Part 18 (1/2)
”Can you speak English?”
”Yes,” was his i to undertake the hazards of this journey to Zanzibar?”
queried the interrogator
”Yes,” caood angel had prophesied, his one word of English nht add, he has acquired a fluent coe Francqui has always been willing to take a chance and lead a forlorn hope
It was in the early nineties that his exploits reatest in African conquest and exploration He went out to the Congo as second in command of as known as the Bia Expedition, sent to explore the Katanga and adjacent territory After two hard years of incessant ca the expedition fell into hard lines Captain Bia succumbed to smallpox and the column encountered every conceivable hardshi+p Men died by the score and there was no food Francqui took charge, and by his indo with histhis experience he travelled ion where no other white one before He explored the Luapula, the headwaters of the Congo, and opened up a neorld to civilization No other single Congo expedition save that of Stanley made such an important contribution to the history of the Colony
Most men would have been satisfied to rest with this achievement With Francqui it sined from the army, Leopold had fixed his eyes on China as a scene of operations, and he sent Francqui there to clinch the Pekin-Hankow concession, which he did In the course of these negotiations he met Jadot, as later to become his associate both in the Societe Generale and in the Forain went to China, this tinie d'Orient, which coveted the coalthe richest in the world The British and Germans also desired this valuable property which had been operated for soot what he went after and took possession of the property The crude Chinese s and they had to be entirely reconstructed Aineers e American named Herbert Hoover
Upon his return to Brussels Francqui allied himself with Colonel Thys, as head of the Banque d'Outremer, the rival of the Societe Generale After he hadhe becaed to the front in finance
If Jadot stood as the Morgan, then Francqui becaian money world
Then came the Great War and the Gerium Her banks were converted into hospitals; her industry lay prostrate; her people faced starvation Soency was necessary to centralize relief at hoium,--the famous ”C R B”--crystallized it abroad
The Coians to feed and clothe the native population and it becaent for the ”C R B”
Francqui was chosen head of this body and directed it until the ary, diploanization Needless to say it was one of the most difficult of all relief ian and he was surrounded by the suspicious and do Gerium for more than four years was absolute law He was, in truth, a benevolent dictator
[Illustration: EMILE FRANCQUI]
His war life illustrates one of the quaint pranks that fate often plays
As soon as the ”C R B” was organized in London Francqui hastened over to England to confer with the Aht he encountered in its ineer who coal mines before It was the first time that he and Hoover had seen each other since their encounter in China They noorked shoulder to shoulder in the monster ressive When Belgiu done she instinctively turns to hi the German reparation embarrassed the country, and liquid cash was imperative, he left Brussels on three days' notice and within a fortnight frootiated a fifty-million-dollar loan He is as potent in official life as in finance for as Special Minister of State without portfolio he is a real power behind a real throne
Although Francqui is a director in the Societe Generale, he is also ould call Chairman of the Board of Banque d'Outremer This shows that the well-known institution of ”community of interests” is not confined to the United States With Jadot he represents the Societe in the Forminiere Board I have used these two ian financial kings I could mention various others They include Alexander Delcohter and explorer, who is one of the leading figures of the Banque d'Outree, the Antwerp merchant prince Alues have either lived in the Congo, or have been guided in their fortunes by it
You have now had the historical approach with all personal side-lights to the hour when Ao As soon as Leopold and Ryan finally got together the king said, ”The Congo ineers They are the best in the world” Thus it came about that Central Africa, like South Africa, ca hand of the Yankee technical expert At Ki, however, the task was comparatively easy The mines were accessible and the country was known With Central Africa it was a different and erous matter The land ild, hostile natives abounded on all sides, and going in was like firing a shot in the dark
The Aineers headed by Sydney H Ball and R D L Mohun, known as the Ball-Mohun Expedition, which conducted the geological investigation The other was in charge of S P Verner, an Ao, and devoted itself entirely to rubber The latter venture was under the auspices of the Ao Company, which expected to eo
After several years the atteh the company still exists
I will briefly narrate its experience to show that the product which raised the te Leopold's head and which for years was synonyo, has practically ceased to be an important commercial commodity in the Colony The reason is obvious In Leopold's day nine-tenths of the world's supply of rubber ild and cao It cost about fifty cents a pound to gather and sold for a dollar Today rown on plantations in the Dutch East Indies, the Malay States, and the Straits Settleather and despite the big sluo there is still wild rubber and a e plantations Labor is scarce, however, while in the East millions of coolies are available This tells the whole rubber story
The Ball-Mohun Expedition was more successful than its mate for it opened up a mineral empire and laid the foundations of the Little America that you shall soon see Mohun was adineer Other members were Millard K
Shaler, afterwards one of Hoover's iurapher; A E H and C A Reid, and N Janot, prospectors
Mohun, who had been engaged on account of his knowledge of the country, had been American Consul at Zanzibar and at Boht the Arab slave-traders in the interior When someone asked hio on aArabs in the interior to killing ti Davis'
”Soldiers of Fortune” and was in every sense a unique personality