Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-05-14
THIS COUNTRY A COCKPIT
Theatre of the Latest German In
vasion.

Theatre of the Latest German In
vasion.
Where the northern people have
thrashed out among themselves In
many battles the causes Of faith ana
commerce and empire; where Ger
man, Swede, Pole, Russian, Lett, Estn
and Tartar have struggled; on the
area of the Baltic provinces, as much
the cockpit of the north as Belgium
has been of central Europe, news dis
patches make it apparent that the
Teuton and the Slav are preparing to
stage another one Of those mighty
struggles for the maintenance Of face.
1t is with this country. borderland
where German and Russian meet
among a native population OF Let's
and Esths, the theatre Of the latest
German invasion, that last Tuesdays
geography study Of the National
Geographic society deals. The state
ment reads:
"Curland, Livonia and Esthonia, the
three Russian governments folding
themselves around the eastern elbow
of the Baltic sea, deeply broken In
coastline, swept by an air crisp with
cool in summer and biting in winter,
form the Baltic provinces. They COM
prise $500 square miles, supporting
$500, 900 inhabitants, of whom the
great majority are Let's and Esths,
first mentioned akin to the Lithuan-
ians, the latter Finnish people. The
natives are the laborers and the peas
ants, the Russians are the military
and administrative officials, while un-
til the outbreak of the war, the Ger
mans were the traders and manufac-
turers of these provinces.
"a lesser stream Of German migra-
ton has. at various times, flowed
north by way Of the Baltic, many Of
It's elements settling on these coastal
lands that stretch almost from the
Prussian border to Petrograd. A
slight strip of the Russian govern
ment of Kovno touches the sea near
Memel, thus dividing East Prussia
from the Baltic provinces. Germans
have founded many families in this
territory, and many Of the mobiles and
townsmen Of the Baltic lands are Of
German ancestry. The German de-
scended population Of the three gov
ernments constitutes about per cent
Of the whole, considerably outnumber-
ing the Russian.
German characteristics far more
than Russian are found throughout
the provinces, which, until within the
last few years, had numerous German
schools, German newspapers and Ger
man societies. The Russians, how
ever, a few years before the present
war began, turned their attention to
the Russianizing Of the Baltic prov
inces after the same thorough fashion
with which they have carried on their
campaigns for the assimilation Of the
Poles. The German schools, languages,
press and organizations were prescrib-
ed.
"The Order Of the Swordbearers and
later, the Teutonic Knights made the
inces the object of Christian crusades.
They carried their religion to the
Leets and Esths by the sword, and
after them came German settlers,
who appropriated the land, crushing
the native population to position Of
serfdom. These northern crusaders
carried on their operations during the
18th century. Besides their religion,
the knights brought the seeds Of Ger
man civilization with them, and the
cultural development Of this region
was, therefore, early far superior to
that Of the surrounding country.
with the exception Of Courland,
the Baltic provinces once belonged to
Sweden. Courland was q dependency
Of Poland. Peter the Great took pos
session Of the Swedish provinces in
the beginning Of the 18th century, and
Courland was obtained in 1895. For
long time, the provinces were allow
ed large measure Of self-guidance,
but in 1880, the movement began for
their assimilation with the rest Of the
empire. The movement developed
more especial emphasis some six or
seven years ago.
1.-The coast islands and their interior
areas are fiat and dotted with German
towns and villages, wherein are found
the German gables, townhalls, cathe-
drals; and gutteral German is heard
in every commercial house. The prov
inces are rich in trade and manufac-
ture, and the business of their port
cities is Of vast Importance. Here are
some of the first ports Of Russia"