Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-25
RESICKA7/O or PRESIDENT KRUGER.

W "@0SO6US HnOO6H.
In view of the strained relations be-
tween England and the Transvaal the
resignation of President Kruger, an
nounced today, will excite a great deal of
interest the world over. In many re-
spects the president of the Boer republic
lated affairs with an ability and courage
that commands attention, though it can
scarcely be said that his work will elicit
approval when measured by the impair
tial Judgment of mankind.
1t is the popular idea that the old gem
tleman has made something of a martyr
of himself in resisting the encroachments
of England. and the world has patted him
on the back for shaking his fist at the
queen, as it were. But E%ngland's atti-
tude is largely misunderstood She is not
seeking to wrest territory from the Beers
or subject them to indignities in the line
of rulelship, but she is merely claiming
for the Outlanders in the Transvaal the
same rights and privileges enjoyed by the
Beers themselves.
The men who built Johannesburg, who
, have opened up the great mining interests
of that country, who constitute about
four-fifths of the population and pay per-
haps nine-tenths of the taxes, are prac-
ticahy without a voice in shaping the af-
fairs of a country which they redeemed
| from hopeless poverty and made one of
! continent. With no rights in the matter
Of levying taxes or e%Xpending the
taxes when collected, with school facili-
ties of the most primitive and inefficient
type, With the right of trial by their peers
denied them, with no voice in municipal
affairs, and with the right to hold public
meetings tabooed by the Beers, the Out
landers-the brains and enterprise of the
country-are practically enslaved.
The English government would LIBERAL
ize the affairs of the republic and give to
the mixed population of that country an
opportunity to be heard-the right to pro-
tect their interests from the oppressor
AS the Tr%ansvaal republic owes its ex-
istence to an agreement with England
which provides that all white inhabitants
shall enjoy equal rights, the interior
ence with the affairs of Dom Paul is
timely.
President Kruger precipitated a feeling
of uneasiness by rejecting the overtures
of England, looking to the adoption Of a
plan that would insure equal rights and
make that country what it purports to bt
"a republic. To the student of affairs i
is plain that the hard headed old poten'
tate who ruled over the Beers feared thai
his powers would be weakened through &
broadening of the scope of popular rights
It is stated thai his resignation Of The
presidency is based on the refusal of tht
volksraad to give him a free hand as t
the dynamite monopoly" This may NEAR
much or little. The men who have beer
developing the mineral of thu
country at Johannesburg have been com
PEELED to pay twice the market value fol
dynamite and presumably an attempt OF
the part of the volksraad to equalize thi!
matter has cut off one of President Kru
gers sources of revenue and led him t.
resign in disgust. Until more details ar,
attainable, however, the true cause o
his resignation must be guessed at rathe
than definitely specified. That it will lea,
to more liberal avs and a better condi
ton of affairs in the Transvaal may wei
be imagined.