After 1904, the issue of imperialism lost much of its previous importance as something which the Fabians discussed and debated, with only four Fabians publishing anything in relation to the Empire - Bernard Shaw, Sydney Olivier, and Beatrice and Sidney Webb - during this last decade before World War I. Though Olivier did not write on the Empire before 1900 as fellow anti-imperialist William Clarke did, he was the other original founder of the society who took an active interest in colonial matters. He was one of the major opponents of the Boer War, it should be noted, but was precluded from actively participating in the debate because he was suddenly appointed to a colonial position in Jamaica (he was a high ranking bureaucrat in the Colonial Office) in January 1900. In Jamaica for six years he did not participate in any of the major Fabian debates although he still remained a member of the society. Nevertheless, White Capital and Coloured Labour, published in 1906, and a short novel written a year earlier though not published until 1927 entitled The Empire Builder did impact both Fabians and others and in addition were quite interesting critiques of imperialism. Olivier began White Capital and Coloured Labour by questioning the goal of what has been termed the "civilizing mission":
- The savage, we say, is not "civilized." Is he capable of being taught to adapt himself to the characteristic individual forms of our own civilization? Are we satisfied that it is desireable that he should do so? Are the operations and methods in which white capital does actually engage coloured labour attractively representative of the essentials of European civilization? [1]
Such a goal to civilize the natives, furthermore, became "obnoxious" when the imperial agent doing the civilizing sought "to entrap, constrain, or coerce uncivilized natives into subservience to his personal interest under the pretext of doing them good." [2] Olivier failed to see anything in his experiences working as a colonial administrator that contradicted his contention that imperialism was bound ultimately to become corrupted, and personal abuses were bound to be committed by colonialists and colonial administrators. Though he noted "the theory that civilized races owe a duty to the uncivilized is no doubt held today by some people as a sincere moral conviction," he cautioned that it "has never by itself induced any race to annex the territory of any other...." [3] Rather Olivier maintained that personal motives and aspirations were always the more important considerations when deciding whether or not territories were to be annexed to the Empire.
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