The Idaho Springs siftings-news. (Idaho Springs, Colo.) 1905-19??, 1916-09-01


suffering Is very real even If, as in the Balkans,
folk have grown used to 1t. There TWO pain
marks by which you may recognize the path Of
war in land of farmers The one Is the charred
viilnge, with its whtewashed stone walls black
ened by fire The other is the presence here and
there in the plowed fields of three poles fastened
together at the top, and from the crotch n baby
suspended just high enough battle inquisitive
dogs or goats Somewhere in the field anywhere
in the Balkan valleys in May, you will
woman driving leading Il bullock or a 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 a picture taken by my guide Antonio Renwen,
OF this land of stony of the resolute people
OF the limestone crags who have never done hon.
age to 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 a
century The Turk acceptable when he
was asleep When he was awake, he had his
ideas Of Union and Progress" Union meant uni
formty nation should have one ruler, flag,
one religion, one language. Progress his way
Of bringing about this condition. This by mas
scarce. And as the actual Turks were few In num-
Der, ruling over an empire of Slavs, Greeks, ltal-
ans Jews, Armenans AlbaniaHs, Kurds, Egyp-
tans, Moors and Arabs 1t demanded eternal Wig
lance to keep them all In a state of union and
progress.
These people have had constantly before them
the choice cf revolt conversion, assimilation ban
ishment and massacre. And time or an
other, some of each race have chosen each Of
these, often two three of them at Mean
while following the wicked lead Of Bismarck and
Disraei, Europe has kept the Turk alive, because
from hnanciers In each nation, the Ottoman sultan
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 I'M
like the south of France. 1t has $4,000 square
miles OF territory, Is about large the state OF
Maine, with population nearly two-thirds that
OF the city of New York, and before the war of
liberation 1t had about 2,25OOOO people. The ma
jority Of these were Bulgarian in blood and they
allowed to have their own churches and
schools.
AS to the campaigns which have desolated
Macedonia in the last few years need say only
word. The history OF the two Balkan wars is
given with accuracy and justice In the monumental
report Of the Balkan commission of the Carnegie
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 altruistc far
any war can be- Its purpose was the relief of
distressed people, suffering for centuries from the
laxties of Turkish rule, always incompetent and
everywhere INSCRIPTIONS. and on the other band
continuously overrun by the outlaw patriots which
kept the land in incessant turmoil.
The Balkan alliance was Russian inspiration.
1t planned by Hartwg, Russian minister
Belgrade, the evil genius of the Balkans" 1t
ended in the treaty of London where the blind In
termeddling Of the powers, bafled by Austrian in
trgue. agreed only the kingdom of Albania,
leaving the states to fight 1t out far Mace
donna concerned. This brought on the second
Balkan war, in which Bulgarian diplomacy made
all the mistakes 1t had a chance to make.
The treaty Of Bucharest left Macedonia crossed