Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-08-11
MENACING AFRICA.
WlllIT GIVE CAPITALISM NEW
LEASE OF LIFE.
The European Powers Absorbing the
Dark COntinent" - EXpl0ita.
tiOn and Civilization"
An Economic Prob.
lem Touched.

W INV DOOldlIolo uuC NOlIu ONtI
are deriving considerable satisfac-
tion and consolation from the spread
Of their doctrines and apparent de-
cline of individualism, one of their
number, f. Belfort Bax, of London,
England, publishes an article in the
C0nln0n1real, that presents startling
facts to the students of political
economy and the evolution Of human
lily, who have not observed the jeal
ous anxiety with which the European
powers regard the great continent.
Says Mr.. Bax:
"Weare witnessing to-day strik-
ing phenomenon in the history of
the middle-class world-to wit, the
struggle among the European ma
tions over the partition of Africa.
1t seems strange that the great con-
tlnent lying Immediately south of
Europe, so much nearer the home of
civilization than America, not to
speak of Australia and other regions
OF the Antipodes, should, up till our
own time, have remained not merely
in the undisputed possession of its
original inhabitants, save for one or
two trihing exceptions, but should
have been to a great extent uneX-
plored. Whatever the causes why
civilization has until recently ne
elected the greater part of the dark
continent in favor of the new
world, Of remote parts of Asia and
the Southern seas, civilization seems
determined to make up for it now by
extending its blessings under every
variety Of national flag over the whole
of those benighted regions. England
has been for the last ten years stea-
Oily working up from the south, ab-
sorbing territory after territory; Ger
many has within year Or two seized
the enormous region of the Came
rooms (so-called) on the West coast; !;
Portugal, hard by, seeks to establish
claims hitherto vague, and for the
most part merel y nominal. On the
Eastern coast we come to Zanzibar,
where several powers are struggling
for supremacy, Further north, in
Abysslnia and on the red sea coast,
Italy is openly preparing to make
anneXations while in the Northern
Soudan and Egypt, the futu e lies
visibly between the hands Of England
and France. That Tripoli will one
of these days be united to the
French dependency of Algiers there
is little doubt, always provided that
the Italian Government does not
forestall such a move. Morocco,
which is also at present independent,
is being jealously eyed by half-a-
dozen vulture-States, the balance Of
chances being probably in favor Of
Spain. The Northern half of the
West Coast is for the most part ab-
sorbed by settlements of various
powers, England largely preponder-
ating, while Portugal occupies most
of the coastline between the equator
and the tropic Of Capricorn. 10 the
north of the latter the new Congo
State opens out into the interior, a
"vague potentiality' (as Carlyle
might have expressed it), a hideous
cancer, at present merely embryonic
and sluggish, but liable to become
virulent and throw out at any mo-
ment ramifcations which may eat
the heart out of Central Africa.
Should any one unyersed in the
matter take up the map Of Africa
after reading the above statements,
he may experience feeling Of anti
aimax-as though | had been ex-
aggerating the state Of affairs-when
he surveys the great white mass
representing the bulk of an enor-
nous continent comprising millions
of square miles, as yet uHtrUdden by
the European. Let him reflect,
however, on the rapidity with which
capitalism advances-let him think