New Britain herald., 1922-10-21
NEW UNITED STATES
 FOUNDED IN AFRICA
Foreign Union Is Reaching Out
 for New Territories

Washington. D C., Oct 21.-"En.
 trance Of Southern Rhodesia into N
 Union of south Africa will supply still another parallel between the United
 States Of America and Africa's United
 States" says a bulletin from the Washington, D, C. headquarters of the
 National Geographic Society in re- gard to the region, made famous by Cecil Rhodes, which has practically completed arrangements for casting its lot with the older provinces of the Union,
 Just as the United States. a gen eration or so ago reached out to the west and made its territories, one aft CT another, into states continues the bulletin, "so the Union Of South Afri ca is reaching northward-it is in that direction that the course of Af- rcan empire takes it's way-and is incorporating the frontier regions. Technically the Union has had no definite claim on the British colonies, protectorates and regions more or less under British control that lie to the north but it has hoasted that it is heir to all South Africa and in add
 ing Southern Rhodesia it seems to be collecting the first installment Of its patrimony.
 Like Our Prairie States
 'Rhodesia is in many ways in a condition of development comparab ble to that of some of the western prairie states when they entered our Union Only trunk line railroads have been constructed for the most part; the close network Of the well developed country is yet to come. Highways. too, are still few and poor. Both production and markets are largely undeveloped and the farmers and ranchmen necessarily live the some what hard and primitive lives of the frontier. In recent years, however, Victoria tcapital of Southern Rhode sia), Bulawayo, Salisbury and other towns have developed into modern municipalities with all the con- veniences of the Western World.
 Still other similarities between Southern Rhodesia and some portions of the United States lie in physical conditions and climate. The country is q plateau region. dry and hot dur ing the southern summer but with reasonable rainfall usually. during ether portions of the year. But at times it has it's severe droughts which parch crops and decimate herds.
 Empire Owned By Company
 Tn one way Southern Rhodesia is without parallel in the United States, for rothing approaching ownership of an empire by commercial cor poration has ever come up in our history. In fact, in the extent to which such control has gone, Southern Rhodesia, together with Northern Rhodesia and adjacent territories, stands alone even in British exper- fence, which contains the stirring his tory of the East India Company's ex- ploits in India.
 The region, nearly half a million square miles in extent. became, through concessions from native chief, a royal charter from the Brit ish crown and conquest, virtually the private property of the British South Africa Company, of which Cecil Rhodes was the moving spirit. The company, as might be expected of any 5eyelopmental enterprise sold land, | leased mineral rights, and built rail roads and other engineering works | But beside all this it actually gov erned the country though in late | years the imperial government has assumed some measure of control | over the company's governmental &C., tivities.
 Source of Ophir's Gold
 The known presence of gold in considerable quantities drew the at tention of Rhodes and his associates to Southern Rhodesia, The precious metal is scattered all over the coun- try, though only in limited number of places has it's development proved | profitable. Some students assert that this is the lost source of gold in the days of Solomon-gold which was brought through the Ara bian port of Ophir and so came to be called gold | of Ophir Very extensive ruins of great buildings solidly constructed of carefully hewn granite blocks exist | near Victoria and are said to be the forts and temples and workshops Of alien (perhaps Phoenician) gold | seekers of the remote past. The | ruins extend to port on the Indian Ocean in what is now Portuguese East Africa, from which the gold was probably shipped.
 Now a mining, ranching, and agri- cultural country, Southern Rhodesia may also have future as a manu- featuring region. On it's northern border flows the Zambezi river with It's Victoria Falls of great volume, more than twice the height of Niagara, promising abundant power, Not far from the falls are extensive coal fields,
 Natives National Topsys
 The natives of Southern Rhodesia, numbering some S00,000, are in the anomalous position of having no of- fcial political status. They have drifted, or like Topsy, have 'just growed,' into their present condition, They have never been formally made British subjects though British con- trol has been extended over the coun- try. They might almost be considered subjects of the British South Africa The company has all along laid claim to ownership of the lands on which the natives live except the areas recently set apart as reserva- tions The white population of the numbers about 30,0o0.
 Southern Rhodesia is roughly cir cular with a diameter of about 450 !,