The Springfield herald., 1900-02-23
THE vENAL PRESS,
SkILLFULLY DIRECTED BY
oEOlL RHODES.
That Modern Msohiavelli of Politics
Lies At the Root of the Present
LAmsntable War In South Afrioa-An
En2lishman's Opinion of Him.


EnGlishm.n's Opinion of Him.
When the history OF the present war
in South Africa will be written one
fact will stand out prominently In the
mass OF mutual recriminations, and
that is that the war is largely the
work Of the English and South African
newspapers. owned by London money
gamblers. London money gamblers
have a habit Of owning the more pre-
tentious" papers in every country. A
peep behind the scenes of the British
and the African press would reveal
some strange secrets. Out Of the 18
London dailies, since the change of
front on the part OF the Daily Chron-
icle and the Echo. there are 15 out
spoken champions of the Chamberlain
policy. The group of financial wire
pullers forced the editors of the Chron-
icle- and Echo to resign and a policy
to be adopted by these papers that
suits the Chartered Company of South
Africa. OF the remaining three the
Westminster Gazette is lukewarm and
the Star and the Leader are papers of
third class. Yet even they go only so
far as to urge the recognition of the
Boer independence after they have
been licked. Here is what Rutherford
White, an Englishman late of South
Africa, writes about Rhodes and his
methods.
But more interesting than the state
of affairs in the European press. for
the corruption Is more open and
shameless. is the servility OF the Cape
press to the interests of the Chartered
company. Rhodes, Belt and Eckstein,
who are the managers Of the British
press. are openly the owners Of the
majority Of the African newspapers,
and this fact discloses an interesting
chapter of the African history. When
the Jameson raid fell through with
such disgraceful fiasco, Rhodes, Belt,
Eckstein and the late Barney Barnato
laid deep plans to get the British gov
ernment and the British people to do
the job for them which the troops Of
the Chartered company found them
selves unable to do. For that reason
the African English population had to
be worked" as well as the English at
houio. hc Sdpc AiSuS COMPANY, uu-
ited,w was founded. which was controlled
by the gentlemen mentioned before.
The company slowly and steadily ab-
sorbed every newspaper OF note in
South Africa. The Johannesburg Star,
the Buluwayo Chronicle, the Rhodesia
Herald and the African Review belong
to that company. One OF the directors
Of the Chartered company and a
friend Of Cecil Rhodes, DIR. Ruther-
ford Harris. Is the owner of the larg-
est African newspaper, the Cape
Times. This Is one of the publica-
tions of the Chartered company. It
will be seen that fifteen out of the
eighteen London papers are Influenced
by Messrs. Rhodes, Belt and Eckstein.
and that all South African newspapers
actually belong to them. The average
citizen forms his ideas from what he
reads in the papers, and that explains
the sentiment in England, as well as
among the Cape French.
Very interesting is the manner in
which this ungodly trio placed them
selves in possession of one Of the most
important and hitherto independent
African dailies. In the wholesale news
paper corruption In South Africa the
Chartered company found as thorn in
their flesh an independent paper edited
in Kimberley. The Diamond Fields Ad
vertiser took the liberty OF occasionally
crittcising the colossus (Rhodes). 1t
actually put in word for the Beers at
times. The editor was offered $4,000,
a. we'll as salary of $4,000 year, II
he would consent to sell his paper, but
keep the transaction secret. This was
refused. Two years later the offer was
increased to 100000, us well as salary
OF FL 900 a year for the assistant edi-
tor, II he would allow his name to ap-
pear as editor, while safe man would
perform the actual duty. The tempt
ing offer was again refused. Then the
whole force of the Chartered company
was brought into action. The immense
influence Of Rhodes in Kimberley and
neighborhood, the general boycott and
similar measures brought about the
downfall of the courageous paper.
stranger bought 1t then for f12, $500. and
the purchaser turned out to be broth
er-in-law of the redoubtable Ruther-
ford Harris. Thus the Diamond Fields
Advertiser became Rhodes paper.
The man who bought all the papers
of Africa, the man who made tremen-
dous use of what Bismarck termed
"the reptile funds" the man who is at
the bottom of all the misfortunes,
bloodshed, misery and sorrow for the
people of England as we'll as for the
Inhabitants OF South Africa, the Me-
phistopheles of South Africa, Rhodes.
has inspired all the lies, all the COL
o-.A oDd doctored renorts that caUeod