Milford chronicle., 1923-01-19
UNCLE TED'S
BEDTIME STORIES
BRITISH AND FRENCH DEBTS
AFRICAN SPOILS OF WAR
CAN PAY THEM.


come, and Jack was eager to ask I'm
Gle Ted about something that had been
on his mind all day.
"a long time ago." said he, you
told us that the big German colonies
in Africa that were captured in the
war were going to be divided among
the allies, but since then We haven't
heard anything more about them.
Won't you tell us, Uncle Ted, what
has been done with them, and if they
are rea ly worth anything
II am glad, jack, that you have
brought that matter up" replied Un-
Gle j ed. "You and Ruth are not the
only ones who have heard nothing
about those old German territories.
For some reason there has been hard
" any mention of them in our news
papers for two or three years. Many,
many columns have been printed dis
cussing the ability of Great Britain,
France, and the other allies to pay
their big debts to the United States,
but nobody seems to have remember
ed the big new countries that were
won from Germany, or to have con-
sidered that the natural wealth they
contain is sufficient to pay those debts
several times over. 1 will tell you all
that I know about them.
1.-THE former German territories
were distributed among the allies as
mandates under a paragraph con-
tanned in the covenant of the league OF
nations. The countries that got them
are supposed to look after them in the
interest of the native populations, but
really they have become colonies OF
those countries, and their wealth is
at the disposal of their new owners.
The German colonies in Africa had an
area of 100000 square miles, about
four and a half times as large as the
old German Empire in Europe. There
were four of them: German East Al
rica, German Southwest Africa, the
Kameruns, and Togoland.
German East Africa is now called
Tanganyika Territory and has an ar
ca of about 365,000 square miles, all
but 10000 of which is now controlled
by Great Britain, and the rest by Bel
gium. German Southwest Africa is
400. 1000 square miles in extent, and
was given entirely to Great Britain.
The Kameruns has been translated IN
to English and is now called the Cam
eroons. 1t has an area OF 4S4,UVV
souare miles, 15S, 900 of which went to
France, and the rest to Great Britain
Togoland has an area OF SS,IOV SQUARE
miles, about One-third OF which Went
to Great Britain and the rest TO
France. -
"You see from those figures that
about four-fifths Of that African lanu
is now British, and about one-nltn
French. All the colonies are much the
same in natural resources, popula-
tion. etc., and most of what am go
ing to tell you about them can be ap-
piled to all alike.
"You must realize, children, that
those countries are wild. They are IN
habited by wild black men, and CIVIL
ization has scarcely made an impress
sion upon the natives or upon Lne
wonderful riches of the land. That is
the reason why they have not yielded
more treasure for the use of their new
owners. But in that they are no dllI-
erent from Canada whe n the BRUSH
first obtained control of the country
OF from our own nation when the IN
dams we're the only people who lived
here.
'Those African colonies have a
nonu1atio no about 100000 natives,
but only 23,5OO white men. That means
that there is only one white man 10
every 40 square miles o. territory,
and only one white man to every S4O
wild men. Is it any wonder that the
rich mines, the great hardwood for
ests, the large grazing lands, and the
wide AGRICULTURAL districts have pro-
duced but a very small part OF what
they are capable of yielding? the
riches of our own great West were
not known until the country had been
thoroughly explored and prospected. |
There has been no attempt as yet even
to discover all the wealth that those |
African colonies contain.
But even the little that has already |
been done by the white settlers has
disclosed a great variety Of products |
that in the future can be increased |
and made to yield rich returns. Just
let me give you a list of some of them: |
Cocoa, rubber, rice, maize, yams, to- |
bacco, cotton, kapok, coffee, copal, |
copra, kola nuts, kafir corn, sisal, fib-
er, sorghum, bananas, vanilla, tea, |
manioc, palm oil, palm kernels, dye t
woods, ivory, guano, hides and skins
copper, marble, gold, sulphur, iron
mica, garnets, salt, lead, agates, topaz,
and diamonds. Why, children, more
than $72,000,000 worth Of diamonds
alone have been found in those new
countries, and the diamond mines are
being enlarged all the time. There are
about 4,250,000 cattle there, 7,450,000
sheep and goats, and 10000 horses.
Animal diseases, poisonous bugs, and
wild animals have prevented larger
herds, but they will all give way to
modern methods of science.
"Now, why is all this Of so much
interest to the United States? will
tell you. have told you before of the
huge debts owed by Great Britain and
France to this country. The British
debt amounts to about $4,700,0O0,0O0
and the French debt equals $780, /
100000. Our government is being urg-
ed all the time to cancel part or all
of those debts on the ground that
heir payment would place an awful
burden on the British and French
people, who might, indeed, never be
able to pay them. In everything that
the British and French representa-
tives have said about their debts and
their ability to meet them, they have
been very careful never, to mention
the rich African spoils they grabbed
from Germany in the war. They want
to get the very best terms they can