The Colorado statesman., 1921-05-07
SOUTH AFRICA: COUNTRY
OF DIAMONDS, SAVAGES,
AND HARDY PIONEERS

The Union of South Africa recently
attracted world attention by a mega
tive vote on the proposal to seceue
from the British empire. II should
not be a strange country to Americans.
With its vast areas taken over from
aborigines; with thousands OF Its
white settlers massacred by savages'
but with others, undaunted. pressing
on In their prairie schooners ever far-
ther into the interior Of an unknown
continent; with a gold rush winning
a new empire; and possessed today
Of a stubborn race problem, South
Africa, half way around the world
from us, has In its history. chapters
which we knew by heart. New York
ers can find an even closer IL minor
tie to the residents of Cape Town in
the fact that the sites OF both ports,
now almost priceless, were bought
from savage landlords for few hand
fuls of gaudy trinkets.
In one respect, however, the carv-
ing out of what is now the Union of
South Africa is without its parallel
In the development Of the United
States. In South Africa the strife of
two white peoples for control has
been an all important factor. For
about a century and half the Dutch
had possession of Cape Town and the
small area surrounding 1t which har-
bored all the whites in South Africa.
The Napoleonic wars transferred pos
session to England, and In 1906 the
English assumed a final control which
many of the Dutch Inhabitants re-
sented In 1886 many of the Dutch
farmers or "boers" began trekking
into the interior with the intention
of settling beyond English influence.
When Englishmen followed them they
trekked farther. Finally, beyond the
Orange river they founded the Orange
free state, and beyond the Vaal river,
the Transvaal republic.
First diamonds and then gold were
discovered in the new states. They
brought great prosperity to the Boer
republics, but they brought many out
siders as we'll; and the presence of
these finally led to the Boer war as
a result of which the republics came
into the possession of Great Britain.
and monarchies of the last few years,
the Union of South Africa Is one OF
the youngest of the important coun-
tries Of the world.
The territory of the Union occupies
the whole southern and southeastern
tip of Africa In a wide strip extending
about $50 miles inland from the In
dian ocean. Its area lacks only 25,-
900 square miles Of reaching the half
million mark.
Toward the inner edge of the terri
tory of the Union are the worlds great
est diamond mines, where earth suffi-
cient to fill thousands of cars Is
screened yearly for the sake of peck
or two of diamonds. But the few
handfuls of diamonds exported in 1913,
the last year before the World war,
we're worth more than fifty million dol
lars and exceeded in value the COM
bined value of the many shiploads of
wool, ostrich feathers, hides and coal
that sailed away from South Africa
the same year.
Some 200 miles to the northeast OF
the diamond country are the gold fields.
In their midst is the gOld-built, won
der city of johannesburg, metropolis
of South Africa. After the discovery
of gold in the eighties the city sprang
up almost over night. Though at first
1t was the usual unlovely mining camp,
soon substantial structures We're
erected, and it now ranks, with Its
well paved streets, fine buildings, and
beautiful parks, with the leading cities
Of Europe, America and Australia,
1t has about the same population as
Denver, Colorado, and Providence, K. l.