In Sunny Africa III

In Sunny Africa

BY FRANK I. HEWLETT. PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION

III — The Transvaal — The spirit of 76 was ripe in South Africa, Boer versus Britain. Tn many instances, no doubt, it was a case of "might makes right." The Dutch people appealed to Great Britain for justice, and asked that reparation be made them for the many wrongs that had been inflicted upon them. We will not even make the attempt to explain the many reasons for their appeal, but suffice it to state that their cries went unheeded, and instead of a "call to arms," the hardy Boers determined to blaze a trail to the land of the North. Indignation meetings had been held in every little town. and cattle camp on the Karoe. The old Dutch spirit was up the spirit of the men that cut the dykes. The same spirit as that of the American colonies in 1776. Rebellion was useless. But a vast wilderness stretched to the north of them. The nomad life was congenial to them, and in their large bullock carts in which some of their kinsmen had pioneered the way to the land of the Zulu and the Basutos, they had vehicles, homes, forts, all in one. Cart after cart was loaded ud. the huge teams were inspanned, the women were seated inside of the canvas room, the men. with their long-barreled cams, walked alongside, and the great exodns was begun. Their herds and flocks accompanied the migration, and the sturdv Boer children hel^d tn drive and round them up at night. One little boy of ten with clothes all tattered

IN SUNNY AFRICA 549

and torn cracked his long whip, made from the toughest hide, behind the motley string of oxen. He was a small item in that singular crowd, but could the veil of the future have been drawn aside for a moment to show us the man that was more than any other destined to mold the political — fortune of South Africa the sturdy little fellow cracking the whip was Stephanus Paul Kruger. It was a strange exodus, comparable only in modern times to the travels of the "Mormons," in their search for Utah, to them the land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, under the leadership of an equally great leader, Brigham Young. A large part of the Boer pioneers settled in The Transvaal, and scattered over a space as large as Germany and larger than Pennsylvania, New York and^ the New England states. The government of the Transvaal, after the first war, was left in the 7 r TE LATE PREST. KRUGER hands of a triumvirate, but after one year, Kruger became President, an office which he continued to hold for eighteen years. His career as ruler vindicates the wisdom of that wise but unwritten provision of the United ad? States by which it is understood by all A / •

1 jMrifr v-w American citizens that there is a limit W jM^M r» S«imisM i k *i to the tenure of the President's high l >V- t s>2 JStk 'j& r ' 8| office. Continued rule for half a gen- mf U.:i ,JSi eration must turn a man into an auto- M i.^SjE m JZTT ^m " \ jF'-" crat. The old president has said himeslf in his homely but shrewd way, &-£ -

"that when one gets a'good ox to lead HL.f t3f3lMm _£** V&^Bf ^£H( the team it is a pity to change him." If a good ox, however, is left to choose his own direction without guidance, he may draw his wagon into ^^^1 trouble. Monument in Pretoria to Young Boer Who Fell Let us take a peep at Pretoria, in the Late War capital of The Transvaal, and the most typical Dutch city in South Africa. Pretoria is situated in a hollow, surrounded by green-clad hills, and this made it possible to conduct water from the Aapee river in furrows at the side of the streets for irrigation purposes. It was found that water perme-

550 IMPROVEMENT ERA

of rough stone but this drawated the soil, the furrows being built since the streets have back has been almost completely overcome drained, and the sysbeen macadamized, or paved, open spaces tem of surface drainage established which now carries off all sur- water, back to the Aapee river Pretoria has face and drainage of 36,837 whites, 21,114 Asiatics, a mixed population consisting eight and one-half square miles. and 1,790 blacks. Area, The executive capital of United South Africa is 1,042 miles from Cape Town, 740 miles from Port Elizabeth, 510 from Dur-

THE LATE PRESIDENT KRUGER S HOME

ban and 42 miles from Johannesburg. In 1860 the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal chose the village of Pretoria as the capital, and a typical Dutch village it remained until the opening of the gold fields, in 1886. Wealth flowed into the village which took on renewed activity massive structures were built for State ;

and municipal purposes; it also received an impetus in 1910 to fit the town to take its place as the administrative capital of United South Africa. Government sanction was obtained for a $6,000,000 loan for municipal improvements, which was expended for part of the sewerage system, cattle market, steam disinfectors, swimming baths, market, etc. The electric car line was constrcuted at a cost of one-half million dollars. The government also expended large sums on public buildings. A magnificent pile of public offices was hurried forward on Meinli/ee Kop, at a cost of $5,000,000. The new stone and brick post office was built.

IN SUNNY AFRICA 551

which cost $512,000, and a museum and library, $590,000, and numerous lesser improvements were made. We had the pleasure of visiting the modest home of the late President Kruger. Across the street may be seen the church that he so faithfully attended. It is surrounded by a square tower which contains a handsome clock. It is minus the gold hands, which were stolen during the war, and no attempt has been made to replace them. The wide streets, running water, and nice rows of shade trees remind us in many ways of our Salt Lake City, nestled under the shade of the Wasatch. Let us hasten to Johannesburg, the golden city of the Rand, distance forty - two Frank T. Hewlett at a United South miles. We are booked for African Railroad Station Cape Town, but the South African railway officials are good-natured in giving us, without extra charge, plenty of stopover privileges. The railroads of United South Africa are owned and operated by the government which derives a handsome income on the invested capital. The trains are patterned somewhat after the style of the English locomotives and coaches. The coaches are divided into compartments, each to hold six persons. At night the cushions on either side are dropped down in such a manner as to make six beds, or you might call them wide shelves. Of course the guards, or, as we would say, conductors, come along about dark, and the ladies are given separate compartments from the gentlemen. Most of the African people bring their own bedding, or it can be furnished by the railway company, at two shillings and sixpence for two nights, the price the same if used only for one night. For porters we have kaffir boys about sixteen years old to roll up and take care of the bedding. The dining cars are up-to-date breakfast ;

and lunch cost two shillings and sixpence, and dinner three shillings. You can order from the menu card, and have abundance to take care of your appetite. There are first, second and third class. Third class coaches are for the natives only. Many vexatious law suits have been taken to the courts to decide who is a native, and what constitutes a European. The blue-uniformed conductor walks the length of the train and makes sure of his total, waves a flag, the whistle toots plaintively, and the long line leaps into motion, with a jerk, on the first stage of its long trip. With a hoarse croak from the siren, and a grind of the wheels, the Imperial Mail is off. A blear of waving handkerchiefs, a

:

552 IMPROVEMENT ERA

glimpse of many signal posts, and cris-crossing of the rails, and the old Pretoria station with the immense new one nearly finished

fades from view. Away, on, with ever-gathering speed through hills of the the suburbs into the country, and the low, golden Rand can be seen in the western outline of the African sky. Ger-

miston, the great smelting city, with its tall chimneys belching out the blackest smoke, is passed. We are nearing Johannesburg, and all around it reminds us of Mercur on a gigantic scale. Gold mines everywhere. Ore

A GOLD MINE, JOHANNESBURG dumps with their white, glittering sands piled up like miniature mountains. Mills and their accessories for taking out and refining the yellow metal, are scattered over forty miles of country. You take your choice and stop off at either Jeppe or Park stations. Johannesburg is the largest city in United South Africa and, for short, is always called "Joberg." This city has experienced one of the world's famous booms. There have been splendid openings in The Transvaal for business propositions, but things are quiet in the golden city at the present time. The municipal .census of Johannesburg was taken in 1910, and the figures show that the total population of whites, natives, colonials and Asiatics number 220,304, of which the proportions are about whites, 111,857; natives, 95,522; colonial, or mixed, 7,749; and Asiatics, 5,176. It is interesting to know that of the whites, 63,761 are males and 48,096 females, and there are only 4,000 native females to 91,522 males, a circumstance that is accounted

IN SUNNY AFRICA 553

for by the fact that most of the latter are working in the mines within the municipal area, upon which women are not allowed. Johannesburg has an elevation of 5,735 feet. The city is situated on bleak; open downs, and for African climate is very cold during the winter months, July and August, when snow occasionally falls,and many a morning you are used to finding the corrugated iron roofs whitened by Jack Frost. Nearly all the labor, both in the mines and on the railways, is performed by the natives. . 1 The Chinese predominated for a period, but the Celestials created so much feeling among the Dutch, Zulus and Kaffir tribes that General Botha peremptorily ordered them out of The Transvaal, arid now John Chinaman and his queue is only a memory of the strenuous times of the past. The C. Byron Whitney and Kaffir Group of Children, U. S. Africa .. COOlieS 11. shipment of first back China was to /~>i

made over five years ago, and the next question was how to obtain the cheapest labor. Gold mining in the Transvaal is a low-grade proposition, and it must be carried on at low wages. Out of the sixty-five or seventy mines on the Rand more than one-third do not yield over $7.50 worth of gold to the ton, and in some the yield is even less. The quantity of ore is practically inexhaustible, and the output is limited almost entirely to the amount of labor at hand. There is plenty of labor in South Africa if it were always available. There are five millions in the British possessions south of the equator, and there are perhaps one million more in Portuguese East Africa over the way. Of these, however, a large number are comprised of old men, and women and children. The men employed in the mines range in age from 16 to 40, and it is estimated that there are only something like 390.000 available employees in the whole population. As a rule the natives will not work longer than six months at one time, so this reduces the constant supply down to a possible 200.000 which, if it could be relied upon, is far less than the wants of the country. Before the British-Boer war there were over one hundred thousand natives employed in the gold mines. This number dropped to almost nothing during that struggle; and the high wages then paid by the armies and others so discouraged the industry that when the war closed, and the mines again began to work, the labor supply was almost down to zero. They work in compounds, or walled enclosures, entered only

554 IMPROVEMENT ERA

through turnstiles, so that every man that comes or goes leaves a record. Each black has only a number and that is taken from him when he enters the compound. He is paid by his number and gets his bath, food and supplies in the same way. The men sleep in bunks or rooms about forty feet square and eighteen feet high with a sheet iron roof over-head. Such a room is supposed to accommodate fifty of the mine workers. The daily life of one of these sons of Africa is worthy of note. Pie is called at four o'clock in the morning, at sound of the bugle, and takes his place in a squad of about twenty-five, which is in charge of a boss boy who leads them into a dining room for breakfast. He eats under

JOUBERT S PARK, JOHANNESBURG

the glare of the electric lights, sitting at a table. At the close of the meal a bugle again sounds, and the men march out, squad by squad. The roll is then called. Each responds to his number, and it is ascertained just how many natives are ready for the shift, and a satisfactory reason must be given for, those who may be absent from sickness or other causes. Then the bugle blows again and the natives, giggling like children, move off to the shaft and go down underground. Each takes along a half loaf of bread and a bottle of tea or coffee for luncheon, at noon. A small percentage of them become experts with the hammer and drill, and are singled out for a raise of wages. Then another dif- ficulty arises with the expert, for when he gets a few months'

:

IN SUNNY AFRICA 555

wages ahead, like as not he will go back to the Kaffir location, buy a wife, and that is the last of him. The native labor is arranged for by contractors who sometimes receive over $5 per head, according to supply and demand. The natives would fare better if they would decide on farming and raising cattle for an occupation, as land is cheap and available with a good market for their products. Double-decked electric cars are always convenient for you to see the sights of Johannesburg. We visit Joubert Park which is a beautiful resting place, 'mid shade and flowers, also the museum and business district which is well-sprinkled with live Yankees. We next take a trip to Turfontein and Fordsburg, and the suburban towns. But we are booked for Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope let us hasten on our way. We bid the Golden City ;

of The Transvaal goodby as we steam southward past huge mills, hills of white glittering sand, and factories,

Dutch Farmer Taking a Load of Cauli- flower to. Market

Elder W. C. Jefferies writes from Barnsley, Engalnd, recently

"We are obtaining new friends constantly, and have many ex- cellent opportunities of explaining the plan of salvation. The people are very distant, but we have succeeded in gain-

'9 if w ing the respect and confidence of a few of them. Wedo not feel discouraged on account of the small numbers, for it was declared that they should be gathered one of a city and two of a family. The Lord is blessing the elders in their work. Elders, left to right: Milton L. Ollerton, Parowan H. C. Williams, Greenville, Monroe Van Wag- ;

oner, Midway, Utah."

— —