Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-12
AFFAIRS IN THE CONGO
REPORT MADE By INVESTIGATE
ING COMMISSION.
Denied That Europeans Ordered Mutt
lation of Natives as Punish
ment for offenses.

Reports made by the special commission
e's OF King Leopold who We're sent to in
vestigate his administration in the indie
pendent state of Congo have been forward
ed to the Secretary of State by United
States Minister Wilson at Brussels Al
though the mission of the commits sioners
was to investigate the alleged Ill treatment
and abuse of natives. they found a great
deal worthy of commentator.
twenty-five years ago." says the report,
this territory was still in the clutches of
absolute barbarism, and one or two
Europeans only had succeeded in crossing
1t, at the cost of superhuman efforts and
meeting none but hostile tribes at every
STEP the people of the region decimated
by the raids of the Arab slave dealers new
ertheless were continually and mercilessly
INDUCING In fntertribal feuds; at any mo-
ment traveller was liable to come across
human meat market and to see buyers
approach and mark the part OF the victim
they particularly desired to obtain; the
funerals of chiefs invariably meant that
hundr eds of slaves were to be slain and all
their wives buried alive. And yet now a
new state, fully constituted and organized
has rapidly sprung up in this dark and
mysterious continent and has brought the
blessings of civilization into the heart of
Africa
Charges of Cruelty.
Referring to the charges of cruelty in
compelling the natives to work, the com
missioners declare that 'ff, the state mad
wished to do so 1t could have prevented al
most every one of the abuses mentioned.
These almost Invariably were caused by
the same difficulty, viz, that of making
the natives work" Had the wages allowed
to taxpayers been paid in alcohol In place
of cloth and other useful articles a great
incentive would have been added to incline
IN ytrnf t.
bic at present In the major part of Congo
to make the natives collect rubber willingly.
so as to insure a regular supply for the
needs of commerce. IF left to themselves
benighted condition. On that account com
pulsory work is regarded discipline
Mutilation of Bodies.
The charges made by European and
American residents in Congo that the off,
Gals of King Leopold have In numerous
cases resorted to mutations of body and
limb in order to brighten the natives to
work are answered by the commission
statement that the mutilation of dead bodies
Is an ancient custom among the natives
which to their eyes does noe appear p-o-
fame.
THE fact of cutting off of certain parts
of a dead body simply satisfies the natives
desire of possessing a trophy of some kind
of prowess. 1t was common practice to
mutilate the bodies of fallen enemies in
the wars between the tribes of certain re-
gions. Even now. If the natives wish to
prove that one of their family is dead and
either cannot or will not produce the body,
they simply show the official In authority
his hands or his feet" This is done in or
der to relieve the family of responsibility
for the labor rubber tax due to the gov
eminent by the dead man. The commits
sion, however, states that no European ever
inflicted or ordered such mutiations to be
for shortage In labor tax or for other
offenSes.