The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-16


Sixteen OF the signers are the wives
of missionaries; thirty-fve live In the
district near the coast, and were con-
demning conditions hundred of miles
off in the interior. One OF the slgners,
Mr. Hensey, arrived IN the Congo Tor
the first time on December %, l9Oo,
and nineteen days later signed the
document condemning the adminlstra
ton of a country one-third the size OF
the United States.
sssThis snap Judgment of ffty-two
weighs but lightly against the evidence
of nearly four hundred Catholic mis-
sionaries, reinforced by such Protest
ants as have risen above religious
prejudice In December, 1904, the prin-
cipals of all the Catholic missions IN
the Congo, after investigating the mat
ter through their missionaries, issued
what they called "a public and COM
plete denial' of the accusations OF the
secretary of the Congo Reform Asso-
citation.
" Many of the stories on which the
anti Congo agitators build their cam
paign relate to events that occurred
years ago, before the government had
completed its organization, or during
the period when every energy of the
Belgians was engaged in the death
struggle with the Arab slave traders.
BY that glorious struggle King Leo
pold delivered thirty million natives
from the scourge which Livingstone
called "the open sore of the world.
The anti-Congo agitators, in dealing
with that period, refuse to look at the
great achievement for humanity, and,
ever raking in the muck, carefully
gather together few isolated eases
of cruelty during those troublous times
After all their undertaking, their col
lection of q atrocities is not large. /
could make a longer and more startling
| collection from the record of the
tenderloin police station
| AThe above extracts from Mr.. White
ley's letter to the n. Y. Tribune ex-
press views which are fully born out
by the statement of Cardinal Gibbons
and of the greater number of the
! deputies in the Belgian Parliament.
] Among the utterances Of the latter
during the debate in the Belgian Cham
Der. Mr.. Woeste referred to the despiea-
BILE hostility and systematic criticism
| against the Congo, as struggle OF
mediocrity against superiority, and
4 positively denied that the State adj
ministration had ignored the provisions
of the Berlin Conference
In presence of this evidence every
reader is able to form his opinion on
conditions prevailing in the Congo.
| JAMES C. BEISSEL.
PROF. STARR ON MISSIONARIES
Editor Advertiser: Immediately at
ter reading Father Beissel on the Con-
go Trouble in this mornings Adver-
tiser, I happened to pick up the Chi
cago Advance of January Gath, 1907.
and the first thing that struck my eye
was the enclosed article entitled Tn
terview with Professor Starr which
as Father Beissel had quoted so hber-
ally from the gentleman in question,
/ read with especial interest.
I have marked the place in which
the writer of the article makes the
statement that Professor Starr does
not believe in foreign missions. II II
Is correct, that on general principles,
he entertains this sentiment towards
them it is not strange that he views
missionaries and their work in an IN
favorable light and it might readily be
presumed that Catholic as well as Pro-
testant missionaries would fall under
the same general condemnation.
A prejudiced mind is liable to judge
a case before it is investigated and Il
eventually the facts are found not tt
agree with the preconeeived opinions
so much the worse for the facts.
Respectfully yours,
VIOLET HAMILTON.
Honolulu, February 14th, 1907.