The Washington weekly post., 1900-04-03
Talk with Mr..Dayis,

| Win Davis,
When asked why he had resigned. Mr..
| Davis last evening said to The Post re-
porter:
! i nave to-day rendered my resignation
10 the President as Assistant Secretary of
| the Interior because of the deep sympatbv
Whlch feel for the struggling people Of
me Sonth African republic and the Orange
/ Free State.
1 Will say that l went to Africa with
o'l pidS or prejudice either in regard to
the f-hgliSh or the Beers What impelIed
me 10 take the trip was the fact that Col
j. u. stone, the American consul general
! AT cape Town, had urged ne for several
years 10 paw him visit. Col Stone is nv
/ personal friend, and we were neighbors
when we lived in Kansas Citv. rad
1 LeVer asked for leave of absence in the
three years during which / filled ,be nosi-
tion OF Assistant Secretary, and | felt that
L had earned vacation. when ar tie
! clcse OF the Ohio campaign, | returned 10
washington on the verge of Il break
dcwn ana my physicians told me TO take
good rest. II then occurred to me 10
redeem my promise 10 Col. Stone, and
accordlnSly requested the President and
the Secretary of the Interior to grant me
the desired leave, which was kindly ex
tended.
On my arrival in Cape Town I was most
heartily welcomed by Sir Alfred Milner
and the British officials, and every possi
Ole courtesy was extended to me nm
/ sought and unexpected, although il was
perfectly well known that ] was there
merely for health and recreation I cav
everything worthy Of note In Cape Town
Dut having gone so far | concluded 10
extend my visit 10 the Boer REPUBLICS, foT.
/ had SO far seen and heard ONLY one
side of the case.
Wanted 10 see and Hear Both sides.
i was advised rot 20 90. and on every
hand was told that the Eys.rs would not
have sufficient intelligence to distinguish
an American from an Englishran. and
that my fate would certainly be some
thing direful. / had made up NV MIND
however. 10 see both sides. and TO hear
the Boer version Of the controversy
which had led TO such bloody conclusions
had learned that the cable and nrass
service, as well as the mails. was under
the control Of the British and that MOTH
ing was permitted TO reacn the outside
world except what il suited The British
censor 10 pass urder his blue pencil.
therefore drew the natural inference that
the Boer side was Tot getting properly
before the public.
AT Lourenco Marquee / was cordially
received by the governor and governor
general OF the Portuguese province OF
Mozambique " hiie there a telegram
from Secretary Reitz. of the South Afri-
can Republic, was placed in my hands
inviting me 20 be the guest Of the govern
ment and informing me that President
kruger's private car would be al my dis
pOsal 10 take me 10 Pretoria
When ] accepted the invitation I did
so In the same spirit in which I acoepfef
the courtesy OF Sir Alfred Milner and the
governor general OF the Portuguese nroy-
ince. j could see no wrong in visiting the
land of the Beers when no wrong was
charged in my visiting the British
My receptisn at Pretoria did not ma
terially differ from that accorded me al
the other places named. was met a. the
station by prominent B0er officials head
ed by Secretary Reitz, and cordially wei
coined. | was driven 10 the hotel. and
was shown everything noteworthy IN and
about the capital OF the republic / then
visited Bloemfontein and the Free State.
Given Every Facility 10 Learn Facts,
Il WAS given every facility 20 make OBJ
servafions. and 1 saw the people OF the
twin republics under all conditions. I Was
CONTINUED oS THIRD PAGE