Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1884 — The Congo. [ARTICLE]

The Congo.

Speaking of the Nile suggests Africa, and recalls the fact that the commercial nations of the world are organizing to open up the interior of the Dark Continent to trade. There is a population of nearly 50,000,000, who have so far been shut off from the commerce of the world. The inhabitants of Congo Land are far superior in_every way to the negroes of both the east and west coast of Africa. They are more industrious and in a higher scale of sejni-civ-ilization. Central Africa now produces many articles of prime necessity to the rest ot the world, and will in time consume vast quantities of goods in the way of clothing and ornaments, as well as some luxuries. There is a strife between the different nations as to which shall profit by this trade; but of course the United States is out of the race, as Europe can undersell us, and we have no ships of our own. Naturally, Great Britain would profit most by the opening of the Congo country; but France is first in this field, and Germany has entered her claim for an equality with other nations. The latter power is making itself felt in every quarter of the globe. Bismarck evidently believes that the maritime greatness of Great Britian has culminated, and that Germany has the best chance of being her successor as mistress of the seas and as owner of vast colonial posessions. Although the United States will not profit by the opening of the Congo to «ommerce, it is some salve to our national vanitv to know that it was an American, Henry M. Stanley, who first discovered the possibilities of the Congo, and who announced its importance to the outside world. But his great work has been done under tho auspices of the Belgian government— Demorest’s Monthly.