The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-18
INTERIOR OF AFRICA.
Railroad from Tidewater to STANLEY Pool
Completed.
Neac York Sttn.

turned away from the Congo and up
the Mpozi valley, to gain the plateau
above bridge after bridge Of steel had
to be thrown across the tortuous river.
The engineers said that third of the
work was done, a third of the cost
expended, when the first 20 miles of
the rails were laid, and in the first
week after they reached the plateau
they pushed the road ahead a mile and
a half
One great trouble was the labor
question. The Congo natives living
along the route would not engage in
the rough work Of grading and laying
tracks. Agents had to be sent all
over Africa, wherever it was thought
that natives might be hired as track
layers and laborers. Atfrst the army
of workmen was secured from Zanzi-
bar, Senegal, Lagos, Accra and the
coasts of Liberia, Dahomey and An
COLA. They were under the superin-
tendence of over 200 European car
penters, blacksmiths and other arti
sans, who were sent to the Congo to
superintend departments and show the
natives how to carry on the various
kinds of labor. But the work was
very hard and the climate very trying
to all the natives Of other parts Of
Africa, and hundreds Of them died
and other hundreds deserted. Gut Of
$500 men who were engaged On the
Congo railroad from early in 1890 to
May, 1892, about 900 perished. Nat
urally this frightful mortality made it
very difficult to replenish the ranks of
the workmen. At last an unusual ex-
pertinent was made, and it resulted
disastrously.
1t was we'll known that Chinese COO
lies had proved to be very useful rail
road hands during the construction Of
our Central Pacific and of various
other roads in the Dutch East Indies.
They were sober and intelligent work
men, and the Congo State authorities
decided to test their efficiency in trop-
ical Africa. Late in 1894, $40 Chi
nese were landed at Matadi and at
once went to work grading the road
bed. The first reports Of the expert
ment were very favorable. for the COO
lies worked willingly and with intelli-
gence, but they had no reserve of
strength against the trying effects of
pioneer conditions of living and bad
climate. 1t was not long before they
began to die, and those who kept on
their feet were hardly able to lift their
shovels. So the Asiatics were sent
back home. Chinese labor was a fail
ure on the Congo, though it has been
successful in tropical East Africa
among the coffee plantations Of Usam-
bara, where the Germans have en-
ployed about 500 coolies with excel
lent results.
The labor problem was solved at
last in a happy manner. The Congo
natives for many months had watched
the imported blacks at their labors,
and few of them were finally induced
to ply the pick and the shovel. They
did fair work under white superinten-
dence, and they liked the bits of silver
that were given them once month,
for they could exchange them at the
stores for merchandise. Their friends
decided they would like some silver,
too, and it was not long before the To-
cal labor market supplied all the hands
needed on the railroad. From 4, 900
to 5000 Congoes have been in the
service of the enterprise, and it is
they who have built the larger part of
the railroad. In other parts of barba-
rous Africa, also, native labor is now
used on an enormous scale in the
white enterprises. The brain Of a
white man and the Drawn Of the Afri-
can are working together to reclaim
the Dark Continent.
All the steel bridges crossing the
little rivers we're built in Europe and
put together in Africa. Some scores
Of station buildings for the stopping
places along the route and houses for
the white personnel were also con-
structed in Europe and taken in parts
to the Congo. AS the work progressed
the health of the entire force, both
white and black, has been better safe
guarded, and the mortality for two
years past has been comparatively
small Tac high dealt, rate Of the
first years. slow progress of the work
in its early stages, and its large cost
were effective weapons in the hands Of
the enemies of the enterprise in Bel