Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-03-24
1RlAL|SM OR FEDERALISM May FOLLOW WAR
IN AUSTRIA HUNG AR|AN EMPIRE IT'S SAID
PEOPLES OF the Hapsburg Domain Are Useful to One Another
Despite Racial Differences and Hatreds-For Economi-
cal Reasons They Will Likely Remain FEEDER
ated In Any Event.
From the Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star.
or course. there are underlying
causes. but. after all. it was Austria
hungary and the southern Slav ques-
tlon Which precipitated the great war.
n 1t is the Austro-Hungaro empire
that offers the strangest picture of all
the forces involved in the conflict-an
empire of eight different peoples with
many more offshoots, of provinces,
kingdoms. and republics, duchies and
a%rchduchieS.
The older school of historians assert
ed Austria Hungary has neither geo.
graphical unity, natural unity, nor
natural frontiers. And. at first glance,
that would appear to be correct. For
Austria-Hungary is all s%praddled out
over central. southeastern Europe, here
a corner II there a blotcll-provinces
all; just as if an egg of unbelievable
had been dropped from a
high place n the outlines of Its well
ter traced and made frontiers.
But there are unifying factors in the
continued existence. Trim off the edges.
that is Galicia in the northeast and
Vorarlberg In the Alps and h Tren-
tino in northern Italy and Austria-Hun-
gary presents geographical frontiers as
we'll marke as any of the states OF
S|OA OPG' IL AS ACulAN IIIC cIllIDIe " i IIic
Danube. the Donaureich. lying within
such a central system of valleys as
no other state in Europe possesses. All
the natural roads of the monarchy con
verge to the Middle Danube; and the
capitals of lien M Budapest are the
natural centers OF the great plains of
Austria n Bohemia and OF Hungary.
Budapest lies on only one world rae
route: Vienna is at the junction Of sew
eral. That explains the predominance
Of the latter.
But even more important: if not ma
tional unity. vet the monarchy has that
which faVors a unified ~State-racial in
separability. There are many races.
each surrounded by great military pow
ers. None can hope to stand alone. For
all are thrown together in isolated
groups, and it is only in their alliance
that they can hope to survive.
Godfrey Drage. an Englishman nam
writing of Austria Hungary, in 1908,
said: .
Safety Only In Union.
"Had the monarchy been composed
OF two OF three races only. it would
have been divided up into separate
states. or the national fragments would
have been absorbed by the neighboring
kindred races. But the number of its
elements and their mixture is a guaran-
tee of unity. Had Bohemia lain be-
tween two great states, she might, like
Holland, have had her existence guar
anteed as a buffer state. Fate, how
ever, placed her amidst eight equal and
isolated racial fragments in the Danube
valley, and she is therefore obliged to
form a component part Of the empire"
And so with the rest of the states
OF the empire.
There is a third reason. too. why the
fragments of races within the empire
should not fly at each others threats
- - l~~s~@-
commercial reciprocity. The lands
within the empire supplement each
others needs. and have long been used
to each others ways of doing business.
There is knowledge of the REQUIRE
ments of a market and the habits of
supplying it.
In fact, the empire is sufficient unto
itself in so far as business goes. For
Vienna. at the edge Of the great Hun
garian plain, is h great natural mar
ket Of the empire. At the capital the
produce of mountain. upland and plains
regions are battered. The whole en-
pire. economically. is united. Each
portion goes to supply the needs of a
neighbor. 1t is as If a dozen men
dwelt together in one community. each
raising or manufacturing n of the
prime requisites of life. enough to sup
ply all: so that in a pinch that com
munity could get along fairly we'll
wv StAS N0A
And. for a fourth reason. says the
historian Springer, the military routes
and the lines which natural expan-
sion follows coincide with the trade
routes of the monarchy. so that the
two first conditions of a great power
military and economic unity-are
satisfied.
Whore the Races Meet.
The peoples of this polyglot mon
archy are. first of all in numbers and
power. the Germans inc the Hungar-
ian or Magyars. Then come the
Czechs or Bohemians n the Croat-
Serbs, Poles. Rumanians. Slovaks.
~Slovenians, Ruthenians, Ladines.
Friules and Rumanians are Latins like
the Italians: the Czechs. Poles, Ruth
enians and Slovaks are Northern Slavs
and the Croat-Serbs and SlOvenians
are Southern Slavs.
There have beer many territorial
changes in Austrian. history. Broadly.
1926 is the date of the foundation of
the empire of today. since then. for
the first time. the hereditary lands Of
kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary
we're united under one scepter. becom-
ing the Triune state. With Hungary
as it's ally. the kingdom of Croatia Sla-
vonia. The most important acquisi-
tons made since hen nave been: The
county of lips, in Galicia. 1872; the
crown lands of Bukowina. 1875; West
ern Galicia. gained by the third par
tition Of Poland. 1895. Those were ac-
QUESTIONS of the Triune State. Aus
tria gained Istria. Dalmatia and the
Of Cracow was annexed In 1876 and
BOSNIA and the erzegOyin Occunied