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154
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
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from
London that 'I feel sure that we are all equally delighted at the
result of our negotiations and we can all congratulate ourselves on
reaching the great aim we set ourselves when the Anglo American
Corporation was first formed'. From a very old associate in London came
a message of congratulation 'on your great success which has created a
sensation both here and on the Continent'. From Kimberley came
congratulations but also a plea:
Let
me congratulate you upon becoming the 'baas' of the diamond trade; your
friends who have watched your career during the past few years had no
doubt at all that sooner or later the present position would come about
and I wish you all possible luck. At the same time I should like to
draw your attention to Shakespeare's lines 'It is excellent to have a
giant's strength but it is tyrannous to use it as a giant'. The small
fry in the river business are in a condition of great distress because
it is stated most positively that it is the intention of your
corporation to make things on the river so 'hot' for outsiders that
they will not be able to make a livelihood. ... I hope it is not your
policy to freeze out the small man. You may recall that in a
conversation at Johannesburg at Easter you disclaimed any such
intention, but things have changed since then: you are now in a
position to do as you please.
Ernest Oppenheimer replied in suitable terms:
The
idea that I mean to knock out the small river buyers is simply too
preposterous for words. Only a madman would conceive such an idea, I
cannot imagine how such a policy is ever to be carried out.
All
I hope is that through my activities the diamond market will be
steadied, and that we, as well as the river buyers, big or small, will
have a much safer business in future.
Some
months of strenuous work still lay ahead: the negotiation of the
detailed contracts with the producers, clearing matters up with the
Government and securing a new inter-producers' agreement. A further
step in the achievement of the complete objective was arrived at at the
end of October. On 22 October 1925 Ernest Oppenheimer cabled to Hull:
'Pleased to inform you that we have bought out old Syndicate from
today. Basis of deal is that we take over business of Syndicate as from
today and producers are not to be affected in any way. De Beers company
have agreed to transfer.' A week later he also cabled his Johannesburg
office: 'Producers' conference accepted inter-producers' agreement and
sales agreements unanimously.' The 'take-over' from the old Syndicate
was achieved smoothly. On 12 November Louis wrote to his brother,
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