802 
THE WITWATERSRAND AND 
no))oly of its sale has been ^ranted to a compaii}' which pays the 
frovernment something over five sliillings j>er case and charges the 
miners 85 shillings, of wiiicli about 36 shillings is ])rofit. Other 
concessions of a like character have been threatened, though not 
carried out as yet. Until August, 1896, the government insisted 
upon allowing grog-shops accessible to the blacks to be kept 
open in the immediate neighborhood of the mines and mills, 
with lamentable results. There is no commission or any body 
of officials cliarged Avitli the general administration of the dis- 
trict to whom api>eals can be addressed or from whom assistance 
can be obtained. Taxation is so arranged as to fall almost ex- 
clusively on the Uitlanders, and it has not been reduced, altbough 
the treasury has a large sur|)lus and although there are no in- 
dustries to be protected. Many of the officials with whom the 
Uitlanders come in contact are open to bribery and, it is alleged, 
will not act except when paid to do so. 
It is easy to imagine how ver}^ seriously business Avas and is 
hampered by these abuses. No fair-minded })erson can aA’oid 
symj)atbizing with the exasperation of capitalists or mine man- 
agers at the needless difliculties thrown in their Avay and the 
unjust exactions laid upon them. Enterprising and determined 
men could not be expected to submit tamely to such conditions, 
and it is not wonderful that resentment should have carried 
tncm beyond tbe limits of prudence or moderation. In consid- 
ering the grievances, however, it will be ap})arent that they bear 
as a whole much more heavily on capitalists and business men 
than on em})loyes. White miners, machinists, and mining engi- 
neers have almost without exception received higher ])ay and 
also made more money on the Rand during the last few years 
than ever before or in any other region. The direct personal 
discomforts to which theyvhave been subjected have not been 
greater than the}" would have undergone in the mining camps 
of the IJnited States or of Australia, all of Avhich are much 
smaller than this. Thus it cannot be denied that the direct and 
tangible grievances are mainly capitalists’ grievances and that 
the revolt is a capitalist revolt. The employes in joining the 
movement were influenced by a sense of irritation due to needless 
deprivation and discomfort and the knowledge that the source 
of their prosperity was endangered by oppressive exactions. 
It is quite obvious that these causes of complaint could be 
removed by the exercise of a little of the good judgment with 
which the executive is abundantly supplied. The problem is 
