Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-08-11
T-FII1 &
English Labor and BoeF War. 8

4
! the British isles have attached their
official seals to this document sent out
relative to the war which that coun
try is conducting against the liberty
loving Beers and which contest the
American national administration is
countenancing:
Now tell US all about the war,
And what they killed each other for
Fellow Countrymen-1ou have been
led to believe that the present war
against the Beers is being waged on
/ behalf Of Justice and freedom for in
dustrious Britons. As a matter of fact,
/ President Kruger offered to concede to
the Outlanders as much as the British
government demanded for them. The
outbreak of the war made it clear that
| large proportion of them were not
British subjects at all. According to
Lord Rosmead, the late governor of
the Cape, more than half of the Out
landers were on the side of the Trans
vaal government; and the Cape Times
| Ga war journaD asserts that 8 600 of
them are now fighting against US. In
1897 the gold mining companies of the
Transvaal had an output of Eli, 800
wv, Jul GACI ClbPIOS Vel IAItIC Di'b-
ish labor. and they would employ still
less if they were able to control the
government of the country.
The Real Object of the War
You will naturally exclaim: There
must have been some real object in
the war" Yes, there was; it is war
waged by capitalists with the OBJECT of
gaining greater profits through cheap
''nigger labor" We shall prove this
out of their own mouths. A meeting
of the Consolidated Gold Fields COM
pany. of South Africa, " was held at
the Cannon street. hotel, London.
Nov. IA. 1899, and is fully reported in
the Financial News, of Nov. 81. Lord
| Harris, the chairman, stated That upon
| the working capital of t2. 147 600 the
profit for the year had been 81 ,006.-
O00i But this enormous profit does
not satisfy these people. They want
more, and they mean to have more.
John Hays Hammond, engineer of
the company. said in his speech that
| he estimated that after the Boer war
they would increase their profit to
f2 199. 600. So this single company
stands to make over a million year
| profit by the ear. This ia the real
reason why war was inevitable. Do
not think that this means a splendid
opening for British labor; it means
| nothing of the kind. The plan is TO
apply as little British labor as posi-
| BILE, and TO reduce the wages of native
labor to the smallest pittance. These
men do not conceal it. Mr.. Hammond
said There ought to be no difficult
ty in obtaining 80 900 kaffirs to work
the mines" Where does the British
| working man come in? Mr.. Ham
mond further said: With a good
government there should be an abun-
dance of labor, and with an abundance
of labor there will be no difficulty in
cutting down wages, because it is
preposterous to pay Kaffir the pres
ent wages. He would be quite as well
satisfied-in fact, he would work
longer-if you gave him half the
amount"
. British working men under such
circumstances would not work at all.
But these South African capitalists
mean to have q government which
shall exploit the ''niggers" in their
interest.
The tax collector is to be the crimp
of the gold mongers. c. d. Rudd a
director of the company, said:
If they could only get one-half the
natives to work three months of the
year it would work wonders. They
should try some cogent form OF in
ducement or practically compel he
native, through taxation or in some
other way. to contribute his quota to
the good of the community, and to a
l.
work"
There can be no mistake as to Mr..
Rudd's meaning, for he went on to
say they might fairly call upon the
native to contribute to the govern
ment in kind or in cash." That
means that the government is to i'm
pose on the natives taxes that they
cannot pay, and that the company is
to collect the tax in the form of labor
1t is only slavery under another name
Labor Where Mr.. Rhodes Holds
|Sway.-In the Kimb erly mines, con-
trolled by Mr.. Rhodes, the ordinary
wage of Kaffirs is from Is. to IS. per
day for q day of ten hours. and the
law allows them to be worked seven
days a week.
Labor Where the Beers Hold |
Sway.-The ordinary wage of Kaffirs
in the Transvaal is Is. Sd. to %. Cd |
per day. They only work eight hours
per day, and by the Transvaal law
six days in the week. 1t is clear that |
the owners of the Transvaal gold |
mines hope, by means of the war. to
reduce their Kaffirs to the same con-
ditions as those of Kimberly.
Cheap and forced labor is there
fore the chief object of the capitalist.
The pay of the natives employed in
the Kim berry mines is one shilling to
two shillings a day. Mr.. Cecil
Rhodes hopes to reduce it to few
pence per day. As long ago as 1894