The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-31
ENGLAND FACES A CRISIS
New Years Day VIII Be a Gloomy
One in the Kingdom.
NEEDS AMERICAS HELP
Friendship OF the United States Sud-
denly Becomes o Thing o Price
less Value-A Day OF Reck-
oning Tor Sons One.
1899 by Associated Press

that as the New I ear daWnS LOT ETedl
Britain the greatest army she ever put
in the field remains passive in South
Africa held at bay by two of the
smallest republics On the face of the
earth. while at home, in spite of the
large volume of trade and apparent
prosperity, her financial interests are
in a state of insta bility, not seen since
the Barring crash. Ali Europe is yelp-
Ing at her heels. and the necessity for
Americas friendship is recognized on
ell sides. Papers and people that for
years have been ready with jibe for
America good will no longer make any
attempt to belittle the desirability of
securing her friendship.
America" says the Globe, usually
humorous at the expense of all things
transatlantic, with a crop of 542, Co.,
900 bushels, is especially in position to
help U.S."
The economic shoe already begins to
pinch the military foot. Not very sert-
ously, but enough to suggest grave
cogitations as to what would happen
If Great Britain would war with
great power. The fact that the gov
eminent has chartered SO many trans
ports has resulted in rise in the pr ce
Of bread stuffs. while coal is rising by
leaps and bounds to famine prices 1t
is such unpleasant results as these that
silence the scoffer at things Ameri-
can and induce such a vituperatiVe
publication as the Saturday Review to
say:
1.-THE Americans have had Their eyes
open as to the possibilities of a for
eign policy and are taking sounder,
besides a cooler view of the situation.
They are not less friendly to us than
~. 111 Il n-
been eliminated and has left a reliable
sub-strata of good WILL" which concat-
enation the Saturday Review, under
different circumstances would doubt
less have construed into damning evil
dence of the insincerity of American
friendship
1t must not be inferred that this view
is held by many of the sincere Eng
lish friends Of America who now point
to what they are pleased to term it's
great friendliness as proof of what they
have always maintained.
With such serious outlook for the
coming year, it is hardly surprising
that articles appear under the heading,
Are We Decadent?' and similar
strains.
On the other hand. there is still a
small section of the press and public
which devotes its energies to senseless-
~ abusing the Beers and prophesying
the speedy entry of the British into
Pretoria. Yet on the whole, the organs
voicing the better class of opinion,
face 1900 and its eventualities in South
Africa with an even minded, unhys-
terical determination that compels ad-
miration That there will be day of
reckoning for some one is a certainty
that even the most guarded and con-
servative do not try to conceal.
Whether 1t be Lord Lansdowne Lord
Wolseley or General Butler, it is impos-
sible to tell. But all the information
obtainable at present and the slst OF
criticisms point to Lord Lansdowne
having to shoulder the onus for the
terrible mismanagement.
While Great Britain feeds content
eddy upon long special cables showing
American friendship, the Boer agents
in Europe believe sentiment in the
United States has been gradually turn
ing Boerward until the time is now
ripe to develop it into material effect
Under this impression the associated
press learns they are contemplating
dispatching special mission to the
United States for the purpose of IN
fiuencing public opinion, possibly by
open meetings and by personally as
sisting the efforts of those in congress
whom they believe friendly. Moreover
they consider 1t advisable to offset
what they declare has been system
attic campaign of John Hays Hammond
the American engineer who was
member of the Johannesburg reform
committee, to influence Washington
opinion. If the plans now under con
eideration are carried out the mission
will include a very prominent Boel
agent and a pro-Boer member of tht
British parliament, who intended tc
sail this week, but was prevented by
what is thought to be temporary
hitch in the arrangements. Their de
sire is to affiliate themselves with nj
particular party, but influencing poit'
ical and public opinion to secure a.
least an offer of mediation from the
United States.
A representative of the associated
press has made careful inquiries, bu
failed to find any circumstances II
warrant the belief that such an offer
however made. would receive TIL
slightest consideration.
The British government Is threat
ened with a coal famine, the most Sc
rious development of recent weeks
Unless the situation improves many in
dustrial concerns depending on tn
coal supply may have to suspend op
erations before February, as their mar
gin of profit is rapidly being wipe'
out The root of the trouble appear
to be withdrawal of SO many collier
to take their places in the ranks o
the reserves. Wages have gone uT
but labor is hard to find. The Christ
mas congestion of traffic aggraVate
the situation while the government
uGtu oI IutI lOl u 9POA So 49,
and depots on the way to the Cape ha
created an unprecedented demand.
Thomas Kite, the old parish clerk c
Shakespeare parish, is dead. He wa
81 years of age and succeeded his ia
ther and grandfather a half centur
ago and was well known to all dram
attic celebrities.
Senior wrangler bids fair to becom
thing of the past at Cambridge, tn
board of mathematics having recon
mended the abolition of this covete
distinction in the future. If the senat
agrees as is probable, the wrang!er
will all be classed alphabetically an
none will be known who is the clever
est mathematician of the year. Fo
this honor men have worked then
selves crazy and 1t has been secure
by some of the most prominent figure
in English history.
The death of Dwight l.. Moody