Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1912-11-22

to Take seats Among the Mighty .
First Was japan and Now the
Balkans Make Appearance.
The Philadelphia North American I
gives an Illuminating review Of the
combatants in the bloody war raging
in the following:
Our generation has been privileged
to witness two OF the miracles IN
the history of nations. This age,
with all its marvels Of science, its
wonders in mechanics, its Harvesting
of steam, its subjugation Of electric
ity so that it is driven over the face
of the earth without harness, It's
conquest of the air, its solving OF
the mysteries of life and death, VIII
be center of interest and time Of
glory fer all future generations.
But nothing in contemporary his
tory will excite wonderIaeat for the
students in the times to come than
the phenomna which our day has
witnessed in the emergence OF ma
lions almost from the unknown TO
take seats among the mighty,
First there was Japan. The world
has not yet ceased to marvel over
the spectacle of the RussioJapanese
war, when a country that had ad.
vanced scarcely step in $500 years
suddenly awoke, yawned, stretched
and stood forth a giant among the
giants of the earth.
And now this Balkan war comes
To give us new nations, made almost
as if by the wave of a magic wand,
called out of the mists Of antiquity
TO do giants work and all the more
giants in anything but high resolve
and intrepidity.
We know the Greeks, Wherever
the white race has set its standard
of civilization, wherever society is
founded ON the unit OF the family
the union of one man with one wo'
man--it acknowledges, its debt to
that rocky promontory between the
Aegean and Ionic seas where first
burned the light of all that has since
become our art, our science and our
philosophy.
We know Greece. 1t is the moth
er OF Europe-and therefore Of Amer
lea. But Greece alone in conflict
with Turkey would have been crush
ed as the self-sacridcing Hindu IN
der the wheels Of Jiggarnaut Who
then, are these allies OF Greece
whose names loom so large in the
heroic annals Of the day Who are
the Bulgars Who are the Serbs
What is that fierce little nation, this
Montenegro. which has sent every
ablebodied man to fight the hated
Turk, to drive mm from his reeking.
bloody thrones. out of Europe?
Thousands of Americans, CONVEX
SAINT with the big events in the his
tory of the world informed on the
Drogress OF science and the latest
steps in the art of government, men
of affairs and large interests. me
of wide reading, grope in their rec
objections to define clearly the idea
of Bulgaria To them, until 1t SUD
denly thrust itself upon the attention
of the world, it was remote reg
ion somehow or otuer connected
with Turkey or with Russia, but as
unlikely to make history as is Soma
liland
Seryia, a little further west i'm
pining on the Austra-Huneary mon
archy and blocking its ambitions
has broken into the news more fire
auently than Bulgaria. It Us TO tbs
average reader less remote thAI
Bulgaria. Vet until this uprising il
seemed as little likely 10 change th'
map OF the world as Wales does at
the present moment
And Vet both these people have
history older than amy nation O
northern Europe than any OF the
great powers now consulting TO TOT
them OF the fruits Of heir heroic
fight against the historic menace O
Europe and civilization and Christ
ianitv-the unsueakablc Turk.
Before William the ConQuero
crossed the channel and laid The
foundations OF modern England, Bu
garia stretched from the A9r!etc u
the Black sea, "a mighty power
which was the bulvarE OF Europ'
against the The threatening Mosleni
And three centuries later the king
dom OF Seryia. covering much o. tn
same area. was a center or cFluza
tiun and camping ground OF Thu
Crusaders ON their march To III
Holy Land.
The serbs-uole bad the English