Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-05-02
TlPPu lib ON 81 ANesv
A Talk With the Richest and Mo,.,
full Man in Central Afrloa os


Before Lieut.. Becker lei, a..
where he had spent three r,.a
had a long talk with the famors r, 4
lib, the richest man in Central ilYH
on the slave trade in the Dark ~
tinent. Few people in Euroao 20
read of him have any concentio.'a,
the power and wealth this nan
acquired during his tweutv-fva aR
in Central Africa. On Reclns', W.
considerable part of the Eastern t-,
tory of the Congo State is indiost'i'
"The Domain Of Tippu Tipn S]
idea of the immense operations NJ M
princely trader may be gathered ~
the size of the caravan he was az
to Zanzibar when Becker met bi,a
TabGra. Some powerful chief, ma.
at war in the country through wb%
he had travelled, and he had With ~ |
a thousand armed slaves to guard h
ivory. His ivory porters numbs,.i
1900 slaves, each of whom carried
tusk. The property he was taking :
the coast included, therefore. 5ns
tusks of ivory and 5000 slaves. M.
procession stretched for miles alan,
the narrow roadway. and no n,5
enormous caravan had ever beio..
been seen in equatorial Africa.
Tippu Tip showed his intellectual
acuteness in his defence of slaye,r
"White men," he said. "haye very n
correct ideas of our manners and em.
toms. They have the elfrontery 4
propose to abolish at once in 6b,
lands institutions which quite recent,
hourished in taeir own. / am todbd
in big country called Russia. som,
years ago, nearly all common peop'.
were slaves, and great misery has h.
fallen them since they became tbe,
own masters.
"What is the difference between
slave and a servant? The servant i
free and may leave his master wbsn
he pleases. So may my slaves.
have no guards to keep them from d..
serting me. They are too ven copte7,
with their lot to run away If [ vera
unjust to them, perhaps they might
flee. But how would thaJ help them,
They would simply fall once more into
the power Of their equals, to be sold
again, to be maltreated, to be killed
perhaps, on to toll, very likely twice a,
hard rs they did before
you say it isimmoral to own slaves
that slavery dcbases men and put,
them on Il level with cattle. Now. 4
does not debase a negro to exchange
the abominable yoke of a negro tvra1t
for the protecting care of an Arab
master, whose religion commands him
to be benevolent and just You say
the negroes are our brethren. Well
we treat them quite fraternally, siucs
we raise our children with theirs. We
are kinder to them than YOU are to
your lackeys. l would not dare to
treat a negro as | have seen white
travellers treat their white servants
If we buy men it is only because
they are offered to us, and we cannot
procure labor in any other way; and
am sure it is better for them 20 fall 10.
to our hands than into those Of tribal
enemies, who kill or further degrade
them. If you call it immoral to com.
pei men TO work for their bread, men
who would rather steal it than win it
honorably, would like to ask on what
basis your morality rests.
IF all the savages and cannibals Of
Africa could be reduced to slavery their
children would some day constitute
nations. and would bless US for lifting
them out of state of savagery. The
slave trade exists everywhere in The
interior, aud the African himself does
not wish To- suppress it. He would sell
himself f he We're emancipated. Free.
dom for him means nothing more than
license to steal, to kill, to get drunk
You come here with your theories from
Europe, but tell you the facts as they
exist in Africa
Lieut.. Becker says the Arabs in the
lake regions no longer send out slave.
stealing expeditions, but only buy The
slaves lhat are brought to their mark
cts. We know, however, that they
stimulate slave hunting aud all l.shoI.
rors by the large markets for slaves
which they maintain. Tippu lib da
not speak of the inhuman aud MURDER
Gus aspects of the slave trade. It ma"
be admitted, however, that in Africa
there is force in some of his arguments
Becker saws: Between the happy
faithful. and devoted slaves Of IiPpu
lib. and the wretched men slale's
and cattle thieves we meet here ID q
free condition, no comparison can "
made" r, &.
The fact that this same Tippu llo :
now in the service Of white Govern
ment, and subsidized for the express
purpose Of stopping slave raids all
compelling his Arab brethren 10 SUI,
nit to the new regime introduced iiyI
Europe is not so strange as 1t apPea Is.
This powerful person is cQhslsi ,.ai
Tippu lib man every time. Ills cD'ii
interest is ivory, and the great cost ~ y,
sending tusks by porters from W.
Congo to Zanzibar has cut sadly iu,, guy.
his profits. He needs the Congo i ''lys
to the sea, and he cannot get IT. Wi'l ~,
cooperating with the whites. ROT "a "a
reason he promised to stop slave Ia'u