CRUELTY ON THE CONGO,

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2178, 30 April 1908, Page 4

CRUELTY ON THE CONGO,

SAVAGES. Treachery, pillage, aad (loath, says the Springfield Republican, mark tho roign of The king, of tlu, Belgians over his .30,000,000 defenceless subjects in the heart of Africa. Native life is sold for a song; inhuman atrocities are sanctioned by silence, and the sacred treaties with the world’s nations aro being violated, while Leopold sitting on his throne at JBrussels seeks to conceal tile truth, and claims to be maintaining Europe’s pence by using the Congo Free State as an escape valve for .Belgian energy. Twenty-two years have passed since this monarch promised tho world that lie would strive for the betterment of the native life, and permit the free establishment of schools and missions. To-day his black police aro keeping a false tally wit'll the hands of living, victims, and aro amusing themselves by slaying old women and little children with the butts of their guns; while efforts to start new industrial schools are made futile by the shelving of petitions for government grants. These accusations come straight from Ikoko —750 miles up the Congo, and from the seat of the “rubber wars.” They are not founded on tho myths of some transient traveller, but upon facts that have boon seen by a wide awake, fearless man who for nearly twenty-eight yearn has lived among the savages, and knows them as perhaps no other man in nil t'ho world, Itev. Joseph Clark. Living but thirty miles from the equator, in the Lako Mantumba region, for over a quarter of a century, ho has spent his life in studying the natives and seeking to better their lot. 'lie has seen the power of Leopold enter the Congo; lie has seen the king’s soldiers returning from their tours of carnage; he has bound up t’ho arms of victims whoso hands have been cut off; ho has witnessed the atrocities that tho Stato declares liavo never happened; lie has pleaded for justice, and lias pleaded in vain. The king’s emissary, who was inspecting tho country ill an effort to disprove the charges brought against Leopold’s government, said to Mr Clark: “The king says that the ears of the missionaries are too long.” The reply was: “Tell him that our eyes aro too sharp. It is a ease of seeing, not hearing.” Cunning diplomacy and paid deceit have aided to keep the facts submerged beneath a load of twisted statements. But the world is finding things out, and as “Truth gets a hearing,” Leopold’s get-rich-quick game will bo looked into. Tho Congo Free State was recognised in 1885 by the great powers as a sovereign, monarchical, neutral, and independent State, with Leopold 11., king" of the Belgians, as its ruler. With 900,000 square miles of territory, it saddles the equator, and is rich "in natural,.resources, rubber being the chief export. When Leopold dies, the Belgian Government will inherit dominion. At present the king is responsible for the management of affairs, and is bound only by the treaties of‘'Berlin and of Brussels.

CONDITIONS ON THE UPPER CONGO. The upper Congo, where most of the trouble arises, is apportioned out to concession commercial companies, in all of which Leopold holds a large interest. The companies practically own the territory and the inhabitants. While they are answerable to the vice-governor-general at Boma, yet the restraint placed over them is little more than nominal, as they are their own police, and are seldom guilty of punishing themselves. In these districts the natives are taxed exorbitantly, and assessed by villages, instead of by individuals. All of the taxes, payable in the produce of the district, are game, food, or rubber. The managers of tho company have another graft; they excise a monopoly over their district, and the natives are not allowed to soil outside of the territorial bounds. They must also sell at the rate named by the company, which is so very low that the company itself is ashamed to call it a price, and claiming to own all of the produce by virtue of its grant, money paid is simply spoken of as a “present” to the black man for bringing in what already belongs to the company.

So vigilant are the soldiers employed by the concession companies m protecting the monopoly rights, that often natives are shot 'down in cold blood for simply crossing the boundary line into an adjoining district. On the lower Congo, where competition and free trade are allowed, conditions aro far better, but in the interior, away from tho world, so to speak, tyranny and oppression are holding swayjat this very moment. Each village in the rubber region is required to bring to the company's stores a certain amount of the valuable gum. Failure to comply with tho domain! because of any rjnison whatsoever is promptly and seimre-iy punished. And punished how? By removing part of the protection which this tax secures to tho inhabitants? —The idea is a farce. By withdrawing certain privileges?—yes; the privilege of life. The story in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” of the chastisement of negroes for short measures of cotton on the southern slave farm finds a hideous prototype in Africa to-day, where the lash is replaced by the rifleshot and the sword. If word is received that some village falls below the prescribed amount of rubber, a body of black soldiers is detailed to punish the offenders. _ They may or nilay not lie accompanied by white officers—it seems to make little difference. Ammunition is furnished tho police, and is intended for use. Every cartridge must find a human mark—not simply as an aid to capture the man who doesn’t pay his taxes, for capture is not desired. That there may be ro waste of powder, tho order is, “Bring in a hand for every shot.” And Mic order is carried out.

THE PEOPLE CHEATED BY WORTHLESS “MONEY.” King Leopold’s government is doing another species of harm to the people by introducing a somewhat unique and thoroughly unjust money system. Braes, rods, cut Irom heavy wire and averaging two incurs in length, aro used as the exchange medium. That is, the government gives out the rods tor rubber, but it refuses to receive them in payment of taxes, il't prefers rubber and f->od supplies, something it can use. Put instead of giving the savages tlrnps they need, as cloth and blankets, me government is unloading tons of the yellow wiro annually. The result is shameful. The man sells his ruhb'ir, gets his bundle of wire, buries it near bis tent and sits around in idleness. He doesn’t spend tlio wire, bis wife furnishes food; lie doesn’t need any more, wire, and so he sits around 'die instead of working. If clothes or blankets or some other useful a-ti-de were received that in time would wear out, there would ho some inducement and necessity to world The only hope of the Congo Eree State is the .abolition of the concession system. In the lower Congo, where free trade is allowed, native life is conserved, and the black mail is given a chance to take advantage of opportunities offered him. Leopold knows of the atrocities being practised, because at various times commissions have been sent out by him to see if the reports of the missionaries were true, and these deputies have beeii obliged to acknowledge that the charges were, true. Yet it seems as though the king of the Belgians were more anxious to suppress, not the tyranny, but the reports of that tyranny. The State is making money out of the. Congo, over half a billion francs worth of rubber is shipped to Belgium annually. If Hie State were separated from the concession companies and exercised its proper functions only there would be some chance of .putting a stop to the atrocious crimes.