Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-27
AS A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY
John Hays INN Says Rhodes
Was Truly Great, Judged by
American Standard.

NEW YORK, March 26.-John Hays Ham
mond, who was many years and up to the
time Of the death of Cecil Rhodes intl-
mately associated will him in the develop
ment OF South Africa and who was con-
sulting engineer of the British South AZ
RIGA Chartered company and the ~consoli-
dated gold fields of South Africa, in which
Mr.. Rhodes held important interests, had
this to say OF Mr.. Rhodes:
Mr.. Rhodes, whose sun went down when
1t was yet day. dies in the forty-seventh
year of his age. He leaves no posterity,
bHt leaves his name on the map of Africa
nearly as large as our western states. Hat
he lived he would have devoted the re-
naming years of his life and would have
spent every dollar OF his fortune in equip
ping that commonwealth.
erstOOd in America.
Unfortunately, his character has been
misunderstood in America. Judged by
American standards. Mr.. Rhodes was truly
a great man. He was not only a great
empire builder, but also a captain OF in
dustry. he Is oftener reported as a shifty,
S C IS t aosR fTs T In league D with ;
hopeless war, in order TO steal the mines
Of the country He is also reported as
large wealth and ready 10 employ the most
INSCRIPTIONS methods to that end. But
by the most bitter OF his enemies, cOnvers-
ant with the facts. such allegations are
repudiated:
The truth Is, that Rhodes cared little for
money beyond the power Il gave him to
assist in the development OF South Africa.
From a most Intimate connection with him
state that his methods of finance were not
only scrupulously honorable. but were
was known to South Africans as a man
/ of unbounded generosity and one on whom
they could depend for the furtherance Of
any deserving local enterprise or worthy
charity.
Democratic and Unconventional.
Personally, Mr.. Rhodes was democratic
in his tastes and colonial In his political
and social bias. He was fond Of the simpler
peciaily TO outdoor life on the veldt, and
had a contempt for and dislike of social
co~nventionalities. He was a man OF innate
refinement and culture and a graduate of
oxford. Rhodes had an indqmitable spirit
and dogged perseverance he was i'm.
was built on broad lines and he abhorred
petty politics, which he contemptuously de-
signated as the politics of the parish pump,
and he deprecated quite as strongly what
he termed the 'unctuous rectitude" OF GER
politically, he was a great admirer of
democratic institutions. but at the same
tine RSo ss was ssd a h 5Gya de ifR = ans faults, hut
these will not obscure the glory OF his
name. Great men. it is said. are made OF
that Rhodes ideals were pure and lofty,
and / believe that history will deal rather
and methods. and that he will therefore
rank high among the great men of the
nineteenth century.
Cecil Rhodes found in the meditations OF
Marcus Aurelius many inspirations for his
own career. Until the unfortunate Jameson
raid. for which he has received far more
blame than he deserved. as history will
prove, he was popular with the Dutch OF
South Africa.
Within a short time there would have
been a revulsion Of feeling, and. strange
as Il may sound today, Rhodes would have
been able to re-estabiish his influence with
the Dutch, and he would have been quick
TO take advantage OF tho -ituation, and
would have passed into history as the great
pacihcator OF South Africa. This estimate
OF Rhodes Is shared even today by many
OF the progressive Dutchmeni IN the country,