New-York tribune., 1918-12-21
Poland at the Baltic
By Frank II. Simonds
tcopyrighi. 1919. Ne's TDrk Tribune Isc,

MAJ no lile LnOSC lntPregtino
important step in the creation Of aug
Poland or, more properly, the rsas
struction of one Of the Oldest and O'
est of nations Of Europe. Tn
Poland, to truly independent and
manent state, an outlet upon the pa,s r..'
is all important; without it Poland -
remain an economic vassal of Germ.
as the Germans planned at the Rra,.'
Litovsk congress.
Nowhere in all the map making ~ q:
new Europe are the difficulties to hs ~
countered so great as in the case =.
Poland. The old ration was destror.1
to make possible The realization Of -.
dreams Of three great powers. pr,s.;s
sought to unite her East Prussian nro~
ince with the main block of Hoben,o,
lern lands; Austria sought a great -
crease in territory, which should ssr,,
as consolation for the loss of Siless
seized by Frederick the Great; Rpss;a
hesitated between the two roles tb..
of lberator and defender of the poles
as a Slav race, and that of greatln
increased state. In the end she pursued
the latter end
The Polish question combines simnIs
and almost insoluble problems of state
making. The nucleus of the new conn
try must be the Polish territories NJ
Russia and Of Austria. These are tbs
old Russian Poland and the western
half Of the Austrian province Of GaHea
Combined these territories amount tc
some $1,000 square miles, with upward
of 100000 of people. Within this
territory the population is overwheln,.
ingly Polish, and subtracting it from
the old Russia and Austrian states
would not in any way cripple either.
But having marched this far in the
recreation of Poland the difficulties be.
gin, difficulties which have already led
to fighting in Lemberg and must rouse
profound and lasting hostility in Ger
many. To take the German aspect nrsv:
All along the eastern marches of the Ger.
man Empire, in the provinces of Posen.
East and West Prussia and Siesia.
German and Polish populations are in.
eXtricably mixed. In Posen the Polish
majority is enormous; in Upper Siesis
tfe same thing is true; in West Prussia
the Polish districts extend like lone
arm from the Russian frontier straight
to the Baltic at Danzig, while in East
Prussia the German element prevails
north of the Mazurian lakes.
To restore to Poland her old prov
inces Of Posen and West Prussia would
isolate the Germans of East Prussia
from the main German population; it
would erect a hostile state with from
tiers little more than d hundred miles
from Berlin; it would thus mutilate
Prussia territorially In addition it
would mean the ultimate absorption
into Poland of the Germans of the East
Prussian districts. In addition, the ces
sion to the new Poland of the Upper
Silesian regions inhabited by Poles
mainly, would deprive Germany Of
great industrial region at the precise
moment her other great mineral region
was passing to France by the cession Of
Alsace-Lorraine
The Polish German situation, there
fore, is this: Either some 20,00O,OOO
of Poles must be deprived of an outlet
upon the sea and placed in permanent
economic subjection to the Germans, or
Germany must surrender a really huge
area in which the majority of the popu-
lation, taken as a whole, is undoubtedly
Polish, but in which there are two or
three millions of Germans.
What the just solution Of the PROB
lem is no man can mistake. twenty
millions of Poles are entitled to lnde'
pendent existence All the German ter
ritories to be reclaimed were once
Polish. A considerable fraction OF the
German population in them represents
the colonization Of Germany, coloniza-
ton designed to evict the Poles IRON
their own lands and accomplish the ma
stage in the destruction of Poland IS
a political fact. This plan has faled'
Poland is to be recreated, and no JUST
settlement is possible which does not
give TO the Poles Danzig and sea
front on the Baltic, Posen and Upper
Silesia. Nor is it conceivable that Eas'
Prussia will be left outside the poiSh
frontiers, thus constituting a source l0f
new conflicts. At best this German pop
ulation might be assured a certain meas
ure Of autonomy
But the Polish difficulties DO not emu
with the disposal of the German an,
ficulties. All around the fringe OF u''
clearly Polish territories are reg'O1s
containing many Poles, having fOi's@
traditions, since they were cnce a pa
Of Poland and now claimed by the f0.'-'
These regions include the RutneH'@