Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1914-08-27

i0uh1 ~ - the Junction point OF "A railway
system, partly in operation and partly mn
der construction, which will connect the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean and open
up 10 the worlds an area one
and a half times as great as the United
States-the French empire in Africa.
DESERT Part Of il, yes; but French
science and French enterprise have accom-
plished such wonders that the announce
ment was made two years ago by the
French colonial administration that in The
very heart Of Sahara a region many square
miles In area had been reclaimed 10 an cx-
tent that il could be planted in grain with
out delay.
Wherever the Frenchman haS gone In
Africa he has taken the railroad surveying
instrument and the well digger with him.
II H. not too much TO say, on the basis OF
what has been accomplished in the past,
that in fifty years the great desert will
have been cut down one-half by the same
sort of reclamation progresses. that have
put vast arid sections Of the American
west under successful cultivation.
And this great empire j. already partly
linked up with Europe ~ boat or rail. In
Paris you can buy \ through ticket 10
Biskra and return that will cntitle you To
a rail and water trip with all the comforts
and most Of the Injuries Of civilization.
The bronze statue Of Chinese Gordon on
camelback overlooking the Nile az Khartum
il suggestive Of what the British have done
in the reclamation of northern Africa.
From Alexandria All the way 10 the south
ernmoSt limits OF the Egyptian Sudan You
will see the helmcted British or civil adj
ministrator bearing the white mans bur
den with an ease that makes you suspect
that Il J. no burden al all. Ii j. a close
race between Gaul and Briton as To which
has accomplished more In the way Of she'd
ding light into the Dark Continent, with
the odds slightly in favor OF the French
man. The two practically share equally in
the dominion Of Africa.
Germany came late into the scramble
Tor the waste places Of the world. Even
while Won Moltkc and hi victorious Prus-
slams were S~evcring Alsare-Lorrainc from
the body of France The French were build
ing up across the Mediterranean a splendid
dominion beside which the home country
looks unimportant.
The incident Of Agadir in 1911, when
the kaiser halted for "A brief moment IN the
absorption Of Morocco by France, marked
the last attempt of Germany 10 acquire
her share Of the remaining u-nappropriatcd
African territory. The arrival Of the
cruiser Panther. At the Moroccan seaport
placed Europe face to face with the phan-
tom Of O great war.
Then the money interests Of Germany
spoke, and the kaiser contcntcd himself
with a sop Of 10000 miles in French
equatorial Africa IN exchange for his as
sent to the treaty that made France mis-
trcss of Morocco and assured the contin-
uity Of her territory, with the exception Of
a small Spanish section, from Tunis TO
Dakar. Germany has Jared poorly in the
partition Of Africa. And even in the parts
they have acquired the Germans have dis
played a conspicuous ifnhiHty-t to deSeiop
their territory. la comparison with the
wonderful trade expansion which Germany
has achieved IN the last quarter century
her colonial enterprises have been flat
failures.
You will find more soldiers than traders
IN the German possessions m Africa, and
more barracks than schools. The natives
have been 80 reduced in number hat A
has been found necessary 10 import white
labor to do a good part Of the heavy work
In railroad building.
One weakness Of the German colonial
system in Africa has been H. location n
four scattered and disconnected sections.
There j. German East Africa On the east
coast, and German Southwest Africa. On
the opposite coast; kamerun, IN the biz
blight o. the continent, and TogoIand, a lit
tie strip sandwichcd in between French
Dahomcy and the British Gold Coast.
What the kaiser has longed to accomplish
\ 10 connect the German possessions be-
low the equator. and 10 make u belt of Ger
man dominion across the continent. The
plans Of railway construction adopted anu
purity carried out In German East Africa
and German Southwest Africa plainly IT.
dictate some such purpose vT acquisition
and consolidation.
Only two or three years ~ II was
limited N Berlin that Portugal had an
nounced t. willingness 10 sell Angola.
which lies north of German Southwest
Africa, and that negotiations we're being
carried on ~ Germany 10 acquire Il.
such am acquisition would have brought
the consolidation OF the southern Herman
possessions within measurable distance OF
accomplishment, a. the only remaining OBJ
stacie 20 a union Of territory would have
beer = corner o. the Congo Free State.
under the dominion q Belgium, With which