New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-13
The Allies in Greece

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: In view OF the fact that The Tribune
has entered upon an advertising campaign,
it might possibly be Of interest to you no"
one of your readers regards the policy OF
your paper. | have found The Tribune most
valuable. its news section interesting and re
liable. and special articles, especially o.
n,onds's on the war, of exceptional merit. II
is the more 10 be regretted that puDhca-
tion which has the markings of n great, all
around newspaper. should in its editorial
policy fall short OF attaining this end. Its
sins are perhaps more of omission than COM
mission. but cannot be ignored for that rea-
son.
For instance. The Tribune has printed vol
uues on the violation Of Belgian neutrality
the coercion Of sovereign people, the
stranpling Of the liberties of small nation.
II has called down anathema upon the heads
of the "Barbarians," and called upon the
world to witness the starvation and degrade
ton imposed upon unhappy Belgium. In vain
have I searched from day to day to find on
YOUR editorial page A single vigorous denun-
citation of the Allies violation of Greek neu-
trality And yet it is not only analogous with
the breach OF Belgium neutrality, but IN prln-
chile far more shameful. You have eulogized
King Albert Of Belgium, and gloried IN ms
resistance for the honor of his country, but
Won have not condemned King Constantine
for submitting weakly to the outrageous de-
oands of the Allies But for King Constan-
tines submission, the fate OF Greece would
have been the fate of Belgium. The armed
clash in the streets of Athens, prior 10 the
delivery Of Greek arms 10 the Allies, has es-
tablished this beyond doubt. When forced
by grave military necessity with the Rus
sian menace in the East, Germany entered
Belgium. what did she ask? Simply the use
of Belgian roads and the promise of indem-
nifty for all damages
Is there any humiliation which the Allies
have not heaped upon neutral Greece? In
spite of official protests they occupied Greek
territory months ago, limited her food i'm
ports to the barest necessities, have taken
over her postal and telegraph service, an
nexed her navy and capped the climax of
these indignities by demanding a surrender
of her arms In an ultimatum dire disaster
WAS threatened unless Greece relinquished
the means to defend herself against further
aggression. Admiral De Fournets statement
was rather blunt on that subject.
And all this in the face of England's sane
timonious declaration that she has entered
the war to protect the rights OF small nations
What a stupendous hypocrisy! Since the
Allies have also taken over the Greek press
censorship. the sufferings of Greece have been
ignored and kept from the world. Suppose
Germany had made such demands upon
Greece or Rumania after they had demon
strated their desire for peace? Can you i'm
agiue the avalanche Of Indignation that
would have swept through your editorial col
umns?
No chain is stronger than its weakest link
I fear that unless your editorials are willing
to challenge the offender in whatever camp
he may be found, YOU cannot continue to hold
those of your readers who believe in justice
and fair play. RITA KISSIN.
New York, Dec. C. 1916.
The cases of Greece and Belgium are
by no means analogous, as our CORE
spondent argues. Belgiums neutrality was
specially guaranteed by an international
compact, of which Prussia was one of the
signatories Greece's neutrality is not 50
guaranteed by the other European powers
It's neutrality as against Great Britain,
France and Russia is not guaranteed at
all. Those three nations established the
present kingdom of Greece and pledged
themselves to maintain it as a "monarchical,
Independent, constitutional state" They
have the right to intervene to prevent
such q peryersion Of the constitutional or
der as has been attempted by Constantine
4 protocol to the treaty of February 1,
1880, contains this significant limitation
on Intervention: "No troops belonging to
one of the contracting powers shall be al
lowed to enter the territory of the new
Greek state without the consent Of the two
other courts that signed the treaty
Acting together, Great Britain. France
and Russia could rightly land troops. So
there is no real parallel between Greece
and Belgium.-Ed.l