Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-27

greater faith and efficiency than she is
now doing, and that at once, compare
lively few generations will see that mass
of barbaric humanity under the crescent
of Islam.
John r. Mott recently told me that he
would put China first Of the great mis-
sion fields and then Africa, but In view Of
the impending and momentous movement
of the leaders of the Mohammedan faith
in Africa lie regarded that continent as
furnishing the foreign field of the great
est immediate urgency.
1T is to be remembered that there is
civilized Africa, the centerS being chiefly
in the south. where under the British
flag recently was formed new nation,
which will hear the same relation to the
British empire as Canada does This ma
ton is made up of Cape Colony, Natal.
Orange River and the TranSvaal. 1t has
several great cities vast mineral, fores4.
pastoral and agricultural wealth. In this
section are nearly eight thousand miles of
railway already. The other civilized sec
tionS of Africa are along the Mediter-
ranean, where hundreds of thousands of
people of Europe are settling-Greeks.
Spaniards. Portuguese, French, Italians.
Germans and those of other nations. The
Jewish population is very large. In Tri-
poll. Tunis. the latter with 100000 people,
Constantinople, Algiers and Oran great
progress is being made in wealth.
Marks of Civilization.
Along both coasts of Africa are strips
of civilized territory. The relation of
civilized Africa to the problems of that
continent are manifest. They insure OPP
nortunties for advancement. The migra-
ton of the foreign white population to
Africa. except to sections along the
Mediterranean, is not great. Where 1t
was most expected was in South Africa,
but for many reasons, financial. politi-
cal and racial, the going in of European
people has been disappointing since the
war.
Efforts are being made by the Euro
pean powers to develop colonial empires
in Africa, to Introduce modern methods
especially mining and agriculture. The
cotton industry. for example, Is develop
ing rapidly in Egypt On the west coast
also Great Britain is making a very
strong effort to encourage the raising of
cotton, TO supply raw material to the
factories of Lancashire. She took over
some of our negro cotton growers and
ono two white men several years ago,
and began in Nigeria They sent men
ont through the country to show the ma
tives how to plant and harvest the crop.
The industry is progressing and there Is
every reason 10 suppose that they will
soon be raising hundred thousand bales
annually. In matters of general asri-
culture vast sums of money are being
expended. Many trained men from our
own American schools are employed to
study the conditions, and to introduce
types of grains, grasses and fruits, etc,
etc, best adapted to the various sections.
In addition efforts are being made to
develop the native products. The breed
ing of stock is being carried on to i'm
prove its qualities.
1.-The plateaus are capable of raising
immense herds of cattle, but the cattle
plague which visited Africa a few years
ago was an appalling calamity. Many ma
tives had vast herds. One of these, Kar-
ma, is said to have had over a million
head.
Improvement Among Natives.
THE natives of Africa are gradually
improving in their habits of labor. 1t
was unreasonable to expect that they
would all at once change the free life
they have been living for many genera
tons and take their place among the
civilized races in few years, but as
their wants increase and the laws for
their protection are improved the pro-
portion of them who will labor is grow
ing, The mine owners of Johannesburg
prefer native black laborerS to the Chi
nese. whom they have tried, although the
latter will do more work and labor longer
than the natives.
1T was really relief to the mining
industry of the Transvaal. when they
found that they must depend upon the
natives 1t is to be remembered that
the work on the plantations and farms
and in the households is done by the
natives. The handling of freight on the
railroads. in fact, nearly all manual labor
is done by them 1t must also be remem-
bered that the natives are the soldiers
of all these different nations. In one sec
ton they are under German officers. They
have negro bands with German instru-
ments and German uniforms with all the
decorations. In another place they are
all French, in another English and Portu-
guese. The natives learn music rapidly.
THE native African is u fine lingust
also. 1 have known him to speak several
languages. He is apt in picking UP in
formation. As a rule he is very inteili-
gent. Other things being equal, the ma
tive African races compare well with
other native races in mental powers, and
with the growth of couple of thousand
years, such as European nations have
had they will no doubt stand the tests
of high civilization
Conditions in Liberia.