Company has exercised
a copper-riveted control and this rigid rule led to its undoing, as you
will see later on.

The original capitalization was L1,000,000,--it was afterwards
increased to L9,000,000,--but it is only a part of the stream of
pounds sterling that has been poured into the country. In all the years
of its existence the company has never paid a dividend. It is only since
1914 that the revenue has balanced expenditures. More than 40,000
shareholders have invested in the enterprise. Today the fate of the
country rests practically on the issue between the interests of these
shareholders on one hand and the 35,000 inhabitants on the other. Once
more you get the spectacle, so common to American financial history, of
a strongly intrenched vested interest with the real exploiter or the
consumer arrayed against it. The Company rule has not been harsh but it
has been animated by a desire to make a profit. The homesteaders want
liberty of movement without handicap or restraint. An irreconcilable
conflict ensued.

[Illustration: _Photograph Copyright by British South Africa Co._

CULTIVATING CITRUS LAND IN RHODESIA]

II

We can now go into the story of the occupation of Rhodesia, which not
only unfolds a stirring drama of development but discloses something of
an epic of adventure. With most corporations it is an easy matter to get
down to business once a charter is granted. It is only necessary to
subscribe stock and then enter upon active operations, whether they
produce soap, razors or automobiles. The market is established for the
product.

With the British South Africa Company it was a far different and
infinitely more difficult performance, to translate the license to
operate into action. Matabeleland and Mashonaland were wild regions
where war-like tribes roamed or fought at will. There were no roads. The
only white men who had ventured there were hunters, traders, and
concession seekers. Occupation preceded exploitation. A white man's
civilization had to be set up first. The rifle and the hoe went in
together.

In June, 1890, the Pioneer Column entered. Heading it were two men who
left an impress upon African romance. One was Dr. Jameson, hero of the
Raid and Rhodes' most intimate friend. The first time I met him I
marvelled that this slight, bald, mild little man should have been the
central figure in so many heroic exploits. The other was the famous
hunter, F. C. Selous, who was Roosevelt's comp