114 



THE INDIA RUBBER ^VORLD 



[January i, 1906. 



lying near the villages had been exhausted) except by resort- 

 ing to forced labor. 



" To enable the companies to go on, the state, which exacted 

 ol the natives a tax in kind, or in labor, delegated a part of its 

 powers to the companies, giving them the right to compel the 

 blacks to gather certain quantities of rubber and some other 

 commodities. This right, at first tacit, then express, was made 

 legal by the decree of November 18, 1903. which set the tax in 

 kind for the natives of the territories at 40 hours of labor each 

 month. Previous to this legislative act the different compan- 

 ies had compelled the natives to harvest the products of the 

 country, for their benefit, but they had kept up the principle of 

 payment. It is the abuse of the right of exacting labor that 

 has worked the greatest wrongs in the country. 



" The quantity of a product required was not fixed by law- 

 but was left to the discretion of the agents of the companies. 

 This vague determination of quantity still exists, under the law 

 of November, 1903. Inspectors appointed by the state to see 

 that the companies did not abuse their rights were too depend, 

 ent upon the companies themselves to be very critical. Even 

 magistrates sent in to investigate complaints were forced to 

 travel on the boats of the companies and accept the hospitality 

 of their agents. 



" The result was that the companies looked upon themselves 

 as masters in their territory and the state laws were practically 

 nullified. In certain parts where no concession has been given, 

 the native gathers the products for commercial companies un- 

 der indirect compulsion. These regions are those in which the 

 state, by the decree of October 30, 1892, gave over to private in- 

 dividuals the gathering of rubber. In the greater part of the 

 Kasai basin, numerous companies, working under this conces- 

 sion, have incorporated themselves into a ' trust ' for the pur- 

 pose of avoiding competition. The ' trust ' is known as the 

 Compagnie du Kasai. It has no power to levy a tax in kind 

 and hence can gather rubber only by dealing directly with the 

 native. 



" The indirect compulsion mentioned above is brought about 

 in this way. The native is compelled to pay a state tax in 

 local money called croisetle, which can be obtained only of the 

 agents of the company, in payment for rubber. The agent, 

 aware that the native will not work after he has enough croisttte 

 to pay his tax, contrives to get as much of this rubber away 

 from him as he can in exchange for other commodities. The 

 price of rubber in croiseite is not fixed by law, but is more or 

 less a matter of bargain. The net result of all this to the dis- 

 advantage of the native. 



" In other sections, particularly Lulonga, and in the region 

 between the mouth of the Lomani and Stanleyville, the agent 

 buys the rubber direct from the native. The latter is subject to 

 no tax, yet he is obliged to gather rubber for the agent. At 

 Stanleyville the negroes proposed to the agent of a Dutch house 

 to furnish rubber without pay, provided the quantity required 

 of them were diminished by one half. 



" The conditions are better where there is competition, than 

 where everything is in the hands of a single company. In Lu- 

 longa force is resorted to and the investigating committee were 

 told by the agents themselves that the whip is used habitually. 

 We do not believe it possible, except perhaps in the Kasai 

 and certain parts of the eastern provinces to produce, from the 

 free labor of the native, a regular supply of rubber. Neverthe- 

 less, we think that the state might, in certain particular regions, 

 give up its rights to the products of the domain ; allow compa- 

 nies to deal directly with the native, freeing the latter from all 

 tax and leaving him to work only for pay. This would practi- 

 cally be testing the result which would have followed the en- 



forcement of the decree of October 30, 1892. The result of 

 this attempt might, even if it proved a failure, furnish some 

 useful suggestions for the future. In order that the experi- 

 ment might not be fruitless the state should see to it that no 

 constraint, even moral, be put upon the native. It ought also 

 to encourage the establishment of a large number of merchants, 

 even giving them, at a very low price, the land necessary for 

 putting up factories." 



It maybe said that on the whole the report of the committee 

 on enquiry confirms the charges of abuses in many respects, but 

 absolves the government of responsibility for them, and it is to 

 be noted further that the sovereign has appointed a new com- 

 mission to undertake the reforming of abuses so far as may be 

 within the power of the government. 



The English critics of the Belgian government of the Congo 

 state decline to accept the report of King Leopold's commis- 

 sion as a refutation of the charges which led to its creation, 

 and one of the most notable of their number, Mr. E. D. Morel, 

 in his journal. The Wtst African Mail, fails to see. in the com- 

 position of the reform commission, any promise of the right- 

 ing of the wrongs complained of. At the same time, the jour- 

 nal La Viriti sur le Congo, maintained for the defense of the 

 Belgian cause, presents extracts from many reputable news- 

 papers, in different countries, which have given the official re- 

 port an entirely favorable reception. 



THE APPOINTMENT OF AN AMERICAN. 

 [from the new YORK " SUN," DECEMBER II.] 



King Leopold, the sovereign of the Congo Free State, has 

 appointed R. Dorsey Mohun, an American, as director of the 

 ABIR Congo company, one of the largest rubber concerns in 

 that country. This company was the only commercial society 

 in the state that was mentioned by name in the recent volumi- 

 nous report of the Congocommission as having treated the na- 

 tives with brutality. " In the posts of the ABIR company in 

 the Mongalla district," says the report, " the imprisonment of 

 women as hostages, flogging to excess, and various acts of bru- 

 tality are not contested. It is the black spot on the history 

 of Central African settlement." 



Mr. Mohun was formerly our commercial agent at Loanda 

 and later at Boma, the capital of the Congo State. In Central 

 Africa he saw a large part of the war in which the black sol- 

 diers of the state, under their white officers, drove out and away 

 the Arab slave raiders and put an end to slave catching in that 

 large domain. When he came home he visited The Sun office 

 and told of some of the stirring incidents in that long fight 

 against the most terrible of African evils. 



King Leopold has appointed a new commission to carry out 

 the reforms recommended by the eminent body whose report 

 is now in his hands. The appointment ol Mr. Mohun, who has 

 large executive ability and is thoroughly familiar with African 

 conditions, to a place of unusual opportunity for the correc- 

 tion of past abuses, is one of the first steps taken. 



"Commercial companies," said the commission's report, 

 " should never be permitted to carry on armed expeditions, as 

 was notably the case with the ABIR company." The Ameri- 

 can undoubtedly has a fine field before him in which to incul- 

 cate humanity as well as to stimulate commerce. 



The Dresden Gummi-Zeitung reports: "There is a lively 

 demand for ladies' rubber cloaks this fall. The only complaint 

 among manufacturers is that the grades of wool used for such 

 cloaks have very considerably advanced in price, and that this is 

 proving rather detrimental to the volume of sales." 



