The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1913-05-22
THE CAUSE OF THE BALKAN
WAR.

cause" of the Balkan war Is present
ed in q letter to the Edinburgh Re-
view, by Mr.. p. N. Bennett, an Eng
IHsh Journalist writing after careful
Investigation in the Balkans. Accord
ing to Bennett, the Balkan war was
worked up by means of secret agents,
Komitadjis, sent nut by Bulgaria, for
the purpose OF provoking massacers
of Christians and thus ~arousing SEN
timent against the Turks. Concern
ing the Bulgarian agents, the writer
says:
THE policy carried on by this
body was one of the most diabolical
that has yet been invented through
out the bloodstained history of the
Balkan problem. A group OF enthus-
lasts had noticed how easily symp-
athy was aroused onc 'massacres'
we're mentioned, and they at once set
to work to encourage massacre.
. The most effective way of doing
this was to put bombs In the midst
of a Mohammedan crowd in some re-
mote yillage-on a market day for
preference. The bomb would explode
and kill three or four persons; it was
whispered that this was the work of
Bulgarians, and the incensed crowd
would see red and massacre every
Bulgarian on whom it could lay
hands. II was then easy enough to
say that the bomb was the work of
the Young Turks, while there could
be no dispute as to who had com
mitted the subsequent massacres. .
Granting all this to be true, it is
difficult to understand what a Chris
tian writer could suggest that
IChristian nations should have
done about it. Surely it does not be-
come a virtue in the Turks that their
fanatacism is so barbaric and i'm
petlous that 1T Is sure to manifest
itself in massacers 0 the slightest
pretext. Ii Mohammedanism was no.
ready and willing to engage in the
%butchery of Christians at any time,
There would have been no opportun-
lily for the Bulganians to have man
u%factured sentiment against the
Turks by provoking m%assacers. If the
passion of the Turks for the killing
of Christians is so uncomfortable
that 1t can be employed in this fash
ion for the undoing of the Turkish
Empire. then there isatlittle hope
that it could be controlled in atsy
other way. Without disputing that
Bulgaria followed a selfish course.
it still remains that the cause of hui
manity was served by driving the
Turks from Europe as the Balkans
have done. They are such thorough
barbarians that it is virtually hope
less to attempt to civilize them.
That there should have been mutual
retaliation, following all the centur-
les of massacres of Christians In Ma
cedonia, is not surprising, nor is 1t
astonishing that the Christians have
gone too far in their part of the on
flict. Let the Turk move over to Asia
and if he cannot restrain his blood
thirsty appetite for Christians, then
let him be wiped from the face of the
earth, at least as possessing an au-
tonomous government.
Z-Ss<@
A banquet, attended by present
and former republicans of every com
plexion, was rendered Senator La
Toilette at Madison, this week, for
the express purpose of presenting
him to the country as the logical
candidate for the republican party
for president in 1916. There are a
lot OF people, including many who
never before supported LaFollette,
that are willing wen now to predict
that he will be the 1916 nominee. 1t
Is II of the strange eventualities
that every now and then appear in
politics. that men who for years de-
nounced LaFollette as a demagogue
are now lauding him as a hero and
patriot and the man who should be
put up for president in 1916. This
belated acknowledgement of the sin
certify and capacity of the Wisconsin