ed the two concessions, and Leopold has
obtained, or hopes he has obtained, the influence of many American
shareholders. The fact that the people of the United States
possessed no "vested interest" in the Congo was the important fact
that placed any action on our part in behalf of that distressed
country above suspicion. If we acted, we did so because the United
States, as one of the signatory Powers of the Berlin Act, had
promised to protect the natives of the Congo; and we could truly
claim that we acted only in the name of humanity. Leopold has now
robbed us of that claim. He hopes that the enormous power wielded by
the Americans with whom he is associated, will prevent any action
against him in this country.

But the deal has already been made public, and the motives of those
who now oppose improvement of conditions in the Congo, and who
support Leopold, will be at once suspected.

To me the most interesting thing about the tract of land ceded to
Mr. Ryan, apart from the number of hippopotamuses I saw on it, was
that the people living along the Congo say that it is of no value.
They told me that two years ago, after working it for some time,
Leopold abandoned it as unprofitable, and they added that, when
Leopold cannot whip rubber out of the forest, it is hard to believe
that it can be obtained there legitimately by any one else. On the
bank I saw the "factories" to which the unprofitable rubber had been
carried from the interior. They had formerly belonged to Leopold,
now they are the property of Mr. Ryan and of the American Congo
Company. In only two years they already are in ruins, and the jungle
has engulfed them.

I was on the land owned by the company a dozen times or more, but I
did not go into the interior. Even had I done so, I am not an expert
on rubber, and would have understood nothing of Para trees, Lagos
silk, and liane. I am speaking not of my own knowledge, only of what
was told me by people who live on the spot. I found that this
particular concession was well known, because, unlike the land given
to the Forestry and Mines Company, it is not an inaccessible tract,
but is situated only eight miles from Leopoldville. In our language,
that is about as far as is the Battery to 160th Street. Leopoldville
is the chief place on the Congo River, and every one there who spoke
to me of the concession knew where it was situated, and repeated
that it had been given up by Leopold as unprofitable, and that he