The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-30
ENGLAND'S COSTLY LESSON
Expenses of the BOer War Reach
S5.OOO.0O0 Per Week.
Julian Ralph Tells How John Bull
Realized That He Stiii Had Some
thing to Learn About Wsr-orEan-
lied Resistance to End Very Soon

lied Resistance to End Very soon.
Stretched at his ease on two big chairs
in his room at the Arlington. Julian
Ralph war correspondent OF the London
Daily Mail" chatted about things. incl
dents. and prospects in South Africa.
The war is costing England s5.OoOoOo
Il week" he said. and it has continued
now for eighteen months. Yet. taxing
* all together it is a cheap price that
England is paying for lesson she great
" needed Before the opening oil the
Boer war the English had become seit-
worshippers. They thought that they Were
the best at everything. They had. IN
particular. fatuous fondness for their
army organization, which they seemed 10
consider ne plus ultra. 1t has cost them
something to get rid of these IDEAS but
it is quite a moderate tuition lee they
have paid.
Now the EnglishInan sits up ana looks
around him, with perhaps little surprise
in his eyes and takes notice OF what oth-
er people are doing. IL rs no little thlhs
that he is cured of his blindness, and he
can afford to pay well for it.
1.-THE great expense, and the great trou-
BILE that John Bull has upon his hands
now is the defence of his communications.
All along the railroad is a double wall
of solid humanity. One hundred and
ninety thousand men guard the line, and
%, 900 take part in the active fighting.
Against these % 900 British are pitted
1900 Beers. The British have Jaded
horses. brought from America, Germany,
and Austria. The Beers have hardened
animals and thus able to keep up
the fighting But the war is only guer-
rilla fighting.
There is no centre OF resistance, except
perhaps Botha, who is said to be in touch
with the Kruger Government. De Wet is
q free lance, driven into a wild fury by
the loss of his four sons, and so are all
other commanders.
The war cannot last more than three
months longer Then the Beers will be-
gin to come in individually and make their
peace. The backbone of Boer resistance
was broken when De Wet entered Cape
Colony and attempted to foster an up
rising of the Cape Dutch. The Dutch
wanted to retain the English Government,
did not rise. and the English rose instead.
That ended the hopes of the Boer gem
erals Had it turned out otherwise the
English would have had Il revolution ON
their hands which would have lasted as
long as did our hight for liberty.
Mr.. Ralph has been IT work on his
books since returning from South Africa
some months ago. His return was made
necessary by the state of his health 81
lived on crackers and milk for many
weeks he said, but from Mr.. Raiph's
present rotund appearance he must have
long ago given up such meaEre diet. He
returned to America after having repre-
scented his paper at the wedding OF the
Queen OF Holland and Queen Victoria 5
funeral. With Mr.. Ralph is Henry l..
StOddard. of the Mail and Express
From the thousand and one interesting
and exciting things which he witnessed,
or took part in. Mr.. Ralph has chosen to
make book OF the incidents connected
with The Friend, a newspaper which
respondents during the first portion of the
occupation of Blqemfopteln by the British
We took UP the project about the
third day after the army had entered
Eloemfontein. Lord Roberts was always
extremely careful of his troops, and es-
reciaily was he desirous of having them
amused. If he could keep them diverted
be considered that he could keep them
interested in the fighting. So The Friend
was start I'd as a paper for Tommy At
klns' to read and to contribute to. 1t
was really a wonderful paper, for in its
Columns was reflected the entire and COM
pletc life OF me camp, with all It's humors.
its jokes. and its pathos. its GROWS, Its
complaints, and its repr1mands. Tommy
Atkins wrote what he thought for the
paper. and it was printed, and everyone
was glad to read IL. Tommy was much
and 10 his credit be it said that 1t was
good poetry. Strange as 1t may seem,
his muse did not lead him to versify his
ongings for the girl at home, nor his
mother waiting alone, nor the little cot
tage in the lane. subjects supposed to
linger in the soldiers mind. He chose,
rather. the lighter vein. and treated OF
camp things either in q spirit OF ralllefy
o.. of respectful rernonstrance.
I'VE obtained our plant by the process
| of communicating. That is OF course
a euphemism, but it sounds much bet
| ter than the Saxon, steal. We laid our
hands upon the offices Of the Express
| and The Friend of the Free State. out
| OF the two offices we managed to get
| together a cylinder press, a half dozen
Mergeuthalers that did not work, some
| Dutch compositors who worked only
| badly, and enough other materials to en-
| able us to get out paper The Dutch
compositors were our bane They made
more mistakes than there Were Keys on
| the machines, IT seemed. and We could
never tell whether they did 1t on purpose.
or simply because they were bunSlers.
Most of our time was spent in proof
reading.
. The Friend started out with one re-
| porter. ]. W. Jenkins, a young fellow
| from Philadelphia. who had been a de
snatch rider The rest of the news work
was done by the army The editorial stan
WAS composed OF Rudyard kipling. Perez
val Iandon of the Times and II. A.
Gwynne of Reuters Telegraph Agency,
one OF the most wonderful newspaper men
have ever seen. Then there was my
self. II was feared at nrst that the ven
ture would require financing to ensure
against Il loss, 50 money was put mp by
hackers, Lord Dudley. a large coal mine
owner. and Lord Stanley, son Of the Earl
OF Derby
We issued the first number March IL.
and continued the paper until April ID.
when several men. who were banished
from Johannesburg, where they had been
running a paper, took II from our hands.
We did Il great dead Of work, writing edi-
torials and poems, and sometimes setting
type.
"Kipling did n prOdeious amount OF
writing and on one occasion was obliged
To- set the type OF the last few stanZas Of
his own poem. lie took 10 the newspaper
work very we'll, though he had not been
inside "A newspaper Office since his early
days IN India. Eventually We were obliged
TO reliuquisf our paper. because We had
too much regular work To- do. What with
our letters and our dispatches to our
home papers, were all much out of
health. except Gwyuuc. who was marvel
of endurance.
The paper was four pages, nine columns
{" page. tsually there WAS about nine
columns Of reading matter. The paper
was the official organ for all army proc
lamatious. most Of which were printed in
both English and Dutch. and paid for by
the army. Instead of proving loss, the
paper earned money. all of which went
10 the fund for the Soldiers and Sailors
Family Association. As far as l know.
il was the first paper ever published
the organ of that army. hut suppose that
hereafter the precedent. which certainly
proved Ia be good one. will lie follow
ed whenever circumstances permit. The
issue of the paper became valuable and
"A set of thirty copies sold for SlJH in
EloeUiuntCin-'
Policeman Madii:nn Dcnd.
Policeman Patrick Nadigan. who for Year, irts
81 oil D.