New-York tribune., 1918-01-04

of the Magyars left ont.
The Austro-German programme, then,
which is announced as in accordance with
the democratic gospel of the Bolsheviki,
actually means to replace the old, tripar
tite partition of Poland by division into
two parts. The Germans, by retaining
their Polish populations, will retain eco
nomic control Of Poland; the Austrians,
by imposing their rule upon Russian Poles,
will dominate the new state politically.
And all the military resources Of both
Germany and Austria will be available to
restrain Polish effort for real liberty both
political and economic
Finally, since Austria hungary has be-
come in fact little more than a subject
state SO far as Germany is concerned, the
real control Of the new Poland will be in
German hands, and Poland, like the Bal
tic Provinces, will become politically and
economically merely a department, the
eastern department of Mitteleuropa. Its
political policy will be made by the Haps-
burgs, themselves subject to the Hohen-
zolerns; it's industrial and economic life
will be subject to the Germans who hold
its ports
To create a state Of nearly 20,000,000 in
the heart Of Europe, deprived of all sea-
coast, subject to the tyranny Of hated and
alien races and dynasties, to deny it the
right to rule itself and the opportunity to
include within its frontiers all Of the
members of its own race, is merely to lay
the foundations for immediate injustice
and future wars For Western Europe to
consent to such a proposal would he to
turn over nearly 100000 of Poles to the
tender merces Of the German and the
Austrian
No one should mistake the fact The
Germans and Austrians are not propos-
ing to create an independent Poland; they
1
sia or Austria to decide whether they pre-
fer to be free or subject to alien rule; they
are merely trying to cover the forcible an
nexaton Of the Russian Poles by clever
and utterly dishonest use Of the Bolshevik
formula Every one agrees that the Poles
should be freed from Russia; there is no
dispute on the Allied side as to the right
of the Poles to set up state of their own
But Prussia, now master of Germany and
the state which engineered the previous
partitions Of Poland, the division among
Russia, Prussia and Austria, is now seek
ing TO get possession for herself, through
her subject Austrian ally, Of the Russian
share of the oldtime theft
The test of German sincerity is the will
ingness of the Germans to let their own
Poles vote, and they have denied this in
advance. The only Poland that can be
really free and truly independent is one
that contains the Poles of all three ma
tioas and has access to the sea. This Po-
land was promised by the Russians at the
outset Of the war, probably with little in
tent to permit it to come into existence.
This Poland has been in the minds of all
the Allies, and since the Russian Revolu-
tion it has taken a definite position in
Western policy.
To-day, however, Austria end Germany
are in possession of the body of Poland.
They are determined to make use of their
opportunity as other Hapsburgs and
Hohenzollerns made use Of similar oppor-
tunities century and a quarter ago. For
the Western nations there must be no mis-
taking the fact Under the cover of Rus
sian terms and democratic protestations
Germany and Austria now propose tc
seize Russian territory in the Baltic Prov
inces and Russian Poland, larger than
Italy, populated almost exclusively by
Slavs, containing upward Of 3O,O0O,.
900 OF people, and make of it two states
each lacking in the necessary resources OF
nation, each destined to be merely &
pawn in the game Of the Central Empires
to dominate the Slav world.
If the Western nations surrender 3d.
100000 of Slavs in the Baltic Provinces
Lithuana and Poland to an Austro-Ger
man exploitation, and with this surrende,
goes the control of Russia, economically, il
not politically, the consequences will be