THE SEMI-WEEKLY TRIBUNE, NORTH PLATTE, NEDRA8KA.
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David Starr Jordan, noted ed
ucator and pacifist tells what
f right fulness has beenltorought
by conflict in the tittle coun
tries of Eastern Europe :: A
grave problem stilt unsolved
(Courtesy American Museum Journal)
T WAS my fortune, not long ugo.
wjth three good friends nntl two
soldiers, to follow In n king's
automobile inlong tlio trull of
war. This wua In Mncedonln.
Tho lino of nn army's march la
not plonmint to look upon oven
though tlio people along It tmd
lint imirli in tnnn. 'I'lm nlncli of
mffcrlne Is vorv real e.ven If. iih In .tho Hnltciins.
folk have grown used to It. There nro two pinln
raariu) by which you may recognize tlio path of
war In u Innd of farmers. The one Is the charred
Wage, with Its whitewashed stone walls black
ened by tiro. The other Is tho presence hero and
Uiero In tlio plowed Holds of three poles fastened
together at tho ton. and from tho ernteh n hnhv
mispended Just high cnotiKh to liunie Inquisitive
dogs or gouts. Somowhoro In tho Hold, anywhere
In tlio Balkan vnlloys lu May, you will see ono
woman driving or leading n bullock or a buffalo,
whllo unother behind her holds tho plow. The
men uro In tho army or else they woro there.
The memory I shall longest hold of Montenegro
lis a plcturo taken by my guldo, Antonio Rclnweln,
lof this land of stony graves, of tho resoluto people
iof tho llmcstnno crags who huvo novel- dono horn
ago to tho Turks nor to any other outside powor,
It will bo remembered that all these Bnlknn folk
woro for years under tho dominion of tho Turk,
Htid Unit nono of them huvo been freo for luilf a
century. Tho Turk was most acceptable when ho
was asleep. Whon ho was nwake, lie had his own
Ideas of "Union und Progress." Union meant uni
formity. A iiiiUon should lmvo ono ruler, qno Hag,
ono rcligton, ono language. Progress was his way
of bringing about this condition. This was by tnns
fcarco. And as tho uctuul Turks wero fow In num
ber, ruling over un emplro of Slavs, Greeks, Ital-
wis, Jews, ArmonlntiH, Albanians, Kurds, lCgyp
Innn, Moors and Arabs, It demanded eternal vlg
Bunco to keep them till In a stnto of union and
"progress.
Thoso people have had constantly before thorn
tho cholco of revolt, conversion, assimilation, ban
lahmcnt and inussucrc. And at ono time or nn
pther, Homo of onch nice havo choseii each one of
plicae, ofton two or thrco of them nt once. Mean
while, following tho wicked lead of Blsmurck and
JDisruoll, Europe hns kept tlio Turk alive, bocauso
from financiers In each nation, tho Ottoman sultan
hH borrowed conslderublo sums of monoy.
I Macedonia lies along tho southorn slopes of tho
JBalknn peninsula. It Is a fertile region crossed by
(Chains of rounded mountains, with green valleys
tond swift streams, lu physlcul conditions not un
4lko Uio south of France. It has 45,000 Bquaro
italics of territory, Is about as largo as tho stnto of
Mulno, wIUi n population nearly two-thirds that
of tho city of Now York, and boforo the war of
liberation It hud about 2,200,000 peoplo. The ma
Uorlty of theso woro Bulgarian In blood and they
fword allowed to havo their own churches and
pchools.
As to tho campaigns which havo desolated
Macedonia In tho last fow years wo need say only
lu word. Tho history of the two Balkan wars lu
jglvon with accuracy and Justlco In the monumental
report of the Balkan couimlsslou of tho Carnegie
Wndowmcnt, u document of especial value In any
Htudy of the conditions preceding tho "third Hal
jkan war" which today has set thu world In llnmcs.
Tho first Balkan wnr wus altruistic as fur as
(uny war can be. Its purposo was tho relief of n
distressed people, suffering for centuries from tho
laxities pi! Turkish rule, always Incompetent and
everywhere unscrupulous, and on tho other baud
continuously overrun by tho outlaw patriots which
kept Uio land In Incessant turmoil.
The Balkan ullhinco was u Russian inspiration.
It wus planned by Ilartwlg, Itusslan minister at
Belgrade, "tho ovll genius of tho Balkans." It
ended in the treaty of Loudon, whero tho blind In
termeddling of tlio powers, baflled by Austrian In
trigue, agreed only on tho kingdom of Albania,
waving Uio states to tight it out so far as Mace
donia wus concerned. This brought on tho second
(Balkan war, iu which Bulgarian diplomacy mado
tall tho uitstakcu it had a chauco to in like.
The treaty f Bucharest loft Macedonia crossed
by artificial boundaries. The effect of Intolerance,
worst In Greece, bad enough everywhere, was to
drive out of each nation all who belonged to the
wrong language or religion. I do not say race, for
they are all of tlio saino general stock, oven tho
bulk of tho "Turks" and O reeks. This has filled
tho region with refugees, men and women whoso
fault, Is that they lived on tho wrong sldo of tho
boundaries niudo for thorn lu the treaty of
Bucharest.
Passing down tho long highway which leads over
200 miles from Soflu to Samokov and Dubnltzu In
old Bulgaria, then across tlio border of Macedonia,
down tho Struma river past Dzumnlu to Petri tch,
wo found overywhoro tho Bulgarian refugees from
tho Snlonlkl district In Greek Macedonia, Theso
huvo boon roughly estimated at 60,000 In number.
Somo of theso havo been given farms or houses
abandoned in Mncedonln by Turks who followed
tho Turkish army away. Others received farms
loft by Greeks when ttio Greok army went back
after tho treaty of Bucharest. Tho government
grants each person somo fourpenco a day. Somo
find work, hut after tho war tlioro uro few employ
ers. The cost of living has doubled, tlio means of
living bus fallen. At Petrltch, near tho present
boundary of Greece, there wero hundreds of theso
watting about on tho stono sidewalks day by day.
They woro waiting for tlio powers to revlBo the
treaty of Bucharest and give them buck their
homes In the region nbovo Sulonlkl. Somo local
Journal had said that this revision was coming
soou. It was my duty to assure them that It would
novor como. Tlio plirnso In Soflu, "Europe exists
no more," is tho truth so far as Balkan affairs are
concerned,
Tho reason for that Is clearer now. Eavopo was
paralyzed by tlio great terror which tun since
como on It In nn unthinkable eutostrophu. Thcro
wero somo In tho "concert of powers." who were
striving to bring on this catastrophe Th "war
of stool and gold" was about to givo place to real
war, which would end, they hoped, In spcdy vic
tory and world power. It has not ended In tiiat way.
It lias not yet ended nt all. But thoso who most
looked forward to war wero tho ones who hud
least conception of Its certain consequences.
In the wholo length of tho Strumn valley In
western Mncedonln, towns havo been burned In
wholo or part by thq Greek army which pursued
tho Bulgnrlans as far us the old border of Bui
giirlu, In Greok Mncedonln, nt tho hands of somo
ono or nil of tho three, successlvo nrmles--TurkUh,
Bulgarian and GrGok most of tho towns between
Sulonlkl and Drama havo suffered tho sumo fate.
Each of these towns has now Its slinro of Greek
refugees from Turkish Tlirncc. Thoso liuve been
estimated by Greek authorities as numbering JI00,
000. They havo como by railway from Adrlnnoplo
In box cars bolouglug to the Greok government.
Theso cars are left at the various stations, u dozen
or moro lit each. In these the peoplo keep their
bedding and their scanty effects. The government
of Greece allows them two or threo sous u day,
with rice which they cook on Arcs of thistles and
other weeds.-
In a Turkish Journal, vigorous complaint wus
mndc ngninst the Allmniun refugees In Thrace us
.more "proficient with the Mauser thun with tho
plow, und skillful only us cuttle thieves." A plea
was mado for bringing back tho Bulgarian farm
ers as far more desirable neighbors. "Tho Bul
garians uro now our friends."
In tho larger towns, ns Sulonlkl mid Kllkush, tho
refugees nro ranged In tent cities, ten thousnnd or
moro In ono encnmpnient. There wero porhnps
00,000 Greek refugoes n llttlo more than u your
ugo along the rood from Drama to Sulonlkl,
Whon I wus nt Snlonlkl tho Turks wero leaving
In grout numbers: 212,000 took steerage passage
for Stomboul In ono month. Snlonlkl (Thcssa
lonlke), beautifully sltuntcd, In full fnco of Mount
Olympus nnd with n noble harbor, should bo one
of tho grent cities of the weld. In the nt'terninth
of tlio second Balkan wnr It lost half Its popula
tion. It Is no hotter off todny than In tho times
when St. Paul called out for help in Macedonia.
Harsh und often terribly brutal operations
In Serbia and Greece result from tho unchecked
operations of the military element. Tho soldier,
as such, considers neither economic conditions nor
tho soul of man. It was claimed that tho two wise
ministers Pashltch In Belgrade and Venlzclos In
Athens wero both opposed to tlio policy of repres
sion. Both would, If they could, havo proclaimed
religious linguistic tolerance In thoso parts of Mnc
edonln turned over to them by tho trenty of
Bucharest. But the fact of victory, nnd especially
victory over their sister state, Bulgaria, Intoxicates
tho military, nnd fills the mob with the "east
wind." In such times Uio civil authority cannot
hold Its own against tho military.
Bulgaria recognized better tlio vnluo of toler
ance. A Greek church and school stand undis
turbed In Sofia. In tho Bulgarian nntlonnl assem
bly there ar about n dozen Turkish deputies, rep
resenting Thrnce. These Turks, supporters nil of
Uio king, hold the bulnnoo of power against the
combined democrats and socialists, tho group op
posed to all war. The spirit of hnto is still very
strong among tho peoplo of Bulgaria. They hnto
Rotimnnln, ns tho robber-stnto who hns dono them
the most harm. Thoy hnto Greece.
There ran -never bo settled quiet In tho East
until the Bnlkuns belong to tho Bnlknns," unUl
civil authority everywhere dominates tho mtlttnr)
and unit customs unions nnd other unions cnuse
these peoplo to renllzo Unit ono fate befalls them
all and Hint tlio welfare of each state Is bound up
In that of its neighbor.
Zeke Candler, representative from
Mississippi, worships the Tomblgbcc
river so fervently that In Wnshlngtou
ho Is known ns Tomblgbcc Candler and
the stream is culled the Candler Tom
blgbee. Each year Uio treasury opens and
pours a mellow stream of gold Into tho
Tomblgbee for Improvement purposes,
nnd each your, In praise of this gra
cious net on the part of Uncle Sam,
Tomblgbcc Zeke arises in his place on
the floor of the house und sings a song
of praise.
Tomblgbee Candler made no speech
this yenr. Consequently when Uie item
wns renched In the rivers und harbors
bill Representative Madden rolled n
Chicago stone crusher Into tho house
and endenvored to smnsh the Tomblg
bee's 35,000.
"This is nn unimportant river," he
said with a grin.
"But It Is a very beautiful, one?"
suggested Nick Longworth.
At this point Zeke Candler arose in his might nnd delivered the ultimatum
that If the Tomblgbee was stricken from the bill the measure could not pass.
"Is that so?" sold Jim Munn. "Well, the senute passed a bill tho other day
whero this river Is Blurrlngly referred to ns the Tom Beckby. Now I wane to,
know whether tho gentleipan calls this the Tomblgbee river or tho Tom
Beckby, two names." '
"Even tho sennto of the United States," replied Zeke with grent dignity,
"If It were an august body of Idiots, would not undertake to change the unmo
of tho Tomblgbee. because If they did it would change tho history of Uie
United States of Ajnerlca."
LANE AND THE SIOUX
Secretary Lnne Is nearly always
dramatic and some times a little the
atrical In his dealing with the copper
colored lnhubitnnts of the western part
of the United States. Recently ho
nnd a pnrty went to Yankton, S. D., to
confer citizenship 1 on 180 Sioux In
dluus. lie Invented a brand now cere
monial nnd did things up brown, so to
spenk.
Secretnry Lnne told the Indlnns
that the great White Father had sent
him to spenk a serious and solemn
word. Then ench chosen Indian was
called from Uio crowd by his white
nnme, handed n bow and arrow and
directed to shoot it. The secretary
then snld : v
"You liuve shot your lust arrow.
That means that you are no longer to
live the life df nn Indian. You are
from this day forward to live the life
of a white man. But you mny keep
that urrow, It will be to you a symbol
of your noble race, and of tho pride you feel Uiat you come from the first of
all Amerlcuns."
The Indians were all given a badge of American citizenship nnd ununited
States Hug. To each of tho women woro given a work bng and a purse.
CHAMPION OF KANSAS
II I ! I IB
Representative Joseph Taggurt of
Kansas is quick to resent any slam nt
the Sunflower stnto and bristles up
whenever one seeks to revive bewhls
kered Kansas Jokes which were pop
ular . (outside of Kansas) a quarter of
a century ago. Knowing Taggart's re
gard for the dignity of his homo state,
several of his colleugues on tho house
Judiciary commltteo planned n bit of
fun.
There was a meeting before the
committee, which Tnggart was uunble
to attend, on the womnn suffrugo reso
lution. A Now York lawyer appeared
In behalf of the "untls" and presented
nn argument ngulnst nntlonnl enfran
chisement of tho gentler sex. Ho spoke
generally and did not refer to any
stnto now boasting cqunl rights. Tag
gart's colleugues, however, told him
the lawyer hud lambasted Kansas. At
the next meeting of the commltteo tho
lawyer reappeared. Taggurt was on
hand nnd grilled the New Yorker unmercifully,
as best ho could under the cross-examination.
When the meeting ndjourncd tho lawyer asked Taggurt why he hud been
bo severo. The congressman retorted that he would not permit auy man to
belittle Kansas. The lawyer insisted he satd nothing that could be considered
derogntory to the western commonwealth and, In fact, had a high opinion pf
the people of tho state.
Tnggnrt at this moment happened to look around and caught his colleagues
smiling brondly. Explunutlons followed. Tnggart apologized to the New
Yorker, but Is nwnltlng-nn opportunity to get even with the practical Jokers.
Tho lawyer defended himself
ESTHER CLEVELAND AIDS THE BLIND
Miss Esther Cleveland, daughter
of tho lato Grover Cleveland and
known In her early childhood ns the
"White House Baby," has been asso
ciated with Red Cross work and is now
aiding the work of tho allies In tho
care of the blind at St. Dunstan's col
lege, Itegent's pnrk, London.
Miss Cleveland wns born in Wash
ington during her fnther'e term as
president and there have been many
false reports of her engagement' sinco
she wns presented to society.
Before going abroad to aid in car
ing for tho blind she devoted several
mouths to studying tho system In uso
In the Pcnnsylvunla Institute for tho
Instruction of the Blind, so when she
was ready to offer her services sho
wus qualified to render service. Miss
Cleveland had previously been gradu
ated nt u training school of nurses and
would have been elllclent in that kind
of aid, but so many men wero being
blinded in the European war that assistance for Uiosq thus aflllctcd appeared
moro desirable, and sho devoted her time to learning how to Instruct these
Batterers before sho proffered her services.
COT, JTOftt mm iwNr mv Mt""
