The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-30
SERWA IS AN < ESSENTIAL OF REAL PEACE IN EUROPE Reunion of Scattered Race ts Demanded as War Aim AUSTRIA'S POLICY
 IS ONE OF DIVISION Yovanovitch, Servian Minister to London, Describes Issues h.
 volved in the Great Bal
 kan Conflict
By JOHN S. STEELE

By JOHN S. STEELE
 London December 15.-(Special Cor espondence )-The world is familiar Fith the sufferings of Servia and one f the blanks in the allies peace pro- trammc as laid down by MT. Asquith, when prime minister of England, and adopted by President Wilson, is the Restoration of that sorely tried 1ittie country to liberty and independence. Few people in western Europe, how lver, and fewer still in America, real ee what is meant by this restoration nd how necessary to lasting peace just and firm settlement of the ge-1ong Balkan problem to which the rection of a strong and self-govern- ag Servia is the key.
 All the world knows that Servia Fas the immediate cause of the pres nt war. but few realize how deeply he was the cause of Germany's at hck on the liberties of the world Ask Nine men out of ten in western Eu- rope or America why the war started knn the answer will be that it was ecause of Austria's determination un-
 
 " man of Servian blood but Aus rian nationality of the Archduk 6 Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Aus rian throne. This was the excuse but he real reason lies far deeper. It is ound in the fact that Austria as the ool of Germany was used to destroy ervia because she stood in the way f the Kaiser's insensate ambition to rect great central European empire fratcbipp from the North Sea tO the oardanelles, and by means of the Ber- in-Bagdad railway stretching its ten- acles far into Asia. Servia, free and ndependent and with no love for Ger manic "kultur," stood in the way of his ambition and, therefore. Geramny determined that Servia must be de- ktroyed.
 More than ever after the war will Eft be necessary to interpose a strong and independent bulwark to Germany's 5 ambitions in the near east and Serv1a is destined to be the bulwark. Free kServia, strong and secure against at ack by Germany's Austrian and Bull arian vassals, is essential to free Europe and in order to realize what rec Servia means it is necessary to understand the aspirations of the men rho have been fighting for generations nd are fighting Loyalty still, although heir territory has gone and their man over has been almost destroyed for his idea
 Probably the greatest authority on he Balkan problem is M. Yovan 4o- anovitch, the Servian minister Tn Iondon, who has.conducted most of the difficult and de1icate7 negotiations in connection with Servia's relations with the allies I sought him out at the Servian legation in Queens Gate, just off Hyde park, and asked him to tell America through me wat Servia real ly needed and demanded to make her' and through her, Europe, sale Tn the future The following interview is the result of a careful consideration Of my questions:
 A SCATTERED RACE
 we Servians are Slavs. We migrated 12 centuries ago into the vast plains on both banks of the rivers Sava and Middle Danube, descending to the coasts of the Adriatic and Aegean seas.
 Great historical events caused the Seryians to live in one community for only a short time. Since the battle or Maritza in 1871 they have struggled constantly for national existence, in dependence and union. After 800 years of bloody struggles with the Turks, who sought to exterminate the race, as the AuSLT1duS anu DulEdlldi eti v seeking to do today, the Servians only in 1878 succeeded in creating from part of the Serb people small independent state which up to July, 1914, numbered 4 900 000 inhabitants and occupied S2,- 900 square kilometres.
 Another part of the Servian people lived under Austria and Hungary. In Austria a-Hungary-which is not na- tional state-live. besides Italians, Ru- manians, Poles, Bohemians and Slo- walks, about S,000,000 Serbs, Greats and three different names, and who have been forcibly divided by dynastic policy The number of Serbs, Greats and Slovenes in space of 220,000 square Kilometres is about 12,o0o,000.
 "These introductory remarks are ecessary for better understanding
 what follows.
 iAWhat are Servias territorial Claims? She does not want any foreign territories, neither is she conquering state Her political ideal 4 is only the unity in one free and inde- pendent state of all the territories in habited by Serbs Greats and Slovenes. Those territories are: Servia and Mon tenegro (which were free kingdoms), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Banat, Backa, Srem, Slavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Is- tria and Slovenia Gall provinces in Austria -Hungary)
 The basis of the Servian claim is this:
 l. The Serbs, Croats and Slovenes are one and the same race. as are Ameri- cans and English. They speak the same language. But by different interna- tional treaties (for instance by that of Vienna in 1915 Dalmatia was given to Austria by the treaty of Berlin in 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovina were given to Austria) they have been given to Austria and Hungary. Therefore this claim is based upon the principle of nationality.
 2. Austrians as we'll as Hungarians have constantly striven (a) to forci- bly, Germanize or Magyarize their Servian, Croatian and Slovenian sub jects, so that Serbs. Croats and Slo- vense were masters neither in their churches nor in their schools; as to the question of politics, they practically had no voice whatever; (b) to divide them among different provinces cSerbs, Greats and SAovenes live today in some I2 different provinces); Co to make