the same time enriching yourself. That is the policy which I went to study in
Java." ⁹²

He gave a lyrical picture of the results of Dutch agriculture in Java. There
was no more beautiful sight than a coffee plantation in full bloom and no better
life than that of a coffee planter. "No mode of life gives an equal satisfaction
or, I may add, equal rewards." ⁹³ Incomes of f70,000 were not exceptional,
profits of 25 percent (as opposed to the norm of 3 percent) were made. How
had this paradise come about? The answer ran: "through an alliance of capital
and labour." ⁹⁴ Here we run up against the nut of the French colonial problem.
Like many in the Union Coloniale Française, Chailley-Bert was very well aware
of the unwillingness of French capitalists to invest in the colonial empire. ⁹⁵ This
was the great point on which every attempt at economic exploitation and "mise
en valeur" turned. Now, in his opinion, this unwillingness stemmed from the
lack of competent colonists who could do something useful with the capital.
And this lack was due to the absence of schooling and experience. Thus, the
precondition for any successful approach was colonial agricultural training.
"The colonial problem can be reduced to a question of education, and there is
no more important problem facing us at this moment." ⁹⁶ And here again, the
Dutch were advanced as an example. They came to Java with a good agrarian
education, "fully prepared for their tasks," while young Frenchmen going out
trusted to their hands and their energy "to shift for themselves." ⁹⁷ In the writ-
ings of Chailley-Bert the problems and the remedies of the propagandists of the
"mise en valeur" clearly came to the fore. Thus, they are a good illustration of
what Dutch colonialism on Java had to tell the modern French colonials of this
period. The significance and the limits of the Netherlands as a colonial model
appear very clearly in his work.

Our conclusion can be brief. The purpose of this chapter was to demonstrate
how great the interest and the admiration have been in imperialistic Europe for
what was regarded as the remarkable successes of Dutch colonialism in Indo-
nesia. This appreciation was motivated in different ways. First, it stemmed from
an old-fashioned conception of colonial exploitation, then, from a striving for
modern capitalistic exploitation. But in both cases the admiration was great and
criticism minor. This interest did not only have theoretical significance, for in
several cases it formed a clear incentive for the exercising of a policy of colonial
expansion. In other cases, it served as an inspiration for the setting up of an
administrative and economic system. In general, one might say that Dutch co-
lonialism has contributed to the revaluation of colonial possessions which
formed the basis for the flood of European imperialism. This new imperialism,
partly inspired by the Netherlands' example, gradually became menacing to the
Netherlands' hegemony in Indonesia and endangered its commercial interests in
other parts of the world, such as Africa. This is one of the countless paradoxes
that characterize the history of European expansion.

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