Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-12-06
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Mr.. Editor-Although we know that
war brings it's sufferings to the coun-
try the battles are fought in as much
as ii does to the countries who fight
must be far worse than we can imag-
inc. We hear and read stories with
out number of Heroic Serbia and
Bleeding Belgium, but to my mind
PROSTATE Poland deserves as much
sympathy, for where It took the Ger
manic armies but a few weeks to
conquer Belgium and Serbia, Won
HIndenburg and the Grand Duke
Nicholas gambled for Warsaw for
over a year with their great armies
pushing this way and that over Po-
land.
Poland has had the most thankIess
job in history. For years she beat
back the Tartar and Turk who were
on their way from the far east to
wreck western civilization. She never
made an alliance with a foreign pow
er; she never asked for money or
men: she never expected thanks-and
she got none. While trying to quiet
internal disorders of her own, she was
set upon by three great powers and
partitioned off to them as they saw
fit.
A Pole recently told me that If Po-
land had the boundaries today that
she had at the time OF the partition,
she would have an area of over 400,-
600 square miles and a population of
$50, 100000 square miles of which 5000,
900 are in Austri. When the Austro-
Germans broke the Russian lines, and
drove them north and eastward, fin
ally crowding them out of Poland al
together, they annexed a country of
49.159 square miles, or as large as the
State of New York whose area is CIV
en- as 1920 square miles.
In the partition, the Powers agreed
70 ALLOW "CracOw fO he a free indie
pendent and neutral city forever"
How long was forever. Thirty one
years in this easel Then it was alb
sorbed by Austria, with the consent
of the other two, and has since re-
manned under the .Hapsburg banner.
Treaties were as much scraps of
paper" in those days as they are in
this.
No man ever struggled harder for
the liberty of Poland than Thaddeus
Kosciuszko, a Pole of whom we have
just reason to be proud, for in the
dark days of our American Revolu-
ton. his skill as a constructor of de-
lenses showed itself to American ad-
vantage. How have we honored this
great Polish American hero? There
are a few memorials to him in this
country, but West Point will always
stand as a tribute to Kosciuszko's he
roism.
The Polish Falcon has never yet
been tanned. 1t is said that its sits
quiet and nurses its wounds, sullenly
bearing its captivity and waiting for
The Day. Will the end of this war
show The Day?
1t has struggled herd for it's indie
oendence. Once under Thaddeus OF
Warsaw they swept the Russians from
the territory, but Prussia came to the
aid of the car and at the battle of
Maciejowice, Poland received its final
blow. There Thaddeus of Warsaw
was wounded and poets tell US that
Freedom shrieked when Kosciuszko
fell"
Although this country has no rela-
tions with Kingdom of Poland, the
country of Poland furnished US with
| two of the most brilliant generals of
| the day, Pulaski and Kosciuszko; and
to the latter especially belongs much
| of the credit for the American sue
cess in the war.
We should not forget the country
which is now in the position We were
| in our struggle for independence, and
| which furnished US with Thaddeus
Kosciuszko, the hero, in the war OF
I776.
| EARLE NJ. WOOD
| TaftviIle, Conn, Dec. 2, 1915.