The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1918-01-26

which has been raised. We may, as
Americans, be little concerned with
the exact point at which q Balkan
frontier is marked on the maps: the
eastern frontier Of a truly free Poland
may only remotely concern us, but
we are all concerned vitality in pre-
venting the erection of an empire in
Europe which shall be so strong that
1t can aspire, as IL will, to the con-
troll Of all other continents, American
as we'll as Asiatic and African. Given
the German conception Of force and
violence, Of German supergreatness,
or the German mission to heal the
world by conquest and then by meth
OILS we'll exemplified in Alsace-Lor-
raine before the war and in Belgium
since, it is, a matter of life and death
that the Germans should not get con-
troll Of 10000, 900 Of members Of "in-
fertor races" and arm and train, from
these, new and invincible hordes. 1t
Is the totality, not the detail, of the
German scheme which threatens us
in America. and it is a realization Of
this which has moved President Will
son to throw aside our oldest tradi-
ton and fight for the rectification Of
European frontiers, frontiers created
by this war.
Only less interesting and import
ant is, the Presidents demand for
the freest opportunity of the peoples
OF Austria Hungary for autonomous
development" / have talked much as
these articles about the Slav ques-
tton in the East; this raises 1t anew.
Today there are within Austrian ter
ritory $4,000, 900 SIavs, just short of
half OF the total population. There
are also 1000, 900 Latins, Rumanians
and Italians. AS against these races,
held inferior by the ruling minorities,
there are 100000 Germans and TO-
600, 900 Magyars. Today the Magyars
and the Germans control Austria
Hungary, with a measure of assist
ance from the 100000 Poles Of
Galicia. who, though Slavs, follow
national rather than racial lines,
Looked at on the race map, it will
be seen that in the north, in Bohemia,
majority of Slavs, CzechB and
SloVaks are denied all real liberty and
equal representation, while millions
OF Southern Slavs from Fiume to
Cattaro, in Dalmatia Croatia, SIav-
onia, Basnia and Herzegovina, have
equally unfortunate conditions. The
same Is true of the Italians Of the
Trenttno and the Rumanians of
Transylvania and the Banyat.
Germans In Minority.
Were President Wilson's demand to
be met, the Germans and the Mag
vars would be in a minority in Aus
tria, the Germans would be in hope
less minority in their half Of the Dual
Monarchy. unless Galicia were set
off, and even were this to be done
they would still find themselves in a
difficult situation, for the SIav ele-
ment gains with each year. And were
the Slavs to obtain equal represen-
tation Austria would cease to be a
German pawn; their influence and
their power would break up the Aus
tro-German alliance, for they are
anti-German to a man.
This. after all. means another re-
duction Of Mitteleuropa. Mr.. Wilson
would see the transformation of Aus
tria into a federalized state. but sew
eral Of the Austrian states would be
wholly SlaV, and the influence of
these Slav states would be sufficient
to break down the Austrian alliance
with Germany. Mitteleuropa would
not then be reduced merely to the
Austro- German bulk; it would end
at the German frontiers. Bohemia
would be a Slav buttress against
German advance up the Elbe; the
Jugo-Slavic group along the Adriat1c
would be wedge between the Ger
mans and MagyaFs and the open sea.
The Polish Question.
Now, with the Polish question /
shall not deal again at length at this
time. The President proposes the
erection of an independent Polish
state, including the territories inhab-
tied by indisputably Polish popula-
tiOns, with free access to the sea and
with political and economic indepen-
dence and territorial integrity inter
nationally guaranteed. This would
mean at the least the creation OF q
Polish state including all OF Russian
Poland, half of Austrian Galicia and
a considerable portion of Eastern
Germany, including Posen and por-
tions Of East and West Prussia. 1t
would mean, it would appear the re-
turn Of Polish rule to Danzig, which
Is the true Polish seaport. 1t would
mean the creation of a state with
close to 100000 square miles, about
the size Of continental Italy, with a
population of at least 10000, 900. But
such a state would intervene along
the lower Vistula between the main
bulk Of German speaking people and
the minority east Of the Vistula. It
would thus undo the work of Freder-