VOLUNTARY WAR SERVICE.
A war so long and arduous as this could never have been carried through if the great masses of our negroes had not supported our case with all their hearts. Indifference and non-participation, passive resistance, not to speak of open lawlessness, would have brought about the military and economic collapse of our defence at the very beginning. We must never forget that even in ordinary times the white man depending upon his own efforts in the tropics is a pretty helpless creature. He is forced to rely upon the services of the natives et every step. And this in a still greater measure when, as was the case with the Germans in the colonies, all supplies from without are cut off by means of the enemy blockade.
It is the negro who must work for the white man, the negro who must supply him with food and attend to his wants, the negro who must carry his loads from place to place, and so on. Let a general strike of the negroes ensue in the tropics — and the white man is done for.
The war, however, brought it about that the demands which had to be made upon our natives, assumed titanic proportions. All European plants and factories were forced to work far more intensively. The native plantations had to be extended, enormous quantities of food-