New-York tribune., 1909-02-22
TREATY RIGHTS IN THE CONGO.

The current (January) issue Of the supple
ment to The American journal of international
Law" contains a timely compilation OF the eS
sential public documents concerning the Congo
Free State and the relations of this and other
treaty powers with ii, from the act Of 1884
down to the Belgian annexation act or treaty OF
last year. They afford invaluable data for study
of the history of that unique enterprise in Afri-
can colonization and for determination of the
attitude properly to he adopted toward the
Congo State in it's new condition. and toward
the Belgian government by the United States.
They provide, moreover, an indispensable pref
ace 70 the representations concerning Congo af-
fairs which our government has since made to
the government of Belgium.
In his note of January II last 10 the Belgian
Minister at Washington the Secretary Of State
said that the United States would be gratifed
by the assurance that the Belgian government
considered itself specifically bound to discharge
the obligations assumed by the Congo State in
the convention of 1890, and particularly the
pledges 'to diminish intestine wars between
tribes by means Of arbitration: to initiate them
in agricultural labor and in the industrial arts
so as to increase their welfare; TO raise them
ITO civilization and bring about the extinction
"of barbarous customs TO give aid and protec
"tl0n TO commercial enterprises; TO watch over
their legality by especially controlling contracts
'for service with natives, ard to prepare the
way for the foundation Of permanent centres
'of cultivation and Of commercial settlements"
The United States, continued Mr.. Root un-
fortunately had been forced to the conclusion
that in several respects the system established
by the Congo State had in its practical opera
tion produced results inconsistent with these
obligations and calling for very substantial and
even radical changes in order 10 attain conform
ity Herewith He characterized the system Of
collecting taxes in labor, which has widely pre-
vailed in the Congo, closely approxmating
actual slavery" and the granting of monOpolis-
tic concessions, which also has widely prevailed,
as rendering nugatory the provisions of the
declaration of 1884 and as grossly impairing
the rights Of the natiyes-upon which rights lie
argued, the rights of the sovereign of the state
depend. In brief the Secretary OF State prac-
tically confirmed the cardinal indictments of the
Congo administration which had been made by
the Congo Reform Association and other unoffi-
cial bodies and persons. and which had been
vigorously denied by the champions Of the Congo
government.
The response OF the Congo. or rather of the
Belgian, government TO Mr. Roots note is not
yet at hand. To be entirely satisfactory it
would apparently have to embody an assuran @
that the Belgian government will frankly and
fully assume all the treaty obligations of the
former Congo government and agree to refer to
arbitration all purely commercial and economic
questions relating TO the Congo State In which
the United States has legitimate interest to
the extent indicated in the treaty which the
Congo State Immediately after its recognition
made with the United States Our government
could scarcely acquiesce in any abrogation of
treaty rights in the Congo State through Belgian
annexation of that country