Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-03
AFRICA ANp TIE AFRICANS.
What is to Become Of the Negro in the
Evolution Of the Country2

Af3AuuVA OF INC NuNuIJt
Charles Francis Adams IN the Century.
Plainly, no matter what is coming to
the African, Airicas time is coming. The
Nile problem is in process of speedy solu-
tion; that of central and interior Africa
viii certainly follow hard upon il. OF
the country beyond the White Nile,
whether Abyssnia or that about the
Nyan1as, | know nothing; of the Nile
basin l know something much, /
admit, but a little; and the country be-
yond is a corollary 10 il. South of
khartoum that is, up the Nile-there
is a very considerable. not as such things
60, a vast region, which ii drained and
then irrigated would produce largely of
cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. II is a
mere question of water in a country of
nevenly distributed rainfall-where
there Is any rainfall at all-lying under
tropical sun. But 10 is not a country
suitable for the Caucasian-it is a coun-
try TO be exploited and developed, not
one to be occupied and peopled. That II
will now he developed admits of little
question. The construction of the As
suan harrage, following hard on the soien-
tific occupation of the Soudan settles the
Question There is money in it-and
big money! So the work viii henceiorth
60 right along; the waters of the Nile will
be economical al their sources, whether
in Abyssinia or at the outlet of the Nyan-
zas. The gradual reclaiming and sys-
tematic irrigation Of a very considerable
part of the Nile basin north of Lake No
viii follow; and even the Sud--that
wretched, heartrending morass-may,
not impossibly. he drained by degrees,
and made hahitable.
Now a vast papyrus wilderness, il
would then prove a great rice swamp and
sugar field So far as the natives are
concerned-what will follow Clearly
this; The African viii at last find his
place In civilization, whatever that place
may prove to he. I'm the Soudan and
Nile basin, he will not be brought, as in
our Southern States, into industrial con-
ilict with the white man. If he meets
with any competitor, il will be the inn
ported Asiatic-the Asiatic purposey i'm
ported TO do what the African viii not do,
or cannot so well do The native African
of the Nile basin is now a savage-he
heNds cattle. and cultivates the soil TO a
| limited extent He is distinguished from
the brute creation only by the fact of
articuate speech, the use Of tools and
weapons of the most primitive kind, and
| a knowledge of the properties of fire. In
such matters as clothes, food or santa
| tion he is no essential respect better
than various kinds of animals A
savage, he admits, like nearly all known
negro savages, of an initiative domestica-
ton Thus, in Africa, the simple ques-
tion is as to how far he can be developed
/ by external influences and under altered
conditions; for as yet he has evinced no
/ self-eevating capacity. II Africa proper
is now to be developed, and if the labor
ing white man will not, because he
cannot, make a homo IN il or in large
portions of IL, the field is open 10 the
native. Can he occupy that field, and
/ I'll IL; or must he, free from forced regu-
lated labor, languish and die out like
! the American aboriginal and the Aus
/ tralian
A large question, Il is as interesting as
its answer is obscure-as yeti Fortu-
nately, its solution is in the best Of hands
! those of the British. Asiatic expert
onoe thus throws light on the African
problem; and again, the problem working
out in Africa is full of suggestion "a
respects America. One thing seems clear
without boing reduced 20 servitude, the
inferior race must DO recognized as such,
and, in some way, so dealt with. Facts
are facts; and only confusion results
when things essentially not equal are
dealt with on the basis of natural equal
ity. The world has now for some time
been pondering tho African problem
pondering il in America as well as in the
place of It's origin; IL has been laying up
store of experiences bearing upon il
experiences stretching through at least
1000 years. The discovery of the Nile
source WAS delayed TO our time; in its
turn that discovery now bids fair to in
yolve the future oi the negro. The wild
animals of Africa are to 60; viii the negro
60 with them The alternative is do
mestication That he viii not 60 with
the wild animal our experience shows
That he is initiative has been proven
That he can ever become, or be made
seli-elevating in the mass remains to be
! shown.