W. E. Hardenburg

“ If the occurrences which have been exposed lead to an awakening of the commercial conscience as regards investments in countries where poor native labour is employed, and to the consequent betterment of the lot of the humble worker in Latin America, the cruel sacrifice of the poor Indians in the dismal forests of the Putumayo will not have been in vain. ”

“ There is a strong religious moral to be drawn from the occurrences of a strong Latin American Bureau in London, for the purpose of fostering trade with those lands, of bringing forward their geographical possibilities and natural resources, and of insisting upon attention being paid to the condition of Latin American labour. In the United States a strong organisation exists in the Pan-American Union at Washington for dealing with the first two items here proposed, and due to its exertions the United States are securing a much larger share of Latin American trade than formerly. ”

“ It is, however, in Paris that feeling among financiers against Peru has been most acute, and Peru has been in the past practically shut out from the French financial market owing to the unsettled claims of French creditors. In general terms the United States is considered to be the more desirable friend, not Europe, and thus it is that North American friendship is cultivated. There is, however, no unfriendliness between Peru and Great Britain, and the best Peruvian statesmen have done their best to cultivate good relations. ”

“ Where that is absent or perturbed there is no restraining influence, such as the personal sense of fair play and hatred of treachery which the British character affords. It is not only a matter of education, but of soil, climate, race, and character. Those who arouse the antagonism of any person in power, where the law is weak, may expect anything, from charges of blackmail to the knife or bullet of the assassin. The terrible political murders constantly taking place in the Latin American republics indi- cate the ruthless spirit prevalent among certain classes in those communities. ”

“ The United States at the present time are actively engaged in increasing their commercial standing with their southern neighbours, but it is the case that these doubt the moral superiority of their neighbour, and naturally resent his right to interfere in their political and international affairs. Under the most favourable conditions the collection of rubber is an arduous and generally unhealthy work. ”

“ But these numerous and complacent shareholders in their comfortable surroundings know nothing, and have not made it their business to care anything, about the conditions of life of the humble workers who produce the dividends. Do they know that their gains are often secured by the labour of ill-paid, half-starved, and often grossly abused brown and black folk? ”

“ The occurrences on the Putumayo accentuate a moral which is bound to be presented to the conscience of the investing British public. In South America, as in Latin America generally, and in many other parts of the world where aboriginal labour is cheap, great sums of British capital are invested, and a steady stream of gold turns its course therefrom towards the British Isles. ”

“ There is a grave responsibility, which has been very easily carried, about this system of absentee capitalism. British investment in and trade with the Latin American countries is an important part of British commercial prosperity. ”

“ Similar conditions hold good with American concerns- mining and rubber gathering in Mexico and Central and South America. The Americans are often extremely oppressive to the Indian labourer. In the American -owned copper mines of Peru serious outbreaks due to this cause have occurred of recent years. The white American foreman rapidly gets used to oppressing the Indian. The miserable con- ditions of native labour in Latin America ought to be brought home to the directors and shareholders of British and other foreign companies. ”

“ The twenty- one constables whom the Peruvian Government kept in the Putumayo in those days had all been bribed by the English traders and shut their eyes to what was happening in the jungle."
In this way the Peruvian Commissioner seeks to excuse his country, laying stress on the term "English company and traders," when he knows that the only representatives of the English com- pany were its Peruvian directors and managers. The judge adds: "You must not imagine that the Indians are any less protected than the white man in Peru. ”

“ There are hundreds of rubber, mining, oil, plantation, railway, and other companies with scores of noblemen— lords, dukes, baronets— as well as doctors of science, bankers, and businessmen, and even ministers of religion, distributed among their boards of directors. ”

“ In the Amazon lowlands and rivers this obstacle would possibly be less formidable.
The occurrences of the Putumayo have aroused public feeling in Lima, where a pro-indigena, or native protection society, has been established, based upon a former, feebler association of similar character ; for there has always existed a party protesting against the abuses practised upon the Indians. The change of Government in the Republic has brought promises of betterment. ”

“ It will be recollected that in 1909 shares in rubber companies to the amount of £150,000,000 sterling were taken up, a great part of which have proved useless or fraudulent. Laws seem inadequate against the combination of knave, fool, and victim which is so marked a feature of modern company promoting finance. ”

“ But those acquainted with social conditions in South America v^ill greatly doubt if, apart from mutilations and assassination, the social condition of the Indian will yet be bettered or the ruinous system of peonage replaced by civilized labor conditions. If peonage and forced labor still exist in the more civilised upland regions, as they do, the conditions are not likely to be banished in the Amazon forestal lowlands. ”

“ The existing Romish Church in the Andean highlands is a valuable restraining force, but its methods often partake of spoliation of the Indian under the cloak of religion, and of what, as regards certain of its attributes, is practically petty idolatry ”