New-York tribune., 1905-11-05
CONDITIONS In CONGO.
Recommendations for Improving
Them by Commission.

Brussels Nov 4-The Belgian government TO-
morrow will make public the report OF the
commission appointed by King Leopold to inves-
tigate the conditions In the Congo Independent
State and the charges made against the adnninis-
tration of the Congo The investigation was the
result of the violent criticism by the British
Parliament and by philanthropic societies In
Great Britain and the United States and Of For
eign Secretary Lansdowne's representations
concerning the alleged i'll treatment of natives
the purpose of King Leopold being to secure a
complete and impartial statement Of the actuai
situation.
The inquiries have been in progress fifteen
months The commission which was made up
of Belgian. Italian and Swiss publicists. mas
been holding sessions throughout the Congo
The report access to which given to The
Associated Press, while praising the notable
work Belgium has accomplished. frankly crlti-
cises number Of abuses. The following are
extracts from the report
Our voyage to the Congo produced an impress
sion of admira ton and wonder. security reislis
to-day in country which twenty-five years ago
was plunged in barbarity, plundered oy arao
tribes and strewn with markets for human hesn.
The slave trade has now disappeared, cahnl-
balism seeks hiding and human sacriices nave
become rare Villages have sprung up. ra1l-
roads have been constructed to the head OF the
equatorial forests, steamers navigate the rlV-
ers, the post and telegraph operate. hospitals
have been established and governmental admin
istration proceeds effectively in that vast ter
ritory.
Continuing, the report considers the charges
which under eight heads, and says:
The state was warranted in appropriating
large tracts of vacant lands but this led 10
abuses by which the natives were confined IN
narrow limits.
The system by which the natives pay taxes
in work requires strict limitations. so that their
work shall not exceed forty hours per month
The natives also suffer hardships in having to
carry their tax contributions unreasonable dis
tances.
The report criticses the harsh methods of en-
forcing taxes, condemns holding women as
hostages pending the non-payment of taxes. and
says that to these customs are largely attributa-
BILE the harshness of the native chiefs.
The action of the commercial companies in
placing sentinel overseers over the native work
ers is condemned as leading to i'll treatment and
abuses by the companies and having pro-
voked number of bloody conflicts.
Military expeditions against the natives have
| become rare, but the commission points out
that such expeditions liable to assume the
character of war operations. and therefore the
commission recommends the passage of a law
strictly defining who is capable of ordering war
operations. Despite the states prohibition, the
report further says. commercial agents send
cut military expeditions, causing grave abuses.
The commission examined at length the
charges of the mutilation of the bodies of ma
tves Missionaries and natives affirmed that
they had baskets containing score of
severed hands. The Rev. Mr. Clark said he
number of severed hands which appeared
to have been smoked and several individual
cases were specified of natives having their
hands severed. Some of these natives appeared
before the commission. The report points out
that the mutilaton of their bodies is an
cent custom of the natives and that all the cases
of mutilaton presented were attributable to
natives The commission therefore concluded
that there testimony showing that the
whites had been guilty of mutilation.
AS the various abuses were chiefly within the
concessions the report recommends a rigid sur
veilance of the concessions.
The report generally is favorable in regard to
the schools native soldiery and courts, and con-
cudes follows:
ADOPTING the recommendations of the COM
mission Will remove the abuses and terminate
the criticisms The recommendations particu-
larIy cover granting the natives larger land IA
cities the limitation OF native labor, the sup
pression of sentinel the prohibition of
companies imprsoning natives and the lmlta-
ton of military expeditions.
King Leopold has appointed commission OF
fifteen member to consider means for the prac-
tical adoption of the recommendations