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Show SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa Is vexed with a race problem H more serious than anything of the kind on this H side of the Atlantic. Mr. Arthur Hawkes tells H of it in the Review of Reviews. Tho Kaffir far H outnumbers the white, the whites have to depend H upon him to do the work in tho mines and on H the roads, in the war he was paid better wages H than was "Johnnio Atkins" and now ho wants H the same wages and for them does not want to H perform more than half duty. Great Britain is H proverbially slow In colonizing a country. We seo H that in Canada and in Australia. Laborers are de- H plorably scarce in South Africa, England herself H is filled with people who ought for their own H sakes to be at work somewhere In a way to H awaken hope in their hearts, but there is little H emigration of laborers to South Africa. Food is H very high in and near the mining camps for there H is little effort at farming. Tho great trouble is H lack of water. Much of the soil Is good, but there Is not moisture to quicken it. At this dls- I tanco it looks as though the British government H would have to take a hand in the work of re- , demptlon, redemption for tho soil and redemp- I tlon from the slavery which tiie negro enforces I there where labor is the great need and he is the I only laborer. H Great Britain spent 1,000 millions of dollars in I r Til Ifr wresting that land from the rule of the Boer, and Bi ' iilfl ! much more to reach satisfactory terms of peace. H ' I 1 1 f I I Sn0 sll0ul(1 So down into her strong box once H t J J more even as she is doing in F.gypt. She should V Flli'f I turn tue rIvers of Soutl1 Africa where their Bi fj Ig waters can vivify the soil and then give free pas- H fill" saSe to famllIes to go there and cultivate that K I ill J I so11- Tne mines o tne Rand will guarantee a H jiff , i sood market for all that can be raised. If the H , 1 j ' land was worth fighting for it is worth preserva-B preserva-B 1 1 y i tion after the fighting is finished. Then, too, it H $ 1 1 1 r Is a part of tliat Sreat emPIre which it is the pur- B i ' i I f 1 1 " poso of Great Britain to subdue and civilize in H ' f f I ft ' Africa and the young men and women of England H 1 li I , who are poor, and who have no future at home, B ' ' 1 1 'f f ' should be puslied out for the new education B 'jiff! 'f v which the frontier supplies. There will be plen- H . 5 S ' I I i ty of work for every one that can go for years H k ' I to come. The more one looks at the situation the B h- Ij i , j more clear it seems that a great colonization ! I ! ? l T B H i ; a 1 1 . J scheme is of vital importance for South Africa, H ! ijjjj f but the exodus should be preceeded by the flx- H i , 'f ji ! Ing of the land so that it can be cultivated. If H ; lilt i the United States had such a region as South H , I J J Africa under its flag, the instinct of the Ameri- H '$ 'fili I can PePle would instantly decide what should H . be done. The adventurous spirits would push H ' f I , ! i j their way there. There would be demands for H I 1 1 I ! ! franchises for rights of way for roads, for water H V'f J' i ' rights; there would be flaming advertisements of H t i i the possibilities of the country; there would be If papers established and they would be filled with JP . ' warnings not to permit the monopolies to anticl- Ijf pate the honest settler in taking possession, and I1 I the procession would steadily swell and the pos- ii sibilitles of the country would be brought out; l!l J j there would be applications for the admission of i! I new states within three years and would-be states- v I j men would be thicker than leaves in Valambrosla, 'HI v ! Great Britain should get a push on herself and j$(ij $k j Imitate the American example. 't S i THE COMING OF THE AUTUMN. The Autumn was savage in its first approaches ap-proaches this year. It drove out a too ardent summer and seemed to bring aU the vanguards of the winter with it. Clouds and cold and roaring winds and biting frost were all ushered in at once before men had time to doff their ice-cream suits and to got their top coats from their "Uncles." But, seriously, the coming of Autumn has its sad features. The sunshine like the migratory birds, seems to gather its golden brood and fly away; the pall of the clouds Is spread upon the heavens; heav-ens; the winds take on their old storm tones; the leaves fade on the trees and a chill gathers upon the air like the damp upon the brow of the dying. dy-ing. True, the harvest in its fullness fills the land, granaries are bursting, the trees are loaded with fruit; the fruition of the gardens is on every hand; there is no fear of want; but the smiles have gone out of the sunshine; the mountain moun-tain brows suddenly become sere and wrinkled, the reminders are all of the svift changes which come alike to the world, and to men when the winter of life is approaching. Still, there is nothing noth-ing else in Nature so beautiful as the seasons' processions, pro-cessions, nothing else so filled with symbols of hope. The spring begins even as a human life does; at first but a bud so delicate that a footstep would crush it or a harsh wind wither it. But it expands and takes on more strength and beauty daily, then music Is born to it until all the air is ringing with joy-songs; then comes the blooms and the flowers and fruits, and later the harvest whitens as it reaches maturity. But then succeeds the autumn, the winter, and finally the white shroud of the snows and the face of Nature is but as the face of the dead. How the first winter win-ter must have crushed the hearts of the men who watched it descend. How they must have whispered to each other, "Alas, the world is no stronger than we. Like us it has its childhood and manhood and now in Its age, like us it foils asleep." But when another spring came bringing its sunshine and its warmth, when again the buds burst forth, and the nesting birds began again to sing; then the thoughtful ones saw that what seemed to be death was but sleep; that, the rest over, there was the same life and light and joy, and from that example the hope began to expand that may be man, like the earth, does not die, but sleeps and that may be with the new awakening there will be buds more rare than any that come to this material world and music sweeter than ever fell on mortal ears. Men have long known that the spring would follow the winter, they have long held the seasons as symbols of men's lives, and still the coming of the autumn is not altogether alto-gether welcome. The chill, the hoarse winds, the leaden sky and the beating of the storms all come with the looks of enemies and it takes real philosophy phil-osophy to reason that they all are parts of a plan which was framed in mercy to the children of men. When the world a little more advances we fancy that men will make a new adjustment. When air ships are perfected, then men will imitate imi-tate the birds, leave their old nests and fly away to the south when the autumn approaches and go where the spring air keeps thp foliage fresh and green and where the fruits ripen every month on the trees even as thy do in the cities of the sun. |