Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-09-08
Ccovtesy American Museum JOumAlD

WS~wTypy=zAT WAS my fortune, not long ago,
] ! !: !. . !. ] !
MtS&AkHafAN with three good friends and two
.DSl (&SE4 soldiers, to follow in a kings
W4EN NQlsHa automobile along the trail of
W. EES9ZA war. This was in Macedonia.
RLif6 hKftS1 The line Of an army's march is
.4|N@czrSAty1 not pleasant to look upon
tCeyES146l though the people along 1t had
not much to lose. The pinch of
suffering is very real even IT, as in the Balkans,
roik have grown used to 1t. There are two pain
marks by which you may recognize the path of
war In land Of farmers The one is the charred
Village, with Its whitewashed 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 baby
suspended just high enough to battle inquisitive
dogs or goats. Somewhere In the field, anywhere
IN the Balkan valleys In May, you will see one
woman driving or leading bullock n buffalo.
while another behind her holds the pillow. The
men are In the army-or else they were there.
The memory l shall longest hold of Montenegro
- picture taken by my guide, Antonio Reinwein,
% this land Of stony graves. of the resoute people
az the limestone crags who have never done hom-
age to the Turks nor to any other outside power.
IL 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 "Union and Progress" Union meant uni
formity. A nation should have one ruler, one flag
one religion. one language. Progress was his way
u bringing about this condition. This was by mas
scarce And as the actual Turks were few in num-
Der, ruling over empire of Slavs, Greeks, Ital-
tans. Jews Armenians Albanians, Kurds, Egyp-
tians 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 Of revolt conversion, assimilation ban
ishment and massacre. And at one time or an
s.fI.o ofa oh hava Of
these, often two three of them Mt once. Mean
while, following the wicked lead of Bismarck and
Disraeli. Europe has kept the Turk alive, because
from inanciers in each nation, the Ottoman sultan
has borrowed considerable sums of money.
Macedonia lies along the southern slopes of the
Balkan peninsula. Ii is fertile region crossed by
chains Of rounded mountains, with green valleys.
and swift streams, in physical conditions not un-
IKE the south of France. 1t has $4,000 square
miles OF territory is about as large the state of
Maine with a population nearly two-thirds that
Of the city of New York, and before the of
liberation II had about 2,250,0O0 people. The ma
5Ority of these we're Bulgarian In blood and they
were allowed to have their own churches and
schools
As to the campaigns which have desolated
Macedonia In the last few years we need say only
n word. The history of the two Balkan 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 altruistic far as
any can be. Its purpose was the relief of q
distressed people, suffering for centuries from the
lnxities of Turkish rule, always incompetent anc
everywhere Inscriptions, and on the other banC
continuously overrun by the outlaw patriots which
kept the land in incessant turmoil.
The Balkan alliance a Russian inspiration
II was planned by Hartwig, Russian minister a
Belgrade "the evil genius of the Balkans" 1
ended In the treaty of London where the blind In
termeddling Of the powers, bafied by Austrian in
trigue, agreed only the kingdom of Albania
leaving the states to fight it out far as Mace
donia was concerned. This brought on the secont
Balkan war, In which Bulgarian diplomacy mad
all the mistakes 1t had a chance to make.
The treaty of Bucharest left Macedonia crosse