Huntsville gazette., 1889-06-22
CONGO RAILROAD.
The Manual Labor to BE Fur
nished by the Natives,
Who Will Work Faithfully for a
Few Cents Day.

The People Of London Petition ParIia-
ment to Allow the Museums. Art Gal
Ieries, etc. to Keep Open on Sunday.
The Kaiser to vi d. Athena In October.
Other Foreign News Notes.
BRUSSELS, June 21.-It is not expect
ed that single laborer will be taken to
Africa to build the Congo railroad The
roadbed will be graded and the track
laid by Africans themselves, just as the
Portuguese are employing native labor
to build the Loando-Ambaca railroad.
When this railroad project was first dis
cussed several years ago native labor
was hardly thought of, and it was seri-
ously suggested that the best plan
would be to employ Chinese laborers to
grade the road To-day no one talks Of
employing anything but native labor.
The Africans now in the service Of the
Congo state include hundreds of men
from widely separated regions.
LIE Movement Geographique thus'de-
sc,ibes them:
First are the Krooboys from Liberia,
who are the best workmen on the Loan
do railroad, many of whom were digging
on the Panama canal until its collapse.
The Congo state and commercial houses
have long employed them to do heavy
work around the stations and ON the
steamboats,. Their wages are from fifteen
to twenty cents day besides rations.
Some Veys. also from Liberia. are in the
service Of the state They are faithful
wolJzmen, and can be obtained in large
numbers for the same wages paid to the
Krooboys
THE Haussa, who are recruited on
the slave coast, where they come from
their famous country south of the Sahara
to earn money, have been employed by
the Congo state chiefly as soldiers and
in laying out the ground for stations
The results have been highly satisfac-
tory. Their pay is about twenty-five
cents day.
But it is in the Congo region itself
that the state finds most of its army of
employees. The Loango and Cabinda of
the coast are employed in the factories
and stations Of the lower river They
are good workmen, have the advantage
of being able to talk with the thousands
of natives surrounding them, and their
wages vary from ten to twenty cents a
day.
Then come the Bangala cannibals of
the upper river, who are now employed
in large numbers by the state as soldiers,
steamboat hands, and station wOrkmen.
They do good work with the shovel, and
have been largely engaged making ter
races at the stations They eagerly seek
service, and the wonderful story OF their
transformation from idle savages to
fairly Industrious workmen is we'll
known. Their pay is one and a half
brass wires day, worth in Europe only
few cents. There 10 fair pros
pect that their wages will soon be
raised
THE natives of the cataract region
where the railroad is to be built, have as
yet been employed only as carriers, but
there is no doubt that they can be
utilized at other sorts of labor when
other work is offered them. They are
eager to earn trade goods Several
thousand Of them are now in the carrier
service. 1t is said that under compe-
| tent superintendent most of the car
penter work, masonry, and blacksmith
ing can also be done by natives inn
ported from the gold coast, who have
, learned these trades. The Congo state
has employed large number of them,
and has generally been well satisfied
with their work. Their pay is from $15
to $25 per month.
1T is therefore expected that the Ia
borers who are to carry out the manual
part of this great undertaking will be
found in Africa herself, and that a large
part of them will be natives of the
Congo"
/ nannuucad NV q RiShnn