284 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1. 1913. 



iven in the editorial pages of our August were continually watched, and the result of his investi- 



ation was g 

 issue, and may be remembered by some of our readers. 



The first intimation of the situation in the Putu- 

 mayo district (the Futumayo being one of the tribu- 

 taries of the Upper .Amazon, flowing through a section 

 which at dift'erent times has been claimed by Colombia, 

 Ecuador, Brazil and Peru, but of late years generally 

 conceded as being under Peruvian sovereignty) came 

 from two American engineers, who, after spending 

 many months in that territory, went to London in 

 1909 with a story of what they had seen, that was so 

 appalling that no publisher would accept it, and no 

 daily paper print it— except in part. But what was 

 printed aroused so much indignation in England that 

 the British Consul at Rio de Janeiro, Sir Roger Case- 

 ment, was despatched to the Putumayo territory to 

 make an official investigation. The result of his inves- 

 tigation, extending over many months, was the sub- 

 stantial corroboration of all the allegations made by 

 the two Americans, and it was the publication of Sir 

 Roger Casement's report last Spring that inflamed the 

 public— not only of England, but of America. 



As a consequence of the popular indignation felt in 

 this country that such conditions could exist in a gov- 

 ernment concerning which — under the theory of the 

 Monroe Doctrine — we must necessarily feel some 

 moral responsibility, our government felt called upon 

 to take some action, and appointed Stuart J. Fuller 



gations, as far as possible, negatived by the agents of 

 tlie Peruvian-Amazon Company, who constantly 

 dogged his steps, making it difficult for him to get 

 access to witnesses, and rendering it dangerous for the 

 witnesses, even when secured, to give him the truth 

 of the deplorable situation. But notwithstanding the 

 fact that his movements were closely watched and 

 constantly hampered, he learned enough to be able to 

 corroborate practically all the statements made by Sir 

 Roger Casement. Though conditions had apparently been 

 somewhat am.eliorated from what they were when at 

 their worst, he found that the unoffending natives 

 were still being flogged and otherwise maltreated and 

 tortured in order to exact from them the maximum 

 amount of effort. He found a system of peonage — un- 

 der which the natives became the absolute slaves of 

 the agents, being bought and sold as chattels — extremely 

 prevalent. 



The Peruvian minister in his communication de- 

 clares the deep determination of his government to 

 stop these barbarities, and cites as one reason "not 

 alone because these events have occurred in our terri- 

 tory, but on account of the harm which they have 

 done to Peru by giving us an undeserved notoriety for 

 deep-rooted cruelty which is not a trait of our na- 

 tional character.'' Everyone will agree that it is most 

 unfortunate that Peru should have gained "a notoriety 



consul at Iquitos, for the express purpose of having for deep-rooted cruelty": and it is quite likely that this 



him visit the rubber country along the Putumayo and 

 report his findings to the State Department. 



Consul Fuller left Iquitos on the 7th of August, for 

 his trip into the rubber jungle. He remained there a 

 little over two months, and then sailed for home to 

 submit his report. He reached New York on the 21st 

 of December and immediately laid the results of his 

 investigations before the State Department. On Feb- 

 ruary 7, President Taft submitted the essential facts 

 of this report, accompanied by a message of his own, 

 to Congress; and on the same date the Peruvian Min- 

 ister at Washington, Seiior Pezet, handed to the State 

 Department a communication from his government, 

 giving many assurances that immediate reforms 

 would be instituted, and that the atrocities that had 

 given the name Putumayo the same evil prominence 

 that was attached to the word Congo a few years ago, 

 should immediately cease. 



It cannot be said that Consul Fuller's report is alto- 

 gether satisfactory, for he states that his work was 

 carried on under extreme difficulties, as his movements 



is not a trait of their national character, but the fact 

 remains that these frightful atrocities have been going 

 on in Peru for over 15 years, and that no effort worthy 

 of the name was ever made to stop these horrors, and 

 to bring their perpetrators to justice, until, through 

 American and English channels the dark secrets of the 

 Putumayo had been told to the whole world, and could 

 no longer be hidden. 



The cries of the tortured natives fell on deaf ears at 

 Lima. It was not until the voice of Christendom was 

 raised in indignation and angry denunciation, that the 

 home government began to show a genuine interest in 

 the appalling crimes perpetrated within its borders. 



A new administration has recently come into power 

 in Peru, and its declaration of a determined purpose to 

 wipe out the horrors of the Putumayo forests should 

 be taken at their face value ; but at the same time, in 

 view of earlier protestations of a like sort that were 

 never fulfilled, it behooves England and America — and 

 especially America — not to relax their vigilant interest. 

 Moreover, if any new investigators are sent into that 



