Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1912-11-28
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER %. 1912.
Roosevelt on the Balkans.
SAYS Rise of Bulgaria Has Been
Greater Than that of Japan.
( From, tLp OufI00E J
From the Omlook.)

No other nation has travelled SO far
and SO fast as Bulgaria has travelled
in the last third of century. Amer
leans have just cause to feel proud
that Robert College gave to many OF
the leading Bulgarian citizens their
education, SO that it has played pc
culiar part in the making Of the ma
ton. The dreadful experiences thro
which the Rulgarians had passed for
more than 20 generations seemed to
have purged the dross from their ma
lures, and to have left nothing but
tempered steel behind. They pos
srsscd great sobriety and stradfast-
ness of character, and in an unfnrlu-
nate little war with Srrvia early show
ed that they were also of an unrx
pected goodly military type. They
were very patriotic. Every Bulgarian,
even the poorest, felt the krenest de-
votion to his country. Moreover, it
must be remembered that patriotism
with the Bulgarian did not mean II
mere emotion to be app 'alrd to by a
Fourth of July orator, nor even the
emotion of a higher type which make
good men and good women try to do
their civic duty. To the bulgarian
patriotism meant a fierce intensity of
conviction, a passionate clinglng to
Independence and national success a.
the one alternative to the most fright
FIJI slavery. For many centuries the
Bulgarian had crouched hrlplcsSly
under the Turkish whips. Anything
ne earned beyond bare living was
usually taken from him hy his OPP
pressors. And when at long intervals
few of his number like maddrnrd
slaves rose in aimleSs revolt, the ven
seance wrcakcd on the whole nation
was terrible, and that vengeance fell
with appalling cruelty upon women
and children quite as much as upon
men. 1t is but 35 years since the
Bulgarians submitted to atrocities
such as in America have never been
endured except by victims Of Indian
outbreaks. Every Bulgarian, rich or
poor, became a soldier, carefully drill
ed, well -trained, commanded by men
who made military science study of
the most practical kind. Every one
of them was prepared at any moment
to fight the Turks, and toward tn"
Turks he felt Il personal hatred such
rs the members of no civilized nation
feels for that of another. lie knew
that war might come at any time,
and he knew that, if beaten, it would
probably mean that his home would
be destroyed, his parents butchcrrd
before his eyes, his wife or sister or
daughter dragged off to infamy and
outrage, his younger brother or son
put to death with dreadful torture.
If he were a man of middle age. he
had as a child seen things like this
done to his own family or to the fam
lies of his ncighbors; if he were a
young man, he had heard about it
from the older men and women.
Under these circumstances the
whole Bulgarian nation was an army
and an army of the most formidable
kind. There was in the national
character both a toughness and So
briefly that rendered the people will
ing to take long look ahead, and
carefully and laboriously prepare as
their foresight demanded. Patient,
sclf-reliant, possessing prudent eau
ton in preparation, great speed and
decision in action, and iron resplu-
tion-no wonder that the Bulgarian
people has borne itself 80 wonderful
ly, that the Bulgarian army has shown
such extraordinary qualities.
Not the rise of Japan itself has been
more striking and unexpected than
the rise of Bulgaria. Whatever may
be the decision of the European Pow
ers regarding the Balkan war-a de-
cision which it is too much to be fear
ed will probably be governed largely
by selfish political considerations
the sympathy Of the people of both
Europe and America ought to be
wholly with the people of the Bal
kans in their heroic struggle for lib