The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1917-04-22

Do Diplomats Represent ToIIers.
My next appointment was scheduled
4 for the evening. The charge daffaires
of the Greek Legation had sent word
that he would see me then. walked
about the streets. 1 came to a place
where new building was being erect
ed and watched three or four scores
OF working men going about their
daily task. Honest faces. strong bodies,
( they toiled the hours away for bread
and for their children. thought of
the millions of SIMILAR working men
who had had to leave their homes in
/ the European countries; whose work
had been suddenly interrupted-men
who fill the trenches; who people
the firing lines; many of them now
dead or dragging out a miserable ex-
istence in prison camps.
Do the diplomats accredited in
Washington represent the rights of the
peoples, of the workers or their ma
| tons?
No! They represent kings and en-
perors and plutocracies. Are those
men over there who are erecting a
new building represented In our own
| government? They, too, would have to
| fight in the event of war. Would they
have voice in declaring It?
The Greek Envoy.
The Greek Legation is a severely
| furnished house and the Offices of Mr..
Vouros, the charge daffaires, have
nothing of the splendor of a kings
envoy.
My countrymen wish nothing bet
| ter than peace" he answered to my
question. The sooner the better.
Just now, in Europe, all the bel
ligerent nations have reached the point
where they realize the desperateness
of the struggle. and they insist that
all the neutrals take sides one way
or the other. If you are not with
us, you must be against US is the
general viewpoint. That's what makes
it so hard for Greece. We have every
sympathy with the entente As a
country whose sole communication
with the rest of the world Is by sea:
we are dependent for our national ex-
istence upon the sea power of Eng
land, France and of Italy. Moreover,
we are grateful to France for its as
sistance to us at the time of our war
of independence.
"All these are good reasons why we
| should be as friendly as possible to the
entente and why we should aid IT in
every way we can. We are doing this
and have been doing it from the very
opening of European hostilities But
that is no reason why we should have
risked the fate of Serbia, Montenegro
and Rumania
Il wish to put it TO you frankly,
Was -Rumania's entry into the war q
source of strength or of weakness to
the entente in the long run? Before
Rumanias entry the Germans ana
Bulgarians had to guard the thousands
Of miles OF Rumanian frontier, lest
Rumania should suddenly declare
war and attack in some unexpected
spot. The very moment Rumania de-
clared war the Germans were able to
overrun Wallachia and the Dobrudja
and thus actually shorten their line
by hundreds Of miles from what it was
before Rumania Joined the entente.
suppose the same thing had hap
pened to Greece-would the entente
have gained or lost by a crushing
disaster to Greece? An infinite num-
Der Of ports, almost impossible to
guard, would have been opened up to
the conquerors and any blockade put
upon Greece to starve QUE the invaders
would also have starved the Greeks.
The entente would have been no better
on. Greece would have been far
worse off. Isn't 1t clear? Cannot you
understand our situation? You must
see that 1t does not mean that Greece
is pro-German. There is far less Ger
other European country that I know
Of
we have suffered very greatly from
the blockade, but it has not altered
the conviction of our people that the
King is a wise leader and that his
policy has been sincere and patriotic
1t would be useless to deny that there
is a deep feeling that we have I'M
justly suffered at the hands of the en-
tente through the blockade, but l
know my people and am certain that
there can be no animosity toward the
French, English or Russians in the
heart of a Greek"
Mr.. Vouros talks eloquently and
convincingly. The sufferings of the
common people seem to be nearer to
his heart than the great riddles of
the political Chessboard.
Bulgaria Wants Macedonia.
Mr.. Stephan Panaretov, the Bull
garian Minister Pleniporentiary. was
until two years ago professor of Bull
garian language and literature in the
American Robert College in Constan-
tinople.
What are the chief obstacles to
peace" l asked him, after he had told
me that there is nothing the Bull
garian people desire more than the
restoration of peace.
sentiment had nothing to do with
| our entry into this war, you must
know. We were cheated out of Mace
donia and it was our sole national aim
| to get it back. We sympathize with
Russia, but we are q free people and
we must do everything to retain our
| independence. We were willing to
give up our neutrality and take sides
with those nations which would grant
us Macedonia. In May, 1915. the Bull
garian Prime Minister, handed the
British government the conditions of
Bulgaria.
"Rumania, Greece and Serbia re-
fused to cede any territory. The OBJ
| duracy of Serbia in especial proved
fatal to the success of the negotia-
| tons. 1t might be of interest to you
to know in connection with the acri-
monious Serbian Bulgarian dispue
about Macedonia Zone of the worst
questions of the Alsace-Eorraine type)