Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-02
JOHANNESBURG BEFORE THE WAR;
Prosperous City Where Living Ex-
penses Were Low.

rom the Pail Mall Gazette.
Johannesburg was prosperous Except
for the unemployed. whose condition in
nine cases out Of ten was duo to their own
incompetence and naughtiness Johannes
burg carried good wages. The 1900 miners
of the Rand earned. on a conservative esti-
mate. a least f2O a month; some earned
$40. The officials OF the great companies,
the mining engineers, almost every edu-
Gated or export workman in a position of
trust, could count on an income that ran
into at least four figures In the course of
the year. 1t has been reckoned that of the
5000 Inhabitants of Johannesburg nearly
a third were earning incomes on either side
of 800 a year. Any town all the world over
in which comfortable prosperity was more
evenly distributed would, we take II, be
hard to find. The world went very well
then-even a month ago. During recent
years the cost of living has fallen appre-
cIably. There has. for example, been a de-
cided slump in house rent. For the growth
of Johannesburg has during the last three
years been at standstili. if, indeed the
malign Influence of politics has not checked
or even raralyzed it. a very decent. roomy
house which a few years ago might have
been worth t3D year To its landlord. could
this year have been secured at a rent of
f1o a month. Furnished apartments" in
the most reputable quarters of the town
could be had al the rate OF Il shillings a
week. Time was when the same rooms
brought in nearly treble that amount. Com
petition has made itself felt IN wares Of
every kind Clothing and haberdashery
fetched only about twice the price the same
goods would have commanded in the
Strand There was a decided slump in the
price of foOdstufs. Fresh meat was thanks
to the rinderpest, stu dear but vegetable
food. which used to fetch famine prices
tthere was a time when Il common or edible
cabbage would not change hands under
half a CROWN. was almost as Goals in New
COS tt~itn +s.l. l.,
market was like a horticultural show. The
market gardeners of Johannesburg Ital-
fans for the most part. have shown that
the agrsstic virtues are not Boer mOnOp-
oily. and have incidentally made manifest
what the TranSyaal is. given some measure
Of intelligence, worth agriculturally. Jo-
hannesburg, too, has recently learned TO
brew her own beer, and to brew it we'll
Consequently, in many of her less gorgeous
obstetrics a man might dine we'll and plen-
teousiy, and look for cH ge out of half a
crown. ServantGalism Was. however al
ways an acute problem. German gen
erals'-we refer TO the domestic satellite
not 10 the commanders of Boer artillery
who are TO the outlander an even more ex-
pensive iuxury-couid demand any wage up
10 II month. and. what Is more, get it,
Shortly afterward they always gave no.
tee with a view to matrimony.
OF recent years Johannesburg has taken
good deal Of pride in her personal appear
anCe. Her shops are handsome and well
stocked. and would not suffer from COM
parison with the great establishments of
Paris or Of London. There is little of the
chance conglomeration of galvanized iron
shanties OF the typical mining town about
her main streets. The new general post
office. which occupies the whole of one side
OF the market square; the adjoining offices
OF the Digger's News and the new prem
ises of the Bank of Africa are huge and
substantial enough. Archttecturally they
are one and all an eyesore, but their d.
mensions are imposing. But even before
the outbreak Of the present troubles the
boom in bricks and mortar had been prick
ed. Sites almost as valuable as building
land in the city were desolate Within &
stones throw of the station yawned the
desoIate excavations IN which a grand hotel
was 10 have been erected. In the heart Of
the town there were the beginnings of a
yet larger building. over which a couple of
melancholy cranes steam cranes. brood
d!sconsoiately from their wooden eyries
To cheer them UP, perhaps. some one, pos
s!bly an enterprising advertisement agent,
had hung a couple OF whisky bottles from
! their pendent ends. The streets a month
| or so ago were no longer so crowded as
| thsy were won't to be. The wearers of
| those dainty toilets who made Pritchard
street look Ike Bond street on ane morn
| Ing In the season had hardly had time to
| leave "P. p. c." cards before their men