Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1906 — HORRORS OF THE KONOO. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HORRORS OF THE KONOO.

Soldiers Committed Mossacros to Boom the Rubber Trade. According to London correspondents, the Kongo commission, which was called into being for whitewashing purposes, has been forced practically to admit tho truth of many of tho most terrible charges which have been made against the Kongo Free State. Among tho allegations made against the government, founded by King Leopold, bave been the following; That it has ruled tho country, not with a regard to the good of its inhabitants, hut almost solely with a view to Increasing the profits of tho rubber company, in which King Leopold ia tbA chief stockholder. That when tho people have failed to bring In as much rubber as the representatives 'of tho company thought they ought native soldiers have been sent out, who have perpetrated the most horrible massacres to stimulate the workers’ energy. On one expedition 900 natives wers murdered on a six weeks’ rubber “hunt,” and on another of three weeks 800. That cannibals hate been officially em-

ployed—on ona occasion aa many aa 600 ih on# party—to kill and -oat the refractory inhabitants. That forced labor, amounting practically to slavery in Its most revolting form, prevails everywhere. That, in consequence of the barbarities perpetrated and the Inability of the natives to both support themselves and supply the demands upon them for rubber, the death rate has Increased appallingly and the entire Kongo country is being rapidly depopulated. King Leopold signs the recommendations for reform made In the report, but they are not sweeping and are, therefore, severely criticised by the London papers. The .most notable feature of the report is a letter from King Leopold, in which he says: "My position In the Free State Is, I admit, defacto and dejure without precedent, but all the burden, all the re Sponsibility, has been left with me. Belgium has certainly shown a desire to help with money iu some measure, but the work of con|4itutUug the new state devolved upon me alone. “The constitution of the Kongo Free State has been and cannot be anything but my personal achievement Now, there cannot be a more legitimate right than that of the author over his own work. The powers gave the birth of the new state their blessing, but none of them has been asked to share in my efforts. Therefore none of them possesses in the Kongo Free State any right of intervention that could be Justified. “Tliere is no special international law concerning the state. My rights on the Kongo are indivisible. They are the result of my toll and of the expenditure of my money. It Is essential that I should proclaim these rights aloud, for Belgium does not possess any except those which emanate from me.”

KING LEOPOLD.