The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-17
From the Times-Herald.

In many different forms, but always
with much the same ground Of quarrel
at the bottom, 1t has re-appeared with
each succeeding decade. Wherever the
Englishman and the Boer have had
their common interests in one terrl-
tory strife has been sure to come, Tor
the qualities and ideas of the two are
widely dissimilar.
The great gold fields in the Trans
vaal are the material facts that have
caused the conditions of the struggle
of today, for IL Is through them that
Englishman and Boer have been
brought so close together. Today the
Beers claims to be the lords of the
Transvaal country and they persist In
regarding the foreign settlers-the UT
landers--as temporary residents with
out legal rights. Sharply opposed to
this view stands England whose many
sons in Transvaal land have their i'm
mense investments in mines and machin-
cry and demand a full share in the gov
ernment. "The Transvaal for the
Beers" is President Kruger's cry, while
the English against it shout Full
rights, civil and political, for our emf
grants who settle in your land"
The first form of the issue is over
the question of sovereignty England
is asserting her suzerainty. while ad-
mitting Boer independence in local af-
fairs. and Kruger is denying England s
claim. Such Is the history of the two
that each can fairly make It's claim.
Sovereignty or no sovereignty would
not, however, be n burning question
was there not reason just now for in
sisting on it. The more practical
statement of the issue is that it con-
Germs the political franchise rights
which the Uitlanders now End it so
difficult to acquire, and which Eng
land insists so strongly they shall Sc
cure on reasonable conditions. 1t is
on account of inability to agree on the
terms of the franchise. combined with
views about sovereignty which leave
no middle ground, that war is waging,
but even the franchise is only an in
cident in securing what the English
really want.
MAIN GRIEVANCES STATED.
The main grievances of the Uitland-
ers against Boer rule in the Trans
vaal can be summed up in the follow
ing declarations:
The Uitlanders pay practically all
the taxes of the Transvaal, yet have
no say as to how the money shall be
spent.
Their children have to speak Dutch
In order to gain proper education.
Johannesburg is wretchedly governed
and it is in a fearfully unsanitary con-
dition. The Uitlanders have no power
in municipal government.
Their newspapers are gagged.
They. are not allowed to hold public
meetings.
Trial by jury is turned into a farce.
The dynamite monopoly is an obstacle
to the industrial progress of Johan-
nesburg.
The president may without trial eX-
pei any Uitlander from the Transvaal
He controls the cables and can delay
messages.
The Uitlanders pay more money in
taxes than is spent in the government
of the Transvaal
To add insult to injury. the Uitlander
has been disarmed and compelled to
pay for fort erected to terrorize him.
This. then, has been the status in the
TransVaal. The Boer. caring only
for farming, hunting and religion, mar
row bigoted, but fearfully strong con-
sldering his numbers, rules the Uit-
lander, three times as numerous, and
seriously hinders the latter in his mod
ern struggle for wealth.
The Transvaal, or south African Re-
public, as it is properly called, is A
region about as large as the state of
Nevada. and Is completely surrounded
by foreign countries. having no direct
outlet to the sea. TO tho north and
west are the British possessions, Be
chuanaland and Rhodesia. To the
south is the friendly Orange Free
state. and also Natal, a British pro-
vince. To the east are the Portugesc
colonies. Hilly and even mountain
Gus, full of sharp raVines and regions
OF difficult passage, the Trarsvaal is
peculiarly adapted for offensive op-
erations. and even with inferior fight
.ers than the Beers could long hold
out against a great force. The Beers
settled 1t only after = series of hard
experiences. the result of which had
been 10 drive them north and east
from the African settlements they had
originally made.
STRUGGLES IN FORMER DAYS.
Only by considering these past
struggles with the English can the
present one be seen in its true propor-
tions. The Beers We're the original
European settlers Of South Africa. OF
Dutch descent, they had sturdy quail
titles, which their life in the savage
lands only served to make sturdier.
They were farmers from the FIRST, and
by the sweat of the negro races they
grew in wealth. The English took
definite possession Of the Cape in 1914,
and the English immigration then be-
gan in such great waves that Holland
emigrants and Boer children could not
keep up the balance Of power. The
situation was much such as exists now
in the Transvaal, where the TJitlanders
out number the Beers, except for the
fact that then the Beers were actually
and not merely nominally subjects of
Great Britain.
The English rule was autocratic, and
the Boer idea about slaves and land
holding fitted so little with the Eng.
lish ideas that soon the Boers had two
great grievances against their rulers.
They were surly and ugly and often
there were riots and broils, until they
found what they thought was a solu-
tlon OF their troubles in the eos
FIRST TREK NORTH.
Then they began TO trek" north and
east into the wilderness to set up
homes for themselves. The English
did not hinder them.
The year of the great trek or exodus
was 1896, when the regions now in Ma
tall Orange Free State and even the
lands across the Vaal were all entered
by them. In Natal the Beers were