Arizona republican., 1903-08-09

ging for gold is not the best way of making money at the gold diggings. He started saloon at a mining camp, and soon became the most popular man in the place.
 First of all. he ran small shanty on the roadside and dispensed little cheap rum and whisky. Money rolled in and he was soon able to run d high | class saloon, and to establish big mercantile business when the diggings became more settled and civilized. i As at Bendigo, Dick Seddon's brawny fist was a powerful civilizing influence. Although saloon keeber he had hor- TOT of drunkenness. Any drunken dig ger who entered his saloon was speed fly gathered up in his muscular arms and thrown neck and crop, into the streets.
 | "I remember, way back in 1868, said an old colonist. hearing a man in Sed- don's saloon make foul remark about a woman in the settlement. Digger Dick vaulted across the bar. took him i by the throat threw him to the ground. and nearly shook the life out of him. Three of the mans friends, who were drinking at the bar, caught hold of him, but Dick shook them off as ter rier shakes off rats and held the man down until he took back his vile words.
 Dick was always chivalrous toward | women. They were safe from insult even in the toughest mining camp if he happened to be there. He never allowed obscene stories to be told in his saloon, though he didn't object to what he used to call straight swearing.'
 But though he was such a great fighter, he was always on the side of law and order. They say he prevented many a riot and lynching in the old lawless days. and did everything in his power to civilize the mining districts.
 "As the years passed by he grew rich and became the most popular man in the place. The workingmen swore by him. for he had been a workingman n l himself: and unlike some of his class | who rise in the world, he did not forget his old friends when he became pros- | porous Even to this day, when he | goes down to the section where he made his money the chums of his mining days call him Dick and talk to him as if | he were still one of themSelVeS.
 Seddon increased his popularity by warmly advocating the interests of tn miners in their frequent disputes with the government officials. Incidentally. he was elected to several iOUdl offices, and in 1879 was sent to tEe New Zea- land parliament as the representative of one of the mining districts. He las held his seat since then without a break, winning every election.
 In the old days political life was strenuous in New Zealand. Oftentilnes when addressing public meetings or canvassing for votes. he was obliged tc Prove his doctrines orthodox
 By apostolic blows and knocks"
 New Zealanders are fond Of telling how he descended from the platform at one rowdy meeting walked through the yelling crowd up to couple of the ringleaders, seized one with each hand dra gged them from their seats, kicking and fighting and threw them down stairs, without anybody's help. Then he went back to the platform and calm lv finished his speech amid respectful silence.
 Seddon soon became recognized as one of the strongest men of the Redical party When Premier Balance. an able leader of that party. died in 1893. every body said there was no one who could succeed him and hold the party togeth- CT as he had done. But Seddon step ped into the vacant place and soon led the Radicals to such triumphs as they had never dreamed of under Balance. Since 1893 he has been prime minister of New Zealand. Last November his party was again returned to power by a large ma jority, which will keep him at the helm until the end of 1905. But he is not only premier. He is the lord high everything else of the colony postmaster general, minister of labor, minister for native affairs, minister for electric telegraphs, colonial treasurer. etc. And for all these numerous offices he only draws q salary of 1000.
 When Seddon and his colleagues came into power they determined, as one of them has put it, to be thorough paced revolutiOnistS" England'S colonial statesmen, as rule. try to copy Eng fish laws and English institutions as much as possible. Not so Seddon. "England," he is fond of saying, "can only teach us what to avoid. We must not allow our country to sink into the condition of England.'
 His policy from the start has been to tax the big landowners and capitalists out of existence by the graduated taxa : tion of land and incomes, ad to divide the land into small lots among the peo- pie. His opponents in the house of rep resentatives said such a course was op- posed to English principles.
 II know that" retorted Seddon. "ln England half the people who reach the age of 65 also reach the penthouse, and in London one person out of five dies in the workhouse, the hospital. or the lunatic asylum. Well may we question the economic and social system of which this is the product. We want to establish our civilization in this new land on a broader basis, in a deeper sympathy for humanity"
 Seddon boasts that if he is a Socialist he is also one of the staunchest of Im- perialists. It is said that when the Boer i war broke out he was dissuaded with