gers' committees and later the major industrialists. The industrialists' grip
tightened after 188o, when Griqualand West was incorporated in the Cape
Colony. They established control over the parliamentary representation of
the area, and in 1890, Cecil Rhodes, by then the dominant figure in the
diamond industry, became prime minister of the Cape Colony. to
Throughout those years, the financial basis of the diamond industry was
insecure. Marketing was one major problem. The value of gem diamonds is
set by fashion rather than utility. In the late nineteenth century, it swung
abruptly with the state of the capitalist world economy. It was actually in
danger of collapsing as South African stones flooded the market and as
production costs rose during the installation of expensive capital equip-
ment. The viability of the industry thus came to depend largely on control
of the marketing of the diamonds. Market control followed quickly on the
consolidation of the production process, however. In 1895, a syndicate of
London merchants contracted to buy De Beers's output for the next eigh-
teen months for £5.4 million which was the start of a continuing pattern of
long-term
contracts.
The industry was stabilized by cooperation
and