Page:Sons of Africa (Gollock).pdf/19



discovery of Africa in the geographical sense is almost complete; its material resources, the riches of mine and forest and field, are being rapidly explored. Men are finding out that if the physical wealth of the continent is to be garnered, the human wealth must be conserved. The balance sheet of a colony depends upon the birth-rate; income is affected by infant mortality; wealth in colonial coffers depends on health in African kraals. This discovery has led, of course, to increased care of the Africans. So far so good. But to care for men as tools which are to be kept in good order that better work may be done by them, or even to educate them that being happier they may live longer and do more productive work, is not enough. The discovery of the African as a means to the white man’s ends begins to yield place to the greater discovery that the African is an end in himself.

This discovery as yet is far from complete. But over a wide area it has been begun, not only by missionaries and philanthropists but by indi-