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8 Conservative.
DAVIDSTAKIt JOKDAN ONIJOKK IVAII
The 1'roslclcnt oT Stanford Univisislty Says
the KiiKlitth I'copln Arc the Victims
of a Gifjantlc'I'olltlcal Hniioo
GIIIIIC.
OAKLAND , January 12. President Da
vid Stnrr Jordan of Stanford University
made an address tonight at the First
Unitarian church to a largo audience on
the situation in South Africa. Ho said
that his sympathies were with England ,
because this war was forced upon the
nation by politicians for political and
commercial reasons , while the Boers are
right.
"My sympathies are most decidedly
with the English people , " ho said , "for
I believe that they are the victims of a
gigantic political bunco game. I have
had some very painful letters from
friends of mine in England not from
Radicals , but from members of the more
conservative Tory party. I know the
general feeling among them is that this
war is something they were brought into
entirely unawares. You see , it usually
happens that monarchies bring about
conflicts between the conscience of the
people and certain acts carried on in the
name of the people. Wo sometimes find
monarchies in republics. "We had such
a conflict in the United States. I refer
to slavery. It was to the interest of the
South to have slaves. It was to the in
terest of the North to keep still about
them , but the conscience of the people
was finally aroused and the conflict was
inevitable.
"The trouble with England is the
temptation to develop the rabble. Wo
have an example of this in making the
good Queen the Empress of India and in
the Queen's jubilee to impress the world
with England's greatness. This was
done to divert the minds of the people.
When the English people demand a re
form they get the Queen's jubilee or the
Queen is given another title. I say it is
possible to debauch the people with
noise.
"The ancient roots of the present bins-
tor were sown by James I. It has been
carried on by Disraeli , Chamberlain and
Cecil Rhodes , who is a sort of Boss
Tweed of South Africa. A Russian
writer has said that 'ho who has drunk
will drink.1 England has drunk of
power over her enemies and she probably
can't help herself. To keep the British
satisfied you must fire the British heart ,
so all along her frontier they have wars.
When there is serious trouble at home
they must stir up one of those distant
wars.
"As a rule England never stirs up ac
tual fighting if the people on the other
side have clothes on.
"It is not England but Chamberlain ,
who has England , in his power. His
policy is to keep sore places along the
borders of her possessions. That is why
there is trouble between Canada and the
United States. That is why there was
trouble in Venezuela. She is always
willing to arbitrate , because , in nearly
every case , arbitration with her means
splitting the difference. England pats
on the back the nation she can use , but
never removes the cause of complaint.
The basis of her policy is inequality
among men. It has always been , and
that is why our forefathers left Eng
land.
"The Englishman feels that he is a
little better than anybody else. Eng
land's idea of a vigorous foreign policy
is never to strike except when the enemy
ip down and has no powerful neighbor ;
and never to strike below the belt when
bho vulnerable points are above.
"Chamberlain says there must be Eng
lish supremacy in South Africa. We
could &ay the same about North Amer
ica. Why hasn't a little people as many
rights as a mighty people ? The great
thing that crushes a nation , or causes it
to degenerate , is war. In our trouble
with Canada over the fur seals the
Premier said to mo that he didn't care
the snap of his finger for the whole fur
question , but the question would be
kept open. Now they want a port on
the Lynn Canal in Alaska. The tribu
nal in Paris that decided the seal ques
tion was no more worthy of respect than
the most contemptible police court. It
was the same policy of overreach and
then split the difference. The people
who are talking to us now about broth
erhood and consulship are the same sta
ble boy aristocrats that flouted at Abra
ham Lincoln. Is it surprising that they
don't see why we won't join Canada
and come in under the flag ?
' 'Let me tell you that no country can
be stable that is held by force ; no land
can be annexed permanently so long as
it is necessary to wield the sword to hold
it. South Africa was settled by the
Dutch. When the Dutch moved over
into the Transvaal the English claimed
that they were still British subjects.
This claim was admitted by the Dutch
and then abandoned by the British. The
claim of suzerainty has been revived by
Cecil Rhodes and hisjlk for certain pur
poses.
"This war has caused one side to say
the Boers are corrupt , another side that
the English are to blame , but I say it
makes not a particle of difference which
is right. There is no justification for a
mighty nation to go to war with a weak
one. All claims of British suzerainty
were given up by Gladstone and I say
he did the square thing by a little na
tion. I say the outsiders had no right
to vote in the Transvaal. One of the
causes of this war , it is said , was the
cry , 'Remember Majuba Hill. '
"That cry and our 'Remember the
Maine' were born of the passions of war
and are therefore wrong. Other causes
are that the Boers are liars , that they
don't bathe once in a week , that they
sing psalms through their noses and that
they are not Dutch , anyway , but French
rlugueuots. A better reason is that
Rhodes demands the money in their
nountains and Rhodes is a part of
Chamberlain's scheme , or Chamberlain
is a part of Rhodes' scheme , I can't say
which.
"This war started with Dr. Jameson's
raid , and although Jameson was pun
ished the English would have followed
and taken in the whole country if he
had been successful. Chamberlain says
; hey want racial equality. What about
the great indignation over the arrival of
Russian Jews in England ?
"No doubt England will go to pieces
Deforo the end of the century , just as
; ho great Spanish empire went to pieces
m the last century. Kipling has said ,
'Send forth the best ye breed' in a cyn
ical mood , but that is what England is
doing. The empire is sending forth to
war the best it breeds'year after year ,
and as time goes on it can breed only
; he second best. Thnt is the cause of
; he downfall of Rome. The best blood
was sent forth to fall on the battlefield ,
while the stable boys and the scullions
remained at home , and it was from
them that the present Italians de
scended.
"Every nation that has grown in
strength has grown in peace , and every
nation has gone down in arms. The
policy of oppression must give way to
sobriety , industry and justice. "
WHEAT AND IHU5AD.
BOSTON , Jan. 24 , 1900.
DEAR MR. MORTON :
If you think it worth while to print
the enclosed or to refer to the import
ance of the subject in THE CONSERVA
TIVE please do so. There must be a deposit -
posit of potash corresponding to that of
Stassfurt amid our great deposits of salt
and alkalies which are so abundant in
this country.
Have you seen Sir William Crooke's
book on the Wheat Problem ? He sticks
to his dictum that the wheat-eaters
will go hungry for lack of wheat in 1980.
He rests his case on the statistics of O.
Wood Davis of Kansas , and on the offi
cial figures of the Department of Agri
culture. What do you say ?
Yours very truly ,
EDWARD ATKINSON.
Nitrogen.
Some years ago when the writer was
investigating the nutrition of the soil ,
plant , beast and man , he was asked
what would be the next great discovery
most important to the welfare of man
kind , to which he replied : A source of
nitrogen at low cost. That problem is
in process of solution by way of saving
the vapors from coke ovens , iron furn
aces , etc. , and through the action of
bacteria upon leguminous plants. An
adequate supply of phosphates is assured
for all time from Tennessee , North Cor-