wants of the native that the trader or employer has little hold upon him. It was for this reason, rather than because of any undue greed or selfishness on the part of the Dutch, that the culture system was so long maintained. It was held that without some system of forced growths, there would be no cultivation at all of those articles required for export, because there were practically no wants of the native which could not be filled with a slight effort at serious cultivation of the land. The institution of slavery in the tropics is largely the result of an effort to find a basis of exchange between the natives and the foreign traders. This is brought about by the introduction of coolies from other countries where the pressure of population is very great. These are indentured and forced to work for a period of years and thus supply not only the labor required in large undertakings, but automatically a market for certain foreign products which the natives do not demand. It is significant that the plentifulness of nature in the tropics causes the native to be improvident and little value is attached to future supplies of goods. For the same reason, perhaps, future labor is held in just as small esteem and promises for future returns in labor are easily obtained in exchange for present enjoyment. Thus by what is termed credit bondage many industrial undertakings have been established and maintained. While this extends trade for a time, it has been held that it checks the growth of true civilization on the part of the native, and leads to no permanent increase in the wealth of the country, but in as much as humanity cannot pass directly from savagery to higher civilization some form of preliminary servitude seems almost essential. The great merit in credit bondage lies in the fact that it leaves all action to individuals, and requires only regulation by the State. Before the coming of the foreigner to the Far Eastern tropics it had a distinct place in the social system and gave the

creditor full power over the person, and even the family of the debtor. While not slavery in its inception, there was every probability that the debtor could never pay the debt, and his position would become perpetually that of a subject to the creditor.

Credit Bondage.-The institution of credit bondage as a successor to the culture system in the Dutch East Indies was meant to educate the native both as a consumer as well as a producer. But for some time after its abolition the natives tended to revert to their old hand to mouth system of production and worked only enough to obtain what they had before received, but which they now procured, of course, with much less labor. Political pressure continued for many years to dominate the procuring of labor, and the good will of the headman of a village was all that was necessary to obtain any amount of native contract labor.

Credit Advances as an Inducement to Labor.-In the case of the independent laborers, however, the great productiveness of the land made it difficult for Europeans to induce them to work other than independently. With small wants the scale of living remained low and the natives evinced no ambition to better their mode of living. The practice, therefore, grew up of offering a large part of future wages in advance, and lured on by the bait of immediate enjoyment the native would bind himself to work for a stipulated time. This system of advances to secure the services of laborers has been found effective, and is practiced at the present time all over the Dutch East Indies. The Government, however, does not permit contracts to run for more than five years, and stipulates that full specifications of the services to be rendered, and the pay to be given, should be contained in the contract. Breach of contract became very prevalent, however, and under a law passed in 1872 punishing offenses of this kind there were 9,000 cases tried in three years, but the opinion of theorists

in Holland opposed this legislation as reactionary, and it was repealed in 1877. Cases of breach of labor contract are now tried before regular tribunals, where it is necessary to prove that the laborer intended to desert when he made the contract. The difficulty experienced in doing this has had bad economic results, and reform in this respect is demanded.

"Particular" and Other Land Tenure.-The so-called "particular" lands which resulted from the land sales of the Government from 1800 to 1830 have resulted in the ownership of certain lands over which the proprietor exercises certain "particular" rights. On these lands he exacts dues in labor and goods from the natives, appoints a headman to exercise the functions of communal government. These lands are not numerous, and the population thus affected amounts to less than two per cent of the population, but many abuses have crept in through their ownership by absentee landlords, stock companies, and Chinese, and there is agitation for their abolition. Over all other lands the power of the Government is supreme.

Problems of Land Tenure.-The problems of the present Government, so far as the land tenure is concerned, are largely dependent upon an equitable solution of the vexed questions which have arisen out of the preceding centuries of instability and change. Land devoted to rice culture must be guarded closely to insure a steady food supply. This is especially true in view of the fact that such land is particularly well adapted to the growth of export crops like sugar, tobacco, and indigo, and is eagerly sought for by unscrupulous exploiters. The Government has taken the property right in the land and the natives in hereditary possession, interfering as little as possible with the native customs of land tenure. Foreigners can only lease land cultivated by natives for a short time, under many restrictions. These limit the term of the lease to 12 years, while com

munal lands may be leased in block, for a period of five years, by a two-thirds vote of the village community.

The "Net Profit System."-In 1864 the Dutch India budget had been placed under the Holland Government, and although it limited the power of the Governor General, the "net profit system" remained whereby the Dutch in Holland received the annual surplus from their dependencies. This ranged from 4 to 16 million dollars per year. The injustice of this arrangement was overcome in 1878, when the expenses of carrying on the war with the unsubdued tribes of Sumatra caused this surplus to vanish, and since that time the expenditures of the colony have almost entirely exceeded its income. In 1870 a movement was started to gradually change the culture of sugar, one of the two remaining forced cultures, to free culture and by gradually diminishing the amount of land and labor owned by the natives. This necessitated higher wages to the liberated natives, as well as payment for their land and a tax on the sugar produced, but in spite of these gains to the natives and the slight loss in Government revenues, the planters' profits increased, and production rose 300 per cent in fifteen years. The period after 1884, however, was followed by a severe depression in the sugar industry, due to increased sugar beet production by the bounty system in Europe. This depression, which would have entirely crushed the industry under the culture system, has been met successfully by the freed culture system and the energy and economy of the individual planter, since the final abolishment of the sugar culture system in 1898, following its practical suspension since 1870, has resulted in considerably reduced costs of production.

The Retention of the Coffee "Culture."-The other culture reserved to the Government, on the abolishment of the culture system in 1870, was the coffee culture, which is still maintained and, this alone, under the old system, re

turned four-fifths of the total revenue from sale of government products. This has led to its survival as a culture after all others have been abolished. The whole coffee culture can be carried on by the natives, and requires no elaborate machinery. This culture, however, is rapidly passing away, and the change to complete freedom in all culture in the colony is only a question of time.

THE PHILIPPINES

Modern Government and Policies of the Philippines.It is the universal rule in the history of every nation, that, upon reaching a certain stage in economic development, it has embarked upon enterprises of territorial expansion. This rule is common to all races, in all climates, under every form of government, and America's adventure in the Philippines is more attributable to this natural tendency in human evolution than to any abnormal development in our national life. On the other hand, the American occupation of the Philippines has been characterized by independent and original experiments in colonial government, induced either by blindness to local conditions or contempt for universal experience, and carried out in a spirit of detached disinterestedness which is largely accountable for their success.

The Continued Activities of Aguinaldo.-Aguinaldo and his followers had left the Philippines in 1897, after the Treaty with Spain, but suspecting that Spain did not intend to carry out the terms of the Treaty and institute the reforms, they had begun to plot another revolution, with the avowed motive of achieving the political independence of the Philippines. Of this the American authorities at Singapore and Hongkong were aware, and the proclamation that Aguinaldo issued, on his arrival at Cavite, was actually drafted by an American official at Hongkong. Aguinaldo was taken to Manila in an American transport, was permit