SPECIAL REPORTS FOR FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. 243

as to effectuate a juncture of interests, but which could in nowise be
designated as projects whose object is to ultimately control the trade
in certain specified lines or to bring any one class or industrial enterprise
 under one management, are found in two or three instances in
the colony and have become known locally as “financial groups.”
Peculiarities of import and export trade hinder the formation of
combinations—Kongo is a vast, almost totally undeveloped colony,
the area of which is 909,600 square miles and the population about
9,000,000 natives and 6,000 whites. Only during the past 30 years
has trading been carried on, and only since 1912 has the entire colony
been open to traders. During this period, and more especially since
the proclamation of the annexation of Kongo to Belgium in 1908,
many trading companies and firms have started in business.
The. colony itself produces practically nothing in the shape of
foodstuffs for the white inhabitants and there are no manufactures
of any sort.” The chief imports are therefore foodstuffs for the
white population and cheap textile goods for the natives. The value
of the former is about $2,000,000 per year and of the latter $1,700,000.
These are the chief classes of imported goods, and the only merchandise
 sold in quantities large enough to warrant the combination of
various companies to control their sale.  -The
 most important local trading firms are merely branches of
companies in Europe. The first firms in the field were the Dutch
and the British, both of which were engaged in barter with the
natives years before Stanley’s tour in the Kongo. ‘After Belgian in-Auence
 became strong, several Belgian companies were formed to
operate in various parts of the colony, and there is also French,
Portuguese, and German capital in the field. Owing, therefore, to
the diversified nationalities of the commercial undertakings now in
operation, and to the fact that there are only two classes of goods
sold in large quantities, both of which are produced to some extent
in all the countries wherein the headquarters of the local firms are
located, it would be exceedingly difficult for them to unite their interests
 and form a syndicate or corporation to deal with the imported
 goods.
The same difficulties exist in the export trade. There are no manufactures,
 and the exports are composed solely of tropical products,
and minerals, such as rubber, ivory, gum copal, cocoa, copper, etc.,
the total, annual value thereof being about $12,000,000, of which
rubber is one-half and ivory and gum copal about $1,200,000 each.
Most of the firms engaged in importing goods are also exporters of
tropical products, but each firm ships to its own headquarters,
whether it be in Antwerp, Brussels, Liverpool, Lisbon, or Hamburg,
and there is no arrangement for operating the export trade as a combination.
 Therefore, as far as the buying and selling of merchandise
is concerned, all firms work independently.
Financial groups—The development of a large colony such as
Kongo, where climatic conditions are very unfavorable, is necessarily
slow. A great deal depends upon the he utilities, such as steamship
 lines, railways, banks, hotels, etc., and unless the Government
undertakes the construction thereof it is often difficult to find the
capital required for such enterprises. This state of affairs has given
rise to the formation of the “ financial groups” above referred to.