Newspaper Page Text
David Starr Jordan, noted ed
ucator and pacifist, tells what
frightfulness has been brought
by conflict in the little coun
tries of Eastern Europe :: A
grave problem still unsolved
(Courtesy American Museum Journal)
T WAS my fortune, not long ago,
with three good friends and two
soldiers, to follow’ in a king’s
automobile along the trail of
war. This was in Macedonia.
The line of an army’s march is
!uot pleasant to look upon even
though the people along It had
not much to lose. The pinch of
suffering is very real even if, as in the Balkans,
folk have grown used to it. There are two plain
mp/rks by which you may recognize the path of
war in a land of fanners. The one is the charred
village, with its whitewashed stone walls black
ened by fire. The other is the presence here and
there In the plowed fields of three poles fastened
together at the top, and from the crotch a baby
suspended just high enough to baffle Inquisitive
dogs or goats. Somewhere in the field, anywhere
In the Balkan valleys in May, you will see one
woman driving or leading a bullock or a buffalo,
while another behind her holds the plow. The
men are in the army—or else they were there.
The memory I shall longest hold of Montenegro
is a picture taken by my guide, Antonio Reinwein,
of this land of stony graves, of the resolute people
of the limestone crags who have never done hom
age to the Turks nor to any other outside power.
It will be remembered that all these Balkan folk
were for years under the dominion of the Turk,
and that none of them have been free for half a
century. The Turk was most acceptable when he
was asleep. When he -was awake, he had his own
ideas of “Union and Progress." Union meant uni
formity. A nation should have one ruler, one flag,
one religion, one language. Progress was his way
of bringing about this condition. This was by mas
scarce. And as the actual Turks were few In num
ber, ruling over an empire of Slavs, Greeks, Ital
ians, Jews, Armenians, Albanians, Kurds, Egyp
tians, Moors and Arabs, it demanded eternal vig
ilance to keep them all in a state of union and
progress.
These people have had constantly before them
the choice cf revolt, conversion, assimilation, ban
ishment and massacre. And at one time or an
other, some of each race have chosen each one of
ihese, often two or three of them at once. Mean
while, following the wicked lead of Bismarck and
Disraeli, Europe has kept the Turk alive, because
from financiers in each nation, the Ottoman sultan
has borrowed considerable sums of money.
Macedonia lies along the southern slopes of the
Balkan peninsula. It is a fertile region crossed by
chains of rounded mountains, with green valleys
and swift streams, in physical conditions not un
like the south of France. It has 45,000 square
miles of territory, is about as large as the state of
Maine, with a population nearly two-thirds that
of the city of New York, and before the war of
liberation it had about 2,250,000 people. The ma
jority of these were Bulgarian in blood and they
were allowed to have their own churches and
schools.
As to the campaigns which have desolated
Macedonia in the last few years we need say only
a word. The history of the two Balkan wars Is
given with accuracy and justice in the monumental
report of the Balkan commission of the Carnegie
endowment, a document of especial value tn any
study of the conditions preceding the “third Bal
kan war” which today has set the world In flames.
The first Balkan war was altruistic as far as
any war can be. Its purpose was the relief of a
distressed people, suffering for centuries from the
laxities of Turkish rule, always Incompetent and
everywhere unscrupulous, and on the other band
continuously overrun by the outlaw patriots which
kept the land in Incessant turmoil.
The Balkan alliance was a Russian Inspiration.
It was planned by Hartwig, Russian minister at
Belgrade, “the evil genius of the Balkans.” It
ended in the treaty of London, where the blind In
termeddling of the powers, baffled by Austrian in
trigue, agreed only on the kingdom of Albania,
leaving the states to fight It out sd far as Mace
donia was concerned. This brought on the second
Balkan wear, In which Bulgarian diplomacy made
all the mistake* It had a chapce to make.
The treaty of Bucharest left 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. Ido not say race, for
they are all of the same general stock, even the
bulk of the “Turks” and Greeks. This has filled
the region with refugees, men and women whose
fault is that they lived on the wrong side of the
boundaries made for them in the treaty of
Bucharest.
Passing down the long highway which leads over
200 miles from Sofia to Samokov and Dubnitza In
old Bulgaria, then across the border of Macedonia,
down the Struma river past Dzumaia to Petritch,
we found everywhere the Bulgarian refugees from
the Salonlki district In Greek Macedonia. These
have been roughly estimated at 50,000 in number.
Some of these have been given farms or houses
abandoned in Macedonia by Turks who followed
the Turkish army away. Others received farms
left by Greeks when the Greek army went back
after the treaty of Bucharest. The government
grants each person some’ fourpence a day. Some
find work, but after the war there are few employ
ers. The cost of living has doubled, the means of
living has fallen. At Petritch, near the present
boundary of Greece, there were hundreds of these
waiting about on the stone sidewalks day by day.
They were waiting for the powers to revise the
treaty of Bucharest and give them back their
homes in the region above Salonlki. Some local
journal had said that this revision was coming
soon. It was my duty to assure them that it would
never come. The phrase in Sofia, “Europe exists
no more,” is the truth so far as Balkan affairs are
concerned.
The reason for that is clearer now. Europe was
paralyzed by the great terror which has since
come on it in an unthinkable catastrophe. There
were some In the “concert of powers,” who were
striving to bring on this catastrophe. The “war
of steel and gold” was about to give place to real
war, which would end, they hoped, in speedy vic
tory and world power. It has not ended in that way.
It has not yet ended at all. But those who most
looked forward to war were the ones who had
least conception of its certain consequences.
In the whole length of the Struma valley In
western Macedonia, towns have been burned in
whole or part by the Greek army which pursued
the Bulgarians as fur as the old border of Bul
garia. In Greek Macedonia, at the hands of some
one or all of the three successive armies—Turkish,
Bulgarian and Greek—most of the towns between
Salonlki add Drama have suffered the same fate.
Each of these towns has now its share of Greek
refugees from Turkish Thrace. These have been
estimated by Greek authorities as numbering 300,-
000. They have come by railway from Adrianople
In box cars belonging to th* Greek government.
IKE BULLETIN. IRWINTON. GEORGIA.
These cars are left at the various stations, a dozen
or more at each. In these the people keep their
bedding and their scanty effects. The government
of Greece allows them two or three sous a day,
with rice which they cook on fires of thistles and
other weeds.
In a Turkish journal, vigorous complaint was
made against the Albanian refugees in Thrace as
more “proficient with the Mauser than with the
plow, and skillful only as cattle thieves.” A plea
was made for bringing back the Bulgarian farm
ers as far more desirable neighbors. “The Bul
garians are now our friends.” '
In the larger towns, as Salonlki and Kilkush, the
refugees are ranged In tent cities, ten thousand or
more in one encampment. There were perhaps
60,000 Greek refugees a little more than a year
ago along the road from Drama to Salonlki.
When I was at Salonlki the Turks were leaving
In great numbers: 212,000 took steerage passage
for Stamboul In one month. Salonlki (Thessa
loglke), beautifully situated, in full face of Mount
Olympus and with a noble harbor, should be one
of the great cities of the world. In the aftermath
of the second Balkan war it lost half its popula
tion. It is no better off today than in the times
when St. Paul called out for help in Macedonia.
Harsh and often terribly brutal operations
in Serbia and Greece result from the unchecked
operations of the military element. The soldier,
as such, considers neither economic conditions nor
the soul of man. It was claimed that the two wise
ministers Pashltch in Belgrade and Venizelos in
Athens were both opposed to the policy of repres
sion. Both would, if they could, have proclaimed
religious linguistic tolerance in those parts of Mac
edonia turned over to them by the treaty of
Bucharest. But the fact of victory, and especially
victory over their sister state, Bulgaria, Intoxicates
the military, and fills the mob with the “east
wind.” In such times the civil authority cannot
hold Its own against the military.
Bulgaria recognized better the value of toler
ance. A Greek church and school stand undis
turbed in Sofia. In the Bulgarian national assem
bly there are about a dozen Turkish deputies, rep
resenting Thrace. These Turks, supporters all of
the king, hold the balance of power against the
combined democrats and socialists, the group op
posed to all war. The spirit of hate Is still very
strong among the people of Bulgaria. They hate
Roumania, ns the robber-state who has done them
the most hanp. They hate Greece.
There can never be settled quiet in the East
until the “Balkans belong to the Balkans,” until
civil authority everywhere dominates the military
and until customs unions and other unions cans*
these people to realize that one fate befalls them
all and that the welfare of each stat* is bound up
in that of Its neighbor.
RINDS FOR STATE
TROOPS CUT OFF
Georgia Legislature Fails To Provide
The Militia With Money For
Military Activities
SOLDIERS ARE HARD HIT
Officers Figuring On Ways And
Means Os Overcoming The Sit
uation Confronting Them
Camp Harris —
Officers of t£e National Guard are
figuring bn ways and means to over
come the situation put squarely be
fore them in general orders No. 12,
of the military department of the state
of Georgia, in which the department,
facing the failure of the legislature
to provide funds sufficient to finance
it guard, reluctantly announces that
the quarterly allowances heretofore
provided for the state militia, termi
nated with the last payment made—
for the first quarter of 1916.
This order applies to all the Nation
al Guard units in the state. The At
lanta companies, for Instance, have
been receiving a quarterly allowance
of S6O per company—tn itself a mod
est sum considering the many expen
ditures which have been necessary
to maintain the organization on a
basis of efficiency. This expense of
recruiting, of entertainment for en
listed men, of transportation and food
on practice marches—all of this and
much more has made the quarterly
check a necessity. Many companies
in the state use rented armories,
nearly all of them provide some slight
compensation for quartermasters and
company clerks.
While the present service in camp
of all the Georgia troops except the
Third separate battalions and the
coast artillery corps relieve the state
of some of this burden, in that the
war department pays the troops, it
leaves no provision for the expenses
of the home stations.
Should the guard be mustered out,
It would come back to its homes in a
condition of pauperism which would
be difficult to overcome.
Wurm Thrown In River While Alive
Atlanta —
That John Wum, the young time
keeper of the Atlantic Steel company,
whose dead body was found in the
Chattahoochee river some weeks ago,
was thrown into the water while alive
was demonstrated to the satisfaction
of the authorities when physicians ap
pointed by Solicitor General Eb T.
Williams to hold an examination of
the body for traces of poison reported
that none had been found.
At Solicitor Williams’ orders, they
had the body exhumed from its grave
in Oakland cemetery, and a painstak
ing autopsy was held. No possible
trace of poison was found, the vague
theory that the young man had been
killed by drug, then thrown into the
river being thus exploded.
Federal Game Warden Far State
Atlanta —
A. E. Binder, deputy game warden
of Fulton county, has received an ap
pointment from the federal govern
ment as federal migratory game war
den for the state of Georgia.
Mr. Binder has been connected with
the administration and enforcement
of the Georgia game laws in Fulton
county for the last five years, and
has successfully prosecuted many
cases for the violation of the state
law.
The federal appointment comes to
him as a measure of recognition of
the service he has rendered.
Claim New Highway Law O. K.
Atlanta —
The members of the state prison
commission who, under the recently
enacted law, are, with two others, the
state high way department, hold, in
a card issued, that all claim of ques
tionable effect of the new Georgia law
in compliance with the federal act is
unfounded. The commission’s card
analyzes the Georgia highway depart
ment act, drawn by Henry J. Full-,
bright and introduced by Messrs?
Heath and Adams, to show that all de
mands of the federal act are fully
met
County Asks Early Arbitration
Atlanta—
Grady county was added to the list
of those counties demanding arbitra
tion of their tax assessments, which
were increased by order of the state
tax commissioner. This makes four
counties out of ten raised which have
asked for arbitration, the others being
Bulloch, Hart and Jeff Davis. Judge
Hart was notified that W. D. Rodden
berry of Cairo had been selected to
act as arbitrator for Grady county. C.
T. Tillman of Quitman, chosen by
Judge Hart in the other cases, will
act for the state.
Military Organization Good
Camp Harris—
The work of the camp is in better
shape than that of any organization
in Georgia. It is now up-to-date.
Brigade headquarters has issued,
for information, the recommendations
of Capt. F. S. Young, U. S. A., di
. vision quartermaster, now at El Paso,
Texas, concerning requisitions for car
penters’ tools. Each company Is ex
pected to arm Itself with a pair each
of saws, hammers and hatchets, with
one steel square.
r- •
ATLANTA POLICE ARE
WARNING THE “TIGERS”
Dealers Had Plan By Which They
Made Quick Delivery At Any
Point Os Liquors
Atlanta —
. As a result of the activities of the
police in running down the agents of
out-of-state liquor houses who were
supplying the trade with liquor, At
lantans, who feel an occasional need
for a drink will probably be dry for
a few days until the flurry has sub
sided.
Os course, they will not entirely
famish, since the state prohibition
law permits an individual to order
two^cjuarts of whiskey within a period
of thirty days until the flurry, has
of thirty days, but ordering in com
pliance w^th the terms and condi
tions of the state prohibition law is
not an altogethei- satisfactory method
of securing one’s self a drink.
One must present himself in per
son at the express office, identify
himself, make an affidavit that he is
21 years of age and a person of
temperate habits, and swear that he
has not ordered two quarts of whisky
within the last thirty days. After
going thus into detail concerning his
identity, habits, personal history,
etc., he secures his little shipment
and goes his way, but a record of
the transaction forthwith goes to the
ordinary’s office and becomes the
property of the public.
Hence the average man would
much prefer to get his liquor by
some other method whenever possi
ble and that is precisely what they
are doing in Atlanta.
Now that the police have rudely
interfered, at least for the present,
with the efficient little system per
fected by the agents—who got the
liquor into the city and delivered it
direct to customers, using negroes to
order it and sign for it at the ex
press office — moonshine corn bids
fair to become even more popular
than it is already. This product,
made in the mountains of North
Georgia and transported to Atlanta
in wagons and automobiles, escapes
the red tape wrapped around ship
ments from out of the state, and be
cause of the greater ease quite a much
used drink.
Wild Land Put On Tax Books
Atlanta —
Judge Hart’s recent order to ten
of the counties of the state to make
certain increases in the tax values of
those counties, to bring them nearer
a state equalization, has put on the
tax books of one county between for
ty thousand and fifty thousand acres
of wild land never heretofore return
ed for taxation. Information comes
from Ware county that the board
down there in investigating the gene
ral county situation, after receipt of
Judge Hart’s order, discovered that
much untaxed wild land.
One more county was added, how
ever, to the list of objectors to the re
cent order, when Grady filed its pro
test with Judge Hart, and named W.
B. Roddenbery as arbitrator for the
county. The state, in this instance,
as in that of Emanuel, Hart and Jeff
Davis counties, which have protested,
will be represented by C. T. Tillman
of Quitman. The two arbitrators, in
each case, will select a third to sit
with them, but, if they fail to agree
on a third man within fixed time,
the umpire is to be appointed by the
comptroller general.
The increase in Grady county, un
der the order, is about 20 per cent,
that county now returning its lands
at $5.08 an acre.
Six of the ten counties to whom the
order was issued appear to be satis
fied, inasmuch as the last day for fil
ing protests has passed, and only the
four cited have been heard from.
Confer This Week On 801 l Weevil
Atlanta —
Special boll weevil conferences were
held this week in Stewart, Webster,
Marion, Chattahoochee and Muscogee
counties under the direction of the
state board of entomology and the
state commissioner of agriculture.
While the boll weevil experts are
stressing various methods of combat
ting the pest and furnishing Instruc
tion to the farmers along this line.
Commissioner Price is emphasizing
- the value of diversified crops, not
only in combatting the boll weevil,
but in improving general conditions
on the farm. By combining scientific
methods of fighting, the boll weevil
with a "live at home” program, farm
ers in sections of the South already
Invaded by the boll weevil have
found it possible to secure profitable
yields in spite of the “great destroy-
1 er.”
1 ■
Work Begun On Monument
Atlanta —
Preliminary work has begun on the
■ carving of the monument to the he
। roes of the Confederacy on the face
. of Stone Mountain, for which the
’ Daughters of jthe Confederacy and
I other patriotic organizations have
been working for several years.
Gets Nine Years For Forgery
Greenville.—John M. Birchmoreen
• tered pleas of guilty in Meriwether su
i perior court to the charge of embez
zlement and forgery. He was cash
, ier of the Bank of Gay, and was ac
i cused of being fifteen thousand dol
lars short.
, He came originally from, Comer
■ and belongs to a prominent family
- residing there. He has a wife and
i two small children. He was sentenc
i ed to serve nine years in the peniten
tiary under the pleas of guilty.
