The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-24

prolific. She Is inert bodily and mentally.
quickly grown old and very obese The
Boer women are shrewd, but ignorant and
unimaginative they are personally un-
cleanly and poor housekeepers indeed.
there is very little housekeeping attempted.
On the outside, or country, farms. the
houses are of sunburned brick with earthen
floors, usually smeared with beef blood or
cowdung. OF course the household of Pre-
toria are modified by civilized association.
and among the town Beers there Is a
general disposition TO educate the children
and ornament the homes. These efforts
are, II still somewhat crude, yet praise
worthy.
Personally, I like the country Boer better
than his brother of the town. with his
thin veneering of manners and his corrupt
morals. The town Beers are OF a different
stamp from the country Beers. especially
the younger generation, who, having been
sent abroad for their education, have a
certain degree of polish. and in many cases
pay for this by the sacrifice of some of the
primitive virtues of their fathers. Between
these young educated Beers and the i'm
ported politicians from Holland there has
been a growing jealousy-the young Boer
thinking himself fitted TO occupy the gov
ernmental offices filled by these placemen
of the DIR. Leyds stripe. The imported
political i%ntriguer, realizing the increasing
danger from the younger Beers apprecia-
ton of the situation and increasing hostil-
ity to the existing order, sought TO divert
attention by a liberal incubation of the
'H0os ~ tho~ "oS
the collision which was sooner or later
inevitable between the progressive party
and the old oligarchy.
There are other Boer characteristic
which are interesting. They are not a
quarrelsome people. nor are they vindic-
tive towards each other. The most revolt
ing feature Of the Beers character is his
black man, or native, has always been a
natural enemy marked by od-th son
of Cain. and soulless. He was a thing to be
conquered and tanned for burden-bearing,
and he was exterminated. or subjected and
used as a beast of burden, beyond the pale
OF humanity. The treatment of negroes In
Boer prisons is something too horrible TO
be forgotten If once witnessed.
NOT REAL FREEDOM.
The Boer ENJOYS who have been so
courteously welcomed by Mayor Van Wyck,
OF New York (who, like many Boer adj
mirers in this country, has a name of
Dutch extraction, and little else in common
with them). speak much of liberty and
independence, and intrude themselves into
a close relationship with their big brother,
the American Republic To a people so
generous and quick-hearted as ourselves
there is & catching pathos in their simple
appeal for sympathy. and the impulsive
ones among us are ready to take active
measures towards their succor. A little re-
Election, a little sober examination of the
facts, will convince the most enthusiastic
of these partisans that between the Trans
vail Republic" and the Republic of the
United States there is no parallel but in
name. Our national code of morals is in
no way akin to the ethics of the Transvaal
Republic. We offer a home to the in
dustrious; we give equal rights to all men,
the negro included; we give representation
TO the taxpayer. the franchise to immi-
grants after a very short residence, and the
a.
TO every governmental office save that of
President. Our democratic form of govern
ment represents, in the highest degree,
individual liberty and freedom as far as it
is consistent with the rights of others.
AS against this system of government,
the Beers have carried their desire for
freedom and liberty to the extreme of
license. They resent, collectively and in
mental control, and they are especially
antagonistic to attempts to raise revenue,
of themselves or their property. by taxa
ton. The great trek of 1886 attests this,
and the history of the Dutch settlers in
South Africa, prior to English occupation,
proves conclusively their ineradicable
hatred of governmental control n their
great aversion to being incorporated into
the body polite and thereby being COM
PEELED. on account of community of inter-
ests. to defray the cost of government.
This very desire for individual liberty, to
the extent of absolute lack of response
bility and obligation TO the community in
which they reside. has made it always i'm
possible for the Beers of the Transvaal
type to maintain unaided a permanent
government.
While ii is true that America-the asylum
of all distressed people-would accord a
hearty welcome to the Beers, ii is none
the less true that the Beers would not find
their environments here at all congenial.
Their conception of liberty would render
irksome to them even the few restraints
and the few obligations imposed by this
country upon its citizens.