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VII. SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE FOREST 
in the Belgian Congo to great abuses, and I do not 
ignore its dangers ; it can, if taken advantage of 
wrongly, lead to the native belonging to the trader or 
planter as a creature that has no rights. But it has 
also its good points. The upper course of the Ogowe 
has been granted as a concession to the “ Company of 
the Upper Ogowe,” and I have discussed the question 
thoroughly with employees of this company who were 
with me for considerable periods for medical treatment, 
thus getting to know the arguments of both sides. 
When a company has not to fear competition, it can — 
as the ” Company of the Upper Ogowe ” does — banish 
rum and cheap spirits from its district, and provide 
for sale in its stores only things that are worth buying, 
without any rubbish. Directed by men of intelligence 
and wide views, it can exert much educational influence, 
and since the land belongs wholly to it for a long period, 
it has a real interest in seeing that it is managed 
properly ; and it is little tempted to exhaust the 
soil. 
On the whole, then, the general principle of labour 
compulsion, in the sense that the State puts the natives 
at the disposal of private individuals, is to be rejected. 
The State has to apply it to a quite sufficient extent in 
the work it has to exact from the natives for generally 
necessary public objects. It must have at its disposal 
boatmen and carriers for its officials when they travel ; 
it must have men in its service for the construction 
and maintenance of roads, and under certain circum- 
stances it must exact contributions of foodstuffs for 
the support of its troops and its staff generally. 
There are two things which are terribly difficult in 
Africa ; one is to provide any place which has a large 
