The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-03
Head of Mission in United
States Makes Charge.
Accuses Emperor of Murder of
Austrian Crown Prince.
CRIME A PRETEXT FOR WAR
Prominent Austrian Took Part
in Daring Plot.
Francis Joseph Was Hood
winked by PIOtters.

Washington, Sept. 3.-The charge
that the kaiser not only wanted the
war but plotted its imm e1iate cause,
the assassination of Crown Prince
Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo in July,
1914, was officially made public here
thru DIR. Vasile Lucaciu, he'd of the
Rumanian mission to the United
States.
The statement contained in an ap-
peal to all Rumanians in the United
States to attend a meeting at Youngs-
town, Ohio, today. can be thoroly
proved, DR.. Lucaciu says. The crown
prince, he declares, would not consent
to Austria Hungary joining in the war
planned by Kaiser Wilhelm. Hence
he was cunningly put out of the way
by assa ssins hired by the kaiser and
Count Tisza, then premier of Austria
Hungary.
''As proof" says DIR. Luoa ciu. there
stands the impertinent ultimatum sent
to Serbia. originating with Tisza and
approved by the kaiser"
VERY much has been said about
the causes of this war; the statement
reads. I'VE will not enter into spe-
cific discussion of these causes. Only
this we wish to call attention to a
fact sufficiently exposed in the col
umns of the French newspaper Ill
lustration'' in February and March of
1915. that the assassination of the
Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was
planned in Berlin. Vienna and Buda-
pest, and was carried out with great
cunning and perfidy by Count Tisza.
the former premier of Hungary.
Kaiser the Murderer.
''The kaiser and his satellite, Count
Tisza, are the moral authors of this
horrible crime because of the princes S
10 ArICf fr-ia Inn
gary's participation in the war which
Germany and the kaiser and Count
Tisza had decided upon.
THE assassination committed thru
hirelings was onl va preteXt. an in
famous mask under which was hiding
the desire to reign, the greed for
profits. the instinct of oppression of
the Hungarian race. their devilish ha-
tired of the liberty of the people and of
national rights and this Infamous
pretext concocted with so much cum
ming, was used to bring about this ter
rible slaughter over the civilized
world
The statement of the Rumanian
mission was eagerly read here. The
charge is not new one. But this. so
far as diplomatic Washington could
learn, is the first time it has been
given official utterance.
Nj. Lucaciu has been here for sew
eral weeks endeavoring to enlist the
special aid of the United States and
the many thousands of his nationals
the Rumanians now find themselves
Hoodwinked Old Emperor.
If the statement of the mission is
true it means that Franz Joseph, the
aged Austriah ruler, was hoodwinked
into making himself the cause of war
thru the cruel eXpedient of the mur-
der of his nephew and heir
The mission makes a powerful ap-
peal for the aid in the apparently los
ing struggle of Rumania to retain its
but recently found nationalism.
1T was the pride of all those who
stayed at home" DIR. Lucaciu tells the
Rumanians in the United States, that
our brothers have always given most
distinct proofs of the noble traits
which distinguished our Rumanian ma
uons. BY unshakably adhering to the
Rumanian language and the creed of
your fathers, by your love of work, by
earning and saving with sobriety. by
YOUR decent behavior towards the
strange world in which YOU find vo1lr-
selves. by the wonderful progress
achieved in a cultural way you have
given proofs of Rumanian zeal and
nave established for yourselves an i'm
perlshable reputation for honor which
beautiffes your life in America. Thru
these you have made the Rumania n
name much beloved and honored as
it was hated and prosecuted by the op-
pressing tyrants, the wild assassins
the barbarous Magyars, settled in the
beautiful valleys of Pennsylvania and
the Banat."
War of the World
of Rumania's entrance into the war
the statement tells of the "conspiracy'
and then says:
This. our dear brothers, cannot be
compared with other wars There
nave been other frightful wars be-
tween states and between races. There
nave been alliances also, but these
nave been in restricted numbers and
within limited boundaries. but now we
are in the midst of the war of the
whoie world. The whole world is
aflame.
In this confusion of fighting, il i
our duty to see who is aligned against
who. so as to find out where our
place and where our national life