Any one who visits the Congo and remains only two weeks will be
convinced that of these charges Leopold is guilty. In that time he
will not see atrocities, but he will see that the natives are
slaves, that no foreigner can trade with them, that in the interest
of Leopold alone the country is milked.
He will see that the government of Leopold is not a government. It
preserves the perquisites and outward signs of government. It coins
money, issues stamps, collects taxes. But it assumes none of the
responsibilities of government. The Congo Free State is only a great
trading house. And in it Leopold is the only wholesale and retail
trader. He gives a bar of soap for rubber, and makes a "turn-over"
of a cup of salt for ivory. He is not a monarch. He is a shopkeeper.
And were the country not so rich in rubber and ivory, were the
natives not sweated so severely, he also would be a bankrupt
shopkeeper. For the Congo is not only one vast trading post, but
also it is a trading post badly managed. Even in the republics of
Central America where the government changes so frequently, and
where each new president is trying to make hay while he can, there
is better administration, more is done for the people, the rights of
other nations are better respected.
Were the Congo properly managed, it would be one of the richest
territories on the surface of the earth. As it is, through ignorance
and cupidity, it is being despoiled and its people are the most
wretched of human beings.
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