Stamping Out Slavery The steps the Emperor of Ethiopia is
taking for the abolition of slavery in his realms justify some faith in the reality of human progress. The world has been shocked in recent years by the publication of uncontested estimates—running to a figure as formidable as 5,000,000 --of the number of persons still living in a state of slavery in different countries. Many of them admittedly are subjected simply to mild domestic slavery, but they are deprived of the elementary rights of humanity none the less. Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, had an unsatisfactory record for many years after it was admitted to the League of Nations on the definite understanding that slavery should be- abolished. But the Emperor -(Ras Tafari) appears to have waited till he felt himself strong enough to take effective action and to be now firmly resolved to take it. A new Anti-Slavery Department directly responsible to the Emperor, with a young diplomat of promise as its Director, and a Council presided over by the Heir-Apparent to advise him, is to be constituted, an unofficial Anti-Slavery Society is to be founded, and a school for slave children is to be re-opened. Simultan- eously another committee will tackle the difficult problem of what to do with the liberated slaves. This is essentially a development worth watching.
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