Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12

NM "UOic "OIIu Is 10 Dc lalu on
the table at the peace confer
ence in Paris and the interna-
tional boundaries of at least
three continents are to be redrawn.
These continents are Europe, Asia and
Africa, with mighty changes to be
made also in Oceanica and Austral-
asia. / have a personal acquaintance
With most of the regions involved. and
1 propose to take up the great stakes
of peace and show what they are in
plain common sense English. My first
subject will be Germany's colonial en-
pire. with special attention TO her vast
possessions in Africa.
In 1914 when the greedy mouth of
the kaiser watered for territory and
he tried to swallow the greater part
OF the world, the German empire
proper contained all told about 20S, 900
square miles. and 1T had. in addition.
foreign colonies and dependencies
amounting to more than one million
square miles. The home country in
Europe is about four times as big as
Ohio or Kentucky. and less by the big
ness of Illinois or Missouri than the
state of Texas, The colonies We're five
and one-half times as great Alto
gether they were almost one-third as
largo as the whole United States, in
GLIDING Alaska, and nine-tenths of
them were in the continent OF Africa.
II
The African possessions of Ger
many began with her colonies on the
Culf ne r,,tp n,,a oP
Togoland, a low, nat malarial region
four times as large as the state of
Massachusetts. 1t had a black pop
ulatlon Of more than one million, and
the whole was ruled and exploited
by less than 400 Germans. On the
east was thee Gold Coast, belonging
to Great Britain, and, on the west,
Dahomey, Il slice of the colonial pos
sessions of France. which extended
down from the Sahara TO the Gulf of
Guinea. Dahomey was the land of
the Amazons-those famous female
warriors of Africa. who sent cold
thrills Of terror down the backs of
the best soldiers of France until
they were conquered Their last king
was Behanzin, whom l interviewed
Just before his death in captivity in
Algeria few years ago. He de-
scribed his country as a paradise,
and it is probably of the same char
acter as Togoland. over the way. The
Germans raised 100000 pounds of
cotton in Togoland just before the
war. Dahomey is separated by the
rich English province Of Nigeria from
the German possessions
On the other side Of Nigeria. fur
Their down the coast of the gulf. lies
the German province of Kamerun,
surrounded by French lands on the
north, east and south, and away at
the bottom of the continent is tho
desert dependency of German South
west Africa, with the British pos
Africa on the west and south and
Portuguese West Africa on the north.
Kamerun Ia rich In ivory. oil palms
and r1pber, 1t was conquered
the British under Gen. Botha and
the Union OF South Africa is
about six times as big as Togoland.
Il would make four states the size of
New York. and it has population of
about two and one-half millions.
states the size of South Carolina, or
about forty as big as Massachusetts,.
It has small population OF blacks.
with a very few Germans in the most
inhabited eenters.
Going around to the eastern side OF
the continent about half way down
the coast between Port Said and the
Cape of Good Hope, we find German
East Africa. which. after long cam
paign. was CONQUERED by Gen. SHUTS
with British army from South At
ltca, assisted by the troops OF the
Portuguese and the Belgians. This
territory was the cream Of Germanys
colonial empire. 1t contains more
than $4,000 square miles. and It has
q population of something like $780,
900 blacks. There are only four or
five thousand whites. and OF the
whites four-hfths are Germans. In
short. the total area of Germany In
Africa was equal to about one fourth
the size of the United States, and it
had a population six times as great
as that of Germany in Europe. All
of these lands have been conquered
during the war; and they now come
before the peace conference as to
their ownership and future develop
.ment.
But before I go further. let me tell
you what Germany proposed to do
with the rest of Africa In case she
succeeded In beating the French and
the British. I shall paraphrase
statement in the Prussian Year Book
which Prof. Delbruck made at the
time the Germans thought they were
sure Of conquering France and get