French-appointed canton chiefs resorted to exploitation where traditional elder councils had held power

Evidence

The peoples in question were described as particularly hostile to any form of centralized government. By tradition, power was vested in councils made up of village elders. These elders, practically unknown to the French, resented the administration’s appointing new canton chiefs and the concomitant decline in their own authority. Moreover, these new men freely exploited the local communities through illegal labor exactions and irregular judicial proceedings and incarcerations. In this context of generalized discontent, the demand for tirailleurs proved catastrophic. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 513

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the reader’s republicans-in-West-Africa theme: the French imposed centralized chieftaincy structures that disrupted indigenous decentralized governance, a mechanism echoed in later assessments of indirect rule.