The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-11
DEPUTY PLEADS
FOR SAVING OF
SERBIAN PEOPLE:

Not long ago, in the Vienna Par
lament, DR.. Otokar Ribar, Slovene
deputy, protesting against the system
attic determination of the Serbian pop
ulation, said:
go to the Balkans and you shall
see how the former Furnishing towns
and villages are now but smoldering
ruins. Not military necessity, but the
deliberate will of the authorities has
devastated our lands in such manner
as has not been witnessed in Europe
since Kossovo. Our unhappy people
has been scattered to the winds; from
whole districts the military authori-
ties have carried off women and old
men and children just as did the As
syrians and Babylonians the conquer
ed peoples of ancient times. From the
vicinity of Nish alone the enemy have
carried away 10000 persons to the
deserts of Asia Minor. 1t is a war of
determination of the Jugoslavs. The
allies speak about a restoration OF
Serbia and the unification of the Ser
bian race. Serbia they may save, but
not the Serbs and Jugoslavs, for there
will not be one there at all to rejoice
in the blessing of peace"
Now, in the Hungarian Parliament
in Budapest similar protest has beer
raised by the Socialist Deputy Mr.
Zostan Vermes, who, referring to the
| barbarity of the enemy and thei1
| crimes against the unfortunate popu
/ lation of Serbia, said:
| "As commandant of a detachment
: lmy duties called me to the mining vii
t lage of Maidanpek, in occupied Ser
! bia, from which neighborhood is OBJ
, tanned the pyrites necessary for tn
manufacture of munitions. The mon
archy needs some 100, 900 tons of Ply
rite, of which quantity this min
alone produces 10000 tons; its regu
lar working, therefore, is of capita
5 Importance to the monarchy. Their
= are working in the mine 1850 labor
: ers, invalided soldiers, and inferno
3 persons from the Serbian civilia
2 population. But the mine is adjacen
to the Bulgarian administrative ter
ritory, where the enemy pursues wit
!. the cruelest severity bands of insur
tgent Serbs, whose relatives they sys
tematically put to death; thus {
Maidanpek executions are the orde
Il of the day. Nobody troubles to bur
h the dead of those who thus met
" their fate; one after another who
}. villages are cleared of the friends an
: relatives of these unhappy people; til
Bulgarians round up the people an
d send them off, some to the Dobrudj
] others to Asia Minor. In this wa
J., farms are left masterless and Gait
to stray over the country and eve
the richest villages fall into a sta
Iof IL
workmen in the mines are unable wit
any certainty to procure even the ba
IS est necessaries of life. Represent;
is lions had been made without resu
to the Bulgarian government 1t al
lie pears, indeed, that the matter is n
II urgent in Bulgarian eyes. Therefor
e. the moral obligation rests with IL
< Hungarian government of taking Il
ID matter into its own hands and of tr,
lie ing to save the lives of at least a pr,
e, portion of these poor people, But tn
J. is only a special instance; there is
IS crying need on every hand for a MOI
humane administration of the
v lands. For nearly four years now Chi
n dren have gone without any schoo
of ing, sick people have been allow,
N to die without any medical assistan
Id or alterations of any kind loathson
a. diseases have spread amongst Il
people, and yet there is not the Sigh
est attempt at any betterment of co
ditions on the part of the administr
ton"
a. These, speeches may therefore
a taken as the best proof of the deli
I'd crate and criminal determination
r Serbian people. It can be i1nagin,
ed what state of affairs prevails
ct Serbia when persons in high pIac
of among the Central Powers are cor
e. PEELED to protest against the cruel