THESEGREGATIONERA
To stimulate growth, he provided manufacturing
industries with tariff pro-
tection, provided that they maintained a satisfactory ratio between "civil-
ised" and "uncivilised" workers in each industry. Furthermore, the wages
of "civilised" workers, including those engaged in unskilled work, were set
at higher rates than those of "uncivilised" workers.f?
Laws governing apprenticeship
and industrial bargaining further but-
tressed the racial structure of industry. The Apprenticeship Act (1922) gave
unionized white workers a secure position by setting educational qualifica-
tions for apprenticeship
in numerous trades. That made it impossible for
most Africans to be apprenticed,
since they lacked the means to meet the
prescribed educational level.r"The Industrial Conciliation Act (1924) and
its successors set up machinery for the prevention and settlement of dis-
putes but excluded Africans from the definition
of "employees." That
meant that white workers negotiated with employers the conditions
of
employment for themselves and for the African workers. Africans, debar-
red from participation,
fell under state Iegislation.f?
Those decisions created pervasive racial discrimination
in manufactur-
ingand public works, as in the mining industry. Poverty among Whites was