German Colony. At the same time, in the first years of German administration. Chamorro teachers. These efforts were not entirely successful until

Transcription

1 VL German Colony In November, 1899, Germany formally took over the administration of the Mariana Islands north of Guam. During the first years of the German administration, the Marianas formed a separate district in the Sudsee Gebiet. In 1907, the islands were combined with the Palaus and the western Carolines into a single district, with headquarters on Yap. A station director resided on Saipan, and he, together with a small staff, administered the Marianas. At no time during the German regime was there more than a handful of German nationals on Saipan. Yet the arrival of German officials brought marked changes in the administration of Saipan and the other islands under German control. Although the Germans were primarily interested in the copra resources of the islands, they introduced a series of measures that altered very considerably the type of administration under which the Chamorros and Carolinians lived. Public health measures under the Spanish regime had been virtually non-existent. The German administration immediately started wholesale vaccinations for smallpox, which in the centuries past had been a scourge of the Chamorro population. The Germans also provided the regular services of a government doctor. After a visit from the famous Koch, yaws ceased to be diagnosed as leprosy, and it was recognized locally that the former should not be confused with syphilis. At the same time, in the first years of German administration an attempt was made to establish schools on Saipan. The first government report notes that two schools were started on Saipan one at Garapan and one at Tanapag and one on Rota, under Chamorro teachers. These efforts were not entirely successful until 1905, when a German teacher arrived on Saipan to take charge of the administration's educational program. In the second year after his arrival, 254 pupils attended school on Saipan 179 Chamorros, 74 Carolinians, and one Spaniard- with an advanced class of nine pupils (German Govt., , p. 4137). By 1912 the school had 75

2 76 SAIPAN grown to 385 pupils, with an additional special school for interpreters (German Govt., li)12 13, {). 181). Subjects included the reading and writing of German, arithmetic, Biblical history, geography, music, and calisthenics. Formal instruction was undoubtedly on "fundamentals," but judging from the number of middle-aged people on Saipan today who speak German and who still know "Ich weiss nicht was soil es bedeuten," the instruction was thorough. The learning of English was not encouraged, and according to a statement by Fritz, the governor of the Marianas, the speaking of English was prohibited. The Germans also sent a few young men off the island to secure vocational education. Several Chamorros, three of whom are living today, went to the German colony at Tsingtao to learn the crafts of carpentry, blacksmithing, and shoe-making, while one, Gregorio Sablan, became a school teacher and a remarkably well-educated man, with a full command of at least five languages. Two other young Chamorros went to Germany for schooling. Four were sent to the Yap headquarters to be trained as cable station operators. In political affairs, the German administration retained for the most the Spanish system of alcaldes and subordinate officials, but the functions of these became largely a matter of carrying out the instructions issued by the German officials. Judicial matters were Each village had a local taken out of the hands of the local people. resident as its head and the village was in turn divided into districts, each headed also by a resident, who reported cases of illness, kept the census records, collected taxes, secured laborers for construction of public works, and reported unusual occurrences. These officials were appointed, but their choice was influenced by popular preference, so that an attempt was made to gain community confidence in the system of administration. The various officials also received a small salary for their services. There is little doubt that the German administration was much more efficient and better organized than the casual Spanish one that had preceded it. It was a system designed for order and eflficiency, however, and not primarily for training in local self-government. The Germans also established a police force. At first a few Malayans were brought to the Marianas for this purpose, but they were early replaced by Chamorros and Carolinians. The German administration recognized that the peaceful nature of the population hardly made the police force necessary, but through the inculcation of "habits of punctuality and obedience, of co-operation, and

3 GERMAN COLONY 77 of comradeship between Chamorros and Carolinians" among the members of the force, it served a worth-while purpose (German Gov't., , p. 1951). Fritz (1904) noted that petty thievery, especially as regards food and fowl, was widespread, but that offenses against life were very rare. The German administration levied a yearly poll tax of three marks and continued in a more effective manner a work tax inherited from the Spanish regime. Under the Spanish, all men between the ages of eighteen and sixty were required to work for the government fifteen days a year, though the required period was apparently never worked off, or the work was performed only nominally. With the Germans, every male between the ages of fifteen and fifty was required to aid in the construction of public works; married men worked for twelve days and bachelors for twenty days a year, without remuneration (German Gov't., , p. 1006). Saipan's first adequate road system was built under this regime. In addition to setting up yearly records on vital statistics and instituting a series of minor ordinances, the German administration focused its attention on land problems and policy. The major German effort in the Marianas was directed toward copra production. In stimulating copra exports the Germans found it necessary to rely on the Chamorros and Carolinians, so that the relation of the local population to its land resources was an important consideration. Accordingly, a number of measures were instituted, certain of which are briefly noted. During the Spanish period, a few Chamorro families on Saipan obtained very large grants of land for grazing purposes, though there is no evidence that these lands were ever put to use. When the Germans assumed control of the island, they revoked these grants but allowed the holders to retain sufficient land for their needs, in amounts that they could handle. The remainder of these grants was incorporated into the public domain, which was then opened to homesteading by Chamorros and Carolinians. The German government recorded all titles to land and issued certificates covering such titles to individual owners. They also allowed the leasing, though not the homesteading, of public domain to German colonists on very reasonable terms, but were unsuccessful in drawing more than a very few adventurous souls of German nationality to the Marianas. Finally, in 1904, all foreign real estate, consisting principally of a few Japanese holdings, passed into the hands of the German government or the Chamorros.

4 78 SAIPAN At the same time, the Germans attempted to maintain subsistence agriculture by decreeing that any person owning a piece of land was obliged to set out one-quarter of a hectare in food plants. Governor Fritz reported that this edict was necessary, for many owners neglected to make adequate plantings of maize, sweet potatoes, and other food crops. A similar decree had been passed by the Spanish, though probably it was never enforced. Copra plantings increased in German times, but Fritz noted that the great majority of persons preferred to harvest the numerous wild coconuts and to buy imported rice with the proceeds. Saipan never became a really large-scale copra-producing island, and the entire Marianas never produced more than a few hundred tons a year. At least partly because of the German homestead plan, the early years of the twentieth century saw a steady migration of Chamorros from Guam to the German Marianas, particularly to Saipan. This immigration was complemented by a surplus of births over deaths, so that the German period was one of marked popula-.f tion increase. The following figures on population totals for the German Marianas reflect this trend (German Gov't., ; ; ) Chamorros 1,330 1,686 1,920 Carolinians ,109 The migration from Guam included some 100 Carolinians. The new American administration on Guam made a misguided effort to induce the Carolinian colony on Guam to adopt Western clothing and customs; the colony accordingly moved north and joined its fellow Carolinians on Saipan. Also, in 1902 there were some Carolinians on Rota, some on Tinian, a few copra workers on Agrihan, Sariguan, and Alamagan and about 100 Carolinians on Pagan (U. S. Navy Department, Handbook, 1944, p. 34). During the German period there were two terrific typhoons, one in 1905 and another in 1907, in the Carolines and some of the population of the devastated atolls were temporarily placed on Saipan. Also on Saipan for a time was a group of banished Samoans, numbering between 60 and 70. They are remembered today for their large stature and equally large appetites. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Japanese traders extended their activities to the Marianas, consequent upon the development of the copra trade in the Pacific. In the ensuing German period, shipping and trade were primarily in the hands of the Japa-

5 GERMAN COLONY 79 nese. In 1906, there were two Japanese firms operating in the Marianas: the Hiki Company and the Murayama Company. In 1907, the two firms combined to form the Nanyo Boeki Kaisha, which became a large and important concern in Micronesia (U. S. Navy Department, Handbook, 1944, pp ). Most of the shipping, varying from some sixteen to thirty ships a year, was Japanese, and the whole Marianas trade gravitated toward Yokohama. In addition, three German and German-Chamorro firms were organized: the Marianas Handelsgesellschaft, which leased the northern bird islands; the Tinian Gesellschaft, which exploited Tinian's livestock; and the Pagan Gesellschaft, which leased the four principal northern copra-growing islands in order to increase copra exports. Though the economic development of the Marianas during the German period was very modest, it did result in an inflow of imported goods. The ships that called at Saipan, together with the official German mail boat, which called about every two months on its run through German Micronesia, Hong Kong, and Sidney, also increased very considerably the contacts of the Marianas with Japan and other parts of the Pacific. What was the effect of the German administration on Chamorro and Carolinian society and culture? An important point is the set of values and attitudes that the handful of German administrators brought with them. The principal source of the period is the monograph on the Chamorros and a series of related papers by Fritz, the first German governor. As Joseph and Murray (1951, pp. 42 ff.) have so well pointed out, Fritz's writings are as illuminating for the insight they give into German attitudes as they are for the ethnographic information they contain. These same attitudes tend to be reflected in the official German government reports and in the papers of other German visitors and officials. Briefly, the following axioms that governed German attitudes deserve comment: (1) Work in itself is a virtue. It should further be directed toward the earning and saving of money. The first government report states (German Gov't., , p. 1006): "Our task as regards the education of the natives is clear... [they] must be trained to work; they must be encouraged to earn and to save money." In another place, the report states: "Unfortunately, the desire to earn and to save money is not very strong in either of the two groups [Chamorros and Carolinians], and this... hampers their development. Natural resources supply them with everything they need for their very simple way of living, so that very little work is

6 80 SAIPAN needed; a great deal of the work, it should be mentioned, is performed by women." (2) Order and efficiency, as reflected in punctuality, obedience, and technical knowledge, are desirable ends. Again, the first official report notes that the first school was more successful in training children in orderliness and punctuality than in teaching them the content of the instruction. The local police force was considered primarily of value in inculcating habits of punctuality, obedience, and co-operation. The laxness of the Spanish regime is commented on and the efforts taken to tighten the administration are described. (3) Progress toward civilization in the Marianas is to be measured in large degree in economic development and in higher standards of living. Coupled with this, the local residents should be taught the German language, and respect for German traditions and customs. What was the effect of these attitudes of members of the controlling power on the Chamorros and Carolinians? First, so far as one can tell, the Carolinians were much less affected than the Chamorros. The marked social and cultural differences between the two groups continued, and though skills such as canoe-building and navigation seem to have declined among the Carolinians, and though cultural change occurred among them, they appear to have remained attached to their own way of life. The Chamorros were certainly more affected. Costenoble (1905, pp ) remarked that the Chamorros showed an "unmistakable urge toward progress" but the Carolinians displayed none. It was the Chamorros who were sent to Tsingtao, Germany, or the Yap headquarters for special training in various skills. It was from the Chamorros that the principal response came to urgings to work and save. Among the Chamorros were a few who worked to amass land holdings through the homestead plan, who started a soap factory, who seriously specialized in craft skills, and who became school teachers. It seems reasonably certain that the German period saw a widening of the range of Chamorro material wants, an increased acceptance of a money economy, a greater receptivity to foreign ideas as Saipan's contacts widened, and probably a more pronounced equating of wealth to status. In the attitude toward work as a virtue in itself, the Chamorros today are much closer to Germans and Japanese than are the Carolinians, and it is possible that the German administration stimulated change in this direction among

7 GERMAN COLONY 81 the Chai-norro group. Work in itself, however, is not the pronounced and emphasized virtue among the Chamorros today that it is among the Germans and Japanese, as well as in other parts of Europe and in parts of America. Among many South Sea communities, the value of work is judged according to the immediate ends involved, a fact that few foreigners have realized, as the significance of the particular ends in the local cultures is seldom appreciated. As Joseph and Murray have pointed out, the German period on Saipan is now regarded as the "good old days." No doubt this is partly the result of looking at the past through rose-colored glasses a characteristic of all humans. Yet on post-war Saipan today there are certain rather obvious comparisons that the middle-aged can easily make. In German times, no bloody invasion with all the modern instruments of destruction had passed over the island. The resources were still intact. There was ample fertile land. Life was leisurely. The German regime maintained order and stability. There was a modest outlet for those who wished to strive for wealth and knowledge. The Chamorros, used to being under authority, could not have found German colonialism particularly oppressive. In the words of Gregorio Sablan (1926, p. 371), who lived on Saipan in this period, "From the very beginning of the German administration the natives of Saipan were quite contented, because the Germans have shown themselves to be highly cultured and of refined education." Although there was a widening of off-island contacts, an expansion of world-view, and developing differentials in wealth, literacy, knowledge, and social status among the Chamorros, the essential configuration of Chamorro culture and the major outlines of their social organization do not appear to have been greatly modified in German times. From Fritz's monograph, we learn that surviving elements of early forms of material culture, such as the head rest, were disappearing, and that new items, such as sewing machines, were coming into widespread use. Yet the Chamorros continued as a folk society, maintaining their traditional costumbren Chamorro^that core of usages centering around family, farm, and church. As for the latter, the Spanish Augustinians were replaced by German Capuchins. Fritz was not impressed with the piety of the Chamorros, pointing out their continuing belief in ghosts and spirits, yet such apparent contradictions are of common occurrence in missionized societies and the fact does not negate the acceptance of Christian ritual and basic dogma. Chamorro culture on Saipan represented a

8 82 SAIPAN continuation into the German period of the hybrid form crystallized in previous years, with some modification and addition to culture content through contact with German residents.