The times., 1901-03-30
ENGLAND'S COSTLY LESSON
Expenses of the B0er War Reach
S5.OOO.0O0 Per Week.
Julian Ralph Tells How John Bull
Realized That He Stiii Had some
thing to Learn About War-0rgan-
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. Juiiah
Ralph. war correspondent OF the London
Daily Mail" chatted about things. incl
dents. and prospects in South Africa.
The war is costing England S5,DOoOo
Il week" he said. and it has continued
now for eighteen months. Yet taxing
it all together, it is a cheap price thdt
England is paying for lesson she great
" needed Before the opening OF the
Boer war the English had become self
worshippers. They thought that they We're
the best at everything. They had IN
particular a 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 bat
If is ouite a moderate tuition fee they
have paid
Now the Englishsnan sits up and looks
around him. with perhaps little surprise
in his eyes, and takes notice OF what oth-
er people are doing. IL Is no little thing
that he is cured of his blindness, and he
can afford to pay well for it.
THE great expense, and the great trou-
ble that John Bull has upon his hands
now is the defence of his communications.
All along the railroad is double wall
of solid humanity. one hundred ana
ninety thousand men guard the line and
@, 600 take part in the active lighting.
Against these 22000 British are pitted
1900 Beers. The British have jaded
horses. brought from America, Germany,
ard Austria The Beers have hardened
animals and are thus able to keep up
the fighting But the war is only gueF-
rilia 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 50 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 gen
erals. Had it turned out otherwise the
English would have had revolution on
their hands which would have lasted as
long as did our hight for liberty"
Mr. Ralph has been At work on his
books since returning from south Africa
some months ago. His return was made
necessary by the state Of his health. Il
lived on crackers and mix for many
weeks" he said, but from Mr.. Raiphs
present Fotund appearance he must nave
long ago given up such meaEre diet. lie
returned TO America after having repre-
sented his paper at the wedding OF the
Queen Of Holland and Queen Victoria $
| 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 a book of the incidents connected
with The Friend newspaper which
was founded and conducted by the cor
respondents during the first portion of the
occupation of BlQemfonteln by the british
I'VE took up the project about the
! third day after the army had entered
| Eloemfoatein. Lord Roberts was always
extremely careful of his troops, and cs-
| reciaily was he desirOus of having them
] amused. If he could keep them diverted
/ be considered that he could keep thcul
/ interested in the fighting. SO The Friend
! was started as a paper for Tommy At
/ kins to read and to contribute TO. II
! was really a wonderful paper, for IN its
| cuIumns was reflected the entire and COM
nlete life Of tne camp, with all its humors,
/ its jokes. and its pathOS, It's grows It's
! complaints, and its reprimands. Tommy
Atkins wrote what he thought Tor the
PAPER and il was printed, and everyone
! was glad to read it. Tommy was much
! given 20 poetry-very much given, in fact.
! and 10 his credit be II said that IL was
! good poetry. Strange as 1t may seem,
| his muse did not lead him TO versify his
! longings for the girl at home, nor his
| mother waiting alone, nor the little cot
| tage in the lane, subjects supposed 10
Hnger in the soldiers mind. he chose
rather the lighter vein, and treated OF
camp things either in spirit of raillery
/ o. Of respectful rernonstrance,
! we 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
| Mergenthalers. that did not work, some
! Dutch cOmpositors who worked only
| badly. and enough other materials to en-
| able as TO get out paper The Dutch
! cOmposit0rs were our bane. They made
| more mistakes than there were keys on
! the machines, il seemed, and We could
| never tell whether they did IT on purpose.
! or simply because they were bunSlers
| Most OF our time was spent in proof
! reading
:, The Friend started out With with one qup, re
| from Philadelphia. who had been a de
| spatch rider. The rest of the news work
| was done by the army Ihe editorial stan
! was composed OF Rudyard kipling. Perci-
| val I.andon of the Times. and II a.
| Cfwynne of Reuters Telegraph Agency,
| one OF the most wonderful newspaper men
| / have ever seen. Then there was my
/ self II was feared at first that the ven
! ture would require financing to ensure
! against Il loss, 50 money was put up by
| hackers Lord Dudley, a large coal mine
| owner and Lord Stanley, son OF the Earl
We issued the first number March 1G.
| ana continued the paper until April IT,.
! when several men. who were banlShcd
/ from Johannesburg, where they had been
! running paper. took II from our hands.
! We did a great deal ol work writing tdl-
/ torials and poems, and some times setting
| type.
/ writing and on one occasion was obliged
| to set the type ot the last few StanZaS of
/ his own poem. He took to the newspaper
! work very we'll though II" had not been
! inside "A newspaper Office since his early
/ DAYS IN India. Eventually We were obliged
| 20 reliDquiSF our paper. because We had
| too much rcEulaT work tu DO. What with
| our letters and our dispatches to our
! home papers. We were all much out Of
! health. except GWyuuc, who Was a marvel
| Gf endurance
! The paper was four pages. nine columns
! 10 a page. Usually 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
! tire army Instead of proving loss, the
! paper earned money. all OF which went
! 10 the fund for the Soldiers and Sailors
| Family Association. As TAR as / know,
! il vas the first pHper ever published as
! the organ of that army. but suppose That
! hereafter the precedent. which certainly
J urpEpd Ia be "a good one. will Ie follow
! al whenever circumstances permit. The
| issue OF the pa9cr became valuable and
| "a set OF thirty copies was sold for 81" in
! ElocUfontCiu.
Policeman Madignn Dead.
Policeman Patrick Nadigun. vino for years ia-