That was twenty years ago; to-day I
saw none of these improvements, and the taxes have increased.
From the first they were so heavy that the great trade houses, which
for one hundred years in peace and mutual goodwill bartered with the
natives, found themselves ruined. It was not alone the export taxes,
lighterage dues, port dues, and personal taxes that drove them out
of the Congo; it was the King appearing against them as a rival
trader, the man appointed to maintain the "open door." And a trader
with methods they could not or would not imitate. Leopold, or the
"State," saw for the existence of the Congo only two reasons: Rubber
and Ivory. And the collecting of this rubber and ivory was, as he
saw it, the sole duty of the State and its officers. When he threw
over the part of trustee and became the Arab raider he could not
waste his time, which, he had good reason to fear, might be short,
upon products that, if fostered, would be of value only in later
years. Still less time had he to give to improvements that cost
money and that would be of benefit to his successors. He wanted only
rubber; he wanted it at once, and he cared not at all how he
obtained it. So he spun, and still spins, the greatest of all
"get-rich-quick" schemes; one of gigantic proportions, full of
tragic, monstrous, nauseous details.
The only possible way to obtain rubber is through the native; as
yet, in teeming forests, the white man can not work and live.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42