The Sunday Oregonian., May 31, 1908, Magazine Section, Image 56

GERMANS USB HIPPOPOTAMUS WHIPS ON BACKS OF NEGRO LABORERS IN AFRICAN COLONIES
mi vv. n r r er-i v 1 nitric? ?-
m-. v.rfri iv i fitt ill
JESV23T &a.ZJ&?J2.
BT PRANK a. CARPENTER.
'AN THE African 'native be controlled
I'-' This is a live auesiion out here
Jtish laws are strict in regard to this
fitter, and the white man who. un-
'thorized by the courts, flogs a black
rian is liable to fine and imprisonment.
lit is now only a few months since three
groes who had insulted wiiite women
were publicly (lugged by Captain Grogan,
the head of the Colonists' Assoolatljn, in
front of the Courthouse at Nairobi. This
created an outcry In England, and Grogan
and thnpe who helped tym were pun.'shtd
by a mild imprisonment.
In both British East Africa and Uganda
flogging is one of the sentences of the
courts- . In Uganda the criminal to bo
whipped is laid face downward upon the
rounl. His clothes are taken ott and
erne man sits on the small of the back
!ini" another on the thighs, the flogging
Winn done on the fleshy parts between to
Jirevent permanently Injuring the man.
. Jn Oerman Baxt Africa I am told th.it
any white man has the right to give any
negro, who insults him IS lashes, but that
If more punishment than this is demanded
Ithc case must be brought before the
. . . 1 i .... . 1 . . . .. 1 r --
Victoria and down here at Mwanza I
And that every oflicer and soldier carries
his hippopotamus-hide whip with him.
The whip is called the kahuko. It is a
trip of the thick skin of the hippopota
mus nbkut a yard long trimmed down
jtt the sides to the diameter of one's
finger and made tapering at one end.
fhicu & whip is a terrible weapon. . It
Is heavy and flexible and will cut like a
knife. It requires only a light blow to
draw blood, and the expert flogger brings
down the kabuko on the bare flesh with
a peculiar twist, which saws it to shreds.
The natives will get down on their knees
tnd beg for mercy if one even shakes a
Blp at them.
The Case of Dr. Karl Peters.
- Most of the German officials claim that
it isimposslble to keep the natives In
subjugation except by the whip. This
was the opinion of Dr. Karl Peters, who
was dismissed from his position as im
perial commissioner of the district about
'Kilimanjaro on account of his brutality
some time Hgo. The case was brought up
a libel suit which Dr. Peters instituted
""nie" months ago against the Munich
asl. That paper had called Peters a
hangman, a murderer and a coward, and
had published the story of his flogging
three female servants and the hanging of
t others. In the trial which followed sev
rral German officials who had served in
Kiust Africa testified that the natives
GIVING
BY T. T. GEER.
REFERRING a few" days ago editori
ally to the fact that the school fund
of Oregon amounts to less than
too. while that of Washington, It is said,
reaches t5O.0O0.00O, The Oregonlan has
this to say, in part:
x '""Without commenting in any manner
upon the particular Issuer of the contro
versy over Geer's official acts, or the
acts or omissions of the board of which
lie was a member, one may with good
reason condemn his doctrine of Joint re
sonsiblllty, otherwise non-responsibility.
It is such a doctrine, whether proclaimed
-1- the individual citizen in his capacity
as a voter or by the Chief Executive of
the United States, that forms the weak
apot in popular government. Civic duties
and obligations are not only joint, but
several, and no man can be heard to
say that he is not responsible because
he is only one of many who Joined in
the performance of a particular act. If
one may-- be relieved from responsibility,
others may be also until each and all
have shifted the burden from their shoul
ders. Manifestly, every participant in
an act must -be held accountable for the
result." ,
And yet, in your entire editorial you
indicate nowhere that anybody having
'io do. with the disposition of our public
lands during the past i years is responsi
ble for anything, excepting myself. No
other name Is used and no direct refer
ence made to any other man who has
ever lived in the state. And that is
what i object to. That custom, adopted
during the past live years by a little co
terie of critics, is all I ever have ob
jected to. I have never and do not now
have the slightest desire to shirk any
responsibility that is mine, but I do not
coincide with your view that the doc
trine of "joint responsibility should be
condemned," since such responsibility
frequently exists and the desire to place
all the responsibility,, on one person for
a certain thing when others are equally
responsible, is itself properly to be con
demned by those who desire to do jus
tice. But this matter of the disposition of
Oregon s public lands is almost alto
1LACIC
CU2JjZZT-3
could not be ruled without flogging. One
of the witnesses was General Llebert, a
former Governor of German East Africa,
and others were Herr Kuhnert, a well
known animal painter who had recently
been here, and Father Acker of the
African Mission. General Iiebert said
that it was absolutely necessary to be
severe with the natives and that he re
gretted the mildness of the present offi
cials. Herr Kuhnert averred that it was
impossible to treat them with too much
severity. He said he had seen one of
the negTesses when she was flogged by
Dr. Peters and the punishment did not
seem cruel to him. Father Acker said
that one' could not govern the natives
without flogging, and that he himself
had often caused men and women to be
whipped.
During- the trial Herr Bebel, thS so
cialistic member of the Reichstag, was
called in. He said that he had evidence
that Peters had caused a negro to be
shot down merely because ,he had
crossed his pach, and that when he was
on the Emln Pasha erpeditlon he had
shot numerous natives and burned their
vtllnges. He cited one of Karl Peters'
books showing how he had punished
a native servant. The servant had
stolen a chicken which Peters had or
dered to be served for his dinner. Dr.
Peters first gave the man an emetic to
get back the chicken, and then flogged
him.
During my trip about Victoria Ny
anza 1 have been accompanied by the
famous missionary. Archdeacon Walker,
who was in Uganda at the time Peters
passed through here. He tells me that
the learned German doctor boasted to
him that he had killed 27 blacks while
be was in the country and that he evi
dently thought nothing of shooting a
native down in cold blood.
Germans Failed to Acquire Uganda.
It was from Archdeacon Walker that
I learned how near the Germans came
to getUm? possession of the rich prov
ince of Uganda, and thereby the con
trol of the whole of lake Victoria.
Whether this was attempted by Prince
Bismarck and the German government
I do not know, but the movement was
engineered by this same Dr. Karl
Peters. The incident occurred about
1890. when the relations between King
Mwanga and the British government
were exceedingly strained. Mwanga,
who waa. then King of Uganda, had
said that If the English would furnish
troops to Bupport him in his troubles
with his subjects he was ready to make
a treaty with them and thereby br'ng
his country under their protection.
Archdeacon Walker wrote a letter to
this effect for the King, and sent it to
Mr. Jackson, the Commissioner of Brit-
AWALj CREGON
gether one where the responsibility does
not rest on my shoulders to any degree.
It is the result of a policy Inaugurated
by the people of the state while 1 was
yet a small boy, sustained for a genera
tion by public sentiment, and when I
came to the Governor's office in 1899 the
public lands were so nearly disposed of
at ridiculously low figures that my pre
decessor officially recommended to the
Legislature in his last communication to
that body that the office of state land
agent be abolished. Governor Lord's
words were as follows:
"The special agent appointed to select
land under the act of 1S9J has prosecuted
his work enegetically and efficiently, add
ing many thousand of acres of valuable
lands to the public domain. His report is
full of valuable suggestions relating to the
disposition of the public lands, not the
least-among which is his recommendation
that the act creating his office and its
duties having accomplished the object
for which it was created, be abolished.
There being, therefore no further need
for the continuance of the act I concur
in his suggestion and recommend its re
peal.'" And in his report to Governor Lord
at the end of his term and at the begin
ning of mine. Honorable T. W. Daven
port, the state land agent during those
four years, one of the best officials Ore
gon has ever had, as The Oregonian cor
rectly remarked, but a month ago. said:
"As respects the land sales by the state
of Oregon, I can say they are well nigh
closed. At least, there is no more need
of a state land agent, unless other duties
are added to his office."
And yet. after millions of acres of our
state lands had been sold, when Governor
Lord and his efficient state land agent
had, after four years' handling and sell
ing of those lands so "well-nigh closed
them out" that they both recommended
the abolition of the office of state land
agent, a lot of disgruntled politicians
who had failed to dictate appointments
and policies of my administration In their
interests, pounced upon me with a bit
terness only born of political savagery,
and charged me with alone being re
sponsible for not only the manner of the
disposition of all our public lands during
the past quarter of a century, tut for
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MAT
ran? !t . in ' v. m? a i i. - -
ifeh East Africa. 'The man who took
the letter was captured in the way and
it fell into the hands of Dr. Karl Pe
ters, who was then traveling through
the country as a soldier of fortune'and
diplomat combined. As the story goes.
Dr. Peters tore the letter up, and then
by forced marches reached Uganda before
its loss became known. In consequence
of the delay he was able to make treat
ies with King Mwanga whereby Uganda
should come under the protection of the
Germans.
In the meantime, however, the officials
of Germany and England had come to
gether and had held a conference over
African matters, during which they made
an agreement as "to the boundary be
tween the German and the English pos
sessions. By this agreement all of the
country lying south of a line' which goes
about midway through Lake Victoria was
given to the Kaiser and all north of that
to Queen Victoria, then reigning, the
British ceding to the Germans the little
Island of Heligoland as a consideration
therefore. The Germans, as I understand
It, had as yet received no news of what
Peters had done in Uganda, and when it
did become known this treaty made his
work of no avail.
Bismarck's Bad Bargain.
Heligoland, the country which they
thus got in exchange for orto-of the best
regions of the African continent, com
prising a territory larger than the whole
German Empire and far richer and' in
cluding a population of 4,Oj)J,000 of the
best of the African natives, was a little
Island on the North Sea covering Less
than 139 acres and populated only by
fishermen to the number of something
like 2000. Moreover, that island
is fast being eaten up by the sea. A
few centuries" ago it was five times its
present size and it grows less every year.
On the other hand, Uganda is now setting
out cotton plantations. There are roads
all through it, and the people claim that
you can go over them for a distance of
600 miles in an automobile. The land is
rich in rubber and other resources, and it
also controls the source of the Nile. Ver
ily the British had the best of that bar
gain. ' Business in German East Africa.
The German officials here seem to be
well satisfied with their colony. They say
it is richer than British East Africa, and
in support of their statement point to the
the fact that, now it is seen those lands
should have been sold at a much higher
figure or held for better conditions, with
that fact also.
In Governor Lord's last message to
the Legislature he called the attention
of that body to the regrettable fact that
the land system which had been in
vogue in Oregon for so many years was
a lame one and bemoaned the short
sighted policy which had "frittered afltey
our land. It was practically too late:
at the beginning of his term, even, he
says in substance, to rectify it, and at its
end he recommended the abolition of
the state land agent's office; for the rea
son that there was nothing to do in
that line of work, and Mr. Iavenport
himself, better acquainted with the land
ed condition in Oergon than any other
man, said "land sales by the State of
Oregon are well-nigh closed
Now what I object to, what any man
would become extremely tired of, is the
perpetual charge by men with more vic
iousness than judgment or regard for
fair play or justice, that after all these
years, after the state's lands had aU
been practically disposed of,-1 should be
held Individually responsible for all that
had gone before and which could not
through the administration of any earth
ly power be changed or prevented,. It
was already done.
Cannot you see, Mr- Editor, the rank
Injustice of it all? Or is it to keep on
forever as a means of expressing a mal
ice born through the disappointment of a
lot of men whose displeasure Is an honor
to the man who Incurred it?
Any man with the slightest desire to
be just and who will look- up the land
laws of Oregon during the past 40 years
will see that from the beginning it has
been the state's policy to dispose of its
public lands at almost any figure. The
price paid was a secondary consideration.
Every man who cares to know anything
at all on the subject is aware of this
fact. Why not be fair? For 25 years
before I entered public life this had
been going on and never a protest from
any quarter as to It being a short
sighted policy. The fact is, if the lands
were to be sold at all, it was necessary
to place the price of them low enough to
meet the demands of purchasers. Gov
via - ? Av ,
" 4
fact that It already has a larger native
population. British East Africa has
something like 4.000.000, and this
country has 7.000,000 or 8,000,000. The
most of the colony is high and healthy.
It has extensive grass lands and many of
the natives are more than ordinarily
thrifty.
Take, for instance, the lands along the
Kagera River, which flows into the lake
on the edge of Uganda. I met two officers
here who have been stationed in that
country. They tell me that the soil is
fertile, and that it is covered with a
thick sod of fine rich grass. Much of the
country Is a mile above the sea and Is
well suited to be the residence of white
men. These officers tell me that when
railway communication can be made
German colonists will come in, and the
country will be developed as an agri
cultural and stockraising region. At pres
ent it is thickly populated by natives who
rear many cattle, sheep and goats.
The Kagera River.
The Kagera River rises not far from
Lake Tanganyika, and the lower portion
of it can be made navigable for steamers.
It flows not far from the line of the Cape
to Cairo road, and It may form an im
portant link in the chain of rail and water
which is to go north and south through
this continent. It- will connect that road
with Victoria Nyanza. I am told that if
the bar at its mouth is dredged out, boats
SCHOOL
ernment lands were on the market every
where at a low figure and the state could
not hope to sell at' a higher price than
its competitor in the market. Nothing
could be .plainer than this and nothing
was better understood.
The fact is that after -hundreds o't
thousands- of acres of school lands had
been on the market for 20 years, much of
it yet remained unsold. Even at the low
price asked sales were slack for 20 years.
Under these conditions it was impos
sible to sell the lands at a price higher
than that asked by the state.
In 1873, 30 years ago, the Leg
islature passed a law providing
that the State Land Board shall
be "required to" tell all school,
university and other lands belonging to
the state, "as fast as such selections
shall be approved by the Commissioners
of the General Land Office, at a price
not less than two dollars and fifty cents
an acre for agricultural college lands and
two dollars per acre for all other lands
specified in this act."
Here the price was indicated at $2 an
acre for school lands and the board
was "required to sell them "as fast as
it was passible." ' Was that at too low
a figure? Was not that "frittering away
our state school lands?' And wasn't
I plainly responsible for it? And am I
not to be "condemned for shirking my
joint responsibility?" The men who had
charge of the state's affairs jn 1878. the
legislators' who enacted this law, are
held blameless so far as modern criti
cism is concerned, and Geer, Geer alone,
is pilloried for the whole business.
Not during the past five years has
any man, from W hi taker down, been
named by way of censure for the land
policy of the state unless he was in
some way connected with my adminis
tration, and you must have noticed It.
But "frittering away the school lands
at the rate of $2 an acre was not dispos
ing of It fast enough. Nobody wanted
school lands at S3 an acre. It was held,
at too high a figure by the state, so,
on the 21st of February, 1SS7, more than
20 years ago, the Legislature re-enacted
the section -which I quoted above, with
this amendment only, that the State Land
Board is "authorized and required t
sell the remaining school and othe
31, 1908.
I - - - - f - II
1 M- V?- -.: V- I I
of considerable draft eah steam so near
to Lake Tanganyika that the building of
C miles or so of railroad will practically
connect the two lakes.
As it is now, it is the intention of the
railroad builders to use Lake Tangan
yika, which Is 400 miles long, and Lake
Albert Edward and Albert Nyanza, both
quite extensive, as a part of the Cape to
Cairo system. They are all deep and
easily navigable. Indeed the richest part
of that route will be through the Nile and
its waterways. The road is now within
about 400 miles from the southern end of
Lake Tanganyika and It will need only a
short strip to Join its chain of lakes, and
another short strip from the end of Albert
Nyanza to Gondokoro, where there is
steam navigation for 1000 miles -down the
Nile to Khartum, Jhe end of the Egypt
and Soudan railway system.
Blsmark in Africa.
The Germans have erected a monument
to Prince Bismark out here on the south
ern shores of Victoria Nyanza. It stands
with its back to the lake and Its face
toward the town of Mwanza. It consists
of a bronze madallion as big around as
the head of a flour barrel, bearing the
bust of the great chancellor. This medal
lion is cemented to a pyramid or obelisk,
which stands in a beautiful grove. Just
back of it there is a great rock, 100 feet
high, and all about are trees and banana
plants. I understand there are other
LANBS
lands belonging to the state at the uni
form price of one dollar and twenty-flve
cents an acre," See Hill's code, section
3617.
After trying to dispose of these lands
for 10 years at a minimum price of $2
an acre, the Legislature provided that
the board "as fast as possible" sell "the
remaining unsold school lands at the
fixed price of one dollar and twenty-five
cents an acre." The lands were not go
ing fast enough. Two dollars was 75
cents an acre too much for the state's
school lands and the State Land Board
was "required' to dispose of "all the re-
maining unsold school lands.' No land
v as to be retained. The state dldn' f
want any school land. It wanted all
that remained to be immediately turned
into money at $1.25 an acre.
But for all this the legislatures and
Governors who were responsible for It are
to be cheerfully forgiven, or, at least,
to be permitted immunity from criticism,
for wasn't I out on my farm In the Waldo
Hills at the time and shouldn't 1 be held
responsible for it? Certainly I should,
for when I object to being the only man
who Is ever criticised for it all I am at
once blamed for "shrinking from the
burden of joint responsibility."
I am aware that the programme
outlined in all this conspicuously unfair
and In many cases, vicious charge, insti
tuted to injure me politically by ' men
whose venom was aroused for the sole
reason that I refused to bow to their be
hests, men who cared no more for the
disposition of the state .school lands than
did the Shah of Persia, nor do they now,
has done its work, in conjunction with
similar disreputable methods employed
by them. My admitted desire 'to continue
in public life has been blasted by the
systematic and persistent circulation of
such charges as this, that I not any
body else have been the sole cause of
the school lands having been sold during
the past 30 years at so low a figure that
Oregon's school fund only amounts to
some $5,000,000. while that of Washing
ton is o0.000.000.
I re cognize that this misrepresentation,
incessantly hammered into the people,
first by interested persons and then by
those who were made to believe it, has
done its work. Alie told agaifist a pub
monuments to Bismarck in some of the
German towns along the coast of the In
dian Ocean, and that a fine statue of
him has been erected at Dar es Salaam.
The Germans are organizing , a native
army out here, which shows the effect of
their system of military training. They
already have 2500 native soldiers, officered
by about 300 Germans. The mfn are put
through, the same exercises as the sol
diers at home. ' They are big fellows, well
set up and very muscular, many being
over six feet in height And large in proportion.-
The most of them have brutal
faces and they look as though they
might be butchers in battle. I have gone
about through the villages with some of
these troops during my stay. Each man
carries a hippopotamus whip with him
and so uses It that he has no trouble In
making himself respected by rhe ordi
nary native.
In the Basukunia Towns.
The people here are not as wealthy
as those of Uganda. They wear less
clothing and their houses are poorer.
The average Uganda hut looks pictur
esque. It is made of cane,- bent and
woven together and thatched with
straw, the roof often extending down
to the ground. The huts of the Basu
kumas have walls of sticks set upright
in the earth, and laced with vines run
ning in and out through them. After
this the walls are chinked with mud,
and a cone-shaped roof is put on. The
doors are so low that one has to stoop
to Tnter them, and it requires some
engineering to go in and out, as the
door may swing either way. Some
times it is hung at the top and
sometimes at the bottom, or it may
be lifted In and out at will. The huts
are seldom more than ten or fifteen
feet in diameter, and each is divided
into rooms for sleeping and cooking.
The cooking is done in the center of
the hut on a fire built over stones,
which rest on the ground. The
cooking utensils are usually clay pots
and the chief food is a porridge made
of stewed millet.
The people also have corn and pea
nuts in addition to millet, apd they
grind all three by pounding them in a
mortar and rubbing ' them between
stones. In one inclosure I saw a girl
of fifteen pounding peanuts in a mor
tar with a wooden pestle, and in an
other a woman knelt down and
ground millet by rubbing the grain
between stones. The stones looked as
though they might have been picked
up fnpm the wayside. The lower one
rested on the edge of a basket, and
as the flower was ground it fell
down Into the - basket.
I find but little furniture in any of
the houses. The people sleep on the
ground and they squat abqut on the
floor at their meals. They have no
tables and no chairs. A few houses
contain Stools eight or ten 'Inches
high, and in one or two I saw low
frameworks of poles covered with
skins which were evidently used as
beds. The Basukumas are skilled in
making baskets, and they manufacture
all kinds -and all sizes, incuding enor
mous grain baskets of fine straw. The
latter are used in nearly every hut
for storing millet and corn and other
such things. I saw one which meas
ured five feet in height and at least
eight feet in diameter. It would, I
venture, hold a good-sized cow and leave
room to spare.
In one of the yards I entered this
morning I found a group of men on their
knees about a woman, seated on a low
stool. The woman was of an ebony
blackness, but her eyes were ringed with
white paint and across her cheeks were
Ex-Governor Geer Disclaims Responsibility for Administrative Acts
Done When He Was a Boy, Forty Years Ago.
lic man and told again and then again,
will do him so much harm that its refu-
tation will never undo it. There are
thousands of people in Oregon today who
believe that I am a rich man. that I
"feathered my nest while in the gov
ernors office, that I was a crooked
public official and that right now I
have in my possession the entire amount
of that $45,000,000 discrepancy between
the school funds of Oregon and Washing
ton, all to gratify the wolfish malice of
a few politicians with whom I refused to
train and who resolved that, at any price,
I should be retired to private life.
To the man who has held high public
station and successfully resisted every
temptation to personally profit pecuniar
ily by the temptations which are so often
presented to him, but who, nevertheless,
is persecuted and hounded by a coterie
of conspiring scoundrels until his reputa
tion is smirched anyway, no doubt the
thought often comes, "Does it pay to
be honest and poor while others pile up
comfortable bank accounts through any
means that presents itself and are
thought the more of on account of U?"
But, in the long run, there should be
some power, somewhere that will turn
the tables against -so flagrant a conspir
acy and the results it has accomplished.
But I have no regrets whatever for
my course while In public life. My motives-
were always for the welfare of the
the public service, though I do not say
that errors in judgment did not occur
at times, as they do in the affairs of all
men In public matters and In private
business. I do not have the slightest de
sire to "shirk any responsibility" which
is rightfully mine, but am disposed to
mildly draw the line at the charge that
I was the underlying cause of the Bos
ton Tea Party, In Revolutionary times,
or started the trouble between Hamilton
and Burrall to appease the vengeance
of a few politicians, with whom, how
ever, I could have made terms, surren
dered to their demands and been the best
fellow in the world!
I do not now expect to ever be a can
didate again for any public position.
When I left the farm 10 years ago. hav
ing worked hard for 30 years, I was
ambitious to spend several years in the
public service, but my experience with
it
streaks of the same material. She had
white feathers In her hair, and other
adornments, which made her look hide
ous. She was a witch doctor, and had
been brought in to cure a man who had
the eoilc.
Going onward, I saw many evidences of
other superstitions. In one yard were a
lot of straw pens, which I thought might
be made to hold little chickens, until my
guide. Sassafras, told me they were put
up to ward off the devil. Sassafras firm
ly believes in witches. He says all
trouble comes from them, and that If
one klils a chicken and examines Its en
trails the way they He in the chicken will
tell him whether Jhe man or woman he
suspects of bewitching him is guilty or
not. I understand that such oracles ara
often the test of witchcraft, and that if a
man unexpectedly dies his friends sup
pose he has been hoodooed. Nearly all
deaths are supposed to be caused by
witches; the witch doctors are always
called in at such times to And who has
made the special charm which has caused
the calamity. Sickness ie thought to be
the work of an enemy or perhaps of an
ancestral spirit. If it is an enemy the
medicine man or woman gives the victim
a charm or tells him to wear a leopard
skin or something of that kind. If this
fails an attempt Is made to smell out
the witch, and in this case the parson
pointed out is liable to be beaten to death.
Professional Rainmakers.
Professor Willis Moore of our weather
bureau ought to come out io Lake Vic
toria and learn something of the real
science of the weather. The lands south
of the lake are frequently troubled with
droughts, and it is on this account that
the witches and rainmakers flourish. I
am told that some of the chiefs and sul
tans are supposed to be able to make rain
and that they are liable to lose their
Jobs at the first long dry spell. Ancestors
are sacrificed, too, in order to bring rain,
and there are certain unfailing signs
which Indicate Owtt a drought is comins.
One of these is the advent of twins. This
is the greatest of ill-luck any community
can have, and the woman who brings it
Lupon a village is sometimes banished.
There are certain Kinas oi oaoies wno
are Just the reverse of mascots. They
are called bad-luck children, and when
one is born trouble is sure to follow. One
of these is a baby born with sore eyes,
and another one that gets Its upper teeth
first. If the teeth sprout out in the upper
Jaw before they do In the lower Jaw that
is a sure sign of dry weather, and the
child is supposed to bring it. Indeed, this
belief is so strong that such children have
geen killed on account of the suffering
which the drought, brought by them, has
entailed.
This belief in evil spirits Is common In
all the countries lying south of Lake Vic
toria, and It was largely so in Uganda,
north of the lake, until that-country was
converted to Christianity. Indeed, many
of the Baganda people still believe more
or l?ss in a legion of spirits. They have
35 different devils, one of whom presides
over war, another over earthquakes and
another over the plague. There Is su
pposed to be a devil in every leopard, and
it was to appease them that when the
old kings built their palaces hundreds of
men were slaughtered. Sacrifices were
made to Kltlnda, the man-eating demon,
and also to the snake demon and others.
The Bagandas had their god of plenty,
their gods of the rain and the rainbow,
and their demons of thunder and the fall
ing stars. In short, the whole world of,
Africa Is supposed to be Infested by spir
its, and devils of all kinds are every
where present.
Mwanza, German East Africa.
those who "do things" In political life,
together with their way of doing them,
and the means they will resort to by
which their ends may be gained, as well
as the methods employed to get even
with the man who has a higher concep
tion of his public duty than they, has
fully satisfied my every aspiration in that
direction.
So those who, though I have now been
In private life for over five years, still
think I have' personally sold all the
state lands which have been disposed
of during the last 40 years; that I should
have sold them for $20 an acre, though
the Legislature definitely established the
price at $1.25 an acre about the time I
was in my teens; that I began selling
school lands and giving titles to thein
while I was living on my farm, and
continued It for 30 years before beconv
ing Governor, and that unless I confess
that I' was doing all this 1 am "shirk
ing my responsibility,' I have only to
say that' I was really doing all those
things all those years; that my name
will be found on every deed to every acre
of land which has been sold by the state
of Oregon since the passage of the
swamp land act of March 12, 1SG0, though
I was but 9 years old at the time; that
all the legislators and Governors and
state land boards who have thought
they were in authority since that time
were mere stool pigeons; that I am re
sponsible for that $45,000,000, every cent
of It now being in my possession, as
Impliedly charged by a lot of people;
that, especially, Moore and Dunbar did
not sit on the State Land Board at all
during my term as Governor .nor have a
word to say as to the selling of any '
state lands this being the reason they
were re-elected and that as soon as I '
can arrange my business affairs I will
make restitution of that $45,000,000 upon
the interest of which I am now living
in luxurious idleness.
And now, if this is not assuming all
the responsibility which should be mine,
please indicate where it is lacking and
I will cheerfully shoulder the deficit.
The one man who has had the exercise '
of all power In a state like Oregon for
40 years should, I agree with you, not
be permitted to shirk any of his re-
on Abilities. Pendleton, May 20.
1