revolt against the solidarity of the West in opposition to the
South and East. France moving along this line would perforce
carry Italy, Portugal and Spain with it, and it is the fear of
such a possible idea that explains the deep-seated resentment
against France on the part of England and America. It is not
so much the attitude of France toward Germany that frightens
white Europe, as her apparent flaunting of the white fetish.
The plans of those who would build a world of white men
have always assumed the ultimate acquiescence of the colored
world in the face of their military power and industrial efficiency, because of the darker world's lack of unity and babel
of tongues and wide cleft of religious differences. If now one
part of the white world bids for dark support by gifts of at
least partial manhood rights, the remainder of the white world
scents treason and remains grim and unyielding in its heart.
But is it certain that France is going to follow this program?
I walked through the native market at St. Louis in French Senegal—a busy, colorful scene. There was wonderful work in gold filigree and in leather, all kinds of beads and bracelets and fish and foods. Mohammedans salaamed at sunset, black- veiled Moorish women glided like somber ghosts with living eyes; mighty black men in pale burnooses strode by,—it was all curious, exotic, alluring. And yet I could not see quite the new thing that I was looking for. There was no color line particularly visible and yet there was all the raw material for it. Most of the white people were in command holding government office and getting large incomes. Most of the col- ored and black folk were laborers with small incomes. In the fashionable cafés you seldom saw colored folk, but you did see them now and then and no one seemed to object. There were schools, good schools, but they fell short of anything like universal education for the natives. White and colored school children ran and played together, but the great mass of children were not in school.
As I looked more narrowly, what seemed to be happening was this: the white Frenchmen were exploiting black Africans in practically the same way as white Englishmen, but they had not yet erected or tried to erect caste lines. Consequently, into
