the archipelago borneo sumatra celebes and the smaller ones in id these the native is a peon half and half slave the exceptions are not numerous take the matter of taxation in borneo as the one sufficient example of the general rule let art an intelligent high minded po pa dutchman tell the story 1 I lived for some time among tho primitive population tn in borneo ho he said away in the interior the different tribes of the so called dreadful da jaks jake were my helpers shy at first they soon became friendly when they found that I 1 was waa not after their slender belongings but bat paid fair wages one day a government tax collector came when you and I 1 pay taxes we get something in return police protection tec tion courts justice these borneo natives get nothing in return tile ano tax collector kept at athis his work until there was not a follow fellow in the whole camp that had a dollar left except my aalf lie ile stripped the camp and tho the native village bare of everything of value ills boats carried it all down the river as taxes the kajaks who still are uncivilized and cut off their enemies beads when they hear of the visit of the tax collector to any tribe immediately attack those thus thua visited knowing they will have nothing left with which to make defense Is it strange that the tax collector lit Is sometimes the victim of the enraged natives I 1 do not blame him for his tax collecting the stay at hoheit must have revenue and he must produce it for them it Is a rotten system of avarice and greed rebellion mercilessly suppressed occasionally even the lighthearted light hearted hapy go lucky javanese rebels against such treatment and there Is bloodshed the dutch speedily and lessly suppress the hie insurrection and the outside world orld so rigid is lathe the control of the press hears little or nothing of it in tile the other islands particularly ticul arly in sumatra and borneo where the natives are less genalo than in java there is constant strife in timor the natives arose in wrath the other day at the exactions and bestialities of an official and well nigh toppled the entire government of the tha island halt half dutch and halt half portuguese into the sea though there are many excellent and unselfish men in the dutch administration of the east indies the system is one of exploitation 1 primarily ri marily it shows allows well on tile the bank books but not in the lives of the native men and women Kee hils faco face brightened into a smile she had begun work early that sunday morning the exploiter of java has no sabbath in his calendar and she might earn the enormous sum of five cents tor for her toil ten hours labor the stern overseer too had smiled her ber visitors toru were in tho the room and the gentle javanese are quick to respond in kind to generous humor suddenly the baby workers face hardened into a frown perhaps the overseers smile emello suggested her sisters fate copyright Copy rii tit 1914 by joseph josepa 0 |
