The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-08-06


This convention of the Transylvan-
ian prisoners is one of the most pic
turesque events of the war. Under the
revolution, even military prisoners
were free to go about and hold assem-
blies. They chose Darnitza, in the
Kiev region, for their gathering place,
and the delegates met there on April
"a, 1917.
The result of the decision was to or
ganize volunteer corps in the Ru-
manian sr,nv. A manifesto YVES pre-
pared and issued to all the allied and
neutral powers, the Russian provision
al government, and the soviets, and
permission was formally asked for the
formation of Transylvanian division
in the Rumanian forces. The dele
gates declared that the real voice of
Pennsylvania was the voice of theseI
100000 prisoners.
The Rumanian government was i'm
pressed by the manifesto, and very
soon sent a military mission to Rus
STA, which went from camp to camp
and recruited soldiers for the division.
By January, 1917, about 20 600 re-
cruits had been brought to Kiev. But
in the neontima. the bolshavik move
ment had brought still greater chaos
into Russia, and more than 100000
of the Transylvan'ans were scattered
through the eastern parts of The Rus
sian empire and could not got over
into Rumania. For long periods of
! time some of them were not heard
from.
These lost legions are now corning
back, They have one purpose: to figh
against the tyranny of the Contra
powers and win freedom for their op|
pressed countrymen.
They will be helped by the Transv
vanian Rumanians all over the wUi Il.
A great number of them are in Italy.
Some of them surrendered to the Ital-
ians on the Carso in September, 1915.
Only few weeks ago, the 31st Tran
syivanian regiment surrendered on
the Pave to the Italian army. There
are in the Italian peninsula 1874 Tran
sylvanian officers and 1884 privates.
In France there are between 5000 and
5000 surrendered Transylvanians. All
of them wish to give their services to
the cause of the allies.
/ In the United States there are about
10000 Trarsylvanian Rumanians.
Out of this number, there are 10000
which could be organized into a Ru-
laanian unit similar to the unit
which hes been recruited by the Poles
in this country. On July last, con-
| vention of Rumanian leaders from all
! over the country met at Youngstown,
Ohio, to discuss plans for cooperating
with the allies. The working program
adopted by the convention is three
! fold. It includes giving to the United
States and to the allies exact informa-
/ tier about the Rumanians under Hun
8HT'an and Austrian oppression; help
ing the spread Of allied propaganda in
Austlia-Hungary; and placing in the
ranks of the American and allied ar
] mics al the man power possessed by
the Rumanian people all over the
! world.
Il is planned to submit to the state
! department a memorandum asking
permission to recruit on American soil
an army composed of non-citizen Ru-
manians. Most of the Rumanians in
this country are from Pennsylvania,
and have already had three years of
military training in the Austrian
army.
Rumanians Racially Latins.
From the start of the war, it was
considered inev5 able that the Runan-
ians should array themselves on the
side of the allies. Racially they are
Latins, and the direct descendants of
the Roman legions who were taken in
70 Dacia by the emperor Trajan in
los A. D. For nearly two centuries,
the territory about the mouth of the
Danube was occupied by the Roman
military forces, Aurelian withdrew
his legions in 271 A. D., but the pop
ulation remained behind, with its Ian
guage and its culture. Today, the
language of Rumania is so nearly like
that of Italy that an Italian and a
Rumnian peasant can understand each
other, each speaking in his own
tongue. Recently the Rumanian ma
tional council sent unit of $4,000
] Transylvanian volunteers to fight for
Italy under the Rumanian flag. In re-
ceiving this aid, Premier Orlando de-
! olapad that he bod c.roo+ fatal =. ILL.,