The reason is that he goes there to get away, realizes that his time is limited, and tries to make the most of it. Of the social disadvantages, the lack of the companionship of white women is the worst. The ministrations of friends and the pleasures of social intercourse are sorely missed in a land where a white man is found only once in a hundred miles. Furthermore, white men eat too much meat in Africa. This is a wofully common mistake, worse than intemperance in drink. It is ruinous on the liver, and is responsible for a host of ills.

RAILROADS PUSHING THROUGH JUNGLE Since it is on the mountains and plateaus that the whites must chiefly reside, it is fortunate that the elevated regions are not all in one part of the continent. White colonies need never be more than 200 miles from any other part of the country, and the average is much less. For example, the Lualaba Valley is just beneath the slopes of the Tanganyika plateau; the Aruwimi is below snow-crowned Ruwenzori; the plains of British East Africa beneath Mt. Kenia; the delta of the Kameruns right under the great peak, and so on. It is a curious and very fortunate fact, one which ought to play an important part in determining the direction of transportation lines.

Even now there is but little of all this immense

NOT "HIS MASTER'S VOICE" Ndombe, King of the Bashibieng tribe, finds " Yankee Doodle" much to his liking

region which cannot be reached by steam. Only the area above the heads of navigation and the belts between the valleys are left. I traversed one of the last of these unopened districts this year and a railroad surveying party followed fast upon my heels. The Capeto-Cairo Railway has nearly reached Tanganyika; the Congo system has passed Stanley Falls, 1,500 miles up the river; the Angola line has reached the Chrystal Mountains; the French have steam communication all the way to Timbuctoo, and the Uganda Railroad is earning heavy dividends. The stock of the Congo Railroad (par 100) stands at about 5,000. Natives who ten years ago were out-and-out savages are now piloting steamboats, running locomotives, and working in machine shops, They also like to travel, and the income from native passengers is becoming a considerable item. As far as the peace of the country is concerned, a locomotive in Central Africa is of greater value than an army of men. Its direct usefulness aside, the mere fact speaks volumes to the native mind.

WHITE COLONIZATION IN CENTRAL AFRICA

Can white families live and increase in tropical Africa? and ought the white race to colonize those regions? Like Stanley, I answer, Yes.

India is pointed out as evidence to the contrary in respect to the first question. It is said that English families rapidly deteriorate in India, and tend to become sterile. There is room for a closer study of the alleged fact, but admitting it, nothing is proved as to South Central Africa because the conditions are entirely different. White families have produced long lines in South America, and indeed in all the tropics where they have been real settlers. If the white man can live and rear his family in New Orleans he can do so in Central Africa.

There are plenty of men who argue that the white man has no business in Africa, that it should be left to its aborigines. But the natives need the help, the restraint, and the guidance of the white man, and the natural resources await the grasp of his energetic hand.

But, at any rate, the fact remains that Africa is to be colonized by the white race, so it is around the question of the how that the practical interest and most of the conflict centre. The writer's opinion on this subject is based on eleven years of experience and close study of the conditions.

White colonization will be best promoted by locating individual settlers in groups at selected places; by restricting all large concessions strictly to trade, transportation, and such mining as is not practicable for the individual; by gradually collecting the natives into reservations; by respecting native laws and customs when not actually destructive of life or conducive to serious injury; and by a progressive grant of local self-government to both settlers and natives.

I know that any ordinary citizen of a European power possessing territory in South Central Africa who wishes to settle there may as well bay the moon as address his government on the subject. The nations are alike in one respect: they do not want settlers. There is not one farmer to 500,000 square miles in Central Africa. I have met scores who wish to farm, but the governments absolutely refuse to grant, sell, lease, rent, or otherwise dispose of the land. A government will send an armed force to oust any squatter, however, and the laws against such settlement are framed with careful foresight. The reason is that influential groups of men in each of the great capitals of Europe have been granted large tracts of land, for which they pay a nominal consideration but which they hold at a high price or simply re

tain for speculation. No one nation is less guilty than another. Meanwhile the would-be settler can do or get nothing.

There are reasons why large areas should not be thrown open indiscriminately to settlement, it is true. ment, it is true. There are relations with the natives, matters of health, and questions of internal politics yet to be settled. But there are plenty of places where a settlement area might be defined and small grants allotted. Colonies might be planted, with restrictions to definite boundaries, and grouped for social advantages.

THE PROBLEMS OF TAXATION

The commonest mistake in European administrative policy toward Africa is the effort to regulate details from home. Local selfgovernment is as desirable in Africa as anywhere. It is the man on the spot who can deal best with local conditions.

The best way to deal with the natives is to put them on reservations, being careful to choose lands which will be attractive to them. Pending the carrying out of this ideal arrangement, it is decidedly best to stop trying to tax the natives altogether. The picayune which rich European governments try to force out of the African is a financial loss in view of the operating expenses necessary to collect it; taxation leads to wars and sets the native permanently against the white man. The last Zulu outbreak was caused by the imposition of a per capita tax of one pound-an outrageous imposition. Its object was to impel the natives to work in the Transvaal mines.

Enforced taxation of the natives is unjustifiable either as an evidence of sovereignty or as an inducement to work. When they have been educated up to the point of freely contributing to the support of the government in recognition of benefits which they acknowledge, they will pay taxes willingly. While I believe we have good ethical grounds for occupying the vast amount of vacant land, we have no right of any kind either to tax the natives or to force them to work. The country can be fully developed with their voluntary labor, and the profits of exploitation are so high that the government can be operated on an economical basis without resort to native taxation at all.

The great timber industry in West Africa is being carried on by native laborers, without horse, mule, steam-traction, or any other mechanical force. They cut and drag great

logs to the streams and float them down to the sea. The crews of the English, French, and German ocean liners in the tropics are all Africans except the officers. The longshoremen, firemen, supercargoes, and boat-crews are all blacks. The Angola and the Congo railroads were built by native labor, and some entire crews on these railways are made up of natives who were utter savages fifteen years ago. The Congo steamers have as pilots the Bangala who tried to kill Stanley. The most of the steamboat-construction work at Stanley Pool is done by native labor. It is not as efficient as white labor might be, but under existing conditions it is entirely satisfactory. With strong, patient, and sympathetic oversight, they are admirably adapted to the unskilled manual labor required for the development of their country, while not a few will become skilled mechanics and artisans.

"Room

European nations expend much more energy in wrangling over territorial boundaries and commercial rights than they do in developing territory already acquired. The keynote to international peace in Africa is: enough for all." So vast is the extent of unexplored land, so immense the unutilized resources, that there is boundless opportunity for the expenditure of force in exploiting each section, without indulging in intrigue, abuse, and trickery. My observation has been that no one nation is much better or much worse than another; they all might take a leaf out of American history to their common benefit. They could learn four things from American history. That land is valueless without people; that the wider the measure of freedom accorded the colony, the greater the benefits accruing to the mother-country; that the white population of colonies governed from home ought to be homogeneous; and that savage races must be fully prepared for citizenship before being entrusted with its responsibilities. These are almost self-evident; perhaps the third needs some amplification. Any European nation which tries to control a colony of alien whites is sure to find trouble. The experience of England with the Dutch, alike in New York and at the Cape, illustrates this. It is far better for each nation to colonize its territory with its own people.

AMERICA'S OPPORTUNITY IN AFRICA What can America do in and for Africa? With the Monroe doctrine for South America,

we can logically expect no territorial or political interest in Africa. But just as Europe has acquired enormous commercial and industrial privileges in South America, so may we justly expect to have a share in the industrial, commercial, scientific, and religious development of the African continent. In fact, more than this we do not need.

It is to be remembered, however, that commerce depends on concessions. If we want orders for American goods we must have agents or interested friends, with industries under their control, to form the basis for creating a local demand. There are territories in Africa where concessions can be obtained by Americans for almost any of the industrial operations which can be made so profitable. Our genius, together with the experience gained in opening up our own territories, fits us particularly for the broad constructive work in such a land. I have seen this illustrated again and again. For example, the American mining engineer, Mr. John Hays Hammond, was hardly less the creator of a new South Africa than Cecil Rhodes. To young Americans with aspirations for the life of the pioneer, Africa presents the last great field for effort, magnificent in opportunities.

I cannot close without referring to what is, after all, our great opportunity, our specific call, in the once "Dark Continent." It is higher than mere exploitation, nobler than mere pioneering. It is the distinctive American idea

help to the lowly, freedom to the oppressed, one more chance to the handicapped. Our destiny did not end with Yorktown, nor with Appomattox, nor with Manila Bay. We represent for all the world a larger liberty, a freer sprit, a nobler aspiration; and we inspire with these sentiments all nations that come into contact with us. I once thought I saw the dawn of such a day for Africa as Washington saw from the heights of the Alleghanies on his youthful journey to Ohio. Perhaps it was only a ray of starlight in the night; perhaps some of us may live to see it burst into the dawn of a glorious day. To have a share in the effort to make another America in Africa is certainly no mean ambition; and even if it should fail the attempt is worth trying. One wiser than we may decree that from what we have suffered and learned over here that great continent which was the cradle of civilization shall also be a "land of the free and home of the brave."

T

HE recent events in Cuba have not surprised those who are personally conversant with the conditions which exist on that island. It was not to be expected that a people accustomed for generations to settling quarrels with the machete and to successive revolutions would fall naturally into the conventions prescribed by older nations.

There are those who pretend to see in every disturbance in Cuba and other Latin-American countries the hidden hand of the financier or speculator. It has been a common remark that powerful and unscrupulous American influences were back of the rebellion against the Palma administration. If we are to believe these gossips, the revolt was bought and paid for by American conspirators who expect to reap money rewards from the failure of the experiment of Cuban independence. This is only another proof of the fact that we are too prone to ascribe most happenings to conspiracies rather than to natural causes. The power of the money merchant is great, but his sway has not yet entirely superseded the influence of national and racial traits, prejudices, and ambitions. It did not need the help of a check-book to promote an uprising in Cuba.

The American investor in Cuba who would deliberately plot an uprising of one of its factions would display as much wisdom as did the man who set fire to his house for the purpose of ridding it of mosquitoes. The comparison is an apt one and does little discredit to the importance or dignity of the confirmed Cuban revolutionist. The mosquito is a nuisance, is pestiferous, persistent, elusive, and difficult to completely eradicate; and in rare cases his bite is fatal to the individual. The same is true of the chronic Cuban insurrecto. Rebellion against any form of government in which he is denied personal participation and personal emoluments is instinctive with him.

It may be policy to bribe him to keep the peace; it is unnecessary to pay him a price to rise against those in official power.

It is a mistake to take the Cuban malcontents too seriously. It is true that they have made much trouble, and it may be true that their senseless anarchy has ruined all chance for the permanent independence of Cuba; but their fumings, manifestoes, intrigues, and petty activities will no more check the onward march of Cuba than will the buzzing of its mosquitoes. Science and the demands of sanitation have doomed the latter; commerce and the agricultural and industrial possibilities of the island will relegate the Cuban trouble-breeder to a status no more important than that now occupied by the American Indian.

It is a plain statement of fact that the vast majority of the people of Cuba have not the slightest concern in the political differences which precipitated this outbreak. The bulk of the merchants, plantation owners, workers in the factories and laborers in the fields knew little and cared less about the causes which brought on the crisis. There were no issues on which to build two antagonistic political parties. After long years of oppression and misrule, Cuba found herself free and independent, and all save a small fraction of her people went to work. There was no tariff issue, no money issue, no sharply defined economic question on which self-interest or sentiment would inspire a division into political camps. When Palma became the first president of the republic, he was neither a Liberal nor a Moderate. These parties now have no excuse for existence other than the ambition of those not holding office to take the place of those who are holding office.

It is only an incident that the Liberal party now includes the mass of the working classes. It was to them that the disappointed "outs"

naturally made their appeal. They found a pretext in the unquestioned unfairness and probable illegality of the last national election, also in the unconstitutional usurpations of the Palma administration; but without these abuses, the flame of armed revolt would have flared into a conflagration. Every incident in this affair seems to add proof to the charge that the Cuban official has yet to learn the art of exercising authority without stepping outside of constitutional limits. Those whose rights are infringed upon naturally do not hesitate to appeal to force. Stated in fewer words -it is doubtful if the Cubans are capable of self-government.

Those who assert that it is none of the concern of our Government whether or not the Cubans are capable of self-government may find some ethical support for their contention, and they may be inspired by the most altruistic of motives; but we are living in an age in which the world has grown so small that a fight in any of its quarters is likely to call to the scene the international police. It so happens that "Uncle Sam" is patrolling the district in which Cuba is located, and it also happens that Cuba was under suspicion and had given bonds to keep the peace.

THE QUESTION OF ANNEXATION

The time has arrived when it is well to look this Cuban situation squarely in the face. There are interests in Cuba which would welcome annexation, and a careful study of the conditions leads me to believe that the majority of the people of that island would vote for annexation if the issue were frankly discussed and its advantages carefully weighed against the alleged benefits and prestige of independent nationality. There are interests in the United States which will bitterly and selfishly oppose annexation, for tariff and other reasons. There is a score of complications, but there is not one which has not the hope of financial gain or the fear of money loss back of it. It is a matter of comparatively small consequence whether or not Cuba become an integral part of the United States; it is a matter which concerns the whole world and which is thrust upon the United States that Cuba have a stable government.

We are not responsible for the welfare of Cuba by reason of the fact that we intervened on the side of her revolutionists and wrested the island from the century-long control of

Spain, and by the same token Cuba is under no great load of gratitude to us for so doing. The conditions then prevailing were a nuisance no longer to be tolerated. Our citizens had no considerable investments there. The risks were too great to warrant the attempt to develop enterprises; but when our Government took possession of Cuba and administered its affairs for a period, when there was incorporated in the Cuban constitution a clause which made it not only the right but the duty of the United States to intervene in its affairs when the peace and prosperity of the island were threatened or disturbed-then, and not until then, did American settlers and investors turn toward Cuba. They were assured that their lives and their property would be safe; the people of Cuba irrespective of class invited their coming, and with the influx of American enterprise and money Cuba entered on a new career. It is the simple truth to state that no charge has been made or truthfully can be made that American interests have interfered in or have attempted to influence the administrative policies of Cuba. They have simply asked that they be accorded the same rights that they would have in the Canadian Northwest or in any other country pretending to responsible government. They have invested from $150,000,000 to $200,000,000 in Cuba, but the principle would be the same were these amounts thousands instead of millions. They have the right to demand that the United States Government keep the promise made when the Treaty of Paris was signed; also that effect be given to the Platt amendment incorporated in the Cuban constitution.

When Cuba passed from the control of Spain into the protectorate of the United States and from thence into the keeping of the newly organized Cuban Government, there was no transfer of property interests. The land of the former owners was not confiscated. Spain went out but the Spanish land-owner was not dispossessed of his holdings. Only a small part of the island was under cultivation. There were vast tracts awaiting the coming of railroad transportation and the magic of capital. The developed land was largely held by the Spanish, and in such cities as Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Camaguey, and Santiago, their financial interest was and still is predominant. It was with these Spanish property-owners that the pioneer American investors treated. They bought great es