The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-09-20
HORRORS OF EAST
AFRICA DISCLOSED
lniuuitous Slave Trade in
Portuguese Colonies
Continues.
WRITER'S ARE A POWER.
DOING MUCH TO AROUSE cIvI.
LIED COUNTRIES TO HORRIBLE
CONDITIONS THAT EXIST
THERE.

Boston, Sept. ia white man,
as everybody knows MAJ not own or
sell a slave In any part of Africa un-
der European control, but he must
have labor, and there arc in practice
ways Of getting over the obvious diff
fculty. They are not ways which are
discussed openly, and, SO far as one
can ascertain, are by no mean cat
isfactory to the negro, for whose bene-
fit they are sometimes said to be de-
weed. In this and a few other mat
ters, the negro's opinion is not howcv-
er deferred to. 1t is his particular bus
iness to gather rubber for the white
man and grow his cocoa, Z the fact
that he is not as a rule content to
recognize his obligation is very seldom
taken into account"
Such a condition prevailing in many
parts of the land of shadow" as the
English novelist, Harold Bindloss
calls 1t accounts for the continued &C
tivity Of the Congo Reform Association
even after a smooth, plausible settle
ment of the questions of proprietor
ship in the Congo Free State appears
to have been reached in Belgium. 1t
accounts for the frequent agitation re-
garding the traffic in human beings in
the Portuguese dominions Of East md
West Africa. 1t underlies the activity
of the international Organization OF
Anti-Slavists with headquarters in
Lisbon, which is now urging the inter-
ference of the British and American
governments. 1t explains a widespread
feeling in Europe and the United
States that the problem of the govern
ment of Central Africa will W be
settled until a flood of light has been
let in upon the actual conditions in the
Ozark Continent"
When the announcement of King
Leopold's virtual abdication from the
Congo was announced, many Ameri-
cans hastily concluded that the work
of the Congo Reform Association had
been crowned with success. Yet II
hears at the American headquarters
in this city that the campaign of re-
form has in all probability only just
begun.
Even more true is it of Portuguese
West Africa that the world has begun
to awaken to the deeds that are being
done in the land where 1.-The gods of the
heather can not hear, n those of the
white men, it may seems, be propi-
tiated by masses in the cathedral and
stained windows bought with cocoa
and rubber dividends" BY the Berlin
and Brussels acts of a few years ego
Portugal bound itself to assist in put
ting down the slave trade. From many
sources come c~orrobartive testimony
to tho fact that a substitute has been
devisedswhich is proving to be just as
profitable and just rs abhorrent to
humanity. .E
General Sheds Light.
One Of those who have recently
shed the light of specific information
upon the true situation in Portu-
guese West Africa is General Fran
co.'s Joubert Pienaar, who has been in
this country organizing the angola
League" Of which Rev. DR.. J. D. Nc
MILAN Of New York is president and
treasurer. Gen. Pienaar, at the close
Of the Boer war, finding that he had
the choice of surrendering to the Brit
ish or Portuguese, chose the latter.
He was sent as a prisoner to Lisbon.
Afterwards he arranged to take a
tract of land in Portuguese territory
where he settled with a number Of
his people. His colonists were pres
emily called upon to send some men
to assist in a wal against Kaffirs.
They returned with a story of the
capture of natives and their sale as
slaves. When Gen. Pienaar protested
against such conditions. the Portu-
guese drove him out Of the country.
He has since been under suspicion of
trying to organize a filibustering expe-
dition to effect a revolution in Angola.
Last December he vas warned by the
Foreign Office at London of the penal
ties to which as a British subject he
win be liable If he stire up trouble in
the Colonial possessions OF powers
with which His Majesty the King is at
peace" Britain clearly does not
wish to ieopardize its traditional ami
cable relationship with Portugal.
Yet, however the British govern
ment may strive to prevent f1libusters
1t cannot enjoin its own writer's from
disclosing the horrors of a traffic that
has become an international scandal.
Among the authors who have been
down to the heat desolated coast
against which the long combers pile
ceaselessly and who have picked up
in African towns the details Of the
modernized slave trade is Harold
Bindloss, author of many thrilling
stories of adventure. In a story
which may be called the Uncle
Toms Cabin" If West Africa, and
which has been published in England
under the title of The Liberationist,'
and in this country under the name of
Long Odds" Blindloss relates with
episodes based upon actual happenings
In the Portuguese colony the story of
an expatriated Englishman. with ro-
mantle ideas of chivalry and duty to
his fellow beings; and of an Ameri-
can medical missionary to whom the