CHAPTER V
The Dutch being averse to having the capital near the sea coast, as soon as they gained full control of United South Africa, on May 31, 1910, they decided on Pretoria as the capital, although Capetown was well provided with good legislative buildings. Money was then appropriated to erect government buildings in Pretoria, and a hill east of the city was selected as a site for the Parliament buildings. Following this, a large force of government employes were compelled to leave Capetown for Pretoria, as government business was in future to be transacted in the Transvaal instead of the Cape of Good Hope. At present Pretoria, 45 miles from Johannesburg, is the capital of United South Africa. Before the war the Boers exercised control over only the Transvaal and Orange Free State, but 11 years later they also exercised authority over the Provinces of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal.
One who had imagined he would not find modern utilities and attractiveness of a general nature in a place located 'way up on the veld would be much taken aback upon entering Pretoria. Encircled by a range of hills is this, the best-looking large town in the interior of South Africa. The city being so far away from the busy centers of the world, and over a thousand miles inland from Capetown, one would not expect to find fine, clean streets, a good electric street railway system, good parks, in some of which music is furnished; shade trees, water fountains, and splendid buildings—residential, business, municipal and governmental.
The Dutch Reformed Church, built in the center of the old market square, around which long ox teams used to slowly worm their way and seek shelter behind its stone walls from winds and shade from the sun; where auctioneers, chattering like monkeys, sold produce of burghers, brought from points a hundred miles in some instances, to the highest bidder; where Boer met Boer and sympathized with each other during lean years, discussed native wars, their troubles with England, and the ravages of locusts and rinderpest; where the last President of the Transvaal intermingled with his people, walking among the piles of pumpkins, calabashes, tomatoes, guinea fowl, chickens, hares, and buck; where, on holy days, Psalms were sung by these rough-looking plainsmen—this historical assembling place of burghers, with its old-time and latter-day memories, has been removed, and the market-place converted into a public garden, surrounded at ends and one side by imposing government buildings. On visiting the square where the old church stood, the men of full beards and broad-brimmed soft hats now look instead on beds of flowers in bloom and fountains casting rainbow spray round a circular space.
One feels more comfortable in Pretoria after having spent some time in the Gold City, for he has left the red dust behind, the unattractive cyanide banks, the clouds of black smoke and the sooty buildings. The air is free from smoke, from the dirt banks, and a healthier atmosphere prevails. Pretoria is Dutch; Johannesburg cosmopolitan.
Some 40,000 people were living in this attractive place, and the population is increasing. The government departments were removed from Capetown, one after another, and with the reëstablishment of each Pretoria's population naturally increased as the government employes followed. "Civil servants" is the term used to denote government employes. An increase in salaries was granted to employes when brought from Capetown or Durban, as the salaries paid in the coast cities, on which a frugal person could save money, provided little more than food and clothing in the new capital. As in Johannesburg, house rent is high, and board cannot be had at less than from $35 to $40 a month. The cost of living here, as in Johannesburg, is from 15 to 20 per cent. higher than the coast towns.
Away from mining towns smokestacks are few and far between. Pretoria makes a better showing in this respect, as there are flour mills, an ice plant, an electric power house, and small manufactures that give the place a business appearance.
Walking a few blocks along West Kerk street, on the right hand side, may be seen a one-story stone and cement house, roofed with corrugated iron. This building is surrounded with an iron fence, built on a cement foundation. On each side of the walk leading to the house are two stone lions. In front is a veranda. In that modest house Paul Kruger lived. Walking in the same direction a few squares a park is reached. Entering by a gate, a short distance ahead is seen a large cement foundation with steps leading up, and resting on the foundation is a square granite base. The monument finishes there. Postcards bear a picture of the completed monument to Paul Kruger, but it lacks the bronze figure of the Boer President. "The monument that was to have been erected to the memory of the late President Kruger" is the wording under the picture of the "completed" monument. The bronze figure of Paul Kruger reached Lourenzo Marques, Portuguese East Africa, at the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, in 1899. Several lean years followed the Boers' defeat, and the Transvaal was theirs no longer. What stands of "the monument that was to have been" is well looked after. Some day, however, the printing on a postcard of the completed monument will read: "Paul Kruger's Monument."
"Dick" Seddon, of New Zealand, was a great man; Brazil, Argentine, Chile and Australia have produced men they consider great, but their fame is only local. Many in other countries tell one that the United States has produced but two great men—Washington and Lincoln. Looking at things from a world viewpoint, one cannot find a man born south of the equator who measures up to Paul Kruger's fame. So, in fairness to rugged genius, it would seem no overt act would be committed if the completed monument did stand in that park in Pretoria—to the memory of the greatest man born south of the equator.
"Have you been out to Wonderboom?" is a question visitors to Pretoria will be asked. Six or seven miles from the capital is seen from a distance what looks like a very large tree, located a mile from the railroad station. Big trees with dark green leaves are rare on the veld, which accounts for Wonderboom being such an attraction. In a radius of 150 feet seven groups of trees are growing, and from each grows half a dozen trees. The space taken up by some of these groups measures from 20 to 30 feet, and the clumps grow from roots of what appeared to have been large trees at one time. When vegetation of all sorts is white from drought the Wonderboom is as green as if it had been watered at frequent intervals. The trees grow 20 feet high, and cover an area of half an acre. No one seemed to know the name of the wood. "Vonderboom" seemed to be sufficient to cover all questions asked about its specie.
English newspapers published in Pretoria could not be favorably compared to the Johannesburg productions. This may be accounted for by the existence of Dutch publications, which naturally have a larger patronage than English newspapers, the population being in the main Dutch. As a considerable amount of the government printing is now done in Pretoria, this industry has improved. The pay is from $30 to $45 a week, eight hours' work. Mechanics of all kinds receive $5 a day.
All government documents, bills, blanks, etc., are printed in two languages—Dutch and English. As the government owns the railway, telegraph, postoffice and telephone systems, any one can understand what a big item the government's printing bill is. This was agreed to by the British representatives who attended the convention at which the consolidation of the four provinces was ratified. The Dutch adhere strictly to this agreement affecting their language.
The Dutch are not a vindictive race. No tales of brutality are heard of in connection with the Boer War. Men who fought on the British side tell of having been taken prisoner and of being sent back to their command. Sometimes the Boers would take the clothes off a captive, and then direct him to where his fellow soldiers were camped. Paul Kruger would have been justified in shooting the men who instigated and took part in the Jameson Raid, on the grounds of treason, but he spared their lives. They paid big sums of money in fines, though, for their unsuccessful, treasonable offense.
The Dutch have their faults, like other races, but they seem the better able to guide the destiny of their land of plagues.
The Boer War, in a sense, proved a blessing in disguise to the Dutch. Previous to that time proper attention had not been given to educating the young; precious few lawyers, doctors, educators and mining engineers bore Dutch names. Look through the directories of South Africa now and contrast the number of Dutch names that figure among those of the professional class. The war woke up the Boers to a sense of assuming a greater responsibility in the advancement of their country. A great many Dutch young men are students in the leading universities of the world.
Nothing feminine in sound is noticeable about the names of places in Boerland. But one often feels at a loss to account for the general use of the affix "fontein." Save for a narrow strip along the coast the country is dry. The Orange and the Vaal rivers seem to be the only two of consequence in the interior. The country is full of "spruits," "fonteins" and rivers which, when one reaches them, are dry as a bone. The only things that seem to "spruit" in them are cobble-stones and rattle-snakes.
"Assegaiboschfontein," "Jakhalskraalfontein," "Wildebeestespruitbult" are a few names of towns that occur to one as being decidedly masculine.
Boers, physically, are large men. Many of the older men wear full beards, and invariably wear a broad-brimmed hat with cloth band of several plies thick. They smoke calabash pipes, the weed being known as Boer tobacco, which costs 50 cents a pound. They generally carry a sjambok, a strip of rhinoceros hide about three feet long and an inch thick. Meeting one alone, the questions he asks in quick succession—"What's your name?" "Where do you come from?" "What's your business?" "Have you been in South Africa long?" "How long are you going to stay in the country?"—bring to mind this distinguishing trait of a noted Chinese who made a visit to America some years ago. Rum is the Boer's strong drink, but he is seldom seen under the influence of liquor. In a sense, he is of a roaming disposition, for some Boers are on the trek all the time. They seem to be better suited when they have got beyond the outposts of civilization. Were it not for the Boer's inclination to trek, however, it is possible there would be no gold mines on the Rand or diamond fields in Kimberley. His battles with the native tribes and his sufferings and hardships will never be lost sight of as the factors through which the white man was enabled to live in that section of "Darkest Africa."