Crime Costs and Boer War News
A NEW YORK lawyer, Mr. Eugene Smith, has been studying the subject, and estimates the money cost of crime in this country at $600,000,000 a year.9 PRESIDENT KRUGER'S intended visit to the capital of Germany will not take place, because of the emperor's practical refusal to see him. Italy and Austria, it is reported, have also shown similar unfriendliness to the Boer cause. German official papers declare that Germany could not entertain a proposition to render the Boers any practical support. There has been much skirmishing between the British and Boers in the Orange Free State. The Boers under Steyn and De Wett captured a detachment of 400 British on November 28. The British loss was 15 killed and 42 wounded. A stubborn battle was fought on the same day and the day following between the armies of General Paget and Commandants Viljoen and Erasmus, resulting in the defeat of the Boers. On Sunday, December 2, the British under General Knox and the Boers under Christian De Wett fought an all-day engagement, in which the Boers were driven from their position. General Kitchener is now in control of the British operations in South Africa, and reports indicate that severe and harsh measures will be taken to bring the conflict to a close. These measures are arousing much antagonism among the Dutch of Cape Colony, and fears of serious trouble are expressed in many quarters.