The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-04-03
IN EMPIRE BUILDER.

Cecil Rhodes, the South African en-
pire builder and promoter Of British
interests in darkest Africa who died
lin Cape Town last week was great
man in many ways. He died at the
age Of forty-eight, but in his active
career of only a few years he filed the
pages Of history with some wonderful
achievements. When mere lad he
went to work for brother on q ranch
in South Africa and followed his two
brothers to the diamond fields around
Kimberly when the fabulous wealth OF
that country was discovered. He bought
out the interests of his brothers and
with cool and calculating determines
ton the young man went to work in
the diamond fields not alone for the
immense wealth that.he could forsee
for himself, but because of that ele.
ment that was in him that prompted
him to acquire property and to develop
the great interests that surrounded
him. While other men were content
with what treasures they could get
from the earth, the young Englishman
was putting two and two together and
calling it four. He could forsee the
grand possibilities of conquest and the
wonderful development of domain
around and before him, and he set
about to do little empire building.
He commanded the confidence of his
associates and it was no task for him
to consolidate the diamond mines of
Kimberly into one company or trust
which netted the owners fabulous
wealth.. With the development of the
mines came cities and towns, and all
the improvements that follow sudden
development. He organized the Brit
ish Chartered South Africa company
that with it's immense resources and
government backing in certain sense
found little trouble in trading few
implements Of warfare, rum, and a few
other tempting articles of civilization
and conquest for vast tracts of land
rich in mineral and agricultural re-
sources. 10 expanding and developing
Rhodes and his company encroached
on the territory of the Beers who were
jealous of the advancements the Eng
lish were making in Africa. The feel
ing between the English under Rhodes
and DR.. Jameson eliminated in the
famous Jameson raid that resulted so
disastrously to the bold and daring
Englishmen who considered that the
bull-headed Dutch were a stumbling
block in the patch of empire building.
Rhodes and his associates in their
thirst for power and dominion con-
sidered. the Beers but an incident and
believed that they were of no more
consequence than the tribes from whom
they had wrestled so much territory.
In the subsequent march of empire
north toward Carlo, and the influx of
thousands Of Englishmen into the Boer
territory, the climax soon came.
There was no yielding or backward
steps. With Rhodes bold with the
successful elimination of vast achieve
ments and with naughty disdain for
the Beers, and with a British ministry
of whom it could not be said discretion
was the better part of valor, these
forces face to face with the logged per-
sistence and independence of the Beers
resulted in a war the consequences of
which have been appalling and have
staggered humanity.
Cecil Rhodes was one of those human
forces that the world developes at
times. He has been called the empire
builder, as he was true enough, but
empire building is not always the high
est type of progress, though it may
pave the way for better and more
specific results. That South Africa is
better to-day for having been brought
under the influence of Cecil Rhodes
and for the mighty path of progress
that has been made into the heart of
darkest Africa because of the lust for
wealth and thirst for power, the events
OF the future will determine. It was
the grip of the rigid hand of commerce
that seized South Africa under the
Rhodes regime. It was far from be-
ing the peaceful march of civilization
which moves slower but leaves a last
ing impression on the world.
IN 1861 there were $685. pensioners
on the rolls at the pension office. In
L