" The italics are mine.
When asked: "Under your concessions are you given similar powers
over the native blacks as are enjoyed by other concessionaires?" the
answer of the attorney, as reported, was: "The problem of labor is
not mentioned in the concession agreement, neither is the question
of local administration. We are left to solve the labor problem in
our own way, on a purely commercial basis, and with the question of
government we have absolutely nothing whatever to do. The labor
problem will not be formidable. Our mills are simple affairs. One
man can manage them, and the question of the labor on the rubber
concession is reduced to the minimum." This answer of the learned
attorney shows an ignorance of "labor" conditions in the Congo which
is, unless assumed, absolutely abject.
If the American syndicates are not to police and govern the
territories ceded them, but if these territories are to continue to
be administered by Leopold, it is not possible for the Americans to
have "absolutely nothing to do" with that administration. Leopold's
sole idea of administration is that every black man is his slave, in
other words, the only men the Americans can depend upon for labor
are slaves. Of the profits of these American companies Leopold is to
receive one-half. He will work his rubber with slaves.
Are the Americans going to use slaves also, or do they intend "on
commercial lines" to pay those who work for them living wages? And
if they do, at the end of the fiscal year, having paid a fair price
for labor, are they prepared to accept a smaller profit than will
their partner Leopold, who obtains his labor with the aid of a chain
and a whip?
[Illustration: The Laboring Man Upon Whom the American
Concessionaires Must Depend.
Pages:
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89