Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-22
ESTIMATE OF KRUGER.
An English Editors Study OF the
Transvaal President.

An English Editors Study OF the
Transvaal President.
Mr.. Frank Harris. the editor Of the Sat-
urday Review, has recently returned to
London. after a somewhat extended tour
In South Africa. While there he studied
the Transvaal situation carefully. and talk
ed with all the prominent men. both Dutch
and English In the course of an article,
headed President Kruger as He Is" he
says
You call Kruger honest and diSinter-
ested." cry his adyersaries, with a fine
scorn: how. then. do you account for the
fact that he's worth three or four hundred
thousand pounds-all made in the last eight
or ten years? And If one in defense ad-
duces the fact that President Kruger has
always saved seven-efghths Of his salary,
and invested his savings in farms near
Johannesburg and Pretoria, which have in
creased thirty-fold In value in the last
decade.if. In fact. one shows that Krugers
wealth has been accumulated honestly, and
that. had he been dishonest he could easily
nave been worth as many millions as he
Is now worth hundreds of thousands. his
adVersar1es, instead Of admitting the argu-
ment, go on to point out that Kruger has
Winked at brides taken by his relatives
and distributed monopolies among his
friends and that the administration Of the
irahsVaai government is dishonorably dis
H.
This government differs from all other
governments" said financier to me the
other day in Johannesburg, in that here
you nave to buy not only the masters. but
the men. II you want document from q
government department. you have to dis
tribute flyers to the clerks in order to
get II In any reasonable time"
All this Is probably true. 1t must be re-
membered, however, In extem,ation, that
the Beers. few thousand ignorant farm
ers. scattered over great territory have
had in the last ten years to constitute a
government, which should be able to handle
all the details of complex modern civili-
zation. civilization. too. that has grown,
and Is growing with unexplained rapidity
Easht years ago there was open veldt.
dotted with half q dozen makeshift tents
and twenty or thirty bullock wagons. where
today stands the town of Johannesburs,
with Its 100000 inhabitants, its streets of
brick and stone. its club, its newspaper
ofnceS and its mining exchanges
The forty miles Of veldt along the Rand.
winch could have been bought in 1885 for
a few thousand pounds. is now worth over
t5oo,ooO.oOO Men who ten years ago were
struggling clerks or needy Adventures are
today millionaire mine owners. whose
names are mentioned with respect in every
european capital. Temptations beeet
faults. and society that has suddenly shot
up from poverty to riches can scarcely hone
to be distinguished for honesty
IT Is sufficient. surely, to say here that
II Kruger has allowed brides to be taken
py MS relatives and dependents. if he has
given concessions to his friends that tram
mel industry and has thus enriched narti-
sans at the public expense his personal
honesty has not been seriously impugned
Under great temptation he has been what
Hamlet calls indifferent honesi"-bonest
that is, after the fashion of Door human
nature For there are those of us who
would have our children and relations i'm
hacuiately v1rtuous. as IL 10 atone for
our shortcomings. while Kruger seems con-
tent to let those near and dear TO him fiji
their pockets as they can, provided his own
hands are clean.
And If his personal honesty is indisput-
aDle, even more can be said of his courage
Tor courage, indeed, is of the essence of
the man: he has shown all sides of it-saye
perhaps. one. His mere physical courage
anu lnsensibility OF nerves are eXtraordin-
ary-aS perfect In old age as I'm youtb
Krugers moral courage is s. marked that
II might be mistaken for c',Etinacy. Year
by year as the Uinanders have Increased
In number. and as johannesburg has grown
in wealth and influence, Kruger has dimin-
ished the privileges of the foreign emf
grants. Before 1885 1t was possible for
any one to become fully naturalized
purgher or the Transvaal after a residence
OF two years and q declaration of allie
glance. Today one may pass ones life
In the Transvaal with the satisfaction of
knowing that ones children born and bred
In the state will be regarded as foreigners
And Kruger Is quite willing to take the
responsibility for this retrograde action
AS rule, It is true. he tells you that the
volksraad is responsible for these meas
ures; but pushed into a corner he will not
deny his Initiative. At the back Of his
mind there is the Justification. aptly
phrased by his chief Hollander adviser. AS
the flood rises, we build the bikes higher
1 can say nothing as to kruger's piety
He belongs to the strictest sect of Cal
vinists. is proud even Of being 'Dopper."
1t is worth while to explain this word be-
cause 1t shows the extremely close relation
ship that exists between the Beers and the
English. "Dopper' comes from "dop"
which Is the German "topf." a bowl and is
supposed to apply to this sect of religion
lists, because they wore their hair as If
the barber had put bowl upon their heads
and cut around it. According to this deriva-
..roundhead" would be an almost perfect
translation of "dopper."
Paul Kruger is not only a sectary, but
also preacher Of considerable eminence
Almost opposite his house there stands q
'TDopper Church, and there President
Kruger often holds forth to the intense
edification of the faithful. In truth, there
Is a good deal of the orator in Dom Paul
and not little of the actor rs we'll AS
Cromwell is said to have been an epiieptic
so this Boer Cromwell is something of
neuropath. Had he been educated, he
would have shown a subtle and wide intel
ligence. Even now. according to Chief Jus
tice kotze, he will discuss such questions as
immortality and the benefcence of the
Deity with a singularly fair appreciation of
the arguments that make against his own
belief, which he nevertheless recurs to- as
If yielding to an overpowering instinct de-
veloped through generations of pious fore
bears.