The San Francisco call., 1905-04-02
HACCARD TELLS
OF HIS MISSION
Famous Novelist Addresses
Audience of College Men
at the State University

BERKELEY. April III. Rider
Haggard delivered an address at the
university this morning to an audi
ence that completely filled Harmon
Gymnasium. Hundreds were unable
to obtain admittance. The distin-
guished novelist was introduced by
president Benjamin Ide Wheeler as
an Anglo-Saxon whose message to
his kinsmen on this side of the At
lantic Is well worth hearing
Haggard's tall. slim figure bowed in
recognition of the university presi-
dents hearty eulogy as he rose to
greet the folk gathered to hear him
speak With the deliberation of the
typical Briton, the guest Of honor be-
gan his address, which was intended
10 reveal the speakers serious view
or serious things. particularly with re-
latlon to sociological problems. The
novelist referred modestly to his au-
thorship Of books that have made him
famous and added that while the
DOCKS IN question may have amused
or interested the world, he wished
now TO be heard as one with a serious
purpose rather than as a writer Of
light literature.
The evils attending the congestion
of great populations in large cities Of
the earth, evils so hideous that they
portend. in the opinion of Haggard,
the overthrow of western civilization
unless a cure for the cause of the dis
ease is found. have attracted the
speakers attention and aroused his
~ ~
tire time to seeking means of amel-
lorating the ills of which he speaks.
SLUMS OF LONDON.
The slums of London, he declared,
breed iniquity and send forth moral
miasma Of such foulness as to vitally
affect the health of the entire British
nation and In similar fashion, Hag-
gard said, the slum population of
other great cities has influence upon
the life of the nation which permits
such conditions to exist. Haggard be-
lieves that the very heart of civiliza-
ton is rotting as a result of this
thing and he has made it his life work
to toll with such men as General
Booth of the Salvation Army and
others of political and social fame in
an attempt to change. in every way
possible. the conditions that make
possible these fostering evils\
Haggard said that he came to Amer
lea as the representative of the British
Government to study colony life here,
so that he can recommend upon his re-
turn the founding of proper colonial en-
terprises in America and other coun-
tries for those of the great English cit
les who now live in sQualor and In re-
stricted areas, prey to disease and fit
subjects for the propagation of crime
bacilli
A strong word picture was drawn by
Haggard as he contrasted the possibil-
lties OF life in the Sums and tenements
and life in the broad, free prairies or
mountains of such land as this. He
urged that those who heard him give
heed to the problem which he and other
Englishmen are trying to solve, and to
ala, II possible. in speeding the day
when a satisfactory solution should be
provided. Haggard concluded his ad-
dress with the following words./
MISERY AND SIN.
"A few years ago / noticed that the
land in which I lived was being swept
Of its best, and the cities became glut-
ted and seething tanks of misery and
sin. You may say that the rich live in
the city; but five minutes from the
houses of the wealthy what do Won
see? In England to-day the conditions
IN the cities, in the slums, is terrible.
The civilized people of the Western
world must stop this conglomeration of
people in few large cities or it is in
eVltable that race suicide of the most
aggravated type will grow.
Another danger is from the East.
Unless we reform the Mongol hordes,