New-York tribune., 1901-08-04


binder slew the sickle. 1t is Van Djones's bust
ness, then, to catch the man from England
ana to demonstrate to him the supreme worth
IesShess or Africa as a field for all white effort
only very low type of Dutch (Van Djones is
magnifcently scornful of them; he even hints
that they are mixed with native blood can hope.
ne says to snatch a living out of the larger
part or the unthrifty earth. All manner of eX-
perlments (here he gives chapter and verse;
nave been tried and have failed. The honest
Ia iacI Is ana a man of your penetration VIII see
IL the minute he goes up country, that AFRICA
is the most overrated land in the world, and the
little We can ever accomplish can only be done
on strictly South African lines
Then he begins the list of calamities that. quite
rightly and inevitably. have scouTged this un-
fenced. implanted unirrigated. unhandled coun-
try where sloth has been made a political pro-
gramme and religion the handmade of dirt
Presenty-for Van Djones's of penetration
is more handy with a pen than plough, and
does not read Wallace-the echoes of this talk
drift back 10 London and in due time. you
read that some well informed member OF the
Opposition has been speaking of the barren
rocks and worthless wilderness which
drenchng with the blood of our best etc. etc.
Then do Smittt Djones and Robinschoen and
the rest take fresh heart (rather like spiritual
lists half deceived by their rappngs) and
plunge anew into their penny farthng councils
and three penny Ju-Ju work In about three
days the papers, quoting the news of the open
minded, sympathetic. frock coated member OF
the Opposition. have found their way with
without inspired comments on the charge that
God is working in the hearts OF the English 10
beyond Aliwal North-to Prieska and Calvinia
Smijtt and Van Djones go home to tea after
worrying the luckless Brown with dark hints
Of what happens TO people who trust the word
OF the English, and somewhere three hundred
miles up country a wandering patrol Is arrested
by an appalling stencil behind bush and the
well known buzz and dispersal OF clottei files.
And that is how II is done
But have our lighter moments. Though
Van DJones's South African talk rather i'm
presses the English of the island who have a
thousand years OF tradition behind them and
rent their houses on a three years lease, the
sons OF men who made countries with their
hands the day before yesterday decline TO be
blufred- Said a wruthful Canadian To me not
long since: Did you ever try 10 talk
about opening up the country 10 Van Djones?
He acts precisely like a neutral Boer
when you're looking FOR ammunition IN
his house. He just sweats with loyalty. and
rubs his hands and swears you'll find
put there's notnlhg here swelp I'm All the
sheep have got the scab, and the cattle are dead
and his horses were stolen last week. Yes that's
just ike Van Djones, on South African develop
ment-wth his red water. and hts lung sick
ness, and his black labor difficulty and hts To-
Gusts. Why (Do you know that high neigh
ing half shrek OF lndignation?) Why. where
under the canopy would folk have been in Kan
sas to-day If they'd laid down and died just be-
cause locusts ate up crop two? Van Djones
says there's curse the land. He's dead
right. He's it, There's nothing the matter with
South africa but laziness-common Creator con
dernned lcleness They've a better climate than
We have and more water than Australia has
They talk If their old ragbag OF a country
wasn't made out o. common dirt See herei
That unique air o. theirs is the same as Colo
rado; the karroo they fuss over is our plains
only the sagobrush grows high instead o. low
an their kopjes are meas with points TO EN-
And the people-the holy sacred people-they're
simply Pennsylvania Dutch. They've killed the
country
Then you think the constitution ought To be
suspended"
Yes" said the child of free institutions IT'S
crazy nonsense We needn't suspend II for keeps
aTnf lN- tY,pH 40
Australia and England, I mean-and hang the
whole show up for two years till our erring sis
for a country that don't know enough to cut
It's own hay-where I've had to lie out for a year
IN the open for fear the pous voter would blow
up the railway bridges behind me? No sir
Thus far Canada, eleven months on the war
PAIN. pain AustTaha Is even more outspoken and In
to the commonwealth. But the Rond nrefars IN
keep its eye on the continent and Iondop vaIu
ing more the modified friendship (whcn il shall
be quite conveniently of the old peoples and the
laNor ana countenanCe Of his matesty's oppOs-
uon than the disapproval Of two healthy Young
nationaities.
Perhaps the Bond is right. Cape Town. the
headquarters of the enemy's right wing IS the
gfiIS 20 spot "here martial law Is not proclaimed.
II you can imagine a Mahsud Waziri rising in
! uH swing with the heads of jirgas members Of
Ihe ftshaWur Club, the Mullah Powindah him
sell playing whist with the Commissioner OF
= esha Wur, and all the priests who have preached
the Jehad for the last sixty SUNDAYS calling on
II,
nave some faint idea Of the present situation.
Inc loyaIst thinks that war conducted on
these lines VIII never end The Bond assures
hlIn that ne is right. that the British taxpayer
VIII blench at the expense and will betrav him |
once again to the Dutch. So they wait rebel !
and loyalist for IA sign.
February 24.
1t looks as though that sign had come We !
have here disease called the pague-a new |
ylsitor-the outcome Of filth and hidden dirt |
1t is caused by rats that creep into mems |
houses and run about under the floors and pres |
entity die, one rat injecting the other When |
You take up the floor you find the dead rats |
and in due time are yourself shot full of the !
poison and end miserably at Uitvlugt our plague |
camp Experts say that IL you make the rat |
unhappy by means Of poison broken glass Gre |
osote and carboc acid the plague may be |
stayed. Logically, of course the rat should only |
be disrranchised, for plague does not more than |
XIII the body. and, after ALL the present mu- |
nlcipality's notions of cleanliness are precisely |
on par with the late Ministrys notions of 10y |
atty. 1t is an interesting allegOry
RUDYARD KIPLING.