Taiban Valley news., 1921-11-04


rica. OF course, the phrase 'new man" has a
special meaning as they apply it to "Slim Jannie'
Smuts, for he has been a growing wordfgure for
several years. BY new man" they mean new
leader" For Dom Paul Kruegers fighting general
of twenty years ago Is being discussed pretty
much all over the world as possible leader Of
that new British empire which SHUTS himself
thus outlines:
"The old prewar British empire is gone, In the
sense of colonies or subordinate nations clustering
around one master nation. The British empire
Is developing into real league of nations, a
group of partner peoples"
Smuts Is looked upon by many, says Sir Philip
Gibbs, the noted British correspondent, In the
Springfield Republican, as "the new leader Eng
gland has been waiting for and the proper success
sor to Lloyd George. Says Sir Philip:
"Why not make SHUTS our next prime minister?
Boer, educated at Cambridge and against us In
South Africa Is hardly adapted to be prime minis
ter of England, but stranger things have happened
in England" Sir Philip calls Smuts n man who
never looks back for regret or vengeance but al
ways forward with free and courageous vision"
and concludes with this statement: '"There are
men In England today in high places as we'll as
low who say he is the man we are looking for"
The Evening World Of New York argues at
length that the British empire must be trans
formed Into an association of nations and de-
clares Smuts to be the logical head of the new
and greater empire. The Christian Science Monl.
tor Of Boston says he has always served high
ideals and served them sin a way which has ever
inspired a strange confidence that he was not
closing his eyes to mistakes, where mistakes were
made, and that his devotion was inspired by
much larger concept of things than that involved
in the generally accepted meaning of the word
patriotism"
In short, practically the entire press of the
United States has been throwing bouquets to this
VlnnA ANn Al NH
opinion seems to be that he must be given place
among the worlds greatest living statesmen and
u front rank among the LEADERS, Of the, British
empire.
Most people know vaguely that this same Brit.
ish empire Is so vast that the sun never sets on
its flag. In fact, it Is so vast that to catalorue
its possessions Is difficult. There Is hint of ts
extent In the title of the British sovereign:
George Of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, and of the British DomInIons
Beyond the Seas, Defender of the Faith Emperor
of India" These "Dominions Beyond the Seasn
extend to every continent and consist of sef-gov.
erning dominions crown colonies and protector.
ates and other dependencies.
AS everyone knows the United Kingdom con.
sists of England and Wales, Scotland, ireland ana
the channel islands In Europe there are Gibral.
tar, Malta, Cyprus etc. IndIa Burma Ceylon and
score of other possessions HE in Asia In AfrIco
its flag waves over more than 100000 SQUARE
miles, including Egypt and the South African On.
Ion. III Australasia are Australia Tasmania Po
pua, New Zealand and Pacific islands On the
Western Hemisphere its vast holdings include
Canada, New Foundand and Labrador, British
Guinea and various West Indian islands, Alto.
gether the British empire contains about 10000.
600 square miles and 450000OO0 people.
SO the British empire is strongly suggestive OF
league Of nations. Moreover, the World war
produced noteworthy effect. There were those
who predicted that the British empire would 90
TO pieces under the strain of that titanic conflict
On the contrary Englands needs brought out won.
derfu proof Of loyalty from her colonies The
ties were made stronger Yet In the end the net
result was that the British empire came out of
the World war rather, as SHUTS puts It, "a group
of partner peoples" than Subordinate nations
clustering around one master nation"
Whatever may be the future Of Smuts his past
is interesting. He was born a little more than
ffty years ago in the Transvaal, on farm in the
western province in the Karroo country His
Boer father and grandfather were farmers. He
got his early education In the Transvaal and then