Association retained chiefs as intermediaries trained by French to rule the masses.

Evidence

Dakar now argued that African society could better progress if chiefs were retained in office, where they would be regularly consulted, as well as trained, by the French. Thanks to their education, these chiefs could in turn “civilize” the rural masses under their influence, whom the chiefs would also represent. Instead of its former vagueness with respect to the new elite, the Government General proclaimed that this group could participate in a limited capacity alongside the French in their own government. In all these ways, Dakar insisted, association would begin to democratize power in West Africa. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 606

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the working mechanism of association: chiefs retained, educated, and used as representatives to ‘civilize’ the rural masses.