The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

VII.] JAVA. 73placed a Dutch Resident, or Assistant Resident, who is consideredto be his "elder brother," and whose "orders" take theform of "i^ecominendations," which are however iniijlicitlyobeyed. Along with each Assistant Resident is a Controller, akind of insjDector of all the lower native rulers, who periodicallyvisits every village in the district, examines the proceedings ofthe native courts, hears complaints against the head-men orother native chiefs, and superintends the Government plantations.This brings us to the " culture system," wliich is thesource of all the wealth the Dutch derive from Java, and is thesubject of much abuse in this country because it is the reverseof " free trade." To understand its uses and beneficial effects, itis necessary first to sketch the common results of free Europeantrade with uncivilized peoples.Natives of tropical climates ha^'e few wants, and, when theseare supplied, are disinclined to work for superfluities withoutsome strong incitement. With such a people the introductionof any new or systematic cultivation is almost impossible, exceptby the despotic orders of chiefs whom they have been accustomedto obey, as children obey their parents. The free competitionof European traders, however, introduces two powerful inducementsto exertion. Spirits or opium is a temptation too strongfor most savages to resist, and to obtain these he will sell whateverhe has, and will work to get more. Another temptation hecannot resist, is goods on credit. The trader offers him gaycloths, knives, gongs, guns, and gunpowder, to be paid for bysome crop perhaps not yet planted, or some product yet in theforest. He has not sufficient forethought to take only amoderate quantity, and not enough energy to work early andlate in order to get out of debt ; and the consequence is that heaccumulates debt upon debt, and often remains for years, or forlife, a debtor and almost a slave. This is a state of things whichoccurs very largely in every part of the world in which men ofa superior race freely trade witli men of a lower race. It extendstrade no doubt for a time, but it demoralizes the native, checkstrue civilization, and does not lead to any permanent increasein the wealth of the country ; so that the European governmentof such a country must be carried on at a loss.The system introduced by the Dutch was to induce the people,through their chiefs, to give a portion of tlieir time to thecultivation of coffee, sugar, and other valuable products. Afixed rate of wages—low indeed, but about equal to that of allplaces where European competition, has not artificially i-aised it—was paid to the labourers engaged in clearing the ground andforming the plantations under Government superintendenceThe produce is sold to tlie Government at a low fixed price.Out of the net profits a percentage goes to the chiefs, and theremainder is divided among the workmen. This surplus in goodyears is something considerable. On the whole, the people arewell fed and decently clothed ; and have acquired habits of