Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-05-15
PROTECTING THE RUBBER VINE.
Prom the Ner York sun.

lectsd some facts about the immense
destruction Of natural resources along
the coasts OF Africa, through the ig-
nOrauce OF the natives. The Sun sug-
Eested that about the most useful
knowledge that could be impaired TO
these people would be to teach them
the value Of their products and how
to conserve their natural source Of
wealth.
A while ago the Congo State began
the work Of teaching hundreds OF
Thousands Of Bativesa ls..sn on the
immortality OF wastlag or wantSDly
destroying useful things. 1t is doubt
ful it such lesson was ever before
presented 30 lmprcssively or on so
lArgea scale to great masses OF bar
barouu people. Important results are
already reported.
All along the coHSts OF western trCp-
ical Africa and In some parts OF east
Africa the native rubber hunters, in
stead OF tapping the rubber vine to
get the cap, have been In the habit Of
cutting the vine on, thus destroying
the plant. Enurn0u. quantities OF
rubber producing plants have thus
been destroyed, and in large districts
along the coast rubber collecting has
entirely ceased. Some years ago rub
her exports ceased entirely at the
French settlements OF Senegamb bia
and Gaboon. where the trade has
OHce flouriShed. 1t became necessary
to travel for days into the interier
even to see rubber plaat.
One of the greAt.,i sources of
wealth in the C.rgo basin Is the guam
tity OF rubber its forests contain. The
exports are already large, although
every pound Of rubber still has to be
carried about 200 miles on the backs
Of Iaen areun IRE Congo cstaracts.
1t was soon found that all the rubber
the natives brought to the stations
was obtained by killing the plant that
produced il. The State decided that
1t must nip this evil in the bud or the
rubber industry would, In time, be de-
stroycd. II, therefore, pds-c3 a law
making it a Ri.d.S,caDor to kill the
rubber plant. Instructions were civ
en- to all The agents of the State and
commercial companies, and to the
missionaries scattered among abaut
one hundred stations on the upper
Congo aud its larger tributaries, tell
ing them to show the natives how to
collect rubber, and warning them that
they would be punished II In the fu
ture they killed the plant to get
the sap, 80 hundreds of white men
have been and sin are teaching this
important lesson to the black tribes
scattered over An immense area.
This is the Nay they talk 10 the ma
tives:
Rubber is coed for the white man,
for II it is not we would not buy it Of
you. 1t is geod for you, because we
give you many things which you
want for it. but you are killing
the vine, and, II ySu keep on, by and
10y there will be ne rubber for you and
for US. Now Bula Mutadi 1.-THE gov
ernn,eutl has passed law saying that
you must not cut the vine and kill it.
This is the way you must get the rub
Der: You must make q hole in the
vine in this way; Tue sap will flow for
you, the wound will heal, the plant
will produce again. But II ysu cut
the vine off you will destroy something
that is good for us all, and Bula Ma
tadi will punish you for it,"
So the natives are now tapping the
vines, and are telling oue another and
the children that they must never kill
the rubber plant, for 1t 10 useful both
to white and to black men. 1t will be
q good thing il this lesson can be in
eulcated all ever tropical Africa. The
British consul writing from MOzam-
bique q while agu, said That 10 = re-
gien that had exported $3.50, 600 ofrub-
her in year the industry WAS rapidly
declining as the cutting down OF vines
by the natives had destroyed ensr-
nous tracts OF rubber. The species
Of palm from which the paln oil lS de-
rived is disappearing from some re-
gions on the Guinea coast on account
OF the ruthless destruction of the for
ests. It lS \ strange fact that the
palm oil exports of the Gold Coast
we're greatly diminished fOra time by
the short-liVsd superstition, foStered
BY the fetch doctors, that cracking
palm nuts for their oil Was the cause
OF smallpox.