Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-02-21
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.
(Copyrioht. 1918. by Tribune Ass'n.l

Copyright. 1918. by Tribune Ass'n.)
I'm the past Year thorc have been ne
qucnt and steadily multiply ing reports
ot Austrian Wcarinoss of the Wal and
e~asetness 10 make peace, and these
reports have eliminated in recent DAYS
IN sensational dispatches describing
strikes and disorders in Austrian cities.
NOW ii Is well to discount these III
lnOrS. 1T Is We'll To put aside Vain hopes
OF speedy Austrian collapse and N,
l~roachlns Austrian ruin. Austria, the
~lialSburg monarchy, has existed Ton
centuries in absolute defiance, al the
law OF e~raNitauon. il has always beer
lmnossihic. rs a political organization,
II has Frequently been thought to the
edge oi ruin but it has invariably re
covered and has suffered SllprisinslN
ilttie reduction in size over the MANY
centuries in which it has fought mum
bcrleSs losing wars.
6nt bearing IN mind all thu mecoS
sarN cautions winch history Imposes. ii
III equally Wise To recognize that the
AuStro hungarian situation has become
one al he mos interesting and iml,or
'ahl IN Tic Whole war field. and that.
lnnnistakahlN. Austrian policy. partN
induced by domestic discomfort and sui
leflns, partly by the chang" of The e y
lVflliii situation. so far as .iuStrian
interests are at stake. is taking a new
form.
IN a word. to make the whole stu,
ation clear. ii is useful now to recall
what We're Austrian war aims when the
s'fuSsic WAS precipitated by an Aus
liian ultimatum to Serbia. Above an
'ise, Austria, having engaged for more
tAah a century in II strife with Rus
sia over the Balkan questions saw in
Ilic rise al Serbia under Russian inspi-
,"''oi, ana protection u peril To her i'm
ieFnal SAFETY and Il barrier to her
southwark expansion. The new Serbia
not merely heekoned TO 7.G0o.o0o Ans
.fIah Serbs and Croats. urging thnm to
leave Austria for Serbia. hut il also
paced Il barrier AGAINST Austrian ar-
flVal IN Sal"iiki. And Saloniki had
peeh IN" goal of Austrian ambition
since ihc struggle of 1866 With prl,s-
si,t. which TUNED the Hapshurgs ON,
OF Germany. N
~ rs thus essential to keep i'm mind
the distinction between German ana
austrian war purposes. Germany's
dfeam OF a S%randiose M~ittleeuropa left
Austria cold-and more than cold
lranklN suspicious. Only Austria's
necessities as the wan proceeded com
pclied Vienna to submit to Berlin and
'le ftapsDurg to become the servant
OF lne HohcnZollern. Austria was moi,
seeking to be swallowed up lA Ger
many or play "a minor part in a great
new c~ohiederacy. in which Germany
should be the majority s%tockholdcr and
austria, Bulgaria, Turkey mere pawns.
Jealousy between Berlin and vienna
was ALWAYS notorious and the contempt
of the Niennesn for tine Eerli1nrs is
iamll1ar to every Traveller.
Austria's war policy and her peace
pollcN before the war were limited to
three problems: To defend herself
against Russian attacks, from tho east.
IN her C'alician lands, 10 protect her
self against pan-SiaHir aeitaiions car
RED on by Ials" ,l,H1 r,,,,t,I, i,,. ,..l.,
RUSSIAN Suidnrcc. ana to realize ,ho
ambition to reach tEr .f.yean and
possess herself OF Saionili. tho eate-
way to the lleai cast. i.li seain / Rus
STA she Ma p"Wcrlcss without Ger
man aid, as The first c,mpaiens of tlc
war proved: and WHOM s'cib... was IL
treaty of bucharest ENLARGED ara
stren.then"d Austrian hope Of reach
ing Saloniki was doonIc,l pnnvioed
Serbia were permitted To ilnid for long
VIVA she had conquered.
In this situation AUstrja tirst pro
cured tn" Bulgarian ATTACK ul"u .-.r-
bia IN 1873. turning t." adyants.e ,hn
fact ihat the car Of t;Jlatrin vas AN
Austrian prince and that RUSSIA sup
ported Serb claims in tl~ s;c4Au3;Ol-
gar dispute oxen Mac"duni: iiut serb
ia. with Greece and Runannia. over
wheimed Huiearia. and .Nustri;i Nas
ieft with no other remedy lhan a direct
attack uppn Serbia nj once. am atta.Hs
winch meant Tie Appearance Of Rus
si:h as Serhias PROTECTOR. Moreover,
when. in 1873. such II sep l..H sue
gested Ia AusIria's ally. ltalv refuse. 10
near OF II. ~" assassination 81 TIA.
%arcldulc gave Austria u moral issue
for doing y hat hel policy deinanGcu 81 q
! should do, bat the polio, had bre. ne.
solved OVER long months.
Now. in the frs, stage nf the world
war .Ausiria was concerned With saving
la1.a1f flnnl tlI1cSi, II, .tI.- ,,l 80.
pa!gns II was proved t!ai all the Aus
trian approximations as To Russia we,o
Warranted. and IN Il few weeks Russiau
armies bad "verrun Galicia and ap-
preached Cracow. In The same time
Serbia had administered two heavy de.
ieatS to Austrian armies. which had
fled. routed from Serb territories. Until
m" battle OF tn" Dnnaiec in May. 1915.
Austria Was faced with the possibility
of complete ruin. From this she could
be saved only by German aid. ana in
accepting this German aid she was
obliged to put her whole military cs-
Enlistment in German hands and her
political freedom was lost with her
military independence.
italy Overturned Calculations.
The battle Of the Dunajec and the
clearing of Galjcia would have freed
Austria from Immediate dependence
upon Germany had not Italy IN the
hlefiit1IaS eIiltFeu tIt VIII ana begun
the invasion of the Trentino and at
tackled the outlying defenses of Trieste.
In this situation Russian disaster did
NOT free Austrian hands. and Austria
was still wholly under German dircc-
ton. Nor did this situation improve in
| the summer of 1916. when Brusiloff de
livcred his great attacks In Nulhynia
and destroyed whole Austrian armies
and began 10 reach toward L.emberg
again.
BY midsummer Of last year Austria