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SYMPATHY MISPLACED.
John Hays Hammond , Outlander anil
Mining Engineer , gives the English
Side of the Controversy In
South Africa.
It is little short of criminal for Amer
ican statesmen , through their ignorance
of the real facts , to attempt to justify
the position of the Boer government in
its controversy with England. I find
that sympathy for the Boer , is , for the
great part , based upon either an inerad
icable hatred of the English race , or
race sympathy for the Boers , right or
wrong , and finally a sympathy based
upon a misconception of the true in
wardness of South African political af
fairs. It is to the last named class
of Americans I address my remarks.
But for the large investments of the
European capitalists on the one hand
and the technical direction of American
engineers on the other hand , the Trans
vaal mining industry would not have
achieved any significant success.
Since the Jameson raid and before
the Boers have been actively pursuing a
scheme of conspiracy for driving the
English from South Africa. They
have been buying guns , building , forti
fications , and hiring foreign officers.
President Kruger was waiting for a rup
ture with England and some continental
power as his chance for fighting for in
dependence. But no such favorable
opening presented itself , and , in my
judgment , the recent insulting ultima
tum of the Boer government , followed
by its instant invasion of the British
colonies of Natal and the Gape , was
forced upon President Krnger by his in
ability to control any longer the wide
spread conspiracy he had carefully
built up.
Today England is fighting , among
other things , for the establishment of
the principle that there should be no
taxation without representation.
Now , I will state to you what are
known as the outlanders' grievances ,
and you can then determine whether
the reform movement of 1895 was or
was not justifiable.
The franchise law in the Transvaal is
that the applicant must renounce in the
first instance allegiance to all other
countries ; he is then under probation
for a period of fourteen years , during
which time he is liable to be called up
on by the state for military duty. After
the expiration of fourteen years he may
secure citizenship , provided he obtains
in writing a petition signed by two-
thirds of the burghers in the district in
which he resides , and provided further
more that he receives the sanction of the
President and Executive council.
According to oui Declaration of Inde
pendence , 'governments derive their
just power from the consent of the gov
erned. "
We objected to the subversion of. the
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high court of justice , in which rested
our only hope of legal redress.
We objected to the alien's expulsion
act , by which an outlander can be put
over the border at the will of the presi
dent without the right of appeal to a
court of justice a course open to the
offending burgher.
We objected to the public meetings
act , which left discretionary power in
he hands of Boer policemen to sup
press assemblages.
We objected to being taxed to main-
ain schools in which Dutch was exolus-
vely taught.
We objected to the maladministra
tion of laws as to native labor , the
Boers lying in wait to rob the natives of
iheir earnings on their way from the
mines to their homes.
Finally , we objected to the prevalent
official corruption and to the granting
of concessions giving monopolies for
; he sale of supplies indispensable to the
outlanders. With the concessionaires
government officials were generally as
sociated in the great profit derived.
In view of the facts , it is nothing less
than disingenuous to affect a sympathy
for a republic which , as you must ad
mit , is one in name only.
EDITORIAL ARTICLES WHICH WILL
STRENGTHEN THE REBELLION.
The Puerto Rico tariff is a protective
measure , passed by the House , and fav
orably reported in the Senate upon the
demand of protected industries. It is
going to stand as long as the Republican
party is in power , whether two years or
twenty. It is silly as well as cowardly
for those who call themselves Republi
cans to lie about the matter. [ New
York Press ( Imperialist Rep. ) .
The advocates of free trade for Puerto
Rico appear to labor under the impres
sion that we owe the Puerto Ricans
something for having delivered them
from Spanish control , instead of the shoe
being on the other foot , with all the ob
ligation on the side of the Puerto Ri
cans. This country owes the new pos
sessions nothing whatever. Their terri
tory came under our possession as the
spoils of war. [ New Orleans Picayune
( Imperialist Dem. )
The Hartford
AN ORGAN'S Qouraut is aotual-
TREACUERY. , . . . . .
ly printing the
Puerto Rican passage of the December
message under the head of "What the
President Said Three Months Ago.
If the Oourant keeps up this course of
treachery , it may reach the point of
printing what the President said some
years ago in favor of silver , or what he
said some years ago about Mr. Olevo
land's wickedness in depositing govern
ment money in favored banks. [ Water
bury ( Conn. ) American ( Ind. )
MONEY IN CATALPA TREES.
Mr.IlurHon , of Topokn , Figures There is
Great Profit in Thorn.
D. O. Bnrson , of Topeka , specialist in
the planting and culture of oatalpa trees
for profit , was in this city today , return
ing from Mattesou , Kas. , where ho is
planting 20,000 of the trees on a place
owned by Mr. Macombs , of Lawrence.
Mr. Bnrson had this to say about
catalpa planting :
"Mr. Hall , assistant superintendent
of tree planting in Washington , D. O. ,
was at my homo in Topeka two weeks
ago , on his way back to Washington from
a visit to the 800 acres of catalpa trees
in Reno county owned by Mr. Yagga , a
wealthy man of Chicago. Mr. Hall
was sent out from Washington to visit
this forest of catalpa trees and make a
report about it. Those trees were set
out ten years ago on soil that was none
too good. Mr. Hall selected one acre of
average sized trees and counted and
measured every tree on that acre and
ascertained the present actual market
value of the trees if cut now for posts ,
poles and lumber. He deducted from
this the original cost of planting the
trees , the cost of oaring for them since
and found that the present net profit on
the 800 acres is $232 an acre. That , in
ten years the trees have been growing ,
is the same as if Mr. Yagga had rented
the land at $28 an acre. Mr. Hall told
me that the trees were only just begin
ning to get to a good marketable size.
He estimated that in ten years more the
trees on that 800 acres would be worth
$1,000 an acre and that is the substance
of the report he will make.
"There is nothing I know of that is so
profitable for men of small capital to go
into as the planting of catalpa trees. A
man who hns 160 acres could plant it now
in catalpa trees at a cost of about $60 an
acre and with very little attention the
trees would be worth in twelve or fifteen
years $1,000 an acre. That would be
$160,000 , a better investment for a man's
family than life insurance. "
The attention of
the assessors , who
will meet in this
city shortly , is called to chapter 77 , art.
1 , sec. 7 of the statutes of this state in
which it is stipulated that the person
shall list all his moneys , stocks ( when
not assessed in this state ) , money loaned
or invested in franchises and other per
sonalty and all of the above mentioned
credits controlled by him as agent for
some other person. Personal property ,
not required to be listed otherwise ,
shall be listed in the county in which
the owner resides. If the assessors
would consult the recorders' offices of the
various counties and agree upon a sys
tem of reporting , a great deal of prop
erty could be assessed which has hither
to escaped taxation.
