Evening star., 1914-08-01
SERBS IN AUSTRIA
LOYAL TO SERVA.
Large Percentage of PopuIa-
tion of Dual Monarchy
Not Supporting 1t.
PROF. POUPINE REPLIES
TO AMBASSADOR DUMBA
Declares Pan-Serb Propaganda Is in
Austria, Not in Servia or
in Montenegro.

Prof. Michel Poupine of Columbia Uni
versity, who is the Servian honorary
consul general in New York, has made
public a statement in New York, bring
ing out clearly confirmation of recent ar
ticles in The Star which go to show that
large percentage of the population of
Austria is not supporting that govern
ment against Servia.
Prof. Poupine, who is the leader of the
Servians in this country. because servia
has no diplomatic representative at
Washington. fn his statement draws at
tention to the fact that large proper
ton of the population Of Austria is ac-
tually Servian. and are the occupants of
territory captured from Servia by Aus
tria.
His statement is reply to one made
public yesterday by DR.. Dumba, the Aus
trian ambassador to the United States.
DR.. Dumba asserted that Servia is re-
sponsible for the pan-Serb propaganda
and that that led to the recent assassi-
nation of the Austrian crown prince. He
declared that Austria's purpose now is
solely to maintain her rule in Bosnia and
suppress Servian agitation in her border
provinces.
Movement Is in Austria.
In his reply. Prof. Poupine says:
Il admitted some time ago that there
Is pan-Serb propaganda in Austria;
but this propaganda is among the Serbs
and Croats in Austria, and not among
the Serbs in Servia or Montenegro. These
Austrian Serbs, and I am one of them,
need no encouragement from Seryia to
carry on their national movement. Aus
trian violation of every principle of JUS
cannot find its parallel in the darkest
cannot find its parallel i'll the darkest
period of the middle ages. is responsible
for this pan-Serb movement in Austria.
1T was only five years ago when fifty
three prominent Serbs in Croatia, an
Austrian province were arrested and
tried for high treason on the ground that
they were members of the pan-Serb pro-
Servian government to separate Bosnia
and Herzegovina from Austria. The re-
suit of the trial, which lasted two wears.
was acquittal. This trial showed most
conclusively that there was not an atom
of evidence of the Servian government
having any connection with the Pan
Serb propaganda in Austria
"A refusal of the Austrian empire to
deal fairly with her Serb subjects Is par
ticularly hard in face of the fact that
IOF Two centuries IHey were Cne DraveSt.
the most loyal defenders of the empire.
A majority of them emigrated into Aus
tria in 1880. when thirty-fve thousand
picked Serb families left old Servia at
the express invitation of Emperor Leo
pold 1 of Austria and settled along the
southern Austrian frontier, which was
then being devastated by the Turks
Victims of Expansion Policy.
.In return for their splendid services
to the empire the Serbs of Austria be-
came victims of the modern Austrian
policy of expansion toward the Aegean
sea. The Serb is imaginative, fond of
his national music and poetry and of his
national customs and nothing in the
world can prevent him from indulging
in the sweet dreams Of the Serb minstrel
who sang of the return of the Serb glo-
ries of the fourteenth century. This is
the only offense of which the Austrian
Serb is guilty. and this offense consti-
tutes high treason in the Austrian en-
pire. How can an Austrian subject be-
lieve in and long for the return of the
old Serb glories without being an enemy
of the Austrian policy of expansion to-
ward the Aegean sea?
THE annexation by Austria of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, the home of the flower
of the Serb race, drove the people to
desperation and resulted in the Sarajevo
tragedy for which Austria biames now
the kingdom of Servia. The perpetrators
of the act are two Serb boys, barely
nineteen. natives of Austria, who ex-
perienced very harsh treatment from the
imperial government and Were finally ex-
PEELED from Bosnia. They are members
of the pan-Serb propaganda in Austria,
but every Serb in Austria is a member
of this propaganda. l am member of
it. although | have lived in this country
since my boyhood.
1T Is not a secret movement. but an
open one and it's obJect is well known: 1t
is a vigorous opposition to the repressive
measures of the Austrian government
against the very existence of the Serbs"