The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-08
VISITOR DEFENDS
 LEOPOLD IN CONGO
SAYS REGULAR PRESS BUREAUS ARE MAINTAINED TO MALL cIoUsLY MIsREPREsENT BEL CLAN KINGS RULE THERE.

q wish I could get the ear of every patriotic Confederate veteran who will be here for the magnificent entertainment the city has arranged to accord them,' said Dr. Arthur T. Abernethy last night. Dr. Abernethy, who is a personal friend of King Leopold of Belgium, is the au- thor of Did Washington Aspire to De King?' a three-voume history of New York, and number of other works. He is also the author of King Leopold in the Congo" and is one of the recognized authorities on Central Africa. He de- clined the consulship to Sierra Leone, Africa, under President Mckinley in 1898.
 ''There is one of the most active and well organized efforts now being agitated to misead the American opinion against King Leopolds administration in the Congo" he continued, 'and it is being worked in a way that must eventually react to the disadvantage of us of the south who have the negro always with us
 'The southern members of Congress were the first to dispassionately recog- njse King Leopold's sovereignty in the Congo and to officially indorse his mag nificent and practical charity in the de- velopmert of the native African. Now, Europeans recognize that in any activity they assume hostile to Leopold's colonial policy they must take America into ac- count-for we are the recognized peace- compelling police power of the world So they have set up offices in Liverpool. and from these offices stories are sent broadcast ref1ecting upon the political and also the personal character of King Leopold-an old man, unable to engage
 in the social orgies accredited to him, even if he were so disposed. These stories are rehashed in the offices of this bureau
 n Boston and our people who read are being misled.
 ''The southerners-especially the old SOL diers who handled them in the ante fellum era-llnow that the negro is over imaginative. They exhibit maimed hands -often inflicted in personal brawls With each other-to credulous missionaries and these stories are colored by the anti Congo fellows and sent broadcast. The Epondo case is a type: The boy swore that his hand had been chopped off be- cause he refused to bring in certain quota of rubber, and his picture was sent tc every part of the globe as an example of Leopolds cruelty. When the boy s brother found out what had been done he brought the boy into court and made him tell the truth on oath, when the boy declared he had lied before and that his hand had been bitten off in an en- counter with a wild boar. There are hun dreds of such instances. The Stannard case q refer to these that those who wish may sinvestigate for themselves) is another instance. The man set forth in- stances of cruelty, gave names of wit resses, mentioning some of the most ceie- book came out these persons denied all knowledge of the affairs, the author was haled before the court and convicted If lying.
 'In 1875 the Central Africans were eat ing each other and living in filth and shame. After every power had declined 10 go to their rescue at the pathetic pe- titioning of that prince of newspaper men, Sir Henry Stanley, Leopold spent millions to develop the country and to- cay they are as highly civilized as it is rossble for the native African to be- come If it were not so, would 4O,OOO,OO0 negroes mee,Sly submit to the rule of merely 5000 Belgian soldiers and officials who mingle with them without fear and in neace and harmony"