New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-20
# the Teutonic Powers Win, Poland
VIII Become Buffer State, Materi-
allv Enlarged by AccessiOnS
from Galicia and Put Under
a German PrOtectOrate.
Rv FRANK H. SIMONDS,
Author of The Great War"

But turning now TO the Polish districts
in Eastern Prussia the situation is very
different. Westward from Russian Poland
the Poles overflow into the Prussian prov
inces of Silesia, Posen and East and West
Prussia North from Russian Poland q
very clearly marked tongue Of territory
inhabited by Poles stretches up to the
Baltic and thrusts a wedge between the
wholly German populations in the north
ern portion of East Prussia and In the
rest of Germany west of this Polish pro-
lection.
To restore TO the Poles the districts in
Silesia and Posen and in the southern half
of East Prussia, in that Masuran Lake
region which was familiar in the linden
burg stories of the earlier months of the
war, would not only destroy the soil
darity of the Prussian Kingdom, but if
the Polish districts in West Prussia were
added. then East Prussia would become a
mere island of German-speaking people,
cut off from the Germanic mainland by
the Polish regions in West Prussia
stretching north along the Vistua to Dam
zig.
Again if the Polish districts in Posen
then another arm of Polish territory
would project far westward into Germany
and approach within less than $50 miles
of Berlin. Finally, the Silesian districts,
which are populated by the Poles, stretch
to the Oder and include the most highly
rnineralized districts of Eastern Germany.
Looking backward, it will be recalled
that in the first partition of Poland, in
l1772, Frederick the Great played the "hon-
est broker" taking for himself only that
Netze district which is the political name
for the Polish peninsula stretching north
to the Baltic, solely TO unite East Prussia
with the rest of the Brandenburg estate.
At the Congress of Vienna the Prussian
monarch of that time managed to save for
his country from the wreck Of the Polish
estates the Grand Duchy of Posen.
The True Obstacle.
1t will be seen, then, that the main diff
Guilty in the pathway of complete restors-
ton of Poland is found in the unfortunate
commingling of German and Sav popu-
lations in Eastern Prussia. Austria could
resign Galcian Poland and Russia could
surrender Russian Poland without in any
way affecting the unity Of their remaining
territories and without in the smallest
measure affecting their own military or
political unity.
But if Germany should surrender all
the lands which are populated by Poles
and possessed by Prussia, she would actu-
ally break Prussia into two parts and
seriously impair the situation Of Silesia
in relation to the rest Of Northern Prus-
STA. In word, the partition Of Poland
! in the eighteenth century gave Austria
and Russia some outlying territory of
considerable value, but not vital to
their unity or safety, while it actually
permitted Prussia to achieve her own
unity.
To undo the work of the Congress of
Vienna, which only rearranged the d.
visions made in the three partitions, would
mean TO break up Prussia, and 1t would
logically lead, not 10 the separation OF
900. 900 Germans in East and West
Prussia from the main Germanic mass, but
70 their ultimate absorption into Slav
state. since they would lie between the
mass Of the Poles ana lhe Dai'ie'
Bismarck foresaw this and left behind
MANY words of warning. Bulow and the
present Kaiser have both labored to Ger
mamie the mass of Poles, between three
and four millions. along the eastern
marches. But despite all sorts of land
laws and other brutal and tyrannous
methods. the effort of the Prussian state
TO dispose Of the Polish problem has failed
and the Poles have steadily gained ground
in Eastern Germany
II is clear now that if Germany WINS
she means TO deal with the problem as
a whole. She has conquered all OF Rus