October 17 Monday – Edumund D. Morel, head of the English Congo Reform Assoc. wrote to Sam. “I send you by an express messenger a packet of Congo literature.” He closed by asking for Sam’s photograph [MTP]. Hawkins writes that Morel visited Sam in his N.Y. house on this day [148].

Mark Twain’s sixteen-month involvement in the Congo issues began with Morel’s visit, and would involve his longest anti -imperialist writing, King Leopold’s Soliloquy, as well as two shorter Congo pieces, which were not published. He would also make three trips to Washington, partly to speak to President Roosevelt and high officials in the State Department about the Congo. Hawkins claims that Sam’s “chief motive for joining the Congo movement was surely a humanitarian concern sparked by Morel’s appeal.” Sam promised to “write an article on the Congo,” and “to use his pen for the cause of the Congo natives.” Morel sent Twain “a packet of Congo literature” and promised to send his book, King Leopold’s Rule in Africa [148, 155]. Note: see Gribben 484.