Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-11-21
SOUTH AFRICA TODAY.
How the Wounds of War Are Being Healed.
A CAMP COMMISSIONERS VIEWS.


 Mrs. Fawcett Says There Are Signs Everywhere of Restored Activities 1 of Normal, Wholesome Life-Free
 Farm Schools Provided For Young Progress in South Africa is described in an article by Mrs. Millcent Garrett Eawcett in the Contemporary Review detailing her recent observations of the country in contrast with what she saw as a member of the camp commission during the war.
 "It Is impossible" says Mrs. Fawcett, ''to exaggerate the difference between 1901 and 1903. Within an hour after landing at Cape Town it was manifest. The first thing that forced itself upon even the most casual observation was the different. look of the animals. In 1901 the teams of wretched mules did not look as If they had spirit for one kick between them. In 1908 they look ed as wicked and cheerful as only mules can look. In 1901 the carcasses of sheep which we inspected in the con- centration camps often did not weigh more than eighteen pounds each. We thought twenty-five pounds per sheep rather good. In 1903 sheep, both alive and dead, had pat on flesh and resumed normal proportions"
 The order of the day is rebuilding, restoring, repairing. Everywhere were signs of the restored activities of nor- nal, wholesome life-trees being plant ed, wells being dug, furrows to carry water being constructed and land being plowed and cultivated. The govern ment, through the repatria ton depart ment, plowed> 3O,0OO acres of land for the people and in replacing 10000 Boers upon the land expended more than $12,500,000 in setting them up with anil malls, building material, seeds, vehicles and agricultural implements"
 The concentration camp schools have been replaced by free farm schools. Wherever thirty children can be prom ised the government advances the means to make 8 school. These are still often held in marQuees or in build ings of crude brick which will not last. but are cool and comfortable. By the end of, June the number of children in these rural schools had nearly reachet the number of those in the camp schoolf at the end of their existence. Both Dutch and English are taught. Prac. tically all educated Boers talk both languages.
 j1 Fr< <7p f0y Ina nj the government has undertaken reliet works At Mushroom Valley farm are about 400 Boer men working upon a dam which is! to cost $15O,O00 and which will impound the water catch of 1O5 square miles. The men get $1,10 to $1.35 day. A clergyman, a school and hospital are provided, and the women and children live with the men.
 The government railways must be an obstacle to progress. Mrs. Faw- cett was unable to get time table for her trip. There is none. Trains start when they get ready. The general manager confessed his inability to oblige her, but said that if she would write out list of places she wished to visit a clerk would furnish a written statement of the hours at which trains started.
 l And Mrs. Fawcett tells this story. lls'In Cape Colony the leading inhabit, lants of we'll known place about miles from Cape Town waited on the minister at the head of the railway administration and placed before him weighty arguments in favor of giving their town increased facili. ties. The minister listened and in re ply said he had been much impressed by the facts laid before him. But he added, T have to remember, gen. tlemen, that if I accede to your request I shall have to grapple with an in. crease of traffic."
 Yet the railroads make money for the government, something like $1O,. GOO, ,0OO a. year.
 The labor question is acute in South Africa A former woman cook for Mrs. iFawcett gets $44 a month and found. A hotel in Rhodesia offers $125 for a man cook. Capable women servants in IJohannisburg get from $35 to $6O per month But for the high prices of ev- lerythfng that they have to pay, South Africa might seem to be the paradise Iof the domestic servant.
 To the great question how the sun, 'dered peoples are to live together in lneace Mrs. Fawcett has no immediate ~-~----~------- .