The Daily Mail of Monday contains an interesting and significant
article on the depression in Johannesburg from its special correspondent on the Rand. The article begins by pointing out that the output of gold has been advancing at a rapid rate, and that in May the production was only just short of two millions sterling. Yet, in spite of a record output, the city is a place of gloom, and white men are wandering about begging for a soup ticket or the shelter of a Salvation Army bed. This strange contradiction he attri- butes partly to the over-supply of everything, partly to the fact that the mines near Johannesburg are being worked out, and partly to the loss of confidence in the Rand by the investing public. The declarations that more white men than ever are employed on the reef are, he tells us, misleading. We cannot enter into the remedies suggested by the correspondent of the Daily Mail. What interests us is the light that his facts throw upon the allegation that the introduction of the Chinese would make more work for the white man. We were told specifically that more white men could not be em- ployed unless the mining industry flourished, and that the mining industry could not flourish unless Chinese indentured labour was permitted, and that therefore we must agree to the importation of the Chinese in order to provide more employment for white men. The Chinese have come, and a greatly increased output of gold has come, but where is the promised increased work and prosperity for the white man ? If the Daily Mail correspondent is correct, the greater output of gold has only meant for him a soup ticket and a Salvation Army shelter.
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