Part 12 (2/2)
The Minister, his military aide, secretary and doctor filled the cabins, so I slept in a tent set up on the lower deck
With flags flying and thousands of natives on the shore yelling and beating tom-toms, we started down the Lualaba The country between Kindu and Ponthierville, our first objective, is thickly populated and important settlements dot the banks Wherever we stopped the native troops were turned out and there were long speeches of welconitaries Franck shook as many black and white hands as an A around the circle I accoave me an excellent opportunity to see the ely consist of no clothes at all This applies especially to the fe's theory because they are less deadly than the nificant episode This place is the center of an immense native population, but there is only one white resident, the usual Belgium state official We cli chiefs, wearing the tin ives theuished by the extraordinary arotesque devices cut with a knife on his body,speech in which he becaent translated this in French to Franck I gathered that the people were indignant over the advance in cost of trade goods, especially salt and calico Salt isthe natives it is legal tender for every commodity from a handkerchief to a wife
Franck made a little speech in French in reply--it was translated by the interpreter--in which he said that the Great War had increased the price of everything We shook hands all round and there was ,” and headed for the boat
Halfway down the hill we heard shouting and hissing We stopped and looked back On the crest were a thousand native woers at the Minister, who ient called for an explanation a big black woman said:
”Ask the 'Bula Matadi' why the franc buys so little now? We only get a few goods for a big lot of one into the wilds to escape from economic unrest and all the confusion that has followed in its wake, yet here in the heart of Central Africa, I found our old friend the High Cost of Living working overties! It proves that there is neither caste, creed nor colour-line in the pocket-book Like indigestion, to repeat Mr Pinero, it is the universal leveller of all ranks
IV
On this trip Franck outlined toand we had just left a particularly picturesque Arabized village behind us Hundreds of natives had cos and played their crude side our boat We now sat on the upper deck and watched the unending panorarass huts
”All colonial developer than its weakest link and that is the native,” said the Minister ”As you build the native, so do you build the whole colonial structure Hence the ih moral standard You must conform to the native's traditions, mentality and te like that afforded by Booker Washi+ngton's Tuskegee Institute
Show him how to use his hands He will then become efficient and therefore contented It is a e I prefer him to be a first-class African rather than third-class European
”The hope of the Congo lies in industrialization on the one hand, and the creation of neealth on the other By neealth I er exploitation of such old products as rice and palh the cultivated plantations are in part taking the place of the old wild forests The substitute for rubber as the first product of the land is the fruit of the oil palo I believe, however, that in tie commercial quantities over a wide area”
Franck now turned to a subject which reflects his courage and progressiveness He said, ”There is a strong tendency in other Colonies to give too large a place to State enterprise The result of this system is that officers are burdened with an impossible task They must look after the railways, steamers, mills, and a variety of tasks for which they often lack the technical knowledge
”I have ive first place to private enterprise and to transfer those activities formerly under State rule to autonomous enterprises in which the State has an interest They are run by businessbusiness lines as business institutions The State's principal function in theold mines at Kilo are an example They are still owned by the State but are worked by a private company whose directors have full powers The reason why the State does not part with its ownershi+p of these old-seekers History has proved that in a country with a prierous and destructive thing
”We are always free traders in Belgiuo We have already had the constructive influence of Alad to have o and concessions are practically synonymous terms In the Leopold day this was true but there is a new deal now Let Monsieur Franck explain it:
”There was a tio
They were then necessary because the Colony was new, the country unknown, and the financial risk large Now that the econoion are realized it is not desirable to grant any e concessions It is proved that these concessions are really a handicap rather than a help to a young land The wise procedure is to have a definite agricultural or industrial aim in mind, and then pick the locality for exploitation, whether it is gold, cotton, copper or palo?” I asked
”The Congo is now entering upon a big era of development,” was the answer ”If the Great War had not intervened it would have been well under way Despite the invasion of Belgium, the practical paralysis of our hoo officials and theirthe Ger those terrible years
In building the new Congo we are going to profit by the exae and experience of tropical hygiene We propose to coency similar to your Rockefeller Institute of Research in New York
”The Congo is bound to becoa is not only a huge copper area but it has immense stores of coal, tin, zinc and other valuable commodities Our diaricultural possibilities of hundreds of thousands of square o is transport We are increasing our river fleets and we propose to introduce on thee similar to that used on the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers
”An ira we expect to run a railway froht across country to Kinshassa on the Lower Congo It is already surveyed This will tap a thickly populated region and enable the diaet the labour they need so sorely The Robert Williaola will be another addition to our transportation facilities One of the richest regions of the Congo is the north-eastern section The gold mines at Kilo are now only accessible by river We plan to join them up with the railway to be built froo River and the Nile With our railroads as with our industrial enterprises, we stick to private ownershi+p and operation with the State as a partner
”The new provinces of Ruanda and Urundi will contribute much to our future prosperity They add millions of acres to our territory and 3,000,000 healthy and prosperous natives to our population These new possessions have two distinct advantages One is that they provide an invigorating health resort which will be to the Central Congo what the Katanga is to the Southern The other is that, being an immense cattle country--there is a head of live stock for every native--ill be able to secure fresh meat and dairy products, which are sorely needed
”The Congo is not only the econoian capitalist to think in broad terard the universe as his field As a practical commercial proposition it pays, both with nations as with individuals We have found that the possession of the Congo, huge as it is, and difficult for a country like ours to develop, is a sti our world view”
It would be difficult to find a ram It eliminates that bane of over-seas administration, red tape, and it puts the task of e squarely up to the business man who is the best qualified for the work I am quite certain that the advent of Monsieur Franck into office, and particularly his trip to the Congo,of an epoch of real and pero
[Illustration: THE MassIVE BANGALAS]