The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-06
TRUE STORY OF HAMMOND
Richard Harding Davis Submits
a Remarkable Recital.
PLEA FOR THE AMERICAN
Charges of Cowardice Which Were
Launched Against the Reform Conn
mittee We're False-New Light ON
the Famous Raid of DIR. JIM
Cause of the Movement.
(By Richard Harding Davis. }
lCable letter To The Times.

London, Eng, Aug. 81 : On the day that
Dr. Jameson and his officers were found
guilty OF infringing the foreign enlist
mcnt act, and sent to Holloway prison,
MIR. John Hays Hammond, the American
engineer, who was a most active member
Of the reform committee in johannesburg
at the time OF the raid, was staying In
London at the Savoy Hotel. / happened
To hear this, and remembering that MT.
Hammond had been one of those WHO IN
vited ameson to enter johannesburg, ana
who had then left him TO fight his way
there unsupported, said that If rad TO
choose, would rather be in Holloway
with Jameson tina min the Savoy with Ham,
noDd.
This remark was carried TO Mr.. Ham
mond By a mutual fre nd, a classmate OF
Hamnond's at Y ale, who asked me to Keep
my opinion in allegiance until had heard
Hamnopd's side of the story. The same
mutual friend theninvited me to oine with
Hammond and himself. and for Inc 1rst
time / heard the story of the Jameson
raid told in manner which convinced ME
that the charges OF cowardice laid against
the reform committee were unmerited
The story has never been made public, but
1t is full of interest, putting many things
in a new light, adjusting the blame more
evenly, and, in my mind at least, removing
the charge OF lack OF faith under which the
members OF the reform committee and the
people OF johannesburg have been resting
in silence am not holding a brief for
Mr.. Hammond or for his friends, who are
business men as well as Teformers, and
quite a Bile to take care OF themselves. But
while they have notthe least desire to pose
as fighting men they have most natural
dislike to being pointed out as towards.
And they have given me their side OF the
story, and Hammond has asked me to tell
hx,s,. n. \ fll.,f fri rHs m
side OF the water, those who petitioned
Secretary Olney in his behalf, when he was
in the Praetoria Jail, misunderstood his
part in the matter as did, when i said
IN my ignorance that l thought OF the two
Jameson was the one deserving OF the
greater consideration.
The reform committee OF johannesburg
was organized with the object OF obtaining
certain reforms for abuses which had
grown so serious that the position OF the
UitlaDdcrs in the TrIHsvaal had become UNI
bearable, There is IN objection Which is.
instantly raised whenever the condition OF
the Uitlanders is described as have just
stated it, and it is this: IF the Uitlanders
did not ike the laws OF the Transvaal why
did they not leave it and go somewhere
else, the world is large enough for every
body? Why did they instead plot to upset
the government OF the Beers who had
sheltered them, and who only asked to be
left to breed their cattle and To ia nm their
ranches in peace?', The answer to that
very fair question is that the laws to which
the reform committee objected did not
exist when the ma jority OF its members had
entered the Transvaal eight years before.
REVENUES WERE DOWN.
AT that time the revenue of the country
was barely able to support it, and emf
grants were warmly welcomed. The law as
1t then stood was that Uitlander could
obtain full rights of citizenship after
residence OF five years, and with this
Observation-Disclosures Americansand English
men bought land in the Transyaal, built
houses and brought their families to live
in them, invested their capital in mines and
machinery, and gradually severed the ties
that had bound them to the rest OF the
world But when the gold seekers grew
into a majority. the Boer, who still retained
his love for pastoral and agricultural pur-
suits, passed new law, which declared
that the UItlaDder could not obtain the.
franchise until he had first renounced his
allegiance to any other country, and then,
after a lapse of eight or fifteen years lie
could, il il pleased the government, be-
come a burgher, with n right to vote, but
that if it did not please the government
he could never hope to become a citizen
of the TraDsyaal.
There were many other grievan noes, and
count of his pledge to the Boer govern
meDt, to discuss them with me, other
members OF the reform comittee have
spoken and written of them freely, and
they are So well known that they are
described as the admitted grievances
When the Uitlander first came to the
Transvaal, the revenue of the country
was S375,OOO; it is now $1O,O00,0OO,
and, as / have said, the Uitlander finds
eighteen tive ntieths of that total revenue
and yet it has been practically impossible
for him to obtain even an education for
his children in the state schools which
his money supported. The sale of nonop-
olies by the government to different conf
paDies made his expenses excessive be-
You'd re aso n, and the mismanagementofthe
railroads led to delay in the transportation
of machinery and perishable goods, winch
robbed legitimate business of any profit.
Another evil arose from the Liquor
Trust, which gave the complete control of
all the liquor sold on the Rand into the
handNof one firm, which manufactured
poisonous quality of whisky and sold 1t
without restriction to the natives, upon
whom the mines depended for labor, and
who for half the time were incapacisated
from attending to the work they were paid
to do Land, which had been sold to the
Uitlander& for mining purposes was not
regarded by the Boer government as their
Polish Jews, who handled most of the
liquor sold on the Rand, were able to place
their canteens where they pleased, at the
very mouth of a shaft if they wished 10
do SO, with the result that the Kaffir boys
were constantly drinking, and in conse-
quence as constantly falling into open
shafts. fighting among themselves, and
suffering from the most serious accidents
GOVERNMENT METHODS.
The governments method of protecting
the Netherlands Railroad is also iaterest-
ing: the coal deposits run parallel with the
gold mines. but at a dista nee OF some ten
TO thirty miles. Tits coal could be bought
at the mouth of the shaft by any one for
Is Cd, but the Netherlands Railroad
charged from Sd. to Is. ton per mile for
carr ying it over the few miles intervening
between the gold fields and the coal mines.
So that the coal which originally sold for
Is Cd. cost, when delivered at the mines,
from los to 30s The avera ge charge for
freight per mile in the United States is
ope-half cent per mile, in England 1t is.
three-quarters of cent which throws
lurid light on what the earnings must have
been for the Netherlands Railroad. when 1t
charged from 6 to "a cents per mile. There
was so very little profit in this for the
gold mines that the different companies
purchased strips of land, and, giving each
other permission to use the land already
owned. they mapped out railroad over
which they proposed to carry what coal
they needed.
When the Beers heard OF this, they passed
a law forbidding them to build this rail-
road, and later, when the miners attempted
to carry the coal In OK carts, with traction
engines, they were forbidden TO do that
also Freight can be sent from the Cape in
almost a direct line by an English railroad
which stops at the border OF the Transvanl,
the rest Of the haul being made over the