Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-05-18
PEACE MENREPORT
BALKAN ATROCITIES
penounce Christians as More
Cruel Than Turks in Garry
ing on Conflict.

WIN view TO clarifying public
opinion, which has been baffled by
conflicting reports and befogged by
unauthentic deaiI, were made pub
lie today by tie Balkan Commission
OF Inquiry of the Carnegie Endow-
hent for International Peace.
Pesstmism based on the terrible
moral consequences of a war which
was a. series of unutterable atroci-
ties charactGizes the conclusions of
the commission as to the possibilities
OF immediate peace or stability
among the Balkan nations. The sit
uation at present. in the final judg-
ment of the commission. is hardly
susceptible of a pacific solution.
Under present conditions" reads the
report, 1.-THE case seems well-nigh
hopeless"
The report, which contains seven
chapters and a preface by Nicholas
Murray Butler, is the work of the
following members of the commits
sion:
DR.. Joseph Redlich, professor OF
public law in the University of Vi
emma, Austria; Baron d'Estournelles
oS NOilSlduL anu M. JuSIln COQdTL,
lawyer and member of the Chamber
of Deputies, of France; DR.. Walther
Schucking, professor of law at the
University of Marburg, Germany;
Francis W. Hirst. editor of the Econ
oinist, and DR.. H. N. Brailsford, jour-
nalist, of Great Britain; Prof. Paul
Milioukov, member. of the Russian
Douma, and DR.. Samuel T. Dutton,
Professor in Teachers College, Co
iumbia University, New York. Copies
of the report may be had upon ap-
plication to the Carnegie Endow-
ment, Washington, D. c. General
distribution is to be made in a few
weeks.
Give Causes of Balkan War.
This formidable document care
fully considers every conceivable as
pect of the Balkan situation begin
ming with short history of the Bal
kan people, and concluding with the
moral and social consequences OF
war.
he commission gives three causes
he war which followed the de-
ID of the allies for autonomy of
European vilayets, and re-divis-
according to nationality. These
the weakness and want of fore
Mt of Turkey; the powerlessness of
rope to impose on constitutional
lrkey the reforms she had intro
iced into an absolute Turkey, and
nc consciousness of increased
trengtil which alliance gave to the
5alkan states.
The occupation of Macedonia by
Greeks and Servians and the threat
ened decapitation of the Bulgarian
nation fostered the germs of discord
among the Balkan allies which had
not been stiaed by treaties, the terms
Of which were in continual dispute.
Alleged Bulgarian violations of trea-
ties and Servian transgressions fol-
lowed by mutual demands for con
Dsssious and extensions of frontier
precipitated Il war between the allies
Ahich for wanton cruelty and whole
sale demolition is almost unparal-
leied.t
The second chapter of the report
Under the heading of 1.-THE War and
the Non Combatant Population" is a
recital OF these horrors. In a review
Of the acts committed by the Greeks
against the Macedonian Moslems the
commission had at it's disposal docu-
ments of undoubted veracity which
reported frightful massacres and a
systematic prescription of Moslems
which it found typical of the Greeks
murderous practises.
Excuses by Greek Bands.
Our document" says the report
"gives particulars, village by village,
of the Moslems who were killed and
robbed. Our, experience. shows that
lists of this kind in the Balkans are
usually accurate. In the villages all
these eNcesses .seeH 10 have been
the work of local Greek bands. The
most active of these bands was led
by priest and a warlike grocer who
was member of the Bishops Coun-
Gill; The Turks, indeed, accused the
bishop of directing all these atroci-
ties.
THE burning of villages and the
exodus of the defeated population is
normal incident. What they have
suffered themselves they infict on
others" z-
In weighing the charges made by
the Greeks against the Bulgarians
which have already become familiar
through the newspapers, the report
says:
1.-THE Greeks, as usual, suppress all
mention Of the provocation which the
inhabitants had given. The Bulga-
rian account is silent as to the man
ner in which their reprisals We're car
ried out. Both narratives contain in
accuracies and neither of them tells
more than a part of the truth
The commission disproved several
extravagant stories of the torture,
death and mutilation of certain In
dividuals by finding them alive and
I'm good health. 1t also rejected as
inherently improbable and unverified
accusations made by some of the
diplomatic representatives OF Greece
in foreign capitals that the fingers
and cars of women had been found
IN the pockets of captured Bulgarian
soldiers.
After a chapter on the War and
International Law" and a considera-
tion of the economic consequences
of the two wars, the commission
closes its report with conjecture as
to the future of Macedonia.
"What then is the duty of the CIV
ilized world in the Balkans con-
cludes the report, Especially of those
nations who by their location and
history are free from international
entanglements 1t is clear in the first
place that they should cease to ex-
plot these nations for gain. They
should encourage them to make ar
hitration treaties and insist upon
heir keeping them They should set
. GOOD example by seeking judicial
3ettiement of all international dis
5l,tes. The consequences of the re-
rent war, economic, moral and social,
are dreadful enough to justify any
banest effort by any person or by any
1ation to alleviate the really DIS
aressing situation
nnArIlr nIApRIACES