£8 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
the native but to leave his home and fields in desolation, 
while he waited patiently for the appointment of an honest 
and fair-dealing official. 
The freedom of trade guaranteed to the Congo Basin, by 
the treaties of the International Association and by the 
Berlin Conference, had become a farce. The factories of 
foreign states already in existence were undisturbed and 
freedom of navigation on the main stream of the Congo 
was not seriously interfered with; but the “free zone” was 
actually limited to a “strip of land twenty kilometers broad on 
both sides of the Congo from Stanley Falls to Isangi.”! In 
no other part were traders permitted to purchase products 
or remain for more than a day at a time, while large districts 
in the interior were closed to both traders and travelers on 
the ground of grave danger from revolting or unfriendly 
chieftains. Even missionaries were forbidden to set up their 
stations outside of certain prescribed regions and their 
movements were carefully restricted. In fact, the whole 
policy both of the Government and of the concessionnaire 
companies was monopoly and exclusion on the one hand, 
and extortion and exploitation on the other, with as little 
exertion and expense on their part as possible in the de- 
velopment of the country. ‘So long as the policy of the 
State Government is to extract all it can from the country, 
while using only local materials, and spending the least pos- 
sible amount on developments and improvements,” wrote 
Vice-Consul Michell in 1906, “no increase in the general 
well-being can be expected.” 
1 Consul-General Cromie’s report of June 1, 1907. Brit. Parl. Papers, 
1908, Africa No. 1, cd. 3880, no. 3, p. 10.