The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-15

their condition being perfect. The reason
| which this mine owner gave was that if the
! Inspector did not get the money he would
/, quite unnecessarily have every fire out for
| the day in order TO inspect. which would
| cost nearer thousand pounds than ten,
| and eventually eat up all the profits of the
| business and something more. 1t was re-
! garded by the capitalist simply as matter
| of economy. a choice between two evils
| The same man was in the habit OF bribing
the pass inspectors to let his native
worlmen alone. This was also done to save
trouble and expense. Mr.. Hobsons idea
appears TO be that If. under the Govern
ment. laws were passed which imposed in
| Vulnerable restrictions upon the business
| man, and if these were administered by
| officials disposed TO make unnecessary and
expensive trouble unless they were bribed,
the capitalist is to blame for the bribery
| system. 1t seems rather a peculiar code
| OF ethics. but the reader can settle that
| matter for himself.
| Mr.. Hobson admits that he found con-
! siderable corruption in the Rad and out OF
| it, but his contention throughout is that
the stories of this are exaggerated. and
| that, after all, things are not so very bad.
| As to this. it is all simply a matter of
| evidence. and the reader. after carefully
perusng the testimony on both sides. will
| have TO weigh its comparative merits and
| form his own opinion.
| This historian places no faith in what he
! calls the alleged Dutch conspiracy TO make
all South Africa into Boer Republic. He
| takes the ground that the reports of snch
a conspiracy were based on sporadic utter
| ances of hot-tongued orators here ard
| there, which were not worth attention.
! There is a somewhat curious contradiction
| between his arguments in this chapter and
/ those in a subsequent denunciation of the
| English press in South Africa. In regard
| to the agitation In favor OF freeing Cape
| Colony and the Boer Republics from 'lirect
| imperial control he says that he sees no
reason why such movement is not legiti-
mate and allowable, or why it should be
| considered treason. After this he makes
the blunt declaration that the English
press in South Africa was subsidized. and
almost in the same breath condemns news
paper articles stirring up rebellion in the
Transvaal," one of which reads, as follows:
Nothing Is easier than to rig justice in the
Transyaal if only the interested parties Of the
beloved burgber flock The willy koetser, doubtless
backed in influential quarters, appealed to that
Cellent institution the High Court, with result
that his term OF Imprisonment reduced from
six months TO one. The Executive has also re-
duced the penalty in the caSe Of the other offend
II is this sort of thing that breeds contempt
for the very name Of justice as administered in the
Trdrsvaal Ii Will soon become impossible to get
4 Boor punished no matter what his crime.
If these things were true. certainly there
ought to have been a protest somewhere,
and TO an American the natural medium
seems TO be the newspapers. After quot
ing several other articles OF the same
tenor Mr.. Hobson expresses surprise that
anyone should have been indignant be-
cause the author was driven out of the
State. Mr.. Hobson also argues that when
hot-headed Beers made brutal speeches
against Englishmen no notice should have
been taken of them. because they did not
represent the general sentimentof the Boer
people. To a casual observer it seems
rather as If he were saying that what is
treason in an Englishman is not treason
in a Boer, especially when the English
man is not a citizen of the Boer Repub-
lie, but only sojoarner therein. The point
is not quite clear enough to satisfy the
average mind. One of the most serious
charges made is that against Sir Alfred
Miner. 1t is alleged that he deliberately
mutilated a despatch Of President Steyn,
which is given in full the mutilated por-
tions printed in italics. 1t can readily
be seer that the excelsior changes the
whole force of the writer's statements.
There is much interesting information
in the book which must be dismissed with
a
the author hardly succeeds in establishing
the fact that the whole war was unneces-
sary, unjust, and brought on for INSULT
cient cause. He does not quite contradict
the evidences of Outlander grievances. nor
does he at all prove that Boer civilization
is better for South Africa than English
rule would be- There has no doubt been
more or less exaggeration in the reports
of Boer outrage.. Dutch conspiracies, and
the like, but the English public will prob
ably stick to the idea that where there
is SO much smoke there must be some
fire, ard the testimony of disinterested
persons who have been in South Africa
cannot be entirely disregarded. 1t is en-
phatically Mr.. Hobson's opinion that Eng
lish government in the Transvaal will
turn out to be boss rule under
the guidance of syndicates, and
that the natives will be but little bet
ter off than they would under Boer con-
trol compulsory service for taxes and
under contract being substituted for the
practical slavery in which they have been
held by the Beers. AS to allowing them
any more share in the Government. even
when educated. than the Boer does, he is
extremely skeptical on that point, though
he does not mention the case of the native
chief Khama or of other chiefs who have
been allowed by the English to administer
the affairs of their own tribes, and have
in some instances made a very appreciate
advance toward civilization. 4
AS for the future OF South Africa in
dustrially, his forecast is obviously cor
rect. AS anyone can see. the agricultural
interests will probably remain IN the hands
OF the Beers, whatever happens, ior the
Isolation of such life and the si.nplc
habits of living required for any measure
Of profit would not suit the more restless
and progressive Briton. With the estab-
lishment of British supremacy the pros
perity of the mines would be enormously
increased. and other cities like Jonanncs-
burg might spring up followed possibly
by the establishment of new industries |
such as the raising OF tea, coffee, and
rice. But ii cannot be denied that the
Boer element, solidified by this no.e or
less successful resistance to British powe-. |
will be a difficult factor in the situation, |
and it is on this account as well as COR
abstract reasons of ethics and statesman
ship, that Mr.. Hobson regards the war as
an evil which should at any cost have been i
avoided. Whatever ones opinions may be
on this question: the book is well worth !
reading more than once. (New York:
The Macmillan Company
A Portrait in Fiction
When The Green Carnation" appeared !
shrewd people prophesied that the author !
Mr. Robert Kitchens would some dav ,yrita