The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-30
ARMY SCANDALS.
They Take Precedence in Mind
of British Public
Displacing War Movements in
Africa and Asia.
KID GLOVED WARRIORS
Are Making the English People
Very Weary.
Khedive's Arrival Gives Boom
to Social Gaiety.


copyright, 1900. by Associated Press.l |
London June 3O-The yellow Peril"
as the Chinese crisis is now called here,
is for the moment relegated to second
place Public interest in the hospital
scandals in South Africa so absorbs at
tention that no attempt of official quib-
bling can suppress it. The treatment of
thousands Of wounded and fever stricken
British soldiers in the field threatens
to become as serious a matter for public
agitation as the military camps We're
after the Standardization war.
If Lord Roberts was not so frankly
willing to shoulder the major part of the
responsibility the cutlery which Mr..
Burdett-Coutts' letters raised would
well nigh have swamped the govern
ment- But, few people care TO seriously
Criticise the successful general whose
consideration for his men, especially the
wounded, is a by word in the army and
elsewhere.
The action of Lord Lansdowne, the
secretary of state for war, in submit
ting the criticism of Lord Roberts him
self was a master stroke of politics
which temporarily saved the govern
ment's head. However, if the proposed
parliamentary committee finds the war
office failed to adopt necessary medical
precautions it will take the conservatives
a long time to re-establish their pres
tige with the thousands in Great Brit
ain who have suffered bitterly through
the loss and illness of relatives in
South Africa. 1t has been hard enough
for those bereaVed to grin and bear
the long casualty lists, but, with the
suspicion that lives were needlesSly
wasted there is no longer any restraint
to their sorrow or limit to their indig
nation.
SIGN OF THE TIMES.
A significant sign of the times is the
~ -,E N1,.,
Nineteenth Century that some of the
most distinguished men regardless of
party, have agreed to join an associa-
ton with the object of fixing steadily
public attention on the lessons of the
war, foremost among which is the neces-
sity for examining the defenses of the
empire and the need of conducting the
various departments of state on or
binary business principles.
Among those who have promised to
become members are Lord Rosebery,
the Earl of Leven and Melville, the Earl
of Rose, the Earl of ClanWilliam, Wis
count Peel, the bishop of London fhe
Right Rev. Mandeu Creighton, D. ID,
Cardinal Vaughan. Sir Wemiss Reid,
Sir Howard Vincent and large num-
Der of members of the house of COM
mons and army officers.
Viscount Deerhurst, colonel of a vol
unteer battalion of the Worcester regi-
ment, who married an American, Miss
Virginia Bonynge, daughter of Mr..
Charles w. BOnynge, formerly of San
F'rancisco) in testifying before a parlia-
mentary committee this week, brought
home with startling force, the rotten
ness of the materials supplied to the
army. He declared that after paying
an extra price for shoes for the bat
TALON, after one march they were like
paper bags, with shreds of leather in
side" and you could easily put your
finger through the majority of the
sOles."
KID GLOvED WARRIORS.
n q 10
Harry Beaumont. one of the best dress
ed London club men, who married Miss
Jessie Fellows, of New York, and went
TO South Africa as an officer of the
Cheshire yeomanry 1t is said that he
Tequisitioned BOer house for his own
use, but, before occupying it. he show
cred the building with insect powder"
and "drenched it with eau de cologne"
How tired the people of England are
becoming of such kid glOved methods Of
warfare could be judged the other night
when Sir Evelyn Wood, the adjutant
general to the forces, who is VIGOROUSLY
influenced by feminine advice, received
q hostile reception at the hands of such
a broad minded body as the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers.
Somewhat on these lines Sir Claude
Mcdonald, the British minister to China
is coming in for criticism. It is fire.
quently said that he is a better hand at
afternoon teas than in preserving the
empires interests in China. A local pa
per at Tien Tsin once said it was evil
dent Sir Claude's motto was: i do not
care what her flag is so long as she is
fair"
1t is not generally known that last
September Sir Claude Mcdonald was
suffering so much from heart disease
and other complications that he could
scarcely walk a hundred yards
SOCIAL GAIETY REIGNS.
Real social gaiety reigned this week
uor the first time this season. Hereto
fore the festivities have been few and
Tar between and of a rather forced or
der. But during the last few days what
with the arrival of the Khedive of
Egypt, bazaars, entertainments and
countless dinners London has taken on
ats old-time aspect for this time of the
year. The Americans here have taken
q conspicuous share in the festivities
Mrs. Mackays house, which has so long
been closed on account of mourning in
The family was reOpened Thursday with
a concert Mrs. Mackay received her
guests at the top of the historic stair
case, which once was in an Italian pal
ace She was dressed very simply in
black her ornaments consisting Of a
Jew costly black pearls. With her was
her daughter, the Princess Colonna and
her daughter-in-law Mrs Clarence
Mackay. who was much admired. in
white and silver with mauve orchids
and diamond tiara with turquoise
points.
Mr.. William Waldorf Astor who also
lives in Carlton house terrace gave a
musicale the same night at which his
numerous guests heard Nine Calye and
PadereWski.
Republicans Alert at Concordia.