The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-21

from 1 to 1-4 carat for each load of 1900 pounds, has fallen to from 1-4 to 1-2 carat a load. The pres ent profits are made possible chiefly through the excellent American ma chinery used in the processes of m1n-, ing.
 '"The four men financed the Mata- 9bele war, ultimately involving not sOn- ly South Africa. but Rhodesia as we'll. Their great mistake lay in encourag- ing the Boer war, with the since blast ed hope of getting lower taxes under English rule than under the Boers With this in view they shipped arms to the Outlanders in South Africa, concealing the weapons in Standard Oil cans. Rhodes later said that if the same care had been exercised in receiving as in shipping the arms, he would have carried out his plan suc- cessfully. As it was, however, old Dom Paul Kruger was too shrewd for them; he watched and checkmat- ed their every move, discovering their arsenal oil cans with electric search lights, and foilfng them. Rhodes, who chiefly led this movement, was him. self a good Englisihman, but at one single time he declared that if Eng land could not realize. what the Af- rican colonies must have, an empire would result independently of her. It was his great mistake. At his age he could not stand the excitement of the war and of the many weeks in which he was besieged with Dom Paul publicly threatening to hang him out in an iron cage and then put him to death if captured. He died soon af- ter the war.
 Under. English rule the taxes of the company, far from being lessened. were greatly increased, the. expense of the war being saddled largely upon it. The death of Rhodes and Barnato threw greater load upon the shoul- ders of. Belt and Wernher. Had Rhodes lived, for example, the great Premier Mine, which has paid more than 300 per cent. dividends in sins gle year, would never have escaped them. The death. of Belt threw a. still greater burden. upon Wernher. the sole remaining partner, inasmuch mining end of the business but also in selling the rough stones to cutters. through the firm of Wernher. Belt & Co.,, of London. which had netted an- other profit of from 5 to Is per cent.
 "In 1909 lWernher, despite his long experience with diamonds, was vic- timized colossally by a Frenchman. Henri Lemone, who pretended to sell him a secret process for making dia- monds artihcially, Wernher watched him put some wonderful ingredients into an electric crucible and get real diamonds out. Ills own experts test ed them and pronounced them gen. uine. Thereupon. hypnotized and deceived, he paid Lemone $300.nO0 for his secret, which was delivered to him in a sealed envelope, which was not to be opened till after Lemone's death. Through a. diamond cutter who had cut the diamond used by Le- r1one in his hoax, however, the secret leaked out: the Erenchman had prob ,t,l Avn tY1O iov Aa fn h av.,1 1aS. ble with wax or some carbonaceous substance that burned with the sup posed wonderful ingredients, freeing the diamonds. Wernher- had bought Lemone off chiefly with the hope of preventing a disorganiEation of the diamondgmarket by runors> of flood of artif1cially evolved diamonds soon to be thrown upon 1t. The impos- tefs had worked his game precisely as had pr. Dee. the alchemist of the six tesrtA EentNfy who hoodwinked Ru- dolK IT. Of Prague, and many other Lemofie was sentenced to six years innprisQnment at Paris"
 E Sir Julius Wernher had a son, Der rick Wernhef, who has caused him no end of trouble. The young man man aged to pile up gambling debts of spend $42o.ooo in the same way, chiefly through his ability to ret loans on the strength of his name.
 In 1910 his father went so far as to anpouhce publicly that he would not be responsible for any of his sons debts, though he still allowed him more than $400 a month. It was im- possible to make money lenders be- lfeve that young Wernher could be disinherited. however, so they con- tinued to lend on the strength of his fatherss estate, which was estimated at $76,0O0,00O. In May. 1912. Der