Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1916-09-01

H44S RN9MJ The line of an army's march is
&&EHSHA3N not pleasant to look upon even
16&6H3z 2&8SI though the people along it had
not much to lose. The pinch of
suffering is very real even if, as in the Balkans,
folk have grown used to it. There are two plain
marks BY which you may recognize the path OF
war in land of farmers The one is the charred
village, with its whtewashed stone walls black
ened by fire. The ether is the presence here and
there in the plowed fields Of three poles fastened
together at the top. aRl from the crotch baby
suspended just high enough, to battle inquisitive
dogs or goats. Somewhere in the field, anywhere
in the Balkan valleys in May, you will one
woman driving or leading bullock or q buffalo.
while another behind her holds the pillow. The
men are in the army-or else they were there.
The memory shall longest hold of Montenegro
Is picture taken by my guide, Antonio Reinwein,
Of this land of stony graves of the resoute people
Of the limestone crags who have never done hon.
age Il, the Turks nor to any other outside power.
1t will be remembered that all these Balkan folk
were for years under the dominion of the Turk
and that none of them have been free for half
century, The Turk was most acceptable when he
was asleep When he was awake, he had his own
ideas of "Unon and Progress" Union meant Uni
formity. nation should have one ruler one flag,
one religion, one language. Progress was his way
of bringing about this condition. This was by mas
scarce. And as the actual Turks were few in num-
Der, ruling over an empire of Slavs Greeks Ital-
ians, Jews Armenans, Albanans Kurds Egyp-
tfans MOors and Arabs 1t demanded eternal Wig
lance to keep them all In state of union and
progress.
These people have had constantly before them
the choice CT revolt conversion assimilation ban
ishmcnt and massacre. And ut one time an:
other, some of each race have chosen each one of
these, often two three of them at once. Mean
while, following the wicked lead of Bismarck and
Disraeli, Europe has kept the Turk alive. bealuse
A1,o
has borrowed considerable sums of money.
Macedonia lies along the southern slopes Of the
Balkan peninsula 1t is fertile region crossed by
chains Of rounded mountains with green valleys
and swift streams, in physical conditions not un-
like the south of France. 1t has $4,000 square
miles of territory is about as large rs the state OF
Maine, with population nearly twO-thirds that
of the city of New York, and before the war of
liberation it had about 2,25O,OOO people. The ma
jority of these were Bulgarian in blood and they
were allowed to have their own churches aud
schools.
AS to the campaigns which have desolated
Macedonia in the last few years we need say only
word. The history of the two Balkan wars is
given with accuracy and justice in the monumental
endowment, document Of especial value in any
study of the conditions preceding the third Bal
kan war; which today has set the world in flames.
The first Balkan war was altrufstfc as far as
any war can be- Its purpose was the relief Of
distressed people, suffering for centuries from the
laxities of Turkish rule, always incompetent and
everywhere INSCRIPTIONS. and on the other hand
continuously overrun by the outlaw patriots which
kept the land in incessant turmoil
The Balkan alliance was a Russian inspiration.
1t was planned by Hartwg, Russian minister at
Belgrade. 1.-The evil genius of the Balkans" 1t
ended in the treaty of London, where the blind in
termeddling of the powers bafficd by Austrian in
trigue, agreed only the kingdom of Albania.
leaving the states to fight it out so far as Mace
donia was concerned. This brought the second
Balkan war, in which Bulgarian diplomacy made
all the mistakes it had chance to make.
The treaty Of Bucharest left Macedonia crossed