Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-02-08 | Page 1 | Secession of South Africa Rests on Vote

SECESSION Of ' SOUTH AFRICA i RESTSIVOTE British Empire Watches With Interest Result cf Today's Election GENERAL SMUTS IS CHAMPION OF UNION Hertzog Leads Forces Seeking To Set Up Republic From Rich Dominion LONDON, Feb. 8. 'o less vital an I Issue than the secession of nn Important Im-portant state of the British empire by ballet arises in the election today of a new lefrlilatl e assembly in the ' union of'Pouth Africa. Broadly, the question is whether South Africa, comprising the prov- lnces of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal. Na-tal. Transvaal and Orange free state, shall continue Its allegiance to the king of England as one of the self-governing self-governing dominions of the empire, or , whether the South African union shall ! set up an Independent republic. T! ( SION BY BALLOT. English sympathies naturally are with the loyalist set of South Africa. I Both sections are, however, admired for their decision to settle differences j by the ballot rather than by moru j drastic means. At the head of loyalist section of I South African population of approxi-I approxi-I mutely 6.000.HOO Is General J- C. ' Sm'Us, former Boer general, now prime minister of the union. He is I better known to the world as one of j the leading advocates of the league of j nations- Opposed to htm is UepecaJ Hertzog, also a former Boer military leader. BALAN4 l l POWER. In the general elections of March, l .". ihs Hertzog party obtained -it seats tn the legislative assembly, thus I becoming numerically the largest par- ty. it was supported in Its opposition to the Smuts government by a Labor pari) Ol ini-mv-novii. Tho result today Is said to hinge on I the success of the third, or balance of power party, that of tho English I political observers expect a small hut working majority for General Smuts. TIME FOR REPUBLIC. Confiscation issues have arisen as a result of the Nationalists' Inability to agreo upon the lime of the establishment estab-lishment of a republic. Radicals in- sist upon immediate cutting away: from the BrltlBh empire, while oth-1 ers make the time Indeterminate. Qeneral Hertzog's opinion Is said to have been expressed In a speech when I ho declared for South Africa's right to secede from tho British empire. In spite of the act. he Is quoted as saying say-ing South Africans have tho right to alter their constitution to gain Independence In-dependence If tho king shoS'.'d refuse to alter th constitution, he would bo appointed again and again and In the end tho king would be convinced mat It was better to have an Independent friend than a dependent enemy.