When the armored vehicle broke open the gate and rushed into the Marcellus gold mine, Moore was immersed in the exchange of words and negotiations.
In the past, Moore would not even be qualified to enter the Johannesburg City Hall, let alone negotiate with the Federal First Secretary, the Mayor, and the President of the Mining Union.
In the 1908 census, there were no Africans in the Transvaal.
This is not to say that there is a permanent African population in the Transvaal, but the state government turns a blind eye, but that there is really no permanent African population in the Transvaal. The miners or farm workers in the Transvaal are all
Most of the hired workers are originally from Natal. They just work in the Transvaal. Their families are in Natal. In the Transvaal, they just work. They don’t even have the right to leave the mine or the farm.
No.
The farm is a little better. After all, most Chinese farmers are not used to the role of colonizers. Their attitude towards African employees is quite kind, and their salaries are not bad.
Not so in the mines. Many miners come to work in the mines before they are adults. The type of work is no different from that of adults. Sometimes their wages are deducted arbitrarily because they cannot complete the workload. Some miners only work in the mines because of long-term malnutrition.
You will contract serious occupational diseases after working for two or three years, and then you will be kicked out of the mine.
The same is true for Mohr. Five years ago, Mohr, who was not yet an adult, accepted the employment of Marcellus Gold Mine and left his hometown to come to Johannesburg. During these five years, Mohr worked hard without taking a day off. However, Mohr
He discovered that no matter how hard he worked, no matter how much gold he dug out, the gold had nothing to do with him.
This conclusion made Moore very frustrated. Moore knew the ratio of gold to pounds. The benefits of the Marcellus gold mine were still very good, but Moore could not enjoy the benefits of the gold mine.
"We work hard, working more than twelve hours a day, and can only eat two meals, each of which is only potatoes. Our requirements are not high. We have better food, better housing, and a less harsh working environment.
We will work harder. The white people and Chinese technicians in the mines have such an easy job. They don’t have to go into the mines. They sit in a spacious and bright office. They only need to work two or three hours a day, but their salary is ours.
More than ten times, it’s not fair!” Moore felt like he was crying every word, but this was obviously not the case in the ears of Stoudemire and Marcus Beaufort.
"Moll, you have to understand that the reason why your salary is low and the reason why technical workers get high salaries is absolutely related to your ability. Those technicians who have easy work in your mouth have all received ten years of training.
In higher education, when you have no free time in the streets, they are still studying hard. When you are chasing and playing around, they are still studying hard. When you are chasing the girl you like and falling in love with them, they are still studying hard.
Study hard. Now that you are working, you start to complain that your salaries are different. Have you ever thought about why this is so?" Marcus Beaufort is more patient and calm.
"We also want to learn? Have you given us a chance?" Moore seemed confident.
"It has been given, let alone not given. After the establishment of the federal government, educational opportunities have been equal to all states. Natal now also has a public education system. As long as you are willing to enter the school to study, it is also free. But so far,
Natal has the lowest enrollment rate of school-age children. Do you know what the enrollment rate of school-age children in the Transvaal is? Ninety-nine and a half percent! What about Natal? Less than 10 percent, that’s it.
Ninety-nine percent of the 10 percent are white people. The federal government gave you a chance, but you didn't accept it! Now it's unfair, so who caused this unfairness?" Maku said.
S. Beaufort spoke sternly and threw out a lot of data, and Moore was immediately speechless.
Regarding this enrollment rate, Marcus Beaufort actually changed the concept.
In the Transvaal, each region has an education commissioner. The mission of the education commissioner is to publicize the importance of compulsory education. These education commissioners go to the farms within their jurisdiction every year. No matter how remote the location of the farm, the education commissioner must ensure that
Farmers understand the concept of compulsory education and ensure that every child of school age must go to school nearby. Otherwise, both the education commissioner and the parents who do not allow their children to go to school will be held responsible.
This is definitely not the case in Natal. In fact, Marcus Beaufort's data is not accurate. To be more precise, the enrollment ratio of tree-age children in Natal should be 99% white, and the remaining 100%.
One-quarter are Indian or Chinese, and none are African.
Don’t forget that southern Africa does not recognize Africans at all, so it is impossible to include Africans in the public education system.
Moore obviously didn't know these things, so when Marcus Beaufort threw out these data, Moore was speechless.
"The profits of the mines are distributed according to the proportion of contribution. The owners of the mines invest huge amounts. They have to buy land, buy equipment, and pay taxes. The average investment in each mine is the same as R100,000, so they should
To obtain more profits, your contribution is directly proportional to your harvest. It is impossible for you to work in the mine and take away most of the profits from the mine." Marcus Beaufort refused to give in and also
They will not give in. In Johannesburg, the strength of the mining union is beyond imagination. If Marcus Beaufort dares to stand on the miners' side, then Marcus Beaufort will be impeached by the Parliament immediately.
"There must be a bottom line. We don't ask for most of the profits. If the profit of the mine is 10,000 rand, we only need 1,000 rand. Isn't this excessive?" Moore really didn't understand and was very angry.
The ratio of one to one is not excessive. A mine owner’s vehicle costs more than one thousand rand.
In this way, a problem arises. What the mine owners are worried about is not one thousand or two thousand, but the proportion will continue to increase with the expansion of ambition. It is one thousand now, and it may be five thousand or six thousand in the future.
Or even seven thousand or eight thousand. At that time, what should the mine owner do?
Compromise also has a bottom line.
"It's not how much you want, but how much the mine wants to give you. This must first be made clear. If you don't accept it, you can resign and leave. No one is asking you to accept it, but if you incite others to riot, it will affect the
For the normal operation of the mine, you will have to pay the price." Xiaosi will never compromise on this issue. In Xiaosi, miners are not even qualified to make demands.
"We are not rioting, we are fighting for legitimate rights through strikes." Moore emphasized that riots and strikes are two different things, and this boundary must be clarified.
"Then you can imprison the secretary-general and general manager who came to you to solve this problem?" Stoudemire pressed forward step by step.
"We are not imprisoning——" Moore is in a dilemma. There is no way to distinguish this issue. If Aiden and Blake were not detained, then I am afraid that the military and police would have taken violent measures.
But the detention was tantamount to giving the military and police a reason to take further violent measures, so Moore really had no way to defend himself.
At this moment, Gothe came over to report to Rock.
When reporting, he deliberately covered his mouth with his hands.
Stoudemire, Sidney Milner, and Marcus Beaufort all have their eyes on Roque.
"Moll, do you agree to let you resume work now? Just pretend this never happened." Rock still gave Moore a way out.
From the standpoint of a capitalist, Rock should be consistent with Stoudemire.
But after all, Roque was born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze. There is no problem with right and wrong. Roque knows exactly what kind of virtues the mine owners in Johannesburg have. Roque also hopes that the government in Johannesburg will be clean and harmonious, and everything will develop smoothly.
But the reality is like this, and there is nothing Rock can do.
The only thing Rock can do is to ensure that this kind of thing will never happen in Rock Gold Mine.
Even for the Matilda gold mine, Roque does not have enough influence.
"Lord, thank you for taking the time to pay attention to us little people, but I'm sorry, if the situation remains the same as before, we will die." Moore has no way out.
Rock stopped talking, nodded to Xiaosi, then stood up and left.
Gothe followed closely behind Rock, his hand on the holster on his waist, and his eyes fixed on the overwhelmed Moore.
As soon as the door closed, the sharp scoldings of the military police and the hoarse screams could be heard from behind.
Luo Ke turned a deaf ear and went out directly to get in the car and return to Ziwei City.
It was still quiet and peaceful outside the car window along the way. The strike at the Marcellus gold mine did not affect the lives of ordinary people at all. Many people did not even know that Marcellus existed.
Rock saw pedestrians walking in the park on the side of the road, children chasing and playing on the sidewalks on both sides of the street, salespeople at the door of stores trying their best to attract customers, and mounted policemen on horses doing their duty.
.
As the car drove out of Johannesburg, Rock managed to calm down: "How is the situation?"
"The First Cavalry Division has taken control of the situation. Aiden Owen and Blake are fine. Everything in the mine is normal and can resume work at any time." Gao De spoke concisely and did not go into too much detail.
Rock nodded and did not ask for specific details, but still had a request: "Find out what happened specifically. I want to know whether this matter has anything to do with the Dutch, and what role the Boers in Orange played in this matter."
What role."
There are some details that you cannot ask, as it would be unreasonable to ask.
Gothe nodded repeatedly: "The specific situation is still unclear. We have tried our best to control it, but it still has an impact. Orange newspapers have been hyping it up in a series of articles recently. Those newspapers even linked the mines in Johannesburg to the concentration camps during the Boer War.
We tried to communicate with Bloemfontein Police Station, but to no avail."
The mines in Johannesburg are still different from the concentration camps during the Boer War.
I have to say that the imagination of those reporters is really exaggerated.