Arizona republican., 1900-08-19

a gigantic monopoly, owned partly by 1 King Leopold in his private capacity through the Domaine Prive,' and part
 ly in his official quality as sovereign of the Congo Free State For the lat ter. in fragrant defiance of he solemn pledges given by Leopold Tt the time , nf the Berlin c -ngress in 1885, whereby ! he bound himself and the Free State government toward Lh- powers not to engage in trading operations. either di- rectly or indirectly, in the Congo basin. !s now trading openly. not in rivalry. but in conjunction with the "Domaine Prive"
 Briefly speaking, the whole Congo basin and the territory comprised with
 In the limits of the Congo Free State ara divid into three zones The first belongs to the Domaine Prive. and is absolutely and entirely closed to pri- Nate trade or industry of any kind, the harvesting of the natural products namely rubber and ivory, being reserv- cd for ,he exclusive benefit of King Le- bold in his private capacity The sec ond zone is in the same way reserved , exclusively to the Free State govern ment and L. King Leopold in his of hcial capacity hs S yereign. The har- Vesting of rubber and of ivory there is the monopoly If the Free State gov ernment. and the entire zone is strictly closed to priVate ,nterprise in any form.
 The jhlrd Zone, comprising less than one-quarter cf the Congo territory, and its least valuable portion, is split up among various c3ncessionarfes. who have to pay heavy licenses and other outS to the government and who. with the object of recouping themselves. arc forced to show themselves quite as fe- rociously cruel in tn collection of ruh- Der as the officials If tha "Domafne Prive" and of the Congo Free State.
 To put the matter shortly. King Leo pold has in his private and public ca pacity, and with the most brazen dis regard of all his solemn pledges to the El, at powers, possessed himself of tha monopoly f trade of rubber and ivorv in more than three-fourth of the -erri- tory in the Congo Free State territory comprising as it does the entire basin of the Congo river.
 That h. should want money under thr circumstances requires explanation
 The fact is. until the railroad is ax- tended and the steamship service deyeI- Opeu, the 6Apt nSeS of transport of tha ivory and rubber to the coast eat up a considerable portion of the profits. which would otherwise flow into the pocket of the king. Moreover. since t,a absonce of the proper railroad and steamboat communications renders su- pervision difficult. the officials of the Domaine PriVe" and of the Congo Free State, recruited from the very scum of the white natives and com piising in their ranks adventures and s~clal outcasts of evsry race and cline take advantage of their freedom from control to rob their employer. the king. ln the most shameless manner. To such an extent is this the case that no man with any good name to prize and pre eSerVe would dream of entering the SerNIc- of King Leopold in Africa
 Aside from the appalling atrocities which charac-5r.ze the collection ofrub- bar and ivory by King LeopoId's gang of piratrs-wholesaIe butchary. mutfla- tion and devas u.ion-the rubber is be- inG collected without the slightest re-