The San Francisco call., 1896-05-24
JACK HAMMOND'S BOOKS
James F. Wardner Says They
Are Reason for the Ex-
pert'S Release.
The Volumes Which Are Unfinished
Contain Valuable Data-LawS
That Are Oppressive.

/ James f. Wardner, the widely known
mining man, who was one of the discov-
erers of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan and
! other mines on this coast and who some
time since returned from a visit to South
Africa, says that John Hays Hammond is
the author Of some half-completed books
/ that are great interest to the world.
These, Mr.. Wardner says, Mr.. Ham
mond would have published ere this were
| it not for his arrest and imprisonment.
/ He says every effort should be made for
Hammond's release. He considered the
/ imprisonment very unjust.
! He has a work on Matabeleland," said
! Mr.. Wardner, that not only sets forth the
| mineral wealth OF that country. but goes
! into everything that could be of interest
! to the man seeking information about it.
| The book has Typographical and other
maps, charts and illustrations. 1t is a very
valuable work.
"Mr Hammond explored Matabeleland
| by travelling through 1t with an armed
caravan for a distance of 1900 miles. He
then turned and made mis- way back by q
totally different route, making the dis
tance explored more than 1900 miles. /
remem Der that he said in one OF his pre-
/ hminary reports that he had walked upon
/ 1000 miles of solid quartz.
The trip was made for the Chartered
/ Company. This book and others, which
! Mr.. Hammond has half finished, when
they are completed will be of signal i'm
/ portance. Mr.. Hammond ought to be out
OF prison.
Many persons who are not posted on
the men and manners of the Transvaal
country are liable to get the wrong idea OF
the situation. The fact of the matter is
/ | that the Snnfh A friQQn Rart,blia SC ,lr, q
republic in name. It's laws are extremely
oppressive, its tariffs prohibitory as against
its sister, the Orange Free State, and the
colonies, and its duties and taxes on every.
/ thing used in operating the mines exces-
sive in the extreme. Tremendous taxation
! and no representation for the Uitlandel
was the initial cause for the founding OF
the reform committee. An American
| John Hays Hammond, was at this time
| the consulting engineer and. manager o1
mining properties with q market value oil
$1,000, 100000.
His duty to his employers and their
interests forced him to the front rank oI
reformers, for the heavy duties on powder
lumber, iron, steel and all mining COM
modlties, coupled with the huge Govern
'ment and municipal taxes, well nigh
| crowded out some of the enterprises whose
welfare was intrusted to him. But the
| elements that make the Chartered Com
PA-y WIZ AAAACAOA1lAg 1uSpiEcQ, anu ell
tanglements were made most unfortunate
Tor Mr.. Hammond and most cruel and un-
Just. loyal American, a great lover Of
his country and its institutions, an honor r
I able and consistent man is Jack Ham
mond. We who know him so well know
that 1t is not possible that he should con-
nlVe at the downfall of the South A frican
Republic, and he did not, for testimony
shows that he was not disloyal to the flag
of the Transvaal.
as the matter now stands a brilliant
man is lying in cell whose greatest error
has been answering Loyalty to the inter-
1 ests of his employers. No one thinks that
the full sentence of fifteen years will be
carried out. But fifteen weeks is too long.
/ Slight OF frame his arduous duties have
worn upon him and we are told that he is
a very sick man. We are told that there
| is too much fuss being made over Ham
mond. This is not so. l notice that when
a great poiitician or great bishop gets
| into trouble, financial or otherwise, his
! friends come to his rescue. Jack Ham
mond's life is worth dozens of ordinary
Americans. He is in the prime of life
and the youth of research. His extraordi-
nary and exhaustive work on the treat
ment OF auriferous sulphide ores won for
him worlds reputation and added mil
lions in gold to the worlds Golfers.
He has unfinished and unpublished
works on Matabeleland anxiously looked
for, by the mining world. He Is a genius
and must not die. while the generous
hesitate. the poor starve.' Dom Paul
! Kruger is generous but slow and incon-
sistent. He bewails the death of poor
Grey, but slowly and surely murders
| Hammond. He must be made to know
the value of his prisoner to this United
| States, and quickly, too.
"The Governor OF each State in this
Union tnat produces ton of lead or
mints an ounce of gold or silver should
personally take upon himself the duty to
| beseecn Kruger to take coin instead of
blood.
Those old miners, Senator Carter of
Montana, Senator Wilson of Washington
Senator Dubois of Idaho, Senator Mitchell
of Oregon, who all know Hammond inti-
mately, should do their duty to their
friend and 60 at once to the President, and
have him send Immediately commission
of five representative Americans to Pre-
toria in behalf of John Hays Hammond. :"
A well-known and eccentric Maine ply
sician, who is seriously i'll, has left direc-