“You believe in the doctrine of land nationalisation?”
“I believe in the doctrine of justice.”
“Would you propose to compensate the planters when you despoil them of their land?”
“That I cannot say. Compensation such as that would be a simple act of grace. Morally it would not be necessary.”
I mentioned to him that I had heard much about the annexation of Jamaica by the United States.
“That will never come about,” he said. “Jamaicans would not stand it, America does not desire it. But it would be better for America if we were entirely independent.”
“Why?” I asked.
“When the Panama Canal is completed Jamaica will be a place of some strategical importance,” he replied.
The conversation drifted to the condition of the people. I mentioned that the intelligence of the majority of the coloured people was not equal to the standard of the white.
“There I disagree,” he said. “So far we have not produced one great man. We have no great statesmen or warriors or divines. But in the mass our people compare favourably with the agricultural labourers of England, Germany or France. They are a clean-living, quiet people, easily led and easily governed.”