French colonial doctrine required indirect economic incentives, not direct coercion of African labor

Evidence

Although nothing was easier for the administration than to legalize measures it deemed appropriate for the interests involved, the practices in question here would be impossible to reconcile “with the conception that French public opinion, the Parliament and the government all have of the policy we should follow with regard to the native populations.” According to this conception, and here Kair did not go so far as Carde, the administration could only encourage the African to produce indirectly, through the payment of taxes and the creation of new needs and wants. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 818

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out the republican doctrine that Africans should be induced to work through taxes and new wants, not by force.
• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader civilizing-mission framework and contrasts with Carde’s more coercive native policy discussed earlier.