The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-13
THINKS KRUGER A
SECOND CROMWELL
An Esglish Editors Study Of the Fam
Gus Transvaal President.
HAS REAL GENIUS FOR COMMAND
He Is Honest in u Peculiar Way.
Loves Truth, But Does Not Always
Keep His WOrd...Believes and
Practices Calyinism.

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 care
fully and talked with all the prominent
men. both Dutch and English. His OBJ
servations and conclusions are of value
and the series Of signed articles which
he is contributing to the Review will at
tract much attention. The first OF these
articles 10 headed President Kruger as
he is" and runs as follows:
There have been so many word por-
traits Of Paul Kruger. 50 many con-
Trajectory accounts of his motives and
objects. that a man with new impress
sion Of him may feel some difiidence In
putting 1t forward. But after all. the
character Of a ruler Is discovered by
invasions and rebellions. and It 10 easier
now to see Kruger as he Is than 1t was
a year ago.
Speaking roughly. one Is able to div
ide 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 a sort Of Boer Cromwell--un-
lettered. II Is true. and unacQuatnted
with the conditions of modern life. but
gifted with the faculties Of leader
and ruler of the people-couraseous.
honest, pious. '-
The picture Of him given by his de-
tractors, on the other hand. Is not so
consistent or clear in outline; the fea-
lures are blurred by contradictions or
dehumanised by exaggeration; but II
that cannot give us recognizable or
even u possible portrait of the man 1t
can put forward facts and arguments
which make one believe that this VII
lage Cromwell Is q more complex. and.
therefore. a more human and interest
ing II less ethically perfect being than
his worshippers imagine.
AS TO HIS HONESTY.
"You call Kruger honest and disin-
terested." cry his adversaries. with q
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 II one in defense adduces the fact
that President Kruger has always
saved seven -eighths of his salary and
invested his savings in farms near Jo-
hannesburg and Pretoria. which have
increased thirty fold In value in tine
last decade-if, in fact. one shows that
Kruger's wealth has been dishonest, he
could easily have been worth as many
millions as he Is now worth hundreds
of thousands, his adversaries, instead
OF admitting the argument, go on to
point out that Kruger has winked at
bribes taken by his relatives and dis
tributed monopoles among his friends.
and that the administration of the
Tranvaal government Is dishonorably
distinguished by Incompetence and cor
ruption.
This government differs from all
other governments" said financier to
me the other day in johannesburg. "tn
that here you have to buy not only the
masters, but the men. If you want a
document from a government depart
ment, you have to distribute flyers
to the clerks In order to get 1t In any
reasonable time"
All this is probably true. 1t must be
remembered. however, In extenuation
that the Beers, few thousand ignorant
farmers, scattered over a great terri
tory, have had in the last ten years to
constitute a government. which should
be able to handle all the details Of q
complex modern civilization. a civil
ization, too, that has grown, and Is
growing with unexampled rapidity.
Eight years ago there was open veldt
dotted with half a dozen makeshift
tents and twenty or thirty bullock wag-
ons where today stands the town Of
johannesburg. with its 100000 inhabi-
tants, its streets Of brick and stone. its
club. its newspaper offices and its min
ing exchanges.
The forty miles Of veldt along the
Rand, which could have been bought in
1885 for a few thousand pounds, Is now
worth over f3OO, 10000 Men who ten
years ago were struggling clerks or
needy adventures are today million
aire mine owners. whose names are
mentioned with respect in every Eu-
ropean capital. Temptations beget
faults. and a society that has suddenly
shot up from poverty to riches can
scarcely hope to be distinguished for
honesty.
WINKS AT BRIBERY.
It Is sufficient, surely, to say, here