and
with the American Metal Company, and with other United States financial
interests—in fact at the date of the first ordinary general meeting of
Rhodcsian Selection Trust, six of the nine directors were American
citizens—though some were permanent residents of the United Kingdom.
But the fundamental difficulty was, obviously, a personal one—who would
head the organization and who would have the final word in the
determination of policy?
The
early days of the development of the Copperbelt coincided, in Ernest
Oppenhcimer's life, with his struggle to unify and rationalize the
diamond industry—this absorbed much of his energy and of his mind and
in the attainment of this objective he needed—and indeed obtained —the
support both of Edmund Davis and of Chester Beatty; it would have been
unwise in the extreme to risk a conflict over control in Rhodesia.
Edmund Davis was much the older man: he was well over 60 and enjoyed,
at that time, high prestige in the City of London as a living link with
Cecil Rhodes and the heroic days of Empire building in Central Africa.
Chester Beatty, also, was a City personality, with the special
advantage of being a trained technician, which gave him, naturally, an
advantage when it was a question of dealing with the 'experts' and the
practitioners. Ernest Oppenheimer's reputation was rising, but he was a
South African and not a 'City man'. These were imponderables of no
little importance at a time when British Africa south of the Sahara was
still overwhelmingly dependent on London as a source of finance. Under
the circumstances of time and place, a contest for leadership would
probably not have resulted in a victory for Ernest Oppenlaeimer, though
he was, within a very short period of time, to indicate very clearly
what he thought ought to be the appropriate policy for Northern Rhodesia.
He
was, of course, not to be deceived by appearances or mere professions.
He was quite prepared to regard Edmund Davis as the 'father' of
Northern Rhodesian mining enterprise, but he did not like to be
patronized. In April 1926 he visited Northern Rhodesia in company with
Edmund Davis. On 17 April he wrote to Leslie Pollak,
This
trip to Rhodesia has been the greatest effort I have made for A.A. for
a long time. E.D. looks upon himself as king (not even uncrowned) of
Rhodesia and treated me as belonging to his suite. It was quite an
effort to remain polite at all times, but he gradually realized that I
would not stand for too much ordering about. . . . How would you feel
if you were presented with instructions in the morning as to what was
to be done that day, mind without previous consultation! Pretty bad I
should say. But how would you
