170 



CONGO INDEPENDENT STATE. 



Provision is made also for the turning over of 

 all State reservoirs to the counties in which they 

 tire, the counties becoming responsible for any 

 damage resulting from the breakage of dams and 

 such repairs as are necessary. 



The "public utilities" bill gives power to city 

 councils to build waterworks, lighting plants, etc., 

 and to buy those established. 



The sum of $20,000 was appropriated to pay 

 bounties on wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions 

 during the years 1899-1900. Another act for the 

 benefit of the live-stock industry provides for 

 the inspection of live stock before shipment or 

 removal beyond the boundaries of the State, and 

 makes it unlawful to remove any cattle or horses 

 from the State before the brands or earmarks 

 have been inspected and recorded as prescribed 

 by the law, which is not to affect the existing 

 statutes respecting the larceny of live stock or 

 cattle. 



A bill restoring the limit to the percentage 

 of county taxation was passed (see under Fi- 

 nances, this article). An appropriation for 

 finishing the State Capitol was made, with the 

 understanding that the building shall be finished 

 without further delay. 



A retrenchment bill reduces the number and 

 compensation of employees of the Legislature. 



A House concurrent resolution recommended 

 other States to try the experiment of woman suf- 

 frage. 



Another concurrent resolution provided for the 

 participation of the State in the world's fair to 

 be held at St. Louis to celebrate the Louisiana 

 purchase. 



Other important measures were an antitrust 

 bill, a bill providing for the submission of more 

 than one constitutional amendment at any gen- 

 eral election, a valued-policy bill, a prize-fight 

 bill, and an antiscript bill. 



The columbine will be the State flower of Col- 

 orado. 



The general appropriation bill for the support 

 of State offices and institutions appropriated 

 $045.700, and special bills about $242,000. 



CONGO INDEPENDENT STATE, a sover- 

 eign, independent, monarchical state in Central 

 Africa, created with the consent of the great 

 powers, and declared perpetually neutral by the 

 general act of the Congo, signed at Berlin on Feb. 

 20, 1885. Leopold II, King of the Belgians, who 

 was declared to be sovereign of the Congo State, 

 ceded to Belgium his sovereign rights in the event 

 of his death by a testament executed on Aug. 2, 

 1889, and on July 3, 1890, Belgium acquired by 

 a convention with the Independent State the right 

 to annex the territories after a period of ten 

 years. The Government, under King Leopold, is 

 presided over by a Secretary of State at Brussels, 

 Baron Edrnomf van Eetvelde, who is assisted by 

 Chevalier A. de Cuvelier, Secretary of Foreign 

 Affairs; II. Pochez, Treasurer; H. Droogmans, 

 Secretary of Finance; and Charles Liebrechts, 

 Secretary of the Interior, the Public Force, and 

 Marine. Capt. E. Wangermee, Vice Governor 

 General, commands at Boma, and Baron F. 

 Dhanis and Capt. van Gele, holding the same 

 rank, have command in the interior. 



Area and Population. The territories of the 

 Independent State, embracing the whole basin of 

 the Congo south of the French sphere, which is 

 bounded by the Ubangi and the Bomu, have an 

 area estimated at 900.000 square miles, with a 

 population of 30,000.000. The Europeans in 1898 

 numbered 1.078, of whom 1,000 were Belgians, 102 

 Portuguese, 91 Swedes and Norwegians, 87 Brit- 

 ish, 00 Dutch, 57 Americans, 34 Danes, 26 French, 



17 Germans, 11 Swiss, 8 Austrians, and 6 Span- 

 iards. There are 115 Catholic and 108 Protestant 

 mission stations. The missionaries co-operate 

 with the Government, which has established agri- 

 cultural training schools. They use in teaching 

 the Swahili language, introduced by the Arabs, 

 instead of the innumerable Bantu dialects. 



Finances. The revenue for 1898 was esti- 

 mated at 14,765,050 francs, including an annual 

 subsidy of 1,000,000 francs from King Leopold's 

 privv purse and 2,000,000 francs advanced annual- 

 ly from the Belgian treasury from 1890 till 1900. 

 The rest of the revenue is derived from customs, 

 postage, steamer and railroad transport, public 

 lands and forests, etc. The expenditure for 1898 

 was estimated at 17,251,975 francs, of which 

 2,524,920 francs were for extraordinary purposes. 

 For 1899 the revenue was estimated at 19,966,500 

 francs, and the expenditure at 19,672,965 francs. 

 The principal expenses were 7,623,946 francs for 

 the public force, 5,285,405 francs for Government 

 administration, 4,020,720 francs for administer- 

 ing the forests and domains, 1,481,624 francs for 

 marine, and 1,261,270 francs for public works. 



Defense. The public force consisted in 1898 

 of 15,580 armed and trained native soldiers, of 

 whom 3,000 are recruited every year, divided into 

 23 companies, commanded by 234 European offi- 

 cers and 173 drill sergeants. 



Commerce and Production. Besides the 

 lands reserved for native occupation, there are 

 estates that have been acquired by Europeans for 

 planting purposes. All land not occupied by na- 

 tives or by European owners is state property. 

 Thus the Government has a right to all the rub- 

 ber produced. To increase the supply instead of 

 allowing it to run short through the gradual de- 

 struction of the rubber forests, the Government 

 has decreed that 150 vines shall be planted for 

 every ton of rubber taken out. The control of 

 the forests has been placed in the hands of a 

 bureau, with instructions to enforce the regula- 

 tions for carrying on the industry, especially the 

 prohibition of any method of gathering rubber 

 except by incisions in the bark of the tree. The 

 chief exports, besides rubber, are ivory, palm 

 nuts, and palm oil. The natives grow tobacco 

 only for their own consumption, and lately the 

 Government has made experiments in growing the 

 Havana and the Sumatra leaf. The commerce of 

 the state has expanded greatly, especially since 

 the completion of the Congo Railroad. Exports 

 of the produce of the state increased from 1,980,- 

 000 francs in 1887 to 5,487,633 francs in 1892, 

 6,206,135 francs in 1893, 8,761,622 francs in 1894, 

 10,943,019 francs in 1895, 12,389,600 francs in 

 1896, and 15,146,976 francs in 1897. The general 

 commerce, which includes produce brought down 

 from regions beyond the state boundaries, 

 amounted to 17,457,090 francs in 1897. The spe- 

 cial imports in 1897 were 22,181,462 francs in 

 value, compared with 15,227,776 francs in 1896, 

 10,685,848 francs in 1895, 11,194,723 francs in 

 1894, and 9,175,103 francs in 1893. The special 

 imports of most importance in 1897 w^ere cloth 

 and apparel for 5,898,700 francs, articles of food 

 for 3,680,000 francs, machinery for 3,532,400 

 francs, metal goods for 3,213,700 francs, arms and 

 ammunition for 1,754,500 francs, and articles of 

 drink for 1,323,700 francs. The chief exports in 

 the special trade were rubber for 8,311,900 francs, 

 ivory for 4,916,480 francs, palm nuts for 1,098,880 

 francs, and palm oil for 650,210 francs. Of the 

 special imports in 1897 the value of 16,272,000 

 francs came from Belgium, 2,593,250 francs from 

 Great Britain, 1,174,860 francs from Germany, 

 and 911,013 francs from the Netherlands. Of the 



