THE TRUTH
ABOUT THE CONGO
Chief Ndombe with Family Group, in His Town
THE TRUTH
ABOUT THE CONGO
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ARTICLES
BY
FREDERICK STARR
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 decidedto express no opinion upon the public andpolitical questions of the Congo FreeState. Having found conditions there quite differentfrom what I had expected, it was impossible for meto state my actual impressions without danger ofantagonizing or offending some whom I valued asfriends. Hence, on landing at New York, I refusedto say anything upon those matters to several reporterswho interviewed me. A little later, the ChicagoTribune asked me to write upon these subjects,urging the importance of the whole matter to ournation, and leaving me entire freedom in viewpointand mode of treatment. In response to its request,I prepared a series of articles, which appeared in successiveissues from January 20 to February 3, 1907.
The articles were received with general interest,and many asked that they should be reprinted in bookform. I felt that they were of momentary interestonly, and as I have much other Congo matter forbooks and pamphlets—more directly in the line ofmy professional work—I was inclined not to reprintthem.