The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-01-17

realized as n cetail in tho extinction
OF Austria Hungary and the destruc-
ton of Turkey. Fence for Italy there
remains today only the reasonable hope
that, thanks to the support Of her allies,
she may yet gain the Trentjno and
Trieste. More she can hardly expect,
now that German and Austrian gums
are almost within range Of Venice and
her safety is in danger.
Mitteieuropa Yet Possible.
II Germany has failed in the west. rs
seems indubitable. If she has failed in
he3 war with Britain, as cannot be ques-
toned, she has nevertheless brought to
dust and ashes almost all Of the allied
in the east and within the
territories OF her own empire and those
OF her Hapsburg ally. Unless Russia
shall find new organization and new
leadership, the chances now unmiStak-
ably point to the disposition Of the
states and peoples which lie along Ger
man and Austrian eastern marches by
the Germans and the Austrians. This
peril can be averted If the allies pursue
the western war TO the point where
Germany fails either by aims or by eX-
haustion; certainly the debate on this
question is not closed and c""W'
during the war, yet New Years, 1918,
finds this field III Il tar ditIrIrn, $40
dition than that which existed at the
opening Of, say, 1915.
There remains the problem of the
Balkans. Unless a Serbia be restored
Germany's program for M~itteleurope
will be close to realization. Her con
troll of the Balkans will be perpetuated,
her mastery of the Turkish empire and
her domination of the Dardanelles will
be continued, fortified. If Serbia be re-
stored, substantially as she existed be.
fore the war. then in due course Of time
the Balkan states will follow their own
fortunes to independence n prosper
ity. Turkey will resume her freedom
and, no longer menaced by the Russian
danger, may easily gravitate to her old
alliance with Britain and friendship
with France,
And so, after all, the Serbian, the
Balkan problem remains the greatest
single problem for which no settlement
has yet been f~oreshadowed by the his
tory of the war. But ever this problem
has been simplified. The allied dream
of creating a great Jugo-Slavic state
from France to Cattaro has unmistak-
ably shrunk with recent events. The
fact that Austria seems destined to sur
vive and to survive with a measure of
military strength at the end Of the war,
makes. it highly improbable that the al
lies will be able to taxi from her Croa-
tia or Dalmatia, just as their ability
to take Translvania and the Bukowina
is open to grave doubt. Conceivably,
Bosnia and Herzegovina may yet be
won for Serbia, and if they are, a real
Serb state will be created: but as
things stand today this is an extreme
hope.
To restore the status quo ante in the
Balkans would be for the allies to win
the war, in terms. because it was to
destroy this situation that Austria in
vited and Germany risked a world war.
Not to erect a Serbian state. with ac-
cess to the sea n thus to her friends,
the maritime powers, would be to leave
open the road to German domination in
Austria. the Balkans and in Asiatic
Turkey; it would be to insure new en-
counters between Britain and Germany.
Such being the case, Britain Is bound