The wholesale theft of the natives' cattle, their only wealth, with the direct connivance and approval of the Berlin Government, was one of the primary causes of the Herero rebellion of 1904. The revolt was suppressed with characteristic German ruthlessness. But the Germans were not content with a mere suppression of the rising; they had decided upon the practical extinction of the whole tribe. For this purpose Leutwein, who was apparently regarded as too lenient, was superseded by von Trotha, noted for his merciless severity. He had played a notorious part in the Chinese Boxer rebellion, and had just suppressed the Arab rising in German East Africa by the wholesale massacre of men, women, and children. As a preliminary von Trotha invited the Herero chiefs to come in and make peace, "as the war was now over," and promptly shot them in cold blood. Then he issued his notorious "extermination order," in terms of which no Herero--man, woman, child, or babe--was to receive mercy or quarter. "Kill every one of them," he said, "and take no prisoners." The hanging of natives was a common occurrence. A German officer had the right to order a native to be hanged. No trial or court was necessary. Many were hanged merely on suspicion. The Hereros were far more humane in the field than the Germans. They were once a fine race. Now there is only a miserable remnant left. This is amply proved by official German statistics. Out of between 80,000 and 90,000 souls, only about 15,000 starving and fugitive Hereros were alive at the end of 1905, when von Trotha relinquished his task. In 1911, after all rebellions had been suppressed and tranquillity restored, the government had a census taken. The figures, reproduced below, speak for themselves: Estimate Official Census 1904 1911 Decrease Hereros 80,000 15,130 64,870 Hottentots 20,000 9,781 10,219 Berg-Damaras 30,000 12,831 17,169 ------- ------ ------ 130,000 37,742 92,258 In other words, eighty per cent of the Herero people disappeared, and more than half of the Hottentot and Berg-Damara races shared the same fate. Dr. Paul Rohrbach's dictum, "It is applicable to a nation in the same way as to the individual that the right of existence is primarily justified in the degree that such existence is useful for progress and general development," comes forcible to mind. These natives of Southwest Africa had been, weighed in the German balance and had been found wanting.