THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CONGO [Illustration: CHIEF NDOMBE WITH FAMILY GROUP, IN HIS TOWN] THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CONGO THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ARTICLES BY FREDERICK STARR [Illustration] CHICAGO FORBES & COMPANY 1907 COPYRIGHT 1907 BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MANUEL GONZALES, MY COMPANION AND PHOTOGRAPHER UPON MY CONGO EXPEDITION AND TO OUR BLACK BOYS, MANOELI AND TUMBA PREFACE WHEN I returned to America, I had decided to express no opinion upon the public and political questions of the Congo Free State. Having found conditions there quite different from what I had expected, it was impossible for me to state my actual impressions without danger of antagonizing or offending some whom I valued as friends. Hence, on landing at New York, I refused to say anything upon those matters to several reporters who interviewed me. A little later, the _Chicago Tribune_ asked me to write upon these subjects, urging the importance of the whole matter to our nation, and leaving me entire freedom in viewpoint and mode of treatment. In response to its request, I prepared a series of articles, which appeared in successive issues from January 20 to February 3, 1907. The articles were received with general interest, and many asked that they should be reprinted in book form. I felt that they were of momentary interest only, and as I have much other Congo matter for books and pamphlets—more directly in the line of my professional work—I was inclined not to reprint them. But I soon found myself the subject of bitter attack. Malicious and untrue statements were made regarding me and my motives. I have concluded, therefore, that it is best that my articles should be accessible to all who are interested. What I wrote, I am ready to defend. I am not ready to be judged from misquotations, or condemned for what I never wrote. Hence this book.