Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-12-22

Colony. In fact, Mr. Rhodes woule
BE- Il big NAH anywhere. He has cvcI
been called the third greatest Of liy
ing EnGlishmcn, Gladstone and Sails
bury alone being placed above him
Comparisons Of this sort, however, de
pond too much upon individual pre-
ference and opinion to be Of any Spe
cial value
1t IS sufficient TO say that the South
African premier possesses ability Of !;
high order and that, being only forty
years old, he seems destined to play
an important future Of the English
speaking race In y frica he is not
only the greatest man but the richest
as We'll. Ills wealth is estimated al
thirty millions This may be higher
than the real figure, but there is 10
doubt that he possesses u prodigiour
fortune for South Africa His pile
would even command respect among
tho pIntocratS of New York and Lon
don.
Mr.. Rhodes is The sole author Of his
own fortunes Like nearly aII of the
great men Of the British colonies. he
is u Brit0n born. Ills father was IL
poor English clergyman, with the
large family such men proycrbiaIiy
have. Cecil was one Of the younger
sons and about the time Of the great
diamond discoveries ut Kimberley
went 10 South Africa, fortune seek
jn@. He did not achieve anything bril-
liant until Il" got up what is known in
this country rs u trust. In fact, he
WAS one Of the first men to form Il
trust Just rs nc was one Of the first
10 reap the greatest profit from this
form Of modern ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
The Kimberley mines, which are
nov producing Ill The diamonds Of
commerce. except those taken from two
small mines in The Orange Free State,
We're controlled by rival companies,
The De Beers syndicate and others
Competition among them being very
sharp. they forced the price of di;l-
lno1ldS down to 4 comparatively small
figure. Mr.. Rhodes, for he was not 4
baronet then, induced these companies
10 join in i syndicate, which took tn"
name De Beers, after the leading COM
pdny. The RotlSchildS, persuaded by
Mr. Rhodes to purchase, are among the
heaviest Stockholders i'll this corpora
lion, which Is one of the richest i'll
the world. The production of dia
nlondS 1T Kimberley is limited by
agreement, and thus The price is SllS-
tained. Il is said that the yield Of
Gems from each ION of damondifcrolS
earth III Kimberley is 50 regular that
the owners can calculate very closely
what the y;llac of their product every
year will be-
Mr.. Rhodes did not du all this for
any small reward He received Il
treat block Of stock. Which formed the
nucleus OF his present immense fort
unc. Then he decided to be Il gentle
man. rs one understands the term i'll
Great Britain, and went back to Eng
land To live. lie became much inter
t'Sted there III the home rule movements,
and gave Mr. Parncll t1O,6JO to be
used i'll its behalf. But he quickly
crew tired Of idlcncSS and returned to
returned IT. South Africa. He went
into politics there and WAS elected To
The Cape parliament becoming soon
lttcrWard the premier of that colony.
Ever since he has been 1T the head
of affairs Ill tie Cape and throughout
South Africa.
What has Just happened i'll Matabelc-
land illustrates afrcSh i way III which
this remarkable man has of fulfilling
his @Wn prophecies. -Four years ago,
says Il contributor To the Westminster
budget, | was at the Cape, when the
preparations for the pioneer expedition
were only making. Nobody knew
much about the country which they
were to lead the WAY except Mr.. Sci
Gus, the famous hunter who soon
afterward led them there and who is
now doing condottiere service against
Io Bengula, who has paid him the
sinister compliment of putting Il price
III his head. Mr. SclouS, therefore,
and he declared roundly that the no
ton OF getting peaceably into the
country was absurd The first thing
necessary, and the second. and the
third, was TO smash the Matabele. He
did not for one moment expect. he told
me, that the pioneer force would reach
MaShonaland unattackcd: and i'll his
recent book he confcSScS that their
actual good luck was Il great surprise
10 him. But when | spoke 10 Mr.
Rhodes, warning him that anything
like 4 Matahrle war would rouse til,
hubbuh here which it actually has
reused today, he secuted Mr.. SclouS'
anticipationS. No" he said. they
will get past all right. Everything is
arranged. II the TOW comes At all it
will come later" l persisted THAI
whenever It came the British taxpayer
would go back on the enterprise. hay
ing learned 10 lose his head 1T the very
name OF war in South Africa.
but | shall not trouble the British
taxpayer, Mr.. Rhodes declared. Il
shall not ask for Il single rcdcoat Red
coats are no use in our kind of war
fare. \ small force of irregular col
onial troops. mounted and equipped
like the Beers, and pursuing the Boer
tactics III dealing with natives will do
better than an army of bayonets. You
VIII see. If it ever comes to the point.
we will lick the Matabele off our own
bat without asking for Il single Tommy
Atkins to be shipped from England :
1t will be owned that Mr.. Rhodes has
been as good rs his word
For business man Mr. Rhodes is
fond of excursions into history. and
especially into the history of empires.
But the master-formula of his career