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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1907)
' W . y iJorn f ' ' HZze "Wee or cm Botha's as PrEmiBr PrwEs a Tnumph for Transvaal rHE scene was Guildhall, London; the occasion, a banquet given to the pre tniers of British colonies who had fome to the city td attend the important coo mal Conference. Before the door stood trunu peters, who, with fanfares, proclaimed the ar rival of the statesmen. . ' Cordons of police lined the streets. Gray headed and gray-bearded diplomats alighted from carriages. They were resplendent in court dress. When the statesmen arrived the announcers proclaimeJ their names. "General Botha!" Ai this announcement there were salvos of applause. A tall, heavily built ti kindly faced, dark-complexioned man stepped light ly into the room. He was visibly affected by the demonstration. Other premiers followed the new head of the Iransvaal.. After an address of welcome bv the re corder of the city, Sir Joseph Dimsdale, city chamberlain, ascended the dais, and, offering his hand in turn to each premier, handed each a gold casket. Moulded in the form of a globe4 and surmounted by a figure of Britan nia; each casket contained a parchment giving the freedom of the city. At this moment a small man in uniform stepped across the room. His was the rug ged face of a man of many battles, His breast was covered with medals and decora tions. Some on.e whispered his name- i ne aoer near a it ana tumea. i he two looked at one another, recognition lighting their eyes the militant English, general, suc cessful campaigner of the veldt; Botha, head of the Boer forces that went down to defeat. Joy shone in the eyes of each; impulsively they clasped hands, unable to utter a word. The two old foes met as friends. A vanquished general before, Bothanow.C met Roberts as a successful statesman, his vic tory the result of a battle of ballots instead of bullets, yet a loyal supporter of the British throne. In his new position as premier. General Botha typified one of the most remarkable Not ? Parliament ttouee as Pretoria . the newt H wn th moat fopul,r. jn th cltjr where tlx year before tale neme wu known only that of an Implacable foe, he wu rreeted with cheere whenever I.e appeared In public, wae entertained and feted. London hailed him aa a political lion. He wae the object of wild, overwhelming enthueiaem. Member of the nobility, aa well aa the populace, Vied In paying him honor. - In his welcome to the premiere, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the English prime mlnfater, taid: ''I wish to extend a peclal greeting to General Botha the Benjamin of the BxptherhOod, If I may uee the phrase the first prime minister of tha Transvaal, whose presence in our counolls I am aura you will welcome aa cordially aa do hit Majesty! government" . England gladly accepted tha hand of South Africa, Wlthgood-will, confidence, loving regard. I'Wnen the invitation arrived to attend this conr ferenca, my government did not hesitate to express the opinion thatlh invitation ahould be accepted at once," declared the general. "Having tteen the leader Of the Boer population there,' and because the government has now received great privileges from the Imperial government, it wae a source of pleasure for me to attend the confer ence -on- rbehalf Of tha Transvaal people, and to prove by such attendance that tha old Dutch population of the Transvaal would work loyally with the English population for the welfare of the Transvaal and of the whole British empire," - Thus South Africa, with 'BO rancor In her heart gave her hand to England, The old sooree were for gotten. And tha compact wae sealed by tha love feast at which Botha was tha hero. - England proved her good-will by granting to Botha mora favors than' any other premier received, even guaranteeing a Transvaal loan of ta.MO.OOO a pledge of credit such as no other self-governing colony had ever received. . . General Botha was aooompanled to London by hi4 daughter, Mist Helen, a fair, golden-haired girl, who became the pet of London society. If you have not already forgotten the popularity of President Roose velt's daughter, Mrs, Long worth, before her marriage, perhaps you can imagine the popularity of Miss Botha, for In London she became known as "the Princess Alice of South Africa.- There Is a pretty little sentiment about a nation' being governed by women, when tha feelings of the women are said to dlreot the actions Of men. If this Is true, South Africa should faro wall at the hands of the British government for London fell In love with .the, Boer premier's daughter. The women of London were charmed by the lovely South African Helen. "When I wae In Johannesburg three years ago," wrote William T. Stead, recently, t told the Boers that I would return In five years to find them the most prosperous, the most contented and tha most loyal of the subjects of King Edward.' "It seemed a bold prophecy at tha time, but I knew my countrymen and I knew the Boers. Today no one doubts that I was right Tha advent of General Hotha'i ministry is a notification to all the world that ' the Transvaal has been given baok o the Boers; that so far aa is possible the criminal work of the war has been undone, and Mllnerlsm expelled root and branch from South Africa." The victory of the Boers began In England about a year ago. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, leader of the pro-Boers, was swept Into power by the largest majority Parliament had seen In seventy years. And this despite the fact that not long before, Boer syra- pathlsers in Britain had been hooted and mobbed. Under the British Liberal government r. new con-, stitutlon was drafted for the Transvaal by the lord chancellor, Lord LOreburn. Winston Churchill, under secretary of state for the ooloniea, announced In the House of Commons last July that a constitution would be granted both to the Orange Pre State and to the Transvaal. i The Boers had asked for woman suffrage; this was refused. The right to vote, however, was given to all males who had reached the age of II years and who had lived In the Transvaal for at least six months. One member was to be elected to tha Transvaal Par liament from each district The Importation of Chinese ooolie laborers for th mine had been made possible through on ordinance passed by the late Balfour ministry. This recruiting ceased en November II, 1101, and with it passed aw. one of tha chief onuses of discord, as tha Boors a: bmorty oppooed to the Chines cooUa. BALFOUR IN ERROR Th announcement of th constitution raised a hot f protest from tha Balfour party. Th former prln minister aroa In the House of Common and declare that th Transvaal was not ready for self-governmen TO this Lord Campbell-Bannermaa hotly replied thr Balfour's speech was unpatrlotlo and unworthy. Tl. . constitution was granted th Boers, v . f Although tha Boer accepted the aondltlona offer by Great Britain, they did not deny that they dlslik the British flag. They remembered their charges, thr before that flag the homes of (000 women and .20,0 hlldren had been burned. But th Dutch wer wise; the accepted the constitution, somewhat uncertain aa to tl outcome, yet allv to the expediency. Their hope c naUonal salvation lay in obtaining control of th net Transvaal Parliament i There wer three parties of important In th cor test of ballots. These were the original Boers, wli formed a great party called the Het Volk; the Pro gresslvCs, led by Sir Percy Fltspatrick, whose purpos was the ascendency of the Johannesburg Chamber o Mines, and who stood for the British capitalists opposed to the Dutch; and the Nationalist or British born colonist and colonics who opposed th capitalist more than they did the Boers. - " . . Before the election, the so-called Progressive Jotirtl claimed victory. The Boers had little to say. The simply voted. More than 80 per cent, of the electors i the rural districts polled. Those who stayed away fron the voting places were not the Dutch; th farmer wen miles to vote. i They were a vanquished people; now th chanc of self government was held out. Should they not tax. advantage of it? It was true their country had rapidu filled with foreigners since the war. and many, Boer.' had gone elsewhere to settle, but they believed them selves in the majority. . i Th reeult was victory for the Boers. Of slxty-nlno seats in Parliament, they secured thirty-six, t The Pro-, gresslves elected twenty-one. The Boers had decided to win by themselves, without the aid of th sympathetic Nationalists. They succeeded. With the aid of sym pathize! s who were elected, however, they believe they; can hold a majority of about twenty-flve In the Parlia ment ' - ... ' There was a loud cry of dismay from the British ' capitalistic Progressives. The mining industry would te ruined, they declared; the Chinese would be forced! from the country. They knew that the Boer felt bit terly toward the men who had so arrogantly conducted the great mining operations In tha Transvsat, thinking more of the money to be made than of th right of the people of that country. , .,, Botha became premier of the new government and , at once demonstrated that he was as great In tha coun cils of state as In th field. He knew that only a few skilful moves remained to be mad, and th Boer would one more have come mto their own. HotiAk Pullets I F YOlJ were commanded to lift 1600 pounds when your normal lifting strength was equal to only 100 pounds, how would you go about it! , How wouldyou increaso your strength six teen times? T jrt Via 4awA aariIm TTaita atti tsf lisllavl changes of circumstance that the political the effectiveness of pulleys; do you know that the world has ever witnessed. Beaten, discour v aged only a short time ago, the Boers, through Botha's elevation to the premiership, thfiirontrol of the Transvaal Parliament and zttne constitution granted them by Great Brit ain, have come into their own again. Once more they are masters of the Transvaal. average man may equal a bamson simply by em ploying a rope and a few pulley blocks t Aa early as the sixteenth . century methods of augmenting power through pulleys was demon strated. Since then this wonderful mechanical aid has proved of vast benefit to man. , m !!! ' f r u 100 -f j 100 W 1123 H23 $8 jjffi 1 ' 1 'MjL IN all history there is no parallel to th Chang of conditions in the Transvaal. Less than five year after the war ended and the Treaty of Vereenlging was signed, General Botha was chosen as prim minister of his people, the head of a free and self-governing British colony. The Transvaal now virtually governs Itself. r; The victory of th Boer at the recent election was .evidence of the power of a purposeful and determined conviction on the part ,-,of a people. Determined to .rule themselves, despite defeat, the Boers succeeded. Determined to develop their own resources, to '' bring prosperity and wealth to their country, they have striven to overcome the old feeling of hatred and re - sentment toward England, Both - parties are working for the best Interests of the colony, but the Boer has .again won virtual Independence,- , - The colonial conference opened In London April 15. Of all th visiting premiers, Botha was th youngest T HE man, then, who would rival th feat of Sam son must call the humble but powerful pulley to hi aid. , Of course, he can dd a1 area t deal with a lever,, although h may not, as Archimedes believed could bo don, loosen old Earth from her moorings. Still, for an example of gradually but powerfully aug mented strength he would turn to the pulley. , , ' Suppose that by the use of two pulleys, you were able to lift 100 pounds from th floor, and you wished to lift twice th weight j Were you totak a double ' block and us It abov Jon single block, you could lift 100 pounds. ; .i-" '- - . J. Br the; us of two single pulleys tb load Is up ported by only on rope; by the us of a double pulley, thus doubling th rope back 1 on Itself, Its lifting power, as well a your own, 1 Increased. -t czu T If you used two double pulleys, you Could Increase tha lifting capacity to 100 . pound by doubling. U lines around th pulleys. In proportion to th num ber of rope supporting th load you can Increase th weight. " To lift . 400 . pound you woutd merely hav to doubl your blocks, In drawing th rope a man pull it in an opposlts direction from the movement of th weight Wr you to get above th pulley and pull upward,-- 'th .weight '' Of the - rope however slight would figure in th calculations. No doubt you hav' often seen men lifting' great load and lmmetts boxes by means, of pulley and wondered how It oould be don. ''ry'iiVi'- ' In building, th pulley la on of the most valuable piece of mechanism. While looking, at skyscrapers hav you Mot wondered how the great Iron beam wer lifted to th dlxsy height? mV Her, again, th pulley ha don almost incredible work. . . -;Vr t v- .. ' J Still another way of Using pulley 1 to Increase the number Instead of doubling th winding capacity of : Inglo'.block, v -. r - - . By using' two pulley you will lift, possibly, . 200 pound. ' If you add another slngl pulley, you will b able to lift 400 pounds, or twice the weight, without extra xerUon. By th us Of four single pulleys you could lift 100 pounds, and with five pulley 1600 pounds. Of COWS, th facility of lifting a heavy , weight " and th aa of increasing It depends upon the bear ' Inga of th pullya. It is Important that these be delicately adjusted and well oiled. From a purely -mathematical standpoint the fin element which enter Into th facility of Increasing weight without the necessity of additional lifting fore ar numerous. A great deal depends , upon the elasticity of the ' rop. With stiff rope you would find more difficulty In lifting a weight than with a flexible one. Even th friction Of th rop as It glides over th pulley must be taken Into aooount The use of pulley was demonstrated by Sevlna, a Dutch engineer and ' physicist who was born In Bruges, In 15B. After traveling about th country as a merchant Scvlns ' employed by the prince . of Orange, and performed valuable work In military engineering.' H also adopted a system of double-entry bookkeeping whll employed by th prine. 1 . CHOSE ABLE ASSISTANTS ' A colonial secretary he appointed General 3. C. Smuts, a man of great ability, who had been Kruger'a attorney general, and an organiser of the Boer party. He selected as attorney general, Jaoob d Vllllers, a former attorney general of the Orange Fre State; for minister of public works, Edward Solomon, leader of the Nationalists, and for treasurer, Mr. Hull, both of whom are Englishmen. - - In a message to the British nation Botha Said: "At Vereenlging I signed th treaty of peace; I then solemn ly accented what 1 so dear to you, your king and your nag. They are now our king and our flag. ' .. Irt reply tj the charge that th new Ministry would act in a manner that would be inimical to th Interest of the mine owner, he declared! "A I protected th mine during th war, so X shall se that they ar not Injured now. We simply object to the men running th mines also running th country, Th talk of wholesale Chines repatriation regardless of consequences Is nonsense. I say emphatically that noth ing shall be dona to embarrass the mine so far as unskilled labor is concerned.'1 ' That England has confidence" in Botha' pledge. In his ability to steer the new ship of state to a harbor of prosperity and contentment was manifested on his re cent vielt to London. . . ; : The Boer War lasted two years, eva month and nineteen days. And during the war no on distinguished himself by such heroism and ability as General Botha. When the war began In October, 1899, Botha waa practically unknown. lie was a prosperous farmer liv ing near Pretoria, He was on of the first to take arms against the British, and during th early part Of the war distinguished himself by fighting along th Tugcla river. Wnile the British forces contended With General Cronje at Modder river In January, 1900, General Botha and General De Wet both valiantly sought to go to Cronje' relief., but were beaten back by th British. General Joubert died at Pretoria on March 17, and Botha was elected chief of the Boer army. The present representative of th king Of England In the Transvaal then became the terror of th British. He harassed,, the army in every possible way. By hi guerilla warfare General Do Wet kept the British on th qui vlve. General Botha showed the characteristics Of a great general In his command of the entire forces. . Upon hi arrival at Cap Town, Lord Roberts organ laed an army of 130,000 men, which wa to sweep north in a mighty column, devastating all before It, While the army was being organised there occurred th battle of Splon Kop, where 600 Englishmen fell OA the field. ..Under Botha tha burghers fought their fiercest battle. - ' For two months General Botha guarded a front of thirty miles with only 3000 men. To do this he had to change position every night and drag heavy cannon ' from plies to place. He showed his mettle aa a com mander. .....'','.--' Altho-igh he fought valiantly It wa known that Botha longed for peace. Yet when tho term of Joseph Chamberiain wer mad In March 1901, h promptly re Jected them. . . j,f,.t,i:,(.,,y' A TRUE WARRIOR'S HELPMEET, . No less patriotic than General Botha I hi wtf. While he fought during the war Mrs. Botha was a con stant Inspiration to, her warrior husband, 'Mrs, Botha la an Irish woman, a. descendant of th ill-fated Robert Emmet. 1 ; . Just as she sympathised with her husband's people during the war, so has ' she entered mto th spirit of reconstruction of the Transvaal. . . ) During the war she often ordered her carrlaara and drove near th scene of a battle, where, with clenched nana aaa tens xace, sne prayed that th Win. V Her prayers were not m vain. Th Boer hav won finally. But in another way than wa anticipated. The terms of surrender were favorable to the bant: No tax wa imposed upon the Transvaal for the cit of th war, while a sum of 3.000,000 was to be provided by th British government for restocking the Boer farms. - Sentiment la England gradually changed; the tm?rr of Lord Miner, representing tb British crown in fc'mi 1 Africa. wre denounced, and a kindly feeling manlft i Itself toward the vanquished people. Through the (-... stitutlon tha Boer wer enablud to have thlr t 1 ministers; mey ar prom 1 seo enure mai'T'mlfn . r ergons who nave visited south Africa th farms which wer devastated during resuming their former prosperity ; that an f f .times" is evidently bsfore the liner. r- ( rejoiced that once mure they huvt th 1 their own affairs in their on l'vu. government headed by their can Lo's . Boepa would In .f. - r j i 4