The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-11-20

iii is AN INSTITUTION For RiI
AGE AND cAlltlo HE re-
y FORMED From WITHIN.
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~. lE2s IL E4hAGA Al hAAS ASFStAnSAfI
In his recent manifesto King Leo.
pold has declared that If Belgium an.
nexes she must annex on his lines. In
other words, that portion Of the
country four times the size Of Eng.
land and Scotland shall be forever un-
alienable to him and his heirs; that
the revenues of the entire territory
shall continue at their present figure.
and that all his agreements with third
parties shall hold good. Public opinI
ION outside Belgium could not. under
any circumstances, agree to such a
solution, and Belgium could not agree
in her own interests. The Belgian
reformers are, therefore, placed in the
position Of complete helplessness
short of direct and bitter conflict
with the king.
The danger Of the situation to-day
lies In the supposition that the Congo
State can reform itself under pressure
from outside. This supposition is due
to the non.comprehenston Of the ma.
ture Of the Congo Independent
State" What is the Congo State? In
no sense of the word can it be re-
garded as State. Imagination, how
ever fertile, must refuse the attribute
of State" to a vast territory In tropl-
cal Africa, of which the Citizens"
have been deprived Of everything they
possess, and of freedom over their
very bodies by an absentee landlord
thousands Of miles away, who exer-
"ises his sovereignty over them by
1000 aliens drawn from every country
in Europe, assisted by 10000 regular
and irregular black trops. Is 1t a
tropical dependency? But for a tropi'
cal dependency, as the term is under
stood, some civilized power must be
responsible. No civilized power is re.
sponslble for the Congo State. The
revenues drawn from the slave labor
of its Citizens" are not handled by
any civilized nation. They are not
expended for the benefit Of the "citi.
zen." They are not even accounted
for. The raw produce OF the Congo
soil on which these revenues are rails.
ed is claimed as the property Of the
absentee landlord, or his absentee
tenant farmers, claimed even as 1t
lies ungathered in the forest, before
the citizens" of the Congo, driven by
bullent and lash, spurred on by the
changing and the hostage house, by
never.ending levies in wife and child,
in life and limb, has collected 1t.
After deduction for the expenses OF
management" the revenues are de.
voted to purchasing real estate in Bel
GUM, on the Rivera, and elsewhere;
to enterprises all over the world; to
press and literary propaganda, with
endless qualifications, and astonishing
alliances. The very reason d'etre of
this extraordinary anachronism, which
calls itself the Congo Independent
State" disappears If it ceases to be
what it is and becomes something diff
ferent. 1t is an institution existing
for the pillage, the systematic. calcu'
lated, cynical plllage Of a vast por-
ton Of the African tropics. The mo-
ment that for pIllage is substituted
fair commercial dealing, for irrespon'
sible absolutism international or ma
tlonal control, for secret and unpub'
l.shed revenues audited balance sheets
Of revenue and expenditure, the Con
go State" disappears from the map OF
Africa.
That is why the Congo State cannot
be reformed from within by outside
pressure. That is why the problem is,
in the last resort, so difficult. But,
difficult or not, civilization must crap
,,lo WITH n