Omaha daily bee., 1890-09-27

sincere The laws which Great Britain COM
PEELED tho sultan of Zanzibar 70 enact pro-
hibting the holding Of slaves In his d0min-
ions were, in the interest OF Indian and Brit
ish capitalists, allowed TO fall into deSuetude.
The enterprise Of the German East African
company was based upon slave labor; the
Belgian government recruited slaves for tho
Congo free state, paying their masters their
market value, while the slaves received an
equal sum for the term OF their indcntures;
and It is only o few days since n Portuguese
steamer arrived at Cape Town loaded with
kidnapped natives from Mozambique en-
route to the west coast Slavery has been
rightly called the ''heart disease of Africa ~
and not even tho entry of civilization into
the continent seems likely to effect a speedy
cure
Extensive railroad construction is being
projected in Africa. The principal lines thus
far are: Ono around the catarats OF tho
Congo from Vivi to Stanley Pool; second
from the Mediterranean coast to the Upper
Niger; a third from Suakim, on the Red Sea,
to Berber, on the Nile; and fourth from
MombaSa, on the east coast, to the Victoria
Nyanza. Besides these, Major Wissmann
speaks of shorter lines to be constru ctcd on
the east coast from Bagamayo to Dar-es.
Sulaam, with cable connection to Zanzibar,
and from Tonga to Usambaa. The Congo
road presents no difficulties of construction,
nor does that from .Suakim to Bcrber, which
will form the first step Of Englands advance
into the Soudan. The Niger road will soon
be commenced by France 1t will start at
Constantn in Algeria and, crossing the Atlas
noun tains, traverse Sahara, taking advant
age Of well watered oases, and terminate ut
Lake Tchad, whence there will be
easy communication westward across
rich provinces, which already have made
treaties with France, to the great bend
of the Niger, which is also under Fren ch con-
troll. The last of these great lines, the Nom.
basa and Nyanza was begun by the British
East Africa company about week ago. The
length OF the line will be labout five hundred
miles and Will traverse territory much of
which has an elevation Of from 5000 to 5000
feet and is reputed to have climate in which
white men can live easily. The road is to be
built in sections of forty miles at time and
by the time of its completion the company
will have feet of steamers on the great
lake. The coming century bids fair to wit.
ness great events in this hitherto almost un-
known and unexplored region a wonderful
development of it's resources, and a rush OF
immigration when locomotive whistles are
heard screeching in the great desert and
along the shores of the Niger, the Congo, and
the vast Central African lakes. The railroad
is the great cvilizer and Is destined to ilum-
nate the dark con tinent and rescue it from
the grasp of barbarians and pygmies, OPEN
ing up its rich regions TO new people and de-
veloping its immense commercial posi- bilities
~
The dismissal of Prince Bismarck was an
evidence that the young German emperor lad
determined to take a direct management in
the affairs of the country instead of becom.
ing acquainted with them after they had
been filtered through the old fashioned sieve
of bureaucracy. His course since that time
has still further Indicated that he has will
of his own, which is likely to override the
traditions Of officialists. Such small matters
at least in the eyes of the heads of depart
ments-as the coE struction of railroad bridges
and the laying of street car lines are receiv-
ing the emper0r's personal attention, and the
people have already been the gamers If he
Shall continue in this course he will doubtless
find so many reforms necessary that but little
time will be left for dreams of conquest and
aggran dizement.