The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-10-05
MAKES SLAVES FREB.
New Railroad An Africa Will BE tn.
Means OF Saving Life
and Labor.

Anere Will De less slavery, less SUI.
fering. less mortality in Central AZ
RIGA when the Uganda railway Is com.
pleted. 1t is to connect the port OF
Mombasa, on the Indian ocean, with
Lake Victoria Nyanza, that great In
land sea which has no other outlet
than the unnavigable Nile.
Already It is constructed and In op.
Grafton as far as the plateau of Kiku-
yu, that Central African Eden, where
English vegetables and fruits flour
ish and English babies grow fat and
strong. 1t yet remains to build 2eo
miles to the lake, and for this pur.
pose the British parliament is asked
to vote $1o,OOO,000 in addition to the
$1S,0O0,0o0 already dedicated to the
entire enterprise, unexpected engi.
neering difficulties having increased
the estimate.
The cost, says the New York Jour.
nal, is cheap when the humanitarian
benefits of the line are considered. II
will do away with the infamous sys-
tenn OF porterage, which, however dis.
guised and however employed by
Christian missionaries, represents sle
very in its worst form.
Covering this feature of the ques
tion an English writer says: ut does
not need a keenly imaginative mino
to realize the hideous suffering in
volved in the conveyance of heavy
goods 600 miles on the shoulders OF
heads Of human beings. The men en-
gagged in this work were in reality
slaves. They started from coast
bathed In moist, tropical heat. Their
first task was a forced march across
a waterlese desert. Next they had t1
thread their way through miles of
thick jungle, then to toll over noun.
tain passes 5000 feet higher than any
summit in the British isles, and, clad
in thin cotton, had to sleep without
shelter through the bitterly cold
nights; then came the long descent
through fever-haunted jungles to the
great lake.
"Is It surprising that many Of the
men who started on this terrible six.
months Journey to Uganda and bach
never saw their homes again, and that
the pace could only be kept up by
free use of the whip? Is it surprising
that the slave trade fiourished in East
Africa when there was a constant de.
mand by merchants, by missionaries
and by government officials for por.
ters for this deadly journey?
"If the railway had done nothing
more than remove this wrong and
misery it would be worth the money
that is being spent upon IT,"
From commercial point of view
the reform is very marked. Carriage
by the railway over the sections al
ready constructed costs about five
cents per ton per mile and takes
few hours; human porterage cost
about $1.76 per ton per mile and took
about six weeks. Up to the end OF
1899 the railway carried for the pro.
tectorate government 1900 tons OF
stores at a cost of $195,0O0. If these
stores had been carried by porters the
cost would have been 81, ,470, 600.
Thus the British authorities have al
ready saved more than $1,OO0,OOO
against the cost of the railway, and
this fact will be quoted to influence
parliament In favor Of the additional
grant asked for.
The Uganda railway traverses about
as difficult q country as railway has
ever pierced. In the earlier sections
the ground is intersected with deep
assures which have to be bridged, and
yet for nearly 200 miles the trains
have to carry their own water for the
coolies and for the permanent railway
staff.
When this belt is crossed the noun
tains begin, and the line has to wind
its way up to a height of 5000 feet
above the sea level. From that height
there is steep descent down into the
Great Drift, so miles across hilly
ground. On the other side there Is an
equally steep ascent.