The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-22
RHODES sT|Rs ENGLAND
Is the Biggest Man in the King
dom To-Day.
GREAT AFRICAN RAILROAD
Great Britain Is Tightening Her Grip on
Northern Africa nglishmen Want
to Name Governor for
the Philippines.
Copyright 1899 by Associated Press.

TO shake to its foundations whenever Ce-
Gil Rhodes steps foot on the island. He
| Is the biggest man in the kingdom to-
day. Peers, cabinet ministers, promoters
with Munchausen schemes, duchesses
craving for tips on "Kaffirs" or South
African securities, workmen who cher
| ish dreams Of emigration and bishops So
| licitous for African securities, haunt his
hotel and beg for even the briefest inter-
views as if he had already realized his as
| piration. The popular mind credits him
4 with being the potentate of the African
| continent
The cabinet met to-day to discuss Mr..
| Rhodes scheme for guarantees of the
Cape to Cairo railroad and telegraph.
| Mr.. Rhodes afterwards conferred with
Joseph Chamberlain, secretary of state.
| for the colonies and Sir Michael Hicks
Beach, the chancellor of the exchequer
Mr.. Rhodes says e1OOO0,00O will cover the
entire cost of the work and there is little
doubt that he will carry his point with
the government and raise all the money
he needs in this city.
Before the projectors can act there will
be Formally in the shape of parlia-
mentary bill, but the imperialists may be
| asked to drive the so-called Little Eng
landers,' who are preparing an opposi-
| ton to the scheme. declaring that the
Rhodesian empire is making for a gigan-
| tic fiasco and that Mr.. Rhodes wants the
government to lift him out of the hole
| by throwing good money after bad into
railroad through a wilderness. They
| also find a coincidence in Mr.. Rhodes
| homecoming and the revival of news
paper outburste against the Beers OPP
preston of British subjects in the Trans
| Vaal. !.
BY slow steps, SO as not to arouse the
toll
| in pursuance of definite plan. Great
Britain is tightening her grip on North
Africa. The Egyptian convention, so far
| as the Soudan is concerned, accomplish
ed all that those who prodded the Mar
quis of Salisbury to declare protector
! rate could have expected. Great Britain
no longer governs through the khedve.
| She becomes co-equal ruler and ignores
the mixed tribunals This means that
! the governor general is responsible only
| to Downing street and parliament.
| The comment of the Liberte of Paris
| that Great Britain does not annex the
Soudan-she palms it like a sleight-of-
| hand professors a specimen of the
spirit in which France. already incensed
at Great Britain, regards Great Britain's
| progress toward absolute sovereignty in
! Egypt.
| Samoa commands but small interest in
| Great Britain and the belief seems to
prevail that the dispatches magnify the
! Importance of the consuls' battles and
that Germany will manage to gracefully
| disavow the acts of her agents.
diplomat remarked that Germany is
filling for the United States the role that
i Russia has played in the eyes of the An
| glo-Saxon, the conspirator TO be looked
| for behind every war cloud. The British
government however, welcomes the Sa-
moan incident another link of the An
glo-American understanding which they
are so DESTROYS of fostering.
British investors in the Philippines are
ignorant of American politics and are Sc
riosly discussing the possibility of Pres
| ident Mckinley appointing an English
man to govern the islands They argue
that it is impossible to find in America
an experienced administrator acquainted
with the character of the Filipinos. and
suggest the name of Ex-Governor Creagh
of British Borneo, who Is now living In
England as being eminently qualified and
willing to take the post. Some hnanciers
are beginning to take a gloomy view of
the future of the Philippines.
| Ernest Ruffert, head of a Lombard
street house, who bought large tracts of
land about Manila, said to a representa-
tive of the associated press: 1.-The land is
useless under the present conditions. We
could not plant crops with the possibility
of the natives destroying them over
night. The United States will be unable
| to rule more than the fringe of the is
lands without an army of 100000 men.
They might buy the native leaders, but
they would not stay bought, and the
United States must re-buy them periodi-
cally The end of the matter will be that
the United States will sell the Philip
pines"
A majority of the London spectators
handling American stocks have been bad
ly bitten through pinning their faith to
the prevailing idea that a reaction and
drop in prices must soon come. This
prediction has been fostered by the finan-
cha. papers. For weeks they have been
declaring that the phenomenal advances
were artificial and could not possibly be
| maintained, speaking of the boom sarcas-
tically in such terms as 1.-The American
mania" The result has been that many
professionals have been caught in the
| bear SIDE selling Americans for a fall
| which failed to materialize. They found
that the heavy selling of the Venezuelan
and free silver periods had not left
| enough stocks here to meet their orders,
| and they were forced to buy in at adj
vanced prices. The stock exchange here
adheres to the opinion that the boom will
be over soon, that the ebb will set in in
the natural course of events and that it
cannot be far distant. To-
tone. points out that the unprecedented
amount of American capital employed in
Europe, ten or fifteen millions. chiefly in
London and Berlin, may be withdrawn at
it's owners pleasure and that possibly
American speculation will become so ram
pant that the owners will recall their
money and invest it there. The papers
| fear serious shipments to New York
would send up rates in Europe.
Great Britain presents vivid contrast
between the potency of civic and military
| fame. To put it boldly, Gladstone dead Is
| quoted at $4,000 in the memorial market,
while Kitchener alive easily commands
| Gl2,OO0 sterling. The promoters of the
Gladstone memorial, who expected to Sc
cure e200000 to establish libraries in the
principal cities through popular contribu-
tons, are greatly depressed at the futile
appeals to the people. For several months
these appeals have resulted in collecting
only one-tenth of this amount