Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1900-04-13
AFRICA.
a,HERE OF INFLUENCE
sg.1 DARK CONTINENT.

,'HERE OF INFLUENCE
81 DARK CONTINENT.
Abont Everything that Is Worth Hav-
ing Belongs to Them-Other Euro
pean Nations 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 IN the early '6Us
reported that the settlements on the
west coast of Africa cost more than
hey We're worth, and recommended the
gradual abandonment of the country.
Even in the '7Os there were eminent
men who argued earnestly in favor Of
. The abandonment of the whole of South
Africa, with the exception of a coaling
station at the Cape of Good Hope. But
change came DER the spirit OF the
British dream when, in the early SOS
they saw all the nations of Europe pre-
pare to take part in passionate scram-
ole for the dark continent That which
hey despised and wished to throw
away IN the eos became in the '90s the
coveted objects of imperial ambition
Now, when the century is closing, the
pick of the continent is colored British
reds
British Africa can be yariously de-
scribed geographically, politically.
athn0iogically and religiously. But the
simplest definition is this: All Africa
that il 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 be within the same
sphere of influence. All Of Africa that
is habitable and all of Africa that pays
rs 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 French official.
Germany has annexed 100000 square
miles of desert In the southwest and
100000 of semi-tropical land In the
east; but they have more officials than
eolonists, more subsidies than divi-
aends Portugal has quite an empire OF
ma9arial mashes on both coasts. Bel
Eium has the Congo Free State, mag
i9cent empire in the heart of tropical
Africa which needs $4,000 year sub
sIdy from Belgium to keep it from
Bankruptcy, and which, notwithstand-
Ing the subsidy, has run up a debt of
lover E8,0O0,0OO. Italy, the last to join
M the scramble, has nearly come to
fef over her African adventure. Afri-
Stands solely on the debit side of
account of every European nation
Ne, and even In the case of Brit
entries to the bad are neither
mall.
Africa may be described In
Way. Wherever you find good
n Africa or a navigable river
at inland lake there you may be
Vie British flag Is not far off. The
hgo 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 tie 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 to
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
walfisch Bay, where 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
in the heart of Africa. OF the great
lakes which lie in long string from
the Zambesi to the Nile, there is not
one on whose shores there is not a Brit
ish possession. Even the smaller lakes.
such as Lake Tchad, seem to attract the
sea rovers of the Northland.-W. T.
Stead, in the Independent.