Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1902-04-11
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES
THE SITUATION IN AFRICA


The hunt after De Wet has been fruit
ants and the recapture of rifles and guns
with ammunition previously taken from
the British, but in nothing else. How
unreliable the British official reports are
about the operations against De Wet and
President Steyn, and of the way in which
they are being hard pressed, may be seen
in the fact that the latter carries port
able printing press about with him on
which he prints periodically the "Ofiicial
Gazette of the Orange Free State" con-
tanning news and extracts from European
papers. 1t is the size of sheet of fools e.
cap, and copies of recent date have been
found by British patrols In abandoned
laagers.
The latest news seems calculated to
dispel the optimism INDUCED in for a
moment that the war was nearing its
end. The Boer situation is by no means
so desperate as it has been represented,
and so far from the fighting force being
diminished 1T is augmented by the Cape
Colonists, not all of Dutch origin, whom
the executions of Louw, Lotter, Coetzee,
Scheepers and others, and the arbitrary
enforcement of martial law against all
the neutral Dutch cOlOnists. have driven
into rebellion. The casualty lists issued
by the British War Office shows that in
the month of January alone, encounters
of greater or lesser Importance took place
at no fewer than 334 points, the greater
number being on the ground where
Botha and De Wet are operating, while
fifty-four were in the cape Colony, The
blockhouse line with their wire fences
appear to offer but an Indifferent obstacle
to the Beers, while the provisioning of
the long lines of posts away from the
railways Will, as the winter progresses
and the pastures become bare, be in
creasingly difficult. 1t is doubtless this
consideration which will impel the Brit
ish to make a great effort to finish the
war before the end of June. and the
Beers to force the British TO use up their
animals in fruitless chases and drives.
The last kilograms stating that general
traffic in Natal is stopped beyond the
Tugela River, and that the town guards
at Ladysmith, Dundee and Newcastle
had been called under arms indicate a
serious situation and show that the Grip
ping of BOtba reported not long since
was more imaginary than real. If it is
true that De Wet has been located near
Boshof in the western Orange River
country, the Beers have begun new
tactics, and are seeking to force Lord
Kitchener to operate at long distances
eastward and westward from his line of
communications with Cape Colony. and
IN Ii 10
the eastern commands menace his con-
nections with Natal and Lorenzo Mar
ques. A very moderate success in this
policy would prove dangerous in the eX
IRENE for the British, whose forces
would be compelled to scatter. and be
exposed at all points to such blows as
the genius of Delarey contrives and De
Wet knows how to deliver. The inefli- |
cheney of the raw material sent out from
England, added to the decentralization |
among the older troops remarked by the |
BOer leaders in the field in their reports |
to their agents in Europe, appear to
make it more desirable than ever for the |
British government to end the war by
concessions, rather than in the face of !
other dangers threatening, to continue a
policy that nerves the Beers to continue
a resistance that must be fatal to one
side and eXhausting to the other.-New
York Sun.
PROHIBITION PROFITABLE
j. B. McAfee of Topeka takes except.
ion to the claim made by eX- Gov. Samuel |
j. Crawford that Kansas Is being ruined |
by prohibition. After showing that the |
progress of Kentucky and Missouri has |
been at far less per cent than the
progress of Kansas, Mr.. McAfee says.
"Prohibition is running the liquor traffic |
OF Kansas but greatly increasing the
wealth of our state. On Dec. 10, 1901,
there was on deposit in Kansas SS7 ISL
lI5.l4, five times as much as when |
prohibition ia Kansas went into effect,
$50 per capita for every man, woman,
and child in the state. This last sum
does not include the money in the purse
or the homes of the people. Many
millions of mortgage Indebtedness have
been paid of since we had prohibition.
In 1889 the tax rate for state purposes
in Kansas was 10 cents on the 500;
in Nebraska GG 3 almost. GO per cent
In Kansas under prohibition from 1850
to 1890, 5000, 234,3l2 0G. In high-license
Nebraska, $92, 1868, $40 fl, difference of
$1,000, OG0 year in favor Of Kansas.
Internal revenue collected by govern
ment on spirits in 1889; in Nebraska,