The record-union., 1899-06-13
THE TROUBLES IN SOUTH AFRICA
SOME CAUSES OF IRRITA-
+ TION.

TON.
The threat Of war hangs over the lit
tie South African Republic known As
the TransvaaL Both England and the
Beers are arming and fortifying, and
diplomacy may fail to avert conflict
Ut is interesting, therefore, to inquire
into some of the causes which have
Led up to the irritation threatening to
culminate in an ARMED invasion Of the
Boer Republic.
It is worthy Of notice, before going
Into detail. to remember that Germany,
which three years ago stood by the
Beers, has abandoned them now on
the ground that reasonable reforms
have not been inaugurated, and that
our own Government is disposed to
think that the grievances of the foreign
element have such grounding as to
Justify the claims made for reforms in
large part; while the Orange Free
State the near neighbor Of the South
AFRICAN Republic, and people also by
Beers has not rebuked its press for
declaring the Transvaal "a house of
Bondage" or for denouncing President
Kreuger and his Government officials
as ''tyrants crushing the life out of
aaw-abiding people
1t is argued in behalf of the Uitland-
krs-foreign residents-in the Transvaal
that 20 per cent of the landed values
of the country belong to these aliens;
that they pay nine tenths of all the
revenue of the State used for State
support; that they furnish more than
terial beneficent activities Of the coun-
try; that they are oppressed by exor-
bitant taxation and outra geuosly high
tariff rates; that the Government has
necessary in the mines, and that it
is made to cost the miners 10 per cent
of the entire yield of gold in the coun-
try; that the Transvaal does not pro-
duce food sufficient for the support of
the population, and hence the foreign
ers are compelled to pay ruinous tariff
rates upon imported food stuffs; that
$1.25 tariff rate is levied on every hun
dred pounds Of oats or barley brought
fn, $3.50 each on hogs, and $1.S711a on
every hundred pounds of wheat; that
a tax Of 100 per cent. Is levied on most
printed matter brought in, which
amounts to prohibition, and that this
is done to force into use and teaching
the Dutch language; that naturaliza-
tion and bur-gher rights cannot be OBJ
tained short of fourteen years residence
in the country, and then only when a
: ma ority OF the warders in a man 5
ward sign consent thereto, and even
then the President has the absolute
right to deny them the application
Most of the uitlanders are English
men, though there is a goodly number
of Americans, Frenchmen and Portu-
guese, with a sprinkling of Germans.
England demands of the Beers that the
probationary term for naturalization
shall be reduced to five years; that the
heavy taxation by tariff shall be lifted;
that the penalties shall be withdrawn
for the official use of the English
tongue; that the Transvaal authorities
in granting monopoHstic concessions
of people to the exclusion of all others.
The response Of the Beers is that
their country was fairly won by them;
that England conceded their right to
ipeople; that they did not invite the
;ialiens in, nor wish them to open up
mines, which action is always accom-
panied by augmented vices and the in
,itroduction of vicious examples and
!. practices that the Beers are, and of
fright should be- the sole judges of who
+. is desirable as a citizen, who desired
as an immigrant, and what the terms
!. upon which gold and mineral shall be
taken from the earth.
). That Dutch is the tongue of the
country, and they alone should Judge
what shall be the language taught in
the schools and used in official depart
ments. Enthusiastically, as abstract
right, the Beers defend their position
well; but it is question whether they
do so wisely. If it is true, as is al
legged, that they have permitted three
ffourths of all values to fall into the
hands of the foreigners, the latter have
gained the human right not to be op-
pressed, and not to be Disseminated
against unjustly.
The Beers, however, reply that they
have never invited immigration, that
the foreign element came in under pro,
test and with distinct knowledge of the
laws discriminating against them. That
in 1880 the Beers successfully expelled
the, British and gained their independ-
ence by the treaty of 1881, being recog-
uized as free with all internal affairs
absolutely committed to their control,
the treatment of external affairs being
lodged in Great Britain under the title
of suzerain. But in 1884, say the Beers,
by a new convention fully recognized
she absolute sovereignty of the Beers,
the South African Republic was es-
tablished and the suzereignity was
abandoned, there being reserved to
GREAT Britain only the right to review
any treaty the republic might make