This vast expenditure is borne by the consumers in the Transvaal, who are compelled to pay from three to five times as much for rent and food as is paid in England or America. Cape Colony, in particular, has been fattening upon the Transvaal. The Government railroads in one year showed a profit of more than eight per cent. upon the capital invested, after accounting for the great losses incurred with unprofitable branch lines, showing that the main line to the Transvaal must have produced a profit of from fifteen to twenty per cent. The customs duties collected by Cape Colony on almost all freight in transit is five per cent. of its value. The inhabitants of the Transvaal are obliged to pay these large amounts, and are so much poorer while the Cape Colony Government preys upon them. The Transvaal Government receives none of this revenue except that from its customs, which is insufficient for its expenses.
After having grown wealthy in this manner, the colony of Natal has recently become conscience-smitten, and allows freight to pass in transit without taxing it with customs duties. The Government owns the railroad, and is content with the revenue it secures from the Transvaal freight without twice preying upon the republic.
Not only have the colonial governments profited by the existence of the gold mines in the Transvaal, but the cities, towns, and individuals of Cape Colony, Natal, and the Orange Free State have also had a period of unparalleled prosperity. Although the natural resources of the Transvaal are very great, they have not been developed, and the other colonies which have been developed along those lines are supplying the deficit. Almost every ounce of food consumed in the Transvaal arrives from over the border. Natal and Cape Colony supply the corn, wheat, cattle, and sugar, and, having a monopoly of the supply close at hand, can command any price for their commodities.
Industries have grown up in Natal and Cape Colony that are entirely dependent upon the Transvaal for their existence, and their establishment has been responsible for much of the recent growth of the population of the colonies. The large sugar factories and fruit farms in Natal have the only market for their products in the Transvaal, and the large farms and vineyards in Cape Colony supply the same demand. The ports of Durban, Port Elizabeth, and East London, as well as Cape Town, are important only as forwarding stations for goods going or coming from the Transvaal, and but for that Godsend they would still be the listless cities that they were before the discovery of gold on the Randt. Owing to the lack of raw material, the cities have no large factories and industries such as are found even in small American towns, and consequently the inhabitants are obliged to depend upon the traffic with the interior. Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, which causes Natal and Cape Colony to be commercial weaklings, swayed by the Transvaal tide, the colonists are continually harassing the Government of the republic by laws and suggestions. The republic's mote is always bigger than the colonies' own, and the strife is never-ending.