D
Possibilities of the
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J FRENCH OFFICIAL,
Copyright, 1908, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
ABHINOTON, Dec. X7. Special
A T I . correspondence of The Bee.)
yW I Uncle Sam should keep hla eye
B fl 1 1 1 1 It LI ebB lu v 1 1 u ut;,ciu;iiiciiiD
g-olns; on m West Africa. That
part of the world la practically
unknown to us and still Its trade la crow spot In the whole Congo basin which Is
ing like a green bay tree. All along the eighty miles distance from navigable water
coast from Senetramhla to Gorman South- ways.
wost Africa railroads are building, experi
mental plantations are being set out and
ere and there mines of various kinds have
been discovered. Away down near the cape.
In the Oerman possessions, there Is a placet
called Otavl, where valuable deposits of
copper are now being mined. The ore In
sight ts said to be 300,000 tons, and It is
claimed that it can be produced so as to
net 119,000,000 clear profit. Portuguese West
Africa has copper. Iron, petroleum and salt
and Us oils and asphalt fields are now be-
ing worked by a British syndicate. I have
already written of the great Katanga con-
cession, which King Leopold of Belgium Is
working In connection with the English, on
the watershed between the Zambesi and
ths Congo. This is to be reached by a rail
road 1,200 miles long through Portuguese)
West Africa to the Congo Free State. It
will open up larger copper deposits than
any ever discovered and will flood the
world wKn- that -metal and with tin. Ths
tin mines run through a rangs of hills 160
miles long ana tne copper mountains are
something like 300 miles In length. An ex
tension of the Cape to Cairo road has Just
been projected to this great 'mining region
and within a short time R will probably be
a beehive of Industry.
There are valuable minerals in tha north
ern part of ths Congo Free State, and tha
French Congo contains gold, copper and
Iron. Gold has been recently found in ths
Kamerun, belonging to ths Germans,
which lies Just to ths north; and a little
beyond that Is ths famous Gold coast, on
the Gulf of Guinea, from which ths Eng
lish got the name of their $6 gold pieces.
The mines there have been worked for
generations, and they ara still turning out
coi slderable. Ths output now is some-
thing like M.000,000 a year, which Is forty
times ths product of 1901. In 1908 217.000
ounces of gold were taken out, and there
has been a steady Increase In ths product
for mors than five years. At present both
quarts and placer n.lclng are going on, and
large crushing mills have been Installed.
West Africa's New Railroads.
As. to the railroad davelopment. It em
braces tha whole coast of ths continent.
The Germans have several large projects
under way in Southwest Africa. They
have already built a 11ns 237 miles long
from Swamkopmund, their port, near Wal
flsh bay, to Great Windhoek, the capital;
and they have mads arrangements for a
railroad (00 miles long to go from 8wa
kopmund to Otavl and tha copper mines.
Trls road will probably soma day bs con
tacted with ths Caps to Cairo line, run
ning northward from Capetown to ths
Zambesi; and. In that case. It will shorten
ths distance between ISngland and Bulft
wayo by 1,300 miles.
Tha Loblto Ray railroad has already been
constructed for a hundred miles or so
Inland from ths Atlantic; and there ars
now several thousand laborers working
upon It. This road will bs over 1.000 miles
long, and It will bs mads after ths usual
South African fashion. Its guage Is three
feet six Inches, and tha rails weigh sixty
pounds to ths yard. Tha ties ara to be
Which sat every thing wooden; they will 'motives and by unreliability of opera
weigh seventy pounds sach. All ths bridges
are standardised, and ths rolling stock Is "T" 1uetton comparative cost and
ths same as that used In Rhodesia. Soma reliability is the real point at Issue In the
of ths snginss ars being built In England, warfare that has been hotly waged for
but ths heaviest nas ars to bs supplied ths last five years over ths relative merits
by ths Swiss and ths Oermana. of these two systema .Until this dispute
By ths time this road reaches ths copper Is definitely settled no great progress can
mines ths Cape to Cairo extensions will bs sxpected In the general application
bs there, and ths routs to 8outa Africa
will probably change, as far as fast travel
Is concerned. Passengers will bs taken
to Loblto bay, and will thence go by rail
to ths Transvaal, and especially to all
parts of Rhodesia. Thers will probably bs
an extension to Lake Tanganyika, and we
snail nave a line across ths southern pari
of ths continent. There Is no doubt of
ths completion of ths Loblto bay road.
The company which ts Interested In It Is
the one which owns ths copper mines;
and there ars tens of millions of dollars
I might asy billions of dollars of minerals
awaiting Its traflo possibilities.
Kallroaas sTSe Coatlaeat.
Ths Loblto Bay railroad will bs largely
controlled by ths Congo Free Stste. The
king of Belgium and Ms associates own a
majortty of ths stock In ths great copper
concession, and they will ses that It Is
operated In ths Interests of Belgium's
colony. It will probably bs connected with
other roads whjch will open to trad, the
navigable tributaries of ths upper Congo.
and will form a part of ths sxtenslvs rail-
wsy systent which hss been projected for
that country.
Few people realisa what
golng oa aa
to railroad-building In the'
I Congo Free
State. The Congo river Is
distance from New York to
long as the
Francisco,
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IMH 1 illicit,. ...
SENBOAL. RA1L.WA.
and two of lt tributaries are each almost
aa long aa irom me moutn or me nuason
to the Great Salt lake. The navigable
waterway of the system If stretched out
ill mio lino nuuiu icbvii iiufu .n: n v
Singapore, or half way around the globe,
and they are so many that there Is not a
The biggest European steamers now go
up the Congo 100 miles from Its mouth to
Matadl. At that point there is a railroad
230 miles long, which climbs past the raplda
to Stanleypool. This road has been In
operation for a number of years. Within
a short time a second gap on the river has
been remedied by building a line Just above
Stanleypool ninety miles long; and a third
line Is projected of 200 miles far above
that. This line Is near the Hell's Gate
cataract and between Bend we and Bull.
Another railway Is projected which will
cross the lower Kongo to the copper mines,
and others are to connect the Kongo with
the Mediterranean through the French lines
proposed for the Sahara desert and with
the Sudan system by a railway from the
Uell river to the Nile.
Motor Car for Mld-Afrlcm
Speaking of the Uelle region, this Is in
the northern part Of the country approach-
ing the Nile watershed, and until recently
In the Field
Csurreat Power on Railroads.
HB decision of the New Tork
T
Central managers to extend the
sone of electric power - on its
lines approaching New York
City goes to show the satisfac
tory results of the change ef
fected within the eltv limits. Tha change
of power WM h&d tha .uperyision f
wmlam j. -wTlgus, vies president of the
company. In discussing ths results In ths
New Tork ximes, Mr. Wllgus says, in
.,..
"Ths early electrification of steam rail
roads In great centers of population - Is
Inevitable, because ths demand of the pub
lic for ths removal of ths disagreeable
features lnoldent to the use of the steam
locomotive Is reinforced by the benefits
that will accrue to the railroads In In
creased earning capacity and ths possibili
ties of economies that will at least tend
to offset the Interest charges on ths cost
of ths change. Away from ths large cities
ths prospects for ths eclipse of ths steam
locomotive are very remote, pending the
perfection by the Inventor of devices that
will substantially reduce the cost, of In
stallation and thereby minimise the burden
of additional fixed charges.
Tor Instance, with the direct-current
third-rail system the cost of distribution
of electrio power Is largs owing to tha
need of expensive substations for the con
version of high-pressure alternating cur
rent, so well suited for economical trans
mission, to the low voltage direct current
for working purposes In the third rail and
motors. Attempts to escape this expense
by ths uss of the overhead alternating
curreut system have not been entirely suc
cessful where adopted on trunk Unas, as
ths saving In substations has been offset
by ths greater weight and cost of electrio
of electricity on steam railways.
. "Apart from the substantial reduction in
the costs of installation of electricity on
steam railroads that will follow a satis
factory solution of ths problems of ths
rival system there ars a number of other
opportunities for advance In the art. For
instance, ths development of water powers
and ths utilisation of cheap fuel at tha
mines, combined with an extended per
mlsslbls radius of transmission, will all
tend to lower the costs of current to
prospective Users at remote points. Then,
too, Improvements ara constantly being
made In power station design by minlnils-
" the losses aocompunylng the conversion
f tuel lnto n'r- The simplifying of
lal ' w reduce the cost of
lecrttd tem railways is alsq an Im-
P0" necessary safeguards
Protecting the movement of heavy
trains at short Intervals on . electrified
trunk ilne" r",Dw Tfry "Pnlv
f to th wWsnln
u" r 'ectrlclty.
"The high first cost and ths sxpense of
maintenance of batteries now preclude
their more extensive uss for Insuring re-
liability of train service and lessened cost
of operation. Tneir improvemsm win not
only overcome tnat oDstacie, dui win also
niaks mors practicable ths uss of slwMrio
THE OMAHA
Mines and Cotton Plantations
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PASSENGER OF THE SAHARA.
all transportation there has been by por
ters. Within the last year or so the gov
ernment has been making roads and put
ting on motor cars and traction engines.
There Is to be one road from the Kongo to
the Nile, which will be 600 miles long, and
- motor cars built especially for it are now
being constructed at Liege. In addition to
them very serviceable traction engines
carrying cars each holding several tons of
goods have been made, and these will be
used for heavy freight. The Belgians are
also training the African elephants as a
beast of burden. They first tried the Asiatic
elephants, thinking the African beasts In
tractable. The Asiatic elephants died, and
about three years ago the work of training
the African elephant was begun. Twenty
eight elephants have already been domes
ticated, and they are now carrying bricks
and timber for railway construction.
Guinea Const Roads.
doing ' northward along the Gulf of
Gutr.ea, a number of other important rail
ways have been projected, and some are
already tinder construction. In the Kame
run the Victoria Llssoko road has been
extended as far as Soppo, a distance of
twenty-two miles, and another railway la
building. In Togoland, also belonging to
the Germans, there Is one railway
twenty-six miles long, extending from
Lome to Little Popo, and in French
Guinea, a railway which la to run from
of Electricity
locomotives that will be nondependent on
third rails and overhead conductors, partic
ularly in yards and terminals.
"It is hoped that In tha early future the
question of the preferential electrio system
for. adoption on steam railways will be
conclusively settled and that improvements
In the generation, transmission and con
version of current and In signals and roll
ing stock, with due regard for safety and
reliability, will largely reduce the cost
and increase the efficiency of electrical ap
pliances. When that time comes the steam
locomotive may well look to its laurels."
Breakfast by Electricity.
Thanks to the science of electricity, ths
trouble and delay of getting breakfast has
been reduced to a minimum. No longer
does tha man of ths house tread rfervously
about the dining room while ths good wife
patiently shakes the kitchen range and en
deavors to hurry the sluggish firs so her
"lord and master" can have his breakfast
before going to work. And then, Just as ths
reluctant teakettle begins to boll, his last
car comes around ths corner and he slams
the front door and hurries breakfastleas to
work.
Breakfast thess days. In the modern
home, ia merely a matter of pushing the
button. Snap a switch and the Invisible
current bolls tha water in the teakettle.
Another switch turned and the coffee
percolator begins to sputter and in a few
minutes ths cereal Is cooking and the
eggs are being boiled, poached, steamed or
fried. The toast can be made as needed
on the breakfast table and, for that mat
tor, all of the electrical devices can be
used right oa the table without needless
heat or any dirt or danger.
The very latest of the breakfast utensils
Is the electrio toaster. This device is In
expensive and most efficient. The bread to
be toasted Is placed In a vertical position
on either side of the heating element. By
this method the bread is not burned as It
Is In horizontal toasters. It only takes
about three minutes to prepare two nice
browned slices from tha time the current
Is turned on. The base of the. new radiant
toaster is made of porcelain, through which
projects ths terminals of the heating ele
ment. To this base Is attached a neat wire
frame or cage for holding the slices to be
toasted on either slda of ths heating unit.
The heating element consists of four slg
sug colls of special resistance wire sus
pended vertically. Tha four heating colls
being connected In multiple, all danger of
short-clreuitlug the device with a fork is
eliminated.
Growth of Klec'trls Railways.
Ths electrio railways of tne United States
carried last year ,tJ0,000,000 fare passen
gers. This wonderful increase Is dus to
tha growth of ths street railway and In
terurban railway service, better transpor
tation facilities and ths increase of subur
ban residents.
Ths number of persona to bs transported
Increased at the rate of 1.500,000 annually.
The number of passenger cars operated has
Increased at ths rats of 40 per cent for
the lost five years. With tha population of
the United Status estimated at about 85,
000.000, the figures given above would seem
to show that every man, woman and child
in this country has ridden seventy-eight
times on ths electrio railways within ths
last year.
This gives soms idea of the extent of the
sleotrio traction In this country. Ths elec
trification ot steam railroads has already.
SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 20, 1908.
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Kanakry on ths Niger has been opened as
far as Klndla. This Is about eighty-three
miles Inland. The road will meet the
, Niger at Kouroussa, and will have a big
traffic.' Tha French have also built two
Anportant railways In Dahomey, one of
which Is 140 miles long. Another goes
along the Lagos frontier. They are ex
tending both lines. They also propose to
construct a track inland from the Ivory
coast, and they have Important railways
In operation in Senegal.
To Open Up Nigeria.
The English have some railroads In their
eclcnies upon the Gulf of Guinea. There
is one 124 miles long, which goes from
Lagos to Ibedan. This has Just been ex
tended to Oahogbo, which Is sixty-two
miles farther, and it will be built on from
tiers into northern Nigeria to connect
with one of the most Important roads In
Africa, which Is now being constructed.
Northern Nigeria is almost as large as
Texas and it has more than 7,000,000 people.
A great part of It Is high and healthy and
It promises to be one of the richest lands
of West Africa. Its Inhabitants are mora
Ilka the Egyptians or Algerians than tha
gulf negroes. They are Mohammedans,
and are noted for their thrift and Intel
ligence. In the post these people have
been supplied almost entirely by tha cara
vrns which cross the Sahara. Their chief
town ts Kano, ths terminus of the trade
been successfully accomplished, and it Is
predicted that within a comparatively few
years all the principle railroads of this
great country will be electrified.
Mown Finds Work for Beaver
Wild animals often destroy the works of
man, but It Is very seldom that they repair
the damages caused . by time and ths ele
ments, but such an Instance, quits remark
able In its importance, has been brought
to light this week.
At Phillips upper vUlage In Maine Is a
wooden mill, driven by water power, coming
over a large dam in the Sandy river. Re
cently this dam has leaked freely, and
though repairs have been attempted ths
task was found so complicated and diffi
cult that ths dam has never been put In
proper shape by man since the leakage
.was first discovered.
Suddenly, however, the leakage stopped,
and an Investigation showed that a colony
of beavers bad taken up their abode In the
mill pond, pparently coming from further
north on the Sandy river, where these
creatures have been known In past years
to bs quits numerous.
All summer there has been a colony ot
beavers Industriously at work in a pond on
woodland owned by Joel Carlton of this
town, and Mr. Carlton thinks this may bs
the same colony that haa now come down
to the village to live, quite as though
metropolitan life were the proper thing.
Ths colony was discovered by Judson
Pease, superintendent of the woolen mill,
while he was passing through the woods on
the south side of the stream to look over
the dam property. His first Intimation that
beavers had been at work there came when
he saw two felled trees, one four Inches In
diameter and ths other six. On his next trip
over ths same route he found mors
signs of the same kind, including several
trees that had not been cut down, but
lodged in quite ths proper woodsman style,
disproving the popular claim that beavers
neveY lodge a tree.
Immediately Mr, Pease dislodged one of
these trees and then he saw where the ani
mals had dragged the trunks of a number
of trees Into the mill pond.
Upon advancing toward the shore of the
pond he heard a noisy splashing In the
watfV which sounded like stones thrown
Into the water. Going nearer he plainly saw
two beavers at play. They paid no attention
to their visitor, though they must have
seen him, for he made no attempt to hide
his movements.
The attention of the operatives In the mill
was called to the play of the two animals,
and ths young women watcTied them from
the urper windows for some time.
It is believed that when the beavers
cams to the mill pond they decided to ap
propriate It to their own use, and discov
ering ths Imperfect condition of the dam,
set out at ones to repair It, for beavers
are known to be very painstaking in their
work and squally methodical In their habits.
It is known that they have not only sunk
many poplar trunks In ths mud Just above
the dam, but have also placed two large
birch tree trunks thers.
The cutting down of trees by ths beavers
was done a considerable distance from the
pond, the poplars being selected from quits
a dense growth on the sunny side of a hill,
and svldently having been dragged to the
pond by easy stages.
Beavers have been protected In Maine
since 1905, and are undoubtedly becoming
mors tarns sach ysar, but that they should
carry their work almost Into the heart of
a busy and growing village Is considered
remarkable. Boston lie raid.
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AFRICAN NE7WSBOT3.
routes from Tripoli and ths Upper Niger,
which la olden times had caravan connec
tion with the ocean, with the Mediter
ranean and with the Red sea.
This road, which is now building, will
n-ake It possible to take goods to Kano by
steam. It is to begin at the town of Baro,
the highest navigable point on the Niger,
and to extend from there 400 miles east
ward to Kano.
When this road ts built all ths supplies
for northern Nigeria will be sent to the
Gulf of Guinea up the Niger and Inland
by rail, and the caravan trade will bs
destroyed" as far as crossing the Sahara
is concerned. This will bs a great blow
to the countries along the Mediterranean.
A loan for this Nigerian railway has al
ready been authorized by the British gov
ernment, and I understand that the line Is
to bs pushed with all possible speed. Ths
track Is to be of a flrty-lnch gauge, and is
to bs completed within four years. The
cost Is estimated at about $7,000,000 or
$8,000,000, and It will be met by bonds raised
on southern Nigeria, the interest of which
will be guaranteed by ths government. As
to dividends, the road will hardly pay
much for soms time to corns. It will greatly
develop the country, however, and it Is
advocated by the authorities as a military
necessity.
Bis; Transafrlcan Line.
These rich lands of Nigeria form an Im
Kaiser Blamed
(Continued from Pgs One.)
with the shrinkage of ready money.
. Ths sudden collapse of German oredlt
trading few people oould afford to wait
for their money reacted on German ship
ping by provoking a scarcity of freights.
With that cams ths failure of ths emigra
tion traffic on which both Bremen and
Hamburg originally built up their great
ocean commerce. Tha stagnation In ship
ping has formed a crisis In the Iron Indus
try, which has entered on ths worst of
all the business crises that- now afflict
Germany,
It has to bs kept In mind that the years
of neck and neck struggle between Ham
burg and Bremen led to ths construction
of tonnage kept up always for the crest
of a boom In trade, but destined to Idle
ness In slack times. For ths last two
years ths conservative heads of business
In Hamburg have been warning their fel
low countrymen that their all round pros
perity was somewhat factitious.
Industries founded dally helped recip
rocally to each other's success to a degree
far beyond ths truth. Manufacture snd
commerce had grown too vast and above
all too quick, and banking also. There was
money, but' not nesrly snough for the
amount of business that was launched. The
expansion could not have been supported
by serious confidence, for It needed only
a cry of alarm from the Franklin Gatette
two years ago, "You banks ars exagger
ating your credits to industry. Beware!"
for the bank shares on ths Berlin Bourse
to drop several points.
The dislocation in business Is well nigh
universal and it Is not of a kind that law
making by the Reichstag can restore. In
Its confidence In the future the commercial
world of Germany decided to make all its
capital work. It Is Impossible now to go
back.
Less than any country In Europe except
England can Germany think of limiting
Its requirements to what Its soli produoes,
and Its racial stock is breeding faster than
the English. One has to picture the French
rentier comfortable on ths Interest of hts
invested savings, all that his body wants
offered him by his fruitful soli, each cltixen
getting a rather larger share of ths com.
mon goods as ths sum of the population
steadily declines, and then realise that the
future of Germany means the absolute
antithesis of al that.
It must carry its wares to ths end of
ths earth and dispose of them for ths mors
and more money that it needs at home.
Whoever makes that more difficult for it
Is no friend. The practical German's prac
tical comment on Mr. Taft's election was
one of regret that It destroyed ths chance
of German goods entering America on a
low tariff.
In the circumstances he has to reconcile
himself to coping, as he has in the pant,
with the tariff. Not so in the ease of Eng
land. There ars formidable signs In Ger
many which no seeing man can Ignore, thtt
If the British Parliament adopts tariff re
form as Its economic policy and attempts
to "make tha foreigner pay" Germany will
on full reflection decide to fight rathur
than pay.
Two important steps Lavs been taken by
England recently to the detriment ot Ger
man Industry, Tbs British radical govern
ment has put In operation Its ac( whereby
foreigners who wish to protect a manufac
turing patent In England must work ths
patent Itself In England. This law strikes
of Western Africa
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NATIVE RAILWAY PASSENUERa
portant link In another big scheme which
Is to Join the Mediterranean countries with
both east and west Africa. This is to
combine a railroad across the Sahara, to
be built by the French, with one to be
mads by the Germans, going through the
Kameruns to the Gulf of Guinea and
branch lines extending east and west
from these two.' Tha French part of the
road may be built southward to Tim
buctoo, or, what is more probable, go to the
southeast and strike Kano. I went over the
first 400 miles or so of this road. It now
extends from Oran along the border be
tween Morocco and Nigeria to Colomb
Bechar, In the heart of the desert. I also
saw the railway which leads from eastern
Algeria down to Biskra, In the Sahara. It
Is more probable that ths latter road will
be extended than the former, and I under
stand tha survey from Biskra to Lake Chad
has been made. The road will go to the
oasis of Wargla and thence up the Ichargar
valley. It will cross the Amadgor range of
mountains at an altitude about that of the
AUeghenles, and will thence make its way
to Kuka, on Lake Chad. The cost of con
struction" Is estimated at about 116,000 per
kilometer. From Kuka the Germans are
expected to take the road down through
the Kameruns to the Atlantic, and thero
will probably be an extension westward
to Kano to connect with the Nigerian Una
above spoken of, and also other branches
For the Collapse
hardest at Germany's enormous chemical
industry.
It has always prided Itself on the Intelli
gence by which the application of scientific
treatment to mineral and vegetable bypro
ducts has given It almost tha world mon
opoly of a class of business that often
yields hundreds per cent of profit. It con
trols the market in aniline dyes. Hence
forth Instead ot exporting their products
to England after their manufacture has
given employment to a large laboring popu
lation and staffs of experimental chemists
and managers the companies owning these
patents must transfer, so far as tbelr Brit
ish trade is concerned, all the working
benefits to that country.
It is the first warning shot In ths com
mercial war. Hitherto England has let
its traders rely on themselves to maintain
their ohld on the open International market.
Now that' their government has furnished
them with a protective law as a weapon
In their struggle Germany realises that It
is coming nearer to a war between the two
governments and people for commercial
supremacy.
It lavishes Its resources on naval con
struction in the hope that the British Im
perialist's maxim that "trade follows ths
flag" may prove its own Industrial salva
tion. Tactically the great commercial ri
valry between Hamburg and Bremen would
provs to Its advantage. It has practically,
no small harbors to defend. All its enor-.
mous modern tonnage could be gathered
In these two ports for protection against
ths enemy, and that same tonnage could
at a word be concentrated by the govern
ment for an aggressive raid.
Another reverse visited upon German In
dustry In Its days of difficulty Is the rais
ing by the reform government st Constanti
nople of the Import duty In Turkey on
manufactured goods from 11 per cent to
It per cent. It is a step that Oermans be
lieve England has approved Turkey's tak
ing In order to furnish funds for the estab
lishment of the new system, and It Is taken
chiefly at tha expense of German trade.
With ths kaiser himself as their eco
nomic pioneer ths Germans have been
led to look on ths Turkish market - as
their own special inheritance. In the
days when the Turkish market would
have been Invaluable as a depository for
the surplus produce which cannot find
ready money buyers among Its overseas
customers it sees Its enemies build
higher the barrier against It.
What displeases its government still
mors la to see that ths new regime in
Turkey has. chosen an 7Engllshman, Sir
William WUlcocks, and a Frenchman,
M- Charles Laurant, to reorganise and
administer one of Its public works, irri
gation and transport and the other
lis financial system. It has for the
nonce to put up with ths tacit exclu
sion from Turkey, the one country on
earth where It seemed only a few months
ago that its authority was paramount.
It Is a most pmlnous fatality in ths
present conpuncture of troubles In Ger
many that so vsry many of Its people
find evidence that England la the evil
spirit that Is thwarting Its righteous
growth. Its hlftortc future, they say,
will not be Us own until It hss settled
accounts with England. Their inslstencs
that ths kaiser should be ths sueoiy of
their enemy accounts for most ft ths
temper In ths present agitation for tha
annulment of ths personal ' regime and
tbs vigorous pursuit of strictly a aim an
aspirations,
a
M'
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r . J . N , .' j j.rt - ' .
which might connect with the roads of tha
Congo.
Tlmbuctoo has always seemed one of tha
most Inaccessible parts ot ths world. It
will' surprise many to know that it can now
be reached by steam. The French havo
built a railway from Kayes to ths Niger,
a distance of 343 miles, and they have also
a road connecting St Louis and Daker.
One can go by steamer from St. Louis ta
Kayes, and on ths vessels of ths Ntgef
from thers to within a few miles of Tim
buctoo. Ths time Is comparatively short
and the expense Inconsiderable.
Tlmbuctoo Itself haa dwindled. It used
to be one of the chief trading stations on
the southern side of the Sahara, and cara
vans of thousands of camels from Morocco
and Algeria came there every year. Today
the most of the goods go by this steam
route, and the camel trade amounts to but
little. Tlmbuctoo Is now not sven a mis
sion center, and the old song has lost Its
meaning. You may remember It:
"I would I were a cassowary ,
In the wilds of Tlmbuctoo
Wouldn't I eat a missionary.
Skin and bones and hymn book, tooT" 1
fc . 7 I
Kdacatlns; the Natives.
On the other hand mission work Is lrw
creasing In West Africa. The churches
were never so strong nor ths converts mors
numerous. Ths various governments have
assumed their part , of ths white man's
burden and are Introducing schools at ths
principal centers.
It Is five years sines the French adopted!
a uniform system of education for their
West African colonics, and they now havs
10,000 native children who are receiving
elementary Instruction, and of these, 8.000
are girls. Their expenditure on negro edu
cation here last year was 3250.000. They
have schools at all the towns of Senegal; at
Dakar there Is a technical school, and at
St. Louis a normal training school, where
interpreters and minor officials ars taught.
Thers ars also schools in Dahomey and
French Guinea.
The Germans ars beginning to sducats
the natives at Togoland, snd they havs
established a government school or so In
the Kameruns. Thers are 16,000 children
in the mission schools of the latter court
try, and 3,000 In ths mission schools of Ger
man Southwest Africa.
As to the Congo Free State, tt has now
109 nilsHlon stations, with a little under
600 missionaries, of whom 244 are Catho
lics and the remalnedr Protestants. Ths
missionaries co-operate with the govern
ment, as far as education is concerned,
and the latter has formed three agricul
tural colonies, where negro children ars
taught.
In the Portuguese possessions, notwith
standing the outrages which havs been per
petrated on ths natives In the way of
slavery and forced labor, there are fifty
two government schools and also municipal
and private schools with about 1,600 pupils.
Some Big Possibilities.
All of these West African colonies havs
big possibilities, and ths European nations
to whom they belong are investigating
. them. In nearly every one cotton ts being
planted, and In some the experiments ars
successful. Nigeria, for Instance, expects
to be shipping 100,000 bales to Europe by
1910, and, so far, ths growth of ths cotton
crop has been as rapid there as It was at
the start In the United States. I under
stand that It took our cotton belt ten years
after the first crop was planted to reach
a product of 100,000 bales, and that 1,000,000
bales was only attained at ths end of
thirty-five years. Cotton wag first planted
in Nigeria In 1901 and the crop has doubled
sach year sines then. It Is only recently
that any attempt has been mads to ralss
it In northern Nigeria, but experimental
stations have now been started there and
steam ginneries ars to bs Introduced. This
movement Is backed by the British Cotton
Growing association, which has a capital
of 31.2(0.000, and which Is pushing cotton
planting on both sides of ths black conti
nent Tha Germans havs established cot
ton plantations in their eastern and west
ern African possessions. I understand they
' ths .doing well la Togoland and ths Kam
eruns, and I know that they ars raising
some cotton on the highlands about Vic
toria, for I saw ths bales loaded on ths
ships when I navigated that lake.
Rather aad Mahogaay.
An, equally great Interest Is exhibited la
the timber, products ot ths several colonise.
The rubber Industry Is being pushed every
where and nearly every nation Is setting:
out rubber plantations. The French have
planted 10,0ii0,000 rubber vines In lower
Guinea and Dahomey, and they plan to set
out GOO.ooo more trees every year. The
Germans are planting rubber and so ars
the English.
I have been much Interested In ths ma
hogany resources. A great deal of that
wood Is now being exported from Nigeria.
Something like too logs were shipped from
Lagos last year snd altogether about 7,000
logs, containing over 4.0UO,OUO test, were
then sent awsy by the English. Consider
able Is shipped from the Ivory eoast and
trow other localities.
, FRANK a OARPSStTSZ ;
