Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-11-28
EUROPE IN PERIL
OF HUNGRY HORDE
FREED FROM War
Situation Fraught With Peril
Described in Report Pre-
pared by Agent of SIo-
vene Government.


of conditions in southeastern Eu-
rope, where the presence of 100000
Austrian army deserters who have
established themselves in fortified
camps in various districts, as we'll as
of hordes of released prisoners. has
created a dangerous situation, is CIV
en- in the report recently prepared
for Col. E. M. House by William J,
Rose, an agent of the Slovene gov
eminent, now in Laibach, the new
capital of Slovakia. He suggests va
rious measures to avert bolshevism,
which, he afhrms, is the danger
threatened by the condition he de-
scribes.
when | say that the enemy is
bolshevism | use the term loosely
to describe what is the perfection of
anarchy and the negation of law
and order" says the report. Mill
tarism is as dead as a gravestone.
There is no shadow of danger that
it will rise again, but fearful men,
ace has come in its place that has te-
come matter of life and death.
Three special factors have arisen
in the last six months, two of them
in the last month, which have
brought on a condition of things
comparable only with the terror of
the French revolution.
Deserters Organize.
First, the forming of deserters
from the Austrian armies into what
seems, to be known as German
guards. This began in the spring,
and had reached by September such
dimensions that their numbers were
reckoned at a round 100000. They
wear Austrian uniforms. They
maintain a sort of discipline among
themselves, and by their attitude to
the existing government found
enough sympathy among the peas
antry to be able to get food. Every
kind of pillage of military supplies
helped them maintain their position.
''The people as whole suffered
little and even welcomed them into
their cottages Those men we're
simply waiting for the general dis
ruption which has aldready came.
Second, the disaster to the Aus
trian armies on the Italian front set
upward of 100000 disguised,
demoralized and debauched as we'll
as hungry, troops free from the dis
cipline of four and a half years.
These men carried their rifles, but
on being loaded into the cattle trains
waiting for them at either Hagen
furt or Laibach they have to leave
their arms behind and, ipso facto,
threw off restraint. On the way
from Vienna to Laibach we saw per-
haps 20 such trains, each one looking
like a crawling snake covered with
ants, the soldiers lying on the tops
of cars crowding the platforms,
clinging to the windows and even
riding on the axles themselves, ali
beset with one idea--to get home
They have to pass through one, two,
three or four belts of hostile terri
tory, according to whether they are
Germans, Czechs, Poles or Ruthen-
ians. Long before they reach home
they take to plundering.
Poland Overwhelmed.
'"Thirdly, when the central EN-
pires concluded with Russia the
treaty of Brest-Litovsk they at once
began to get prisoners home from
all parts of Russia with which they
had railroad communications. But
not a single train of Russian pris-
oners was allowed to return from
Austria or Germany. At least D.
100000 Russians were forced to re-
main under hard conditions with
little food and no kind of Christian
treatment.
As soon as the crash call.e Aus
tria began to let loose untold thou
sands upon her eastern boundaries.
Where they were not let loose they
broke out themselves and began to
march to the nearest main line sta
tons for Russia Germany soon
followed her example, which means
that for the third time in this war
unhappy Poland is overwhelmed
an army of invasion"
Mr.. Rose suggests, among other
things, that the American govern
ment establish consulate or missions
in numerous centers and also advis-
DRY or relief committees. as we'll as
to undertake a general campaign
of enlightenment to be carried on
indefinitely by the press and on
the platform to prepare the peoples
for the drastic changes the war has
brought about.