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Show Elephants Must Work or Die, Proposition That Is to Be Put to the Monsters of Attica May Take Their Choice Between a Life of Bondage or Death Their Labor Would Be Valuable. It is work or extermination for the African elephant. The fiat has gone forth. The government of the Congo Free . State has just entered into an agreement with the French National society, by which the latter organization organiza-tion undertakes to try and tame . the African elephant of the Dark Continent Conti-nent and reduce him to a state of bondage which shall render him, like his Asiatic brother, a valuable help to the colonist and explorer. o far all attempts to tame the creature have proved futile. But nw "it is proposed to catch him youug and bring him up to domestic and industrious indus-trious hebits systematically. The Asiatic . elephant, as is well known, can be trained, to do everything, every-thing, from watching the baby to piling pil-ing teak-wood and hauling great guns. But the African variety has so far refused re-fused to submit to man's domination. Death is the only thing he will receive at his hands. The result is that, at the present rate of killing, the elephants ele-phants in the Congo Free State will, it is estimated, all be exterminated in eight or ten years. It is a pity that the systematic movement to domesticate domesti-cate the animal should have been delayed de-layed until the race is almost wiped out. Felix Fuchs, vice governor of the Free State, now proposes, in order that, the French experimenters shall have material to work on in their attempts at-tempts at reforming the. elephant, that an agreement be entered into by Belgium, Bel-gium, France, Great Britain and Germany, Ger-many, by- which sportsmen, looking for big game, shall be prohibited from hunting the African elephant except at certain seasons, and then that only a few hunters shall be allowed to engage en-gage in the sport. He also asks the nations mentioned to join with the Frcixh National society in the work of catching young elephants and bringing them up in the way they should go. Such an arrangement, says Mr. Fuchs would - have every prospect in resulting in the success of the plan for making the elephant an aid and adjunct of civilization in Africa. Once' thoroughly domesticated, the African elephant would become of incalculable in-calculable value in opening up the recesses of Africa to colonization. Certainly, Cer-tainly, if the species is not to disappear disap-pear entirely from that continent, something must be done to protect him without delay. . But the whole matter rests with the elephant himself. him-self. If, after a thorough trial has been made, it is found that he absolutely abso-lutely refuses to become domesticated, as he has in the past, then there is no object in preserving him, and the big-game spor,tsmen will be left free to work his extermination. |