Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12
British East Africa and
Its Cotton Plantations.
The Ne,u Railroads. J
Southwest Africa and
Its Diamond Mines
A Great Empire to Be
D ;v;de d IN Paris
Kamerun and Tooo-
land.

land.
roadbeds hard after each rain These
women have iron collars about their
necks. and chains running from collar
to collar hold them together. They
were driven by soldiers with whips.
i met the governor general during
my stay. He told me that much of
German East Africa Is high and
healthy and that the soil Is exceed
ingly fertile. 1t will raise cotton,
sugar cane and coffee. The governor
described coffee plantation of 10O. 900
trees which he had just visited, and
told me he expected to set out such
cotton plantations as eventually would
mand At that time the German rail-
road was building from Oar es Sa-
laam into the interior. 1t has been
extended since as far as Lake Tam
ganyiki, having been completed to
the port of Ujiji in February, 1914
There is another railway line which
runs from Tanga inland to the base
or Mount kilimanjaro The Germans
have built good roads throughout the
colony, and they have coastal, river
ana lake steamers. They have three
wireless stations, and there are tele-
graph lines along the coast and to
many places in the interior.
German East Africa is a rich graz
ing country. The natives have about
100000 cattle and more than $780,
900 sheep and goats. Their trade with
Germany had increased about 500 per
cent during the ten years preceding
Inc war, 1T was more than $20,000,000
in 1912 and had jumped two and a
half million dollars upward in 1919
The territory is rich in coal, iron,
copper and lead.
Gen. SHUTS, who, with the aid of
the Belgians and Portuguese con-
quered the country, says that the Ger
mans were developing it, not as an
ordinary colony. but as n possession
for the cultivation of tropical raw
materials. He says they have syste-
matically discouraged white settle
ments, and have parceled out the best
lands to syndicates or individuals
with large capital. These have been
cultivating their properties by their
native labor system, which compels
the blacks to work for the planters
Tor very small wages during part
OF the year. Under the new admins
tration this semi-slavery will be abol-
ished and the country will be reor-
ganized much latter the methods now
used in Uganda and British East
Africa. Justice and equal rights will
prevail The blacks will be educated
and treated as in other lands under
the rule of the British
Next 10 German East Africa, the
Germans have been spending the
greater part of their African APP
preparations on the long strip of
semi desert at the southwestern end
of the continent, This strip is bound
Africa, and on the east and south
by the Cape Province, while on the
west Is the Atlantic ocean. 1t is
so per cent larger than Germany
tn
to Texas and Oklahoma combined
Nevertheless. 1t has a population all
told OF less than 100000, OF which
about $4,000 are whites, $4,000 being
Germans. The blacks are OF a low
order; They include Bushmen,. Hot
tentots, OVambos, Bastards and He
reros In 1914 the Hereros rebelled
against the Germans and the kaiser
adopted the same policy as to their
determination as was suggested to the
mans. Gen. Won Trotha then issued a
proclamation stating: EVERY Herero
within the German frontier. with or
without a rife. with or without cattle,
more women and children" The re-
suit was that tens of thousands of
Hereros were murdered
The Hereros were almost nomads.g
They had focks and cattle. which they
drove about from place to place tos
find pasture. They numbered someys,
thing like 100000 before the native
war, but not 10000 Of them are living.
today, The Bushmen are mostly huntr,.
ers who wander about In search ,ofrr
game and water. They are randy !
decreasing. The Bastards are "a crossa
between the European farmers and !
Hottentots who migrated from Gapef
Colony forty or nifty years ago. They
number 5000 or more. efsa sew, sd
Southwest Africa has been In =. tina !,
hands of the Germans ever since 1854. /
but 1t is only recently that they, have
been doing much to develop 1t. They
have spent a great deal in improving
the harbors: and, by 1913 they had
more than 1900 miles Of railway
opened, with more under construction.
During the war the British, in order
to help along their Invasion from the
south. made an extension OF the South
African railway system. and in 1915
Joined 1T with the German system at
Kalkfontein. This now connects Ger
man Southwest Africa with the Union
of South Africa. The road was COM
pleted just about two weeks before
the country was finally conquered. 1t
is now administered by the govern
ment of the Union Of South Africa.
German Southwest Africa Ii sara dOG
be rich in minerals: and copper leadI
tin and diamonds have been ffouAd.1
The diamonds were discovered meant
Luderitzbucht In 1908. and up ITO th4s
time the war began almost 5000, 000o