The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1900-06-08
BRITISH IN AFRICA.
ENGLISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
ON DARK CONTINENT.

AbOnt Everything that Is Worth Hav-
ing Belongs to Them-Oth Euro
pean NatiOus Are Finding Their Pos
sessions Anything but Profitable.
Less than forty years ago it was a
commonly received doctrine among
British statesmen that Africa was
worthless. A select committee of the
House of Commons III the early SOS
reported that the settlements on the
west coast of Africa cost more than
they were worth, and recommended the
gradual abandonment of the country.
Even in the '7Os there were eminent
men who argued earnestly in fay or Of
the abandonment of the whole of South
Africa, with the exception of coaling
station at the Cape Of Good Hope. But
change came Ger the spirit of the
British dream when. in the early sos
they saw all the nations of Europe pre-
pare to take part in "A passionate scram-
bic for the dark continent. That which
they despised and wished to throw
away in the SOS became in the '9Os the
coveted objects Of imperial ambition.
Now, when the century is closing, the
pick of the continent Is colored British
red
British Africa can be Yariously de-
scribed 90 geographically, politically.
ethnologlcally and religlously. But the
simplest definition is this: All Africa
that is comfortably habitable by white
men is under the British flag or under
British protection. And again, every
thing in Africa that pays dividends lies
within the sphere pegged out for John
Bull by his adventurous SONS. Wher-
ever in Africa you find land in which
white skinned children can be bred and
reared, you will find it lies within the
British zone. And wherever there is in
Africa any paying property, that also
will be found to he within the same
Is habitable and all of Africa that pays
its way, that is British Africa.
The other nations have scrambled for
John Bulls leavings. France, for in
stance. has annexed the Sahara. In
her West African colony of Senegal ev-
cry fifth European is Il French official.
Germany has annexed 100000 square
miles of desert in the southwest and
10000 of semi-tropical land in the
east; but they have more officials than
colOnsts, more subsidies than divi-
dends Portugal has quite an empire Of
In, f.I lnI
GUM has the Congo Free State, mag
nificent empire in the heart of tropical
Africa which needs ESQ 900 a year sub
sidy from Belgium to keep it from
bankruptcy. and which. nOtwthstand-
ing the subsidy, has run up a debt Of
IN the scramble. has nearly come to
grief over her African adventure. Afri-
en- stands solely on the debit side Of
the account Of every European nation
hut one. and even in the case of Brit
ain the entries to the bad are neither
few nor small.
British Africa may be described in
another way. Wherever you find a good
harbor in Africa or a naVigable river
or great inland lake there you may be
sure the British flag Is not far off. The
Congo is the only great African river
which does not enter the sea under
British protection. The Congo was
opened up, doomed and made accessible
by Mr. Stanley, a British explorer, and
its waters are as free to the flags OF all
nations as If they were British. The
only harbor in southern Africa that is
worth having which is not British is
Delagoa Bay. and John Bull to this day
ruefully recalls the fact that he only
lost that by allowing it to be sent 10
arbitration before a tribunal which
took more account of musty little deeds
of a remote past than the necessities
of the living present. The only harbor
on the southwest coast. the natural
port of German southwest Africa. is
Walisch Bay. where a British sentry
stands on guard under the shade of the
union Jack. Wherever navigable water
/ is. there the descendant Of the old
/ vikings recognizes his fatherland even
It. the heart of Africa. OF the great
| lakes which lie In a long string from
/ the Zambesi to the Nile. there is not
one on whose shores there is not n Brit
/ ish possession. Even the smaller lakes
such as Lake Tchad. seem to attract the
sea rovers of the Northland 7
Stead. in the Independent.
WHAT "UNDER FIRE" MEANS