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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1903)
Seddon, the Diaz of New Zealand CCopyrlghted, 1903, by William Thorp.) HEX the Colonial Premiers visited w England in honor of the queen s diamond jubilee, and later In IrtD&jil ,lonor ' K,n Edward's corona 1 ' tlon, none of them, with the ios Ible exception of Sir Wilfred Laurlcr, made such a dcop and favorable Impres sion on English statesmen und English people an Richard J. Seddon, the un crowned king of New Zealand. At a garden party given In his honor by an American woman woll known In Iondnn oclety, he was the lion of the hour. Ills dignity, his grave courtesy, his aocl.il gifts, tils dintlngulHhed manner, captivated every body. The greatest men In Knglarid wera eager for an Introduction to him, and lls tened deferentially to his weighty words. "Good for old 'Digger Dick,' " exclaimed one gray-haired colonial from New Zealand to another who happened to be present. "He's gone nhoad with a vengeance, hasn't bo? Who would think that the Hon. Rich ard J. Seddon, prime minister, privy coun cillor, doctor of laws, colonial treasurer, minister of labor, minister of defence, and all the rest of lt-tho man whom queens and princes delight to honor-Is the sama Digger Dick' whom you and I knew when be kept a little roadside saloon up la the mining district, and threw the miners Out whenever they got too fresh. He's rone a long way since then, hasn't heT From tavern keeper at the gold diggings to guest of the queenbravo for 'Digger Dick I' " Several self-made men rule nations to day, but none of them has had a stranger or more Interesting career than Itlchard Beddon, and none has fought his way to the top more bravely under more depress ing circumstances. He has been called tits Dlas of New Zealand, and certainly he Is second only to the great ruler of Mexico In regard to the period, during which ho bos wielded practically absolute power over a modern democracy. Seddon Is the son of a small farmer In I.aneashl-e, England. He learned the truda Of a mechanical engineer, saved his money and emigrated to Australia at the ago of 18. He meant to be a rich and successful man Instead of working for a small wags in overcrowded England. When he arrived In Victoria, In 1S63, the "gold rush" was beginning. Seddon Joined It and tried his luck at Rendlgo diggings, but gained little except a great reputal tlon as a man able and ready to use his fists. Possessed of Immense phynlcal strength and a good knowledge of boxing, he was always ready to fight the biggest bully on the fields. A week seldom passed without at le.tst one desperate buttle. It was not that Beddon was quarrelsome, for he Is a man of calm Judgment and good temper, but be has a strain of chivalry In his nature and therefore made himself the champion of any miner who was being bullied by a rougher, stronger man. In thoae eirly days the Uendlgo diggings were lawless places, Infested by ex-convicts and the sweepings of humanity. "Digger Dick", bad to hnlf kill three or four of them be fore he made himself respected and put a stop to bullyingat all events, In his pres ence. In 1866 gold was discovered In large quantities along the west coust of New Zealand and thither went Beddon, little richer than he had left England. Hut he had learned one thing that digging for (old Is not the best way of making money at the gold diggings. He started a saloon at a mining camp and soon becume the most popular man in the place. First of all, he ran a small shanty on the roadside and dispensed a little cheap rum and whisky. ,loiiey rolled in and ha ,11 KN Kir TliiimiiM I.li.ton went to 'Tl Coney Island the other day and I "did the stunts." he enioved him self like a boy of 13 and told everybody that there was noth ing like It in all England. He was right. Coney Inland, the city of pleasure palaces and neckbreaklng sports, has Its duplicates all over the United States, from New York to. San Francisco, and from Buffalo to New Orleans. But It is purely an American In stitution, und the Englishman's eyes bulge out with wonder when he sees It. "Let us go down to Coney and have a good time on the beach," said a New Yorker to an English cousin whom lie was entertaining the other day. The Englishman looked troubled, but be agreed. All the way down In the car he was quiet and melancholy, but when he landed on the beach In the midst of 1,000 Bide shows and heard fakirs to the right of hi in and "howlers" to the left of him volley and thunder, he gaped In open mouthed amazement until his friend had to drag him from underneath the wheels of a diminutive locomotive which was mingling In a light-hearted way with the crowd. "By Jove!" he exclaimed. "It's awfully Jolly, don't you know. The people actually seem to be enjoying themselves." Then he succumbed to violent paroxysm i i i -V : t I a ft . "V v. ; !'V : j 'I l;: ' i i ' . . ! v ' - r I i i f I I I i" HON. RICHARD J. SEDDON. was soon ablo to run a high-class saloon and to establish a big mercantile business when the diggings became more settled and civilized. As at Uendlgo, Dick Soddon's brawny fist was a powerful civilizing Influence. Al though a saloon keeper, he had a horror of drunkenness. Any drunken digger who entered his saloon was speedily gathered up In his muscular arms and thrown, neck and crop, Into the streets. "I remember, way back In 1S58,' said an old colonist, "hearing a man in Seddon's saloon make a foul remark about a woman in the settlement. 'Digger Dick" vaulted acrosB the bar, took him by the throat, throw him to the ground and nearly shook the life out of him. Three of the man's friends, who were drinking at the bar, caught hold of him, but Dick shook them off as a terrier 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 roughest mining camp if he hap pened to be there. He never allowed ob scene stories to be told In his saloon, though he didn't object to what he used to call 'straight swearing.' "Rut though he was such a great fighter, he was always on the side of Inw and order. They say ho prevented many a riot The Doleful Merrymaking of Merrie of the disease known as "Coneyitls." He shot the chutes, yelling as ldudly as the boy In the next seat. lie slid down the corkscrew staircase on the seat of his trousers. Ho rode the bucking bronchos and galloped on the merry-go-round. He distinguished himself at the shying alley and, to his huge delight, was presented with a gaudy cane by the benevolent pro prietor. He navigated the subterranean liver, went down the coal mine, took a trip to the moon and a voyage under the sea. He yelled with the fakirs, howled with the howlers, devoured vast quantities ef clam chowder and peanuts, and at lust most ecstatlo moment of ull he "looped the loop." Then he lay down exhausted on the beach, mopped his brow, and suld he had bad the time of his life. "But what does an Englishman do when he has a day's holiday in the summer?" asked the American. "Doesn't he have a good time, too?" "No." was the derided reply, "he has the worst time in his life." and the rec ollection of many a melancholy English holiday made the Joys of Coney fade for a moment from the Englishman's face. But the discordant notes of the barkers, which were as muslo to his ears, recalled PREMIER OF NEW ZEALAND. 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 worklngmen swore by him, for he had been a worklngman himself; and, tinlike some of his class who rise in the world, he did not forget his old friends when he became prosperous. 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 them selves." Seddon Increased his popularity by warmly advocating the Interests of the miners In their frequent disputes with the government officials. Incidentally, he was elected to several local offices, and In 1879 was sent to the New Zealand parliament as the representative of one of the mining districts. He has held his seat since then without a break, winning every election. In the old days political life was strenu ous In New Zealand. Oftentimes, when ad dressing public mretlngs or canvassing for votes, he was obliged to Prove his doctrines orthodox Ry apostolic blows and knocks. New Zealanders are fond of telling how he descended from the platform at one rowdy meeting, walked through the yelling his late adventures, and then he went on: "Take the pitiable case of the average London clerk or mechanic, earning $6 or $8 'a week. One of his great ambitions Is to have what he calls 'a day at the sea side' at least once a year. "For weeks and months he looks forward to this holiday, and saves up money for It 60 cents a week. His wife gets some new clothes for the children to wear on the great occasion, and the children them selves cut notches on the bedpost to mark the slow passing of the days towards the glorious date. "When the day dawns, very likely It Is foggy or raining; but the family rush oft to the railway station, flattering them selves It will be fine at the seaside. They Join an excursion,' as they call it, of per haps 100,000 other people, all bound for a seaside resort 200 miles away. There are similar resorts within fifty, twenty or ten miles; but they would never dream of going to one of those Instead. "The English 'cheap trippers,' as the great array of holiday makers Is called, have one fixed Idea to go as far as possible over the railroad In one day at the cheapest possible rate. Nothing else seems to matter If they can only achieve that ambition. Our typical family may live within ten crowd up to a couple of the ringleaders, seized one with each hand, dragged then) from their scats, kicking and fighting, and threw them downstairs, without anybody's help. Then he went back to the platform and calmly finished his speech amid re spectful silence. Seddon soon became recognized as one of the strongest men of the radical party. When Premier Rallance, an able leader of that party, died In 18J3, everybody Bald there was no one could succeed him and hold the party together as he had done. But Seddon stepped into the vacant place and soon led the radicals to such triumphs as they had never dreamed of under Ral lance. Since 1893 he has been prime minis ter of New Zealand. Last Noveml,er Ids party was again returned to power by a large majority, which will keep him at the helm until the end of 19J6. But ho is not only premier; he is the lord higli every thing else of the colony postmaster gen eral, minister of labor, minister for native affairs, minister for electric affairs, colonial treasurer, etc. And for ail these numerous offices he only draws a salary of 1,'XX. When Seddon and his colleagues came Into power they determined, as one of the.n has put it, to bo "thorough-paced revolu tionists." England's colonial statesmen, as a rule, try to copy English laws and Eng lish institutions as much as possible. Not so Seddon. "England," he is fond of say ing, "can only teach us what to avoid. We must not allow our country to sink Into the condition of England." His policy from the Btart has been to tax the big landowners and capitalists out of existence by the graduated taxation of land and incomes, and to divide the land la small lots among the people. "His oppo nents In the house of representatives said buch a course was opposed to English prin ciples. "I know that," retorted Seddon. "Ia England half the people who reach the ago of 65 also reach the poorhouse, and In London one person out of five dies in the workhouse, the hospital or the lunatic asy lum. Well may we question the economlo and social system of which this Is the product! We want to establish our civil ization in this new land on a broader basis, in a deeper sympathy for humanity." Thus It Is that New Zealand, under Sed don's strenuous rule, has become the pet state of socialists all over the world and the "bete nolr" of all conservative poli ticians. 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 war broke out he was dissuaded with diffi culty from giving himself a commission and going to the front. His old fighting spirit, which had lain dormant during years of statesmanship, was roused', but he had to be content with sending 6,000 other New Zealanders to South Africa. He made a "bad break" by wanting to send the Maoris, and by advocating sterner measures toward the Boers. "The Maoris," he said, In a speech, "know how to conduct war and how to treat their enemies. They don't trouble about making prisoners." Seddon Is not content with having New Zealand a prosperous and practically inde pendent nation. He wants to make It an empire with tributary states. With this object in view, he has already annexed several islands in the eastern Pacific to New Zealand, not to Great Britain; and he says he 4s going to annex others, until he builds up his empire within the empire. But the achievement of which he Is proud est Is the enforcement of the famous arbi tration and conciliation act, which has done away with strikes and lock-outs In New Zealand. England miles of Scarborough, the best of the English summer resorts, but they wouldn't think of going there. The children would feel that they had been swindled. No, they must travel down to the other end of England to find a place Infinitely In ferior to Scarborough In every way. "They struggle like wild beasts for a seat In the train with thousands of oth?r holiday makers. If they don't get one they probably have to stand for five or six hours. If they do get one their tenderest corns are trampled upon by the unfortunate people who are obliged to stand. "Our typical clerk may be a quiet, decent sort of man at ordinary times, but when he blossoms out into a cheap tripper he be comes as savage as a Bengal tiger. Before the train .has left the station he nags his wife, scolds his children and quarrels with two or three of his fellow passengers. " 'Four-and-slxpence, return fare,' he grumbles to the clerk In the booking office. The papers said four bob. What are yer givin' meT I want the tickets for four bob. " 'You won't get them,' retorts the cleric. 'Stand aside and make way for the crowd.' " 'Gimme the tickets,' shouts the merry maker. 'Rlarst yer, who are yer hovin' Of?' this to an Impatient man next in line (Continued on Page Eleven.) 4 t