The Portland daily press., 1896-05-07


Two Millions ID oil ars, Made in the ras]
Ten Years-A Mighty Hunter and of
| Indisputable Courage-A Strict calvin
list.
There have been so many word Dor.
traits of Paul Kruger, so many contra
dictory accounts of his motives and OBJ
jects, says the London Saturday Review.
that man with a new impression of
him may well feel some diffidence in put
ting it forward. But, after all, the char
acter OF rulcr is discovered by invasions
and rebellions, and it is easier now to soc
Kruger as he is than it was year ago.
Speaking roughly, ono is able to divide
the existing descriptions of the President
into two classes-those made by his
friends, and those made by his foes. His
ADMIRERS have presented him to us as q
sort OF Boer Cromwell-unlettered, it is
true, and unacquainted with the con-
ditions of modern life, but gifted with
the faculties of a leader and ruler of his
people-courageous honest, pious. The
picture of him given by his detractors,
on the other hand, is not so consistent
nor SO clear in outline; the features are
blurred by exaggeration; but, If hate
cannot give us recognizable or were q
possible portrait Of the man, it can put
forward facts and arguments which make
one believe that this Village Cromwell is
more complex, and therefore a more
human and interesting, if less ethical
ly perfect being than his worshppers
imagine. "You call Kruger honest and
disintere sted," cry his adversaries, with
fine scorn; "how, then, do you account
for the fact TINT he's worth 800, 600 or 400, :
900 pounds-all made in the last eight or
| ten years" And il one In defence ad-
duces the fact that President Kruger has
always saved seven eighths of his salary,
and invested his savings in farms near
Johannesburg and Pretoria, which have
increased thirty fold in value in the last
uecade-1f, in fact, one shows that Krug-
er's wealth has been accumulated honest
ly, and that, had he been dishonest, he
could easily have been worth as many
millions as he is now worth hundreds of
thousands, his adversaries, instead of ad-
hitting the argument, go on to point out
| that Kruger has winked at brides taken
by his relatives and distributed monopo-
lies among his friends, and that the ad-
| ministration of the Transvaal govern.
ment is disbonorably disting uished by
Incompetence and corruption. 'This
government differs frcm all other govern
ments," said fnancier to me the other
| day, in johannesburg Sin that here
you have to buy not only the masters
but tho men. Ii you want document
| from government department you have
to distribute flyers to the clerks In or
der to get 1t in any reasonable time"
AL this is probably true It must be
| remembered, however, in extenuation,
that the Beers, a few thousand ignor-
ant farmers, scattered over great ter
ritory, have had in the last ten years to
constitute government which should
be able to handle all the details of COM
plex modern civilization, civilization,
too, that has grown, and is growing with
| unexampled rapidity. Eight years ago
dozen makeshift tents and 90 or 80 bull
| lock wagons where today stands the
town OF Johannesburg, with it's hundred
Thousand Inhabitants, its streets OF brick
! and stone, its club, its newspaper offices,
and It's mining excha nges, The 40 miles
Of veldt along the Rand which could
| have been bought in 1856 for few thou
sand pounds, is now worth over three
hundred millions. Men who ten years
ago were struggling clerks or needy ad-
venturers are today millionaire mine
| owners whose names are mentioned with
respect in every European capital.
Temptations beget faults, and a society
that has suddenly shot up from poverty
to riches can scarcely hope to be distin-
oniGhad n al
surely, to say here that, if Kruger has
allowed brides to be taken by his rela-
tives and dependents, If he has given
concessions to his friends that trammel
industry, and has thus enriched partisans
at the public expense, his personal hon.
esty, has not been seriously impugned.
Under great temptation he has been
what Hamlet calls indifferent honest
honest, that is, after the fashion of
poor human nature. For there are those
of us who would have our children and
relations Immediately virtuous, as if to
atone for our short comings. while Krug-
er seems content to let those near aud
dear to him I'LL their pockets as they can,
provided his own hands are clean.
And If his personal honesty is indis-
putable, even more can be said of his
courage; for courage, indeed, is of the
essence of the man; he has shown all
sides Of it--save perhaps one. His mere
physical courage ana lnSenSlbllity of
nerves are extraordinary-perfe in old
age as in youth. More than 40 years ago
he himsef amputated the thumb of his
lett hand, injured i'll gun explosion,
ana n few years ago, when suffering from
toothaohe, he gave proof of similar hardi-
hood. Some of the enlightened men,
bers of his family begged him to 60 to
the dentist. But, after Ehearing what
the charges of the tooth doctor would be,
Kruger angrily rejected the suggestion
A night or two later the pain Increased
so that he could not Sleep whereupon he
got up and pried the tooth out with his
own olaspknife, and went to sleep after
wards without more ado. A mighty
hunter from his youth up--he has killed
lions and buffalo with his old single bar
relied muzzle .loader-ths temper of his
70th year is that of his early manhood.
While driving the other day with Chief
Justice Kotze to see the resident, the
chief justice told me that when the
news reached Pretoria late on Tuesday.
Dec 81, that Jameson with his force
was nearing Krugersdorp, he found that
Kruger had ordered his horse to be sad
died, and was getting out his rifle, in or
der to go and personally lead lbs burgh-
ers to battle. Now that this Jameson's
on the veldt," cried the old man exult-