The record-union., 1894-12-31
AFRICAN SYNDICATE.
The Most Soulless Corporation on the
Face of the Earth.
Its Diamond Mines Inclosed by a High
Stone Wall-Trust's Suppression
of Trading in Stolen Gems.

Al Hale, when he talked for the Rocky
Mountain NeaCS at Denver, the other
day, was talking from his own expert
ence when he said: 1.-THE fact is, the en-
tire diamond bearing district of South
Africa has been walled in by high stone
wall, and nobody is allowed to pass in or
out unless he is subjected to the closest
scrutiny. Inside the walls are 10000 ne
groes, who are secured for periods OF SIX
months at time TO work in the mines.
The negroes are fed corn meal, and are
paid fifty or sixty cents day. They
come from the interior of the country,
500 or perhaps / l,0G0 miles away. and are
ordered to the mines by the chiefs of the
tribes on the pain of instant death If they
refuse. The agent of the diamond syndi-
cate pays the chief liberal amount for
his aid in sending workers to the mines,
and the poor, ignorant negroes have no
alternative but obey. Once inside the
gloomy walls the black man has no pos
sIble chance OF escape, and he delves ike
a galley slave until his six months have
expired. Then he is paid of, and the en-
tire delegation from one tribe marches
home across the desert in body. 1t is
seldom that a black is seen second time
in the mines.
far as the individuals concerned, why he
never returns. The diamond miner car
ries home with him money enough to
buy several wives. If he is careful OF his
earnings he has enough hard cash to buy
four wives, and that is the summit OF his
ambition. Any negro owning four wives
is exempt from labor for the remainder
of his days. lie is known as a gentle
man. his wives do all the work for him,
and he poses as one of the big men OF the
tribe.
This is, of course. strong induce
ment for a black man to go TO the mines,
but the chances are that he will die from
exposure or fall into bad company and
lose his money, SO the nabobs are not as
numerous as one might suppose. Very
little is known of what is going on IN the
interior Of the diamond region. Every
avenue is guarded by detectives, and a
stranger caught lettering about in the
neighborhood is liable to be sent to Cape
Town for five to fifteen years, on the
charge OF buying stolen diamonds"
Mr.. Hale said that the trade in stolen
diamonds became so heavy few years
ago that the owners Of the mines organ
lied to drive the traders out OF the coun-
try. The devices for concealing and car
rying the diamonds out OF the mines
were remarkable for their ingenuity and
their success. The law of the Dutch Re-
public required that any man charged
with diamond theft, or purchasing stolen
gems, should have the privilege OF a trial
by jury. AS the majority OF the jurors
were generally engaged in the same
shady transactions the convictions were
very few and far betw cen, and the coun-
try swarmed with country buyers. For
tunes made on the outside were larger
than those on the inside. The mine OWN
ers bought up the legislators. and law
was passed requiring all diamond cases
to be heard before three Judges, who
were gwen the power to send the guilty
man to the breakwater at Cape Town for
long period of years.
The law has worked like a charm. The
Judges are said 10 be absolutely unap-
proachable from the standpoint of the
diamond buyer, and long procession
of disappointed speculators has been
marched OFT to the south, so that there
are now not less than l 600 convicts from
the diamond region piling up stones to
hold back the ocean at Cape Town. Mr..
Hale says it is the most disheartened
body Of men he ever saw, many of them
being possesSors of large fortunes. The
edict has gone out against the diamond
buyer, and ne was practically not in the
field this year at South Africa.
OF course, the European syndicate is
correspondingly happy, but the Diamond
Trust regulates the output at its will.
Merchants and dealers at Kimberly are
on the verge of bankruptcy, as they are
under the eyes of paid detectives every
hour, and their books are regularly in
spected by officials of the Government,
who are working in the interest OF the
European mine owners. The glory OF
Kimberly has departed, and the money
which once went into the capacious pock-
cts of the merchants now goes to enrich
the gilded palaces of the European capi-
talists. From quiet Investigations which
Mr.. Hale made in South Africa he is OF
the opinion that diamonds are so plenti-
ful in the district that everybody could
wear sparklers if the mines were opened
to fI1ll narnanitN