New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-06
BULGARIA AND HER CRIllCo
WIN sb. Fights the Allies Why Her Arms Are So Succe''''
WboIesoneness of Tribe of Farmers

TOOK bulHtTlds ifNhN'N IT.
.Iann Tho Danube and the Black Sea. TO
80 thing. worse. Serbia began at once 20
oyterminete everything Bulgarian in Mscs
donia cInsing schools and churches, expeh-
inc teachers and priests, burning bulgaria"
hooks. as in barbaric times, and even chahg-
inc the names Of the people TO SOUND Serolan'
At first IL was very generally thought even
b., tho Rulgarians that their country "oulu
on with the Allies. II seemed plain as uay
that il would have been in the Allles Des'
interest to induce Serbia to restore 10 buI-
garia at least part OF what she so unJus'iy
took from her in Macedonia and renew III
some shane or form the Balkan aAiahce'
which would have meant so much 10 them'
Bulgaria certainly waited long enough lot
them TO do this. II is OF con9ideraDle I'M
&c rtance that only short time before JON
inp the Central Powers Premier RadoslaVoH
made the same declaration: give us Mace,
oonia. for which he have already fought ana
which is ours. Then We will be one WIN
Won and fight for youl" But the Allles ca
tered then, as they seem to do now, 70 tne
Unjust wishes of Serbia.
At the last hour il was said that SERBIA
had consented TO give some satisfaction 20
Rulgara; but note-at the last hour ana
only on paper Who could trust her On
the other hand, Germany not only induced
Turkey actually to restore TO Bulgaria part
of what she grabbed in the second Balkan
war, but was also saying to Bulgaria; come
take what is yours in Serbian hands ana
keep it," Which she did.
Bulgaria's Decision
What the future will bring remains to be
seen. Of course; but the Bulgarlsns IN gen
oral feel that their country has joined the
side where wiser and deeper judgment ruies
and where more mastery conduct OF aHairs
prevails. And what have the critics said
here? Very little again beyond stirring oih
subterfugc and casting aspersions
Bulgaria wants to be rightly understood
bv the American people, after whose IDEAS
md ideals she is largely building her life.
Of me assure them with all emphasis tnat
Ruloaria. too, has men OF live moral con-
science. and they will welcome as most
friendly warning any proof showing "nere
their country has been really treacnerous'
In this ruthless destruction Of humanity they
find consolation only in the fact that their
country stands on the highest moral ground
If self-defence striving only TO iiberate ana
unity her own people as necessary step 10
the paths Of progress and civilization.
During her thirty-eight years OF indepen-
dent life Bulgaria has been in four wars
whereof she had to bear the brunt. In 1880
when seven years old, she had to meet the
Serbians. who made it their business TO come
and oppose the unifcation of Southern ana
Northern Bulgaria. In about three weeks
the Young Bulgarian army drove the lnVau-
ers out and penetrated their country zoo
only knowing where they would nave stopped
if Austria had not interfered to save Serbia
In the first Balkan war 1t was cnieny tne
Bulgarian victories in Thrace that brought
Turkey to her knees, and this, too, was Done
in about month In the second Balkan war
BULGARIA got the better OF her enemies az
first and if Russia, Rumana and Turkey mac
not come in from behind she probably would
have come out victorious in that war. too.
Finally. in the present war, leaving aside her
aiding Germans and Austrans in defeating
serbia. il was chiefly the Bulgarians that
drove the English and French from Macedo-
MIA into Greece, and it is quite a question
,ybotber the Allies would have been at Sa-
lonica to-day if Greece had not opposed so
stubbornly the Bulgarians entering her ter
ritory in pursuit of them.
Tribe of Farmers
To what. again, are due all these sue
cesses? To nothing else so much as 70 the
moral force that inspires most every Bulga-
rian soldier They all fight with the same
zeal as a man would fight the burglar VINO
has come to attack his family and rob ms
home or as one would fight to rescue ms
brother or sister who screams IN agony IN
the hands Of a thief. They are sensitive OF
the fact that 500 years under Turkish rule
has set them so far back that to-day they are
looked upon as sem-civilzed. whereas before
the Turkish invasion they were even sending
missionaries to Chrstianize and civilize the
"heathens." Bulgarian critics often speak OF
+bem as a tribe of farmers" Well, there
is something of farmers wholesomeness
about the Bulgarian anyhow.
STOYAN V. TSANOFF.
Berkeley Heights, n. j., Jan l, 1917.