The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-09-09

thusiastic for the creation of a Polish army in America to be recruited from among the aliens, while another group holds that the army question should be settled by the people now resident in Poland. The Poles are human, very human, and it would be extraordinary if the 4,000,000 resident within these United States should think alike on matters so open for discussion. But it can be said that in the length and breadth of the country today there is not a Pole who is not pledged, commit ted and enthused by the vision which President Wilson spread before their eyes of a united and independent Po- land, and standing In the presence of this ideal, they have been swept clear of all the petty ambitions and jealous ies of the past.
 It was not so very long ago that in the anteroom of one of the foreign embassies at Washington, the ambas sador remarked that the safety of the world rested on the stupidity of the German diplomatic mind. This expla- nation is necessary to reconcile what the Germans did in Poland Not con tent with the military occupation of the land, they hardly waited long enough to allow their billetting proc lamations to dry before they an uOuHCGQ tile GIGdtlOu Ol e1 | OAi7ll seeetS council to administer the country If they had deliberately sought, they could notyhaye selected a more disas trous medium for breeding trouble and diseontent They allowed the Poles to suggest members but retained the ex- elusive right to name members and then having promised to the Poles large administrative freedom, they set forth to block every attempt of the n A1s snq ta1 them. They refused to the Poles the control of their schools, while at the same time they demanded the creation of a Polish army which would fight for the central powers. They should have learned from the history of the past that they could hardly match wits with these men, who with only common tongue have kept alive for 125 years their national spirit. Even while their German masters were watching them the Poles, beneath their very eyes be : gan the creation of an independent Pc land. The climax, and it was inevita : ble, came only a short while ago, when the Germans discovered that General Pilsudski member of the Polish state council had created what was virtually a provisional Polish governmen within the sacred walls of the imperial Ger man bureaucracy. He was arrested, of course. while trying to escape into Switzerland and the German governor general, Won Beseler, attempted to en : tighten the world with a justification of his course in arresting the Polish patriot. Already though the Polish state council has practically refused to continue it's sittings unless the general is released, and meanwhile, in the Ger man Reichstag, elaborate demands for his freedom are being uttered.
 The courage of the Poles in times of stress and trouble Is well in evidence in the present emergency. Having as- sisted in the overthrow of one ministry in Germany, the Polish deputies, directly following decaration through Dr. W1ady- chaelis, the new chancellor, made the following declaration through I'D. Wlady- slaw Seyda, vice president of the Polisf Parliamentary club.
 "We Poles, who despite the dismem- berment of our country, have never lost the sentiment of our national unity we who have always defended the princi- pie that the nations themselves ought tt decide their own fate. protest against tht idea of whole nations being incorporated to other states, with view of annex alton when the war will be over. And we have the firm hope that in spite Q all the hatred which this war has created among the nations, humanity will ris to the conviction that no nation has tn right to oppress another one, that or the contrary, there is natural law fo every nation which will allow it to de velop independently"
 And to break the speech for minute the last sentence of the declaration should be scanned with great care, be cause of it's wonderful similarity to thu sentiment contained in the President reply to the pope. "When all the na tions," Dr. Seyda said in closing, 'wil be convinced of this truth, real, { lasting peace will reign for the good ant happiness of all humanity After thi declaration the doctor stated that a the peace resolution does not answe the principles of the above declaration | the Poles would not take part In tn 1 vote.
 | Again, the stupidity, with open revol | in Poland, with declarations such as cite