VOTING TO BE HUNS.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5516, 24 October 1919, Page 4 (Supplement)

VOTING TO BE HUNS.

HOW SCHLESWIG WILL DECIDE HER NATIONALITY. Voting for a member of Parliament is a usual thing, but to vote whether you yourself shall be English or French, Danish or German, rarely occurs, yet this is happening in the German province of Schleswig, which adjoins Denmark’s southern border. This method of obtaining an expression of opinion is quite modern, and was, in fact, only introduced by Napoleon 111. The duchy of Schleswig and the adjoining one of Holstein were wrested from Denmark in 1864 by Austria and Prussia, who afterwards quarrelled over the disposal of the booty, and when Prussia beat Austria in 1866 she occupied the two provinces herself. Prussia did all she could to Germanise the people of the conquered terrtory; she made the German language compulsory in the schools and passed many measures oppressive to the Danes in Schleswig. TRYNG TO SWAY THE VOTERS. Now that Germany is beaten, the Conference of the Allies has decided thatt he greater part of the duchy shall be given back to Denmark, and that the greater part of the duchy shall be settled by a vote of the inhabitants; i f the majority vote for restoring the district to Denmark, it will become Danish; if not, it will continue to belong to Germany. Now as the Germans cannot fight to retain their hold on southern Schleswig, they are doing all they can to influence the voting, so that it shall not go against them. Northern Schleswig will undoubtedly vote solid for restoration to Denmark, and the Huns, realising this, have already “commandeered” all the cattle, horses, and agricultural stock from that province, where 80 per cent, of the population is Danish.

In the south some of the parishes have a majority of Germans, while others are Danish in language and sentiment.

And here it is that “the fun begins.” If the German authorities were allowed to remain during the taking of the plebiscite, they would intimidate the people, cajole and threaten the voters, and resort to every electioneering trick to obtain a majority of votes. Hence, the Allies have ordered, all German garrisons’ to .be withdrawn from these districts, and a joint Allied force of marines is to be landed, under the orders of a British admiral, to police Schleswig, and make certain that the voting is carried out with strict fairness.