The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-11-18
CECIL RHODES IS RESPONSIBLE.

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an Anglomaniac will deny. The In
vestors' Review, OF London, which is
edited by A. ]. Wilson, the foremost
financial authority in England, con-
tanned an editorial article just
before the outbreak OF hostili-
ties in which the unqualified
statement was made that the object
OF the war on the British side was ex-
Iactly the same as that of the Jameson
raid OF three years previously. peace
means ruin to the Chartered Company"
wrote Mr.. Wilson, and he gave an array
OF facts and figures to support his state
ment. The Chicago Tribune, comment
ing on his article, says:
AS financial expert, Mr. Wilson de-
clares the British South Africa Com
pany, headed by Cecil Rhodes, to be a
gigantic swindle He says the attempt
to seize the Transvaal is the last des-
perate move OF the Chartered Company
to save itself from collapse, or at least
to founder in decent kind OF way
amid the confusion that lost battles and
a civil war in Cape Colony and Natal
would bring about" Thus the unscru-
puous money clique plays to viii"
whatever happens Its paramount anx-
iety is to avoid making any reports Of
its financial rottenncss.
Leaving out of account the promoters
$Io,ooo,ooo, with which the company
started, it has received from the British
investing public $s5ooo 900, for which
it has practically nothing to show. Its
assets are all unstable. Its estimated
deficit Tor last year was $2,65ooo and
Tor the current year $4,000 900, which
must be added to the similar deficits OF
previous years running high into the
millions. Its visible assets consist OF
shares in the Bechuanaland railway, to
which it has lent 100000; of shares in
the Mashonaland railway nominally
worth $1,15o 900; OF shares in the South
Africa newspaper, nominally valued at
$I,773.575, and in shares in gold mining
enterprises in Rhodesia, noninally
worth something over S. ,ooo,o 900. 1t has
advanced over $1,000, 900 to public cor
porations in the territory. 1t has spent
over 100000 on concessions" which
Mr. Wilson sets down as promoters
fees. 1t disbursed Sic. 100000 in the
Matabele war; Besides, it is under con-
tract to pay $4,000 year for ten years
to the Bechuanaland Railway Company,
and it guarantees 5 per cent interest for
twenty years or more on $22, 100000 Of
debenture bonds OF the two railways
before named Up to March, 1893, it
had disbursed over SIS 100000 1t is
now approaching two years since any
meeting OF the stockholders has been
called Its mines and railways are un-
productive; Rhodesia is wilderness
without an outlet to the sea.
Mr.. Wilson shows how the Chartered
Company's money has been flowing out
at hundred holes, while none has been
coming in. He positively asserts that
the war is primarily intended to keep
the company on its legs and give it a
new lease OF life by the acquisition OF
the Transvaal gold mines, or at least to
conceal its bankrupt condition for a
time. Not the least significant portion
OF the Indictment is the implication Of
London social leaders and government
officials:
LEFT to its own devices and resources
it can do nothing but go bankrupt and
confess that it has been miserable
imposturc from the start But that
would be lamentable catastrophe in a
variety OF ways. and not least in the
deadly blow it would deal to West End
society. The bankruptcy OF the Char
tered Company, we might go so far as
to say, would produce consequences SO
iar-reacl,ing as almost to touch the
steps OF the throne itself Anything
the most abominable and immoral OF
wars-in the opinion of the people i'm
plicatcd in this Gargantuan hoax, would
therefore be better than an open dec
laration OF insolvency."
The high authority OF this indictment
the evidence cited, the unanimous testi-
mony OF South Afrikanders to the same
effect all tend to prove that the Trans
wall war is simply the Jameson raid
writ large" The desperate state oil
Rhodes financial affairs is unquestion-
able. The kecnness OF his interest i'll
the war is undisguised.
Cecil Rhodes ambition, backed tip by
the unprincip1ed Chamberlain, is respon-
sible for all the blood to be shed in
the South African war. 1t may be that
the Beers will capture the conspirato,
and confiscate his property before the
war is at an end. He admitted his
acquiescence in the Jameson raid and
undoubtedly aided the freebooters
Chamberlain was also in the plot, and
had he not been shielded by his col
leagues in the ministry at the time Of
the raid, the whole world would know
his duplicity and hold him in supreme
contempt. These two British worthless
have brought on the war, and do moi
want peace at any price. Conyngham
Greene, the British representative al