Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-13
/ SOMETHING ABOUT 0UTLANDERS

There are very few rich Outlanders.
This may seem IA remarkable statement,
put it is gospel truth. The real Out
lander is a hardWorkinS man of business,
VINO just manages to make both ends
meet and sometimes-only sometimes
makes a d or two on the share
market.
The current picture in the English
press of the stage Outlander'- il one
may use that term-is absurdly erroneE
GUS. He is rarely a well-to-do man,
and, with a few trifiing exceptions, never
a millionaire. y.
The ridiculous vaporingS of ill-infornl-
ed scribes protest ingeniously that since
we are fighting the T~ransvaal we are
fighting in the interests Of Capel Court
and Park Lane. Nothing could be more
silly or nexact. ,
The simple truth is contained in a
short sentence which canno be too fore
IDLY driven home to those who labor ul-
der the impression that Outlander is a
ynonym for plutocrat. Nine out of ev-
cry ten men in Johannesburg are poor
men. Really poor, mind you, studying
economy in every form, stinting them
selves of everything save the barest ne
cessities and struggling. veritably strug-
Cling, to maintain an appearance OF COM
parative prosperity. This is in ordi-
nary times, too. Not in war times. nor
in boom times, when every one is a bit
! above himself.
Between 1886 and 1899 there have been
four or possibly five. "booms,' and then
money was made by a good many. Only,
however. to be lost again by all save the
richest folk. For the disastrous policy
nursing the baby" seems to be the
special p~rerogative of those who can
least we'll afford to indulge in that ex-
pensive pastime.
The rich folks who are quoted in sea-
son n out of season particularly in
the fOrmer) as typical Outlanders are
not by any means fair examples. Taken
by and large, they are not more than
a score of milionaires, and a couple Of
hundred who have done passably well.
Deduct these 220 men from the white
EurOpean) population of johannesburg
say 30,OOO-and a residium is left OF
27.1S0 men, who are the real Outlanders,
and are poor men at that.
These are of all classes. trades and
professions-doctors. lawyers, miners.
sayer surveyors, clerks. shOpkeperS
and the like. Wages are high, it is true.
A carpenter in the mines gets his pound
a shift. A decent clerk "a n command
$50 a month. But expenses are in pro-
portion. Rent is terribly high. food is
also expensive; clothes. cabs, servants.
books n amusements are treble what
they are at home. The club subscrip-
ton is one guinea a month, with an en-
rance fee. originally $50. then raised to
$50 and afterward G1OO, but 81 subsequent
ly brought down to the lower figure.
Nothing is cheap save tobacco n mea-
lies. The smallest current coin is a tick
ey (three penny piece). Coppers are un-
known.
There is another important item which
!. is generally overlooked in European
Judgment of the average Outlander.
With hardly one exception, none of the
! men whose wives dresses, carriages and
horses are quoted as typical came to the
Rand as poor men; practically all Of
them had amasSed fortunes, differing in
amount, but none OF them by any means
contemplate, in Kimberley, in the good
old days when diamonds were diamonds.
and De Beers was not the devOuring
monopolist 'of to-day. THE Old KIM
berley crowd" which comprises the much
maligned magnates of Park Lane and
elsewhere, only augmented their wealth
in johannesburg; none of them original
ed it there.
1t is generally known, or, indeed,
if known at all, that during the present
crisis very many men of repute, honor
and integrity on the Rand have had to
borrow money from friends in order to
send away their wives and families to
places of security in the Cape Colony and
Natal? Surely not, or a little more kind
ly compassion would be evinced. The
Outlander. broadly speaking, is just an
ordinary hard working man of business.
who. seeing a quicker ~turnOver for his
work, or maybe for his small capital. in
Johannesburg than elsewhere. has
thought fit (and who shall say him Mayo
to settle down in the Transvaal, to pay
five-sixthS of the taxes or the country
to put up the countless injustices and po-
litical disabilities. and when the burden
becomes too great n he protests, per-
sonally and through his government at
home. is tainted with the opprobious
epithet of-millionaire. 1t is just a lit
tile bit hard and it is 9ery untrue. "Po-
litical helot" he may be-in fact, Sir AL
fred Miner says he is-but millionaire
helOt-neVer.
The rich firms on the Rand fully rec
ognize their responsibility toward the
country in which. by their own astute-
ness and against terrific odds, they have
made their thousands roll up into mill
lions. No charitable occasion is ever
allowed to pass without very substantial
help from them. In fact all Transvaal
charity-and it is, in the aggregate, a
very large item-is entirely Outlander
money. One example will suffice. At
the time of the great dynamite explosion
at VeldSchOendorn, on the outskirts of
Johannesburg, in February, 1896. very
many deaths occurred and scores of
poor folk were seriously injured. BY
chance, not one Englishman suffered.
All the dead and hurt We're poor Beers,
natives, Malays, coolies and Cinnamon.
Within two hours of the happening of
the accident GIo.0OO was subscribed be
tween the chains" by the big firms of tile
town toward the alienation of the suf-
ferers. Every penny was 0utlander
money; no Beers contributed. Paul
Kruger permitted his name to be put at
the head of the subscription list with a
donation of G2o. But he never paid a
penny of the money, in spite of repeated
applications.
Again, the most beneficial charitable
institution in the Rand is the Rev. Mr..
Kelly's Home. Here employment is
found for men out of work, shelter and
food are provided and every deserving
white man he he BOer or BritOn, Is Suc-