674 



TRANSVAAL. 



of the country. The President of the Republic, 

 S. J. Paulus Kruger, re-elected for the fourth term 

 on May 12, 1898, went to Europe in November, 

 1900, to seek the intervention of other powers. 

 Gen. Pieter J. Joubert, who died on March 27, 

 1900, was succeeded as Vice-President by Schalk 

 Burger, and as Commandant General by Louis 

 Botha. The other members of the Executive Coun- 

 cil in the beginning of 1900 were F. W. Reitz, State 

 Secretary; Commandant Pieter A. Cronje, Super- 

 intendent of Natives; J. H. M. Kock, Keeper of 

 Minutes; and J. M. A. Wolmarans and S. W. Bur- 

 ger. A defensive alliance was concluded with the 

 Orange Free State in 1896, after a raid of Dr. Jame- 

 son at the head of Bechuanaland border police in 

 connection with an attempted revolution in Jo- 

 hannesburg, for which Cecil Rhodes, then Prime 

 Minister of Cape Colony, and others interested in 

 gold mines, furnished arms and money with the 

 object of raising the British flag. 



Area and Population. The area of the Trans- 

 vaal is 119,139 square miles. In an imperfect cen- 

 sus taken in 1896 the white population enumerated 

 was 245,397, comprising 137,947 males and 107,450 

 females. In 1898 it was estimated at 288,750, com- 

 prising 166,400 males and 122,850 females. The 

 native population paying taxes was 402,502, and 

 the total native population in 1898 was estimated 

 at 748,759, comprising 148,155 men, 183,280 women, 

 and 417,324 children. The population of Pretoria 

 in 1896 was about 8,000 and in 1898 10,000. Jo- 

 hannesburg, the mining center, had 102,704 in- 

 habitants at the census of July 15, 1896, of whom 

 51,225 were whites. The state schools, 429 in num- 

 ber, had 11,552 pupils in 1897, besides 555 in the 

 model school, the gymnasium, and the girls' high 

 >cli<>ol in Pretoria. The Government spent 140,- 

 286 for education, and many of the English resi- 

 dents in the Witwatersrand gold fields supported 

 their own schools, in which their language was 

 used exclusively, whereas in the Government 

 schools of the district instruction was given in 

 both Dutch and English. 



Finances. The revenue in 1893 was 1,702,- 

 684; in 1894, 2,247,728; in 1895, 3,539,955; in 

 lS!Mi. 4,807,513; in 1897, 4,480.218; in 1898, 

 3.983,560; expenditure in 1893, 1,302,054; in 

 1HU. 1,734,728: in 1895, 2,679,095; in 1896, 

 4,671,393; in 1897, 4,394,066; in 1898, 3,971,- 

 473. Of the revenue in 1898, customs duties 

 yielded 1,066,985; royalties, 125,439; direct 

 taxes, 174,610; mining licenses, 626,025; 

 stamps, 285,383; fines, 90,713; interest, 254,- 

 1)91; posts and telegraphs, 206,332; South Afri- 

 can Railroad, 668,951 ; sale of explosives, 223,- 

 342; other sources, 260,779. Of the expenditures 

 in 1898, salaries absorbed 1,080,382; cost of col- 

 lection, 22,962; justice and police, 141,307; 

 public instruction, 202,831 ; public health, 

 88,952; posts and telegraphs, 145,202': Wai- 

 Department, 357,225; public works, 891,332; 

 public debt, 156,657; purchases, 289/271: 

 expenses of Swaziland, 148.961; other ex- 

 penses. 446,391. The Department of Mining 

 Commissions in Johannesburg collected 849,- 

 22C. and cost 85 .(105. making the net re- 

 ceipts 764,221. The debt of the Republic cnn- 

 ~iMed on Dec. 31. 1S98, of 136.644 due to the 

 British Government for the occupation in 1S77, 

 tne 5-per-cent. Roth-child loan of 2..~>oo.ooo. and 

 n railroad debt of 23,750; total, 2.660,394. 

 _ The Army. Neither the South African Repub- 

 lic nor the Orange Free State has maintained a 

 standing military force except a corps of artillery. 

 The state artillery of the Transvaal in 1899 con- 

 1 of 29 officers, 83 noncommissioned nlliccrs. 

 and 289 men, and there was a telegraph corps of 



1 officer and 15 men. The Orange Free State had 

 15U artillerists in active service and a reserve of 

 550. After the Jameson raid the Transvaal Gov- 

 ernment gave large orders in Europe for Krupp 

 and Creusot guns, Maxims, Nordenfelts, and 

 Mauser rifles and smokeless powder, to rearm the 

 burghers. A powder factory was established, and 

 European experts were engaged for the manufac- 

 ture and repairing of arms. The number of large 

 guns belonging to the South African Republic 

 when the war began in October, 1899, was re- 

 ported by the British Intelligence Department to 

 be 16 Creusot of 15-centimetre caliber, 21 of 37- 

 millimetre and 9 of 75-millimetre caliber, and 15 

 howitzers. More pompoms and other light guns 

 were brought in before and after war was declared, 

 but additional field guns that were ordered could 

 not be delivered. The Orange Free State had 12 

 modern 75-millimetre guns and 18 guns of old 

 construction. The capture of 19 British guns in 

 the early battles of the war increased the Boer 

 artillery, so far as it was known, to about 110 

 guns. The laws of the Transvaal require every 

 male citizen between the ages of sixteen and sixty 

 to join his district commando at the summons of 

 the field cornet and fight for the defense of the 

 Republic until the commando is disbanded. The 

 natives can be commandeered to serve as drivers 

 and runners, and in other noncombatant capacities. 

 The laws of the Orange Free State are substan- 

 tially the same. The estimate of the fighting 

 strength of the Boer republics made for the British 

 Ministry of War at the outbreak of hostilities 

 was 29,279 burghers in the South African Republic 

 and 22,314 in the Orange Free State; total, 51,593. 

 The Cape Colony and Natal Dutch likely to volun- 

 teer in the Boer service were estimated at 4.000, 

 the number of foreigners at the same figure, and 

 the number of police was 1,500, making with the 

 artillery a total of about 62.000. 



Commerce and Production. Sheep, cattlt 

 horses, ostriches, and goats are raised by the Trans 

 vaal Boers on enormous farms. Agriculture is 

 little practiced that wheat and flour are imported. 

 Mealies are grown in the east, chiefly by natives. 

 and are distilled into whisky as well as used for 

 food. The area under regular tillage in the Re 

 public is estimated at 50,000 acres. The mercan- 

 tile community is composed of English, Germar 

 and other foreigners. The gold mines, belonging 

 to companies whose stock is held largely in Paris 

 London, and Berlin, but much of it, too, by th 

 original promoters who have been identified \\itl 

 Johannesburg and the agitation against the Boer 

 Government, produce low-grade ore which can 

 worked very profitably by modern chemical prc 

 cesses, but only after the outlay of large capita' 

 The miners are natives from all over South Afric 

 engaged on time contracts, the foremen and s 

 laborers British and other Europeans and Austi 

 Hans, the technicologists and managers mostly 

 Americans and Englishmen. The trading commu- 

 nity and those who live indirectly on the minim: 

 industry have come from all quarters of the world. 

 The deep-level mining lands which have not yet 

 been opened belong to the Government, as do 

 the extensive auriferous lands in the Barbcrton 

 district. In ten years from the time when the 

 mines of the Witwatersrand became productive the 

 Transvaal rose to be the chief gold-producing cmm 

 try in the world. The value of the output in 

 was 16,044.135, compared with 11.476.260 in 



1897 and 8,603,821 in 1896. In eight months ol 

 1899, at the end of which exports were stopped 1>\ 

 war. the product was 12.620,000 in value. Thr 

 number of whites employed by 73 companies in 



1898 was 9,476, and of natives 67,797; another re 



