Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-02
Empire at the Cross Roads.

Empire at the Cross Roads.
One of those periodical mneposts
which mark the course Of empire is now
at hand for Great Britain with the I'M
perial Conference of the daughter ma
tions" overseas assembled in London.
Issues of far-reaching Importance are
at stake.
Interempire tariff policy will DOM
mate discussion of purely economic
questions. OF more vital significance
is the debate which will range around
a dominion's right to secede from the
empire. That thorny proposition will
be raised by the Union of South Africa,
where the Beers won on the battlefield
at the beginning of this century a spe-
cies of self-governing autonomy which
King Georges Dutch subjects would
now stretch into unalloyed independ-
ence-or, rather, the privilege of having
it, If desired.
Gen. Hertzog, the South African
prime minister, who is chief pro-
tagonist of that aspiration, is ao-
parently headed for smoother sailing
than he might have expected. Mr..
Thomas, secretary for the dominions in
the Macdonald government, on Monday
declared that nobody questions the
right of dominion to secede." Then
addressing an interrogation, he added,
Il may have the right to shoot myself,
but you have the right to argue with
me regarding the wisdom of my ac-
ton" In other words, "Quit the i'm
perial flreside, If you would, but think
well on the consequences
South Africa raised the question of
absolute autonomy at the Imperial Con-
ference of 1925. Lord Balfour, who
presided, devised a formula which, it
was hoped and believed, would relegate
the issue for the indefinite future. AS
TO the dominions, it laid down that:
They are autonomous communities
within the British Empire equal in
status, in no way subordinate one to
another in any aspect of their domestic
or internal affairs, though united by a
common allegiance to the crown and
freely associated as members of the
British Commonwealth of Nations.
Every Self-governing member
Of the empire Is now master Of its own
destiny. In fact, If not always in form
1t Is subject to no coEnpulsion whatever.
The Dutch are no longer content with
the Balfourian panacea Of four years
ago. They crave Qualification. They
want to know exactly what being mas
ter Of its own destiny" means. Gen.
Hertzog comedies that the subject is
purely academic-at the moment. But
it may not always be 50. Meanwhile
South Africa desires it set forth in I'M
mistakable English that she can pack
up and go from the Empire any time she
pleases.
Modern Britons freely acknowledge
that compulsion to anchor an overseas
dominion to the crown will never be in
voked. They remember the American
Colonies and 1776. That mistake, it is
avowed, will never be repeated, as far
as London Is concerned. With Ireland,
say the British, it was different. Erin is
not an overseas" dominion. Doubtless
force would be used again, as in the
past, to prevent the Emerald Isles
secession. South Africa, Australia,
Canada and New Zealand are at liberty
to go. All that Mother Britain expects
is that they will have enough enlight-
ened self-interest not to CO.
America will watch with deepest in
terest the imperial struggle over the
tariff. That the free trade shibboleth
has lost nearly all Of its ancient appeal
is notorious. Empire free trade" with
protection against all non -British coun-
tries, has become popular slogan not
only in the mother country, but
throughout the dominions. Daughter
nations, already protectionists them
selves. differ as to the degree and quail
ity of empire free trade" which is
feasible all around, but that imperial
protection in one form or another is
coming Is not to be doubted.
Far more questionable is how far its
arrival viii be fastened by impending
proceedings in London. Many minds
are there. To make them meet will
call for craftsmanship of high order.
Sooner or later, John Bulls never-fail-
ing remedy in times of political distress
will be prescribed-the tonic of COM
promise. The sun still fails to set on
the British Empire because that medi-
cine has successfully proved 50 efica-
cious.