Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-14
DANES DO NOT WANT
SCHLESW|G- -HOLSTE|N
American Sympathy for Supposed
Wrongs Is Misplaced. People
of Schleswig Would Return.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

Washington, ID. c., Dec. 9.-Every
once in a while mild interest is aroused
among Americans who read their news
papcrs by the announcement that In the
| final peace reckoning Germany must re-
turn to Denmark the provinces OF Schles-
wig-Holstcin. Most Americans are only
vaguely aware Of the existence OF these
provinces through the importation of the
famous Holstcin cattle, but they are ready
/ TO burn with Indignation for any grlcV-
ance that the Danes may have against
the Huns As patriotic insurance agent
declared the other day, This IS new
one on me. but If Germany owes Denmark
ANYTHING she'll have to pay up when WI
son goes across to lead the peace orchcs-
ira
This avowed preference is all very
fiattering to the Danes, but, as n matter
of fact, Denmark docs not want the re-
turn of Schleswig- Holstein. All IT wants
is the northern half of the province OF
Schlcswig. which is predominantly DANISH.
The province of Holstcin has always con-
tanned more Germans than Danes, and
in the past fifty years the southern part
Of Schlecwig has been So completely Ger
manized that it would only prove bur
den and embarrassment to Denmark.
MANY DANES IN NORTH.
Tho northern part Of Schleswig, how
ever. contains large Danish population;
sends a DANISH representative to the
! German Rcichstag. and for more than
6ftv wears has fought what often seemed
i lost and hopeless fight for its Danish
nationality and its Danish mother tongue
II is the people Of Schlcswlg, indeed,
more than the Danish government, who
want Schlcswig returned to Denmark.
Thus II was not the Danish government
which protested. but the representative
of the North ~lcsvigcrs who rose III the
German Rcchstag tho other day and
demanded that the terms Of the Prague
treaty be executed This treaty ratified
in 1866. provided that tho allegiance OF
| North Schlcsvig should be left to the vote
of its inhabitants. but under the careful
| guidance OF Bismarck the treaty was never
| carried ont
Tho Schlcswig- Holstein question IS so
| rNrnplicatcd that few people arc even cT-
| pcctcd To understand it ~ ono time It
| was said that only two men had ever
| understood it, and one of these was dead
and the other insane 1t IS always con
spicuous feature q examinations Tor
| dinlomatic appointments, but the examln-
| crs are sand to deal tolcrantly with the
| answers.
mis- account Of the Holstoin question
was obtained from high official IN Wash
Incton who docs not care n hc quoted
Tho proyinccs of SchcewiC- lIolstcin
! form a long. narrow strip Of land con
nectino Denmark with Germany To
ccther thcv cnmpr SC about :, $40 squarc
miles. or an area about the Sic of New
| Jersey. The lower province Of Holstcm
extends tn the northern bank Of tho Elbc
RIver and All but cncloSCs the chief sea
nort Of Germany Hamburg II has
always been prcdomuantlN German, hav-
INC been colonlzcd hy Germans before the
Middle Ages with vicW TO ohstruchng
the emigration Of Danes into Germany
PROVINCES BECAME UNITED.
SchIcsvic. On the other hand. was pre-
aomlnantlv Danish at the beginning Of
the Middle Ages. although the process
of Gerrnanlzation set IN soon afterward
when Holstein. hv CONQUEST. succeeded in
separating il from Denmark. The two
nr,yiuccS then became united under one
rular hi the course IL time tho line Of
This ruler died out and the provinces
naSscd a. an inheritance TO the royal
house Of Denmark. on the condition that
the two provinces should never be sep
arqtcd This arrangement held untIlthc
middle Of the nineteenth century when =
| became apparent that the royal house Of
| Denmark vas also about to die out, and
Germany saw her chance to dispute the
| right Of possession.
/ non the extinction Of the royal house
/ IF Denmark. Germany asserted, that ma
ton would no longer have the right to
/ exercise anV control over the provinces.
| and. because Of the Germanic origin Of
/ Hnlstein, they should become a part of
! the Gerrnanic confederation Denmark
/ attempted to compromise by dividing
/ the provinces, giving Hosteln 70 Ger
| many and keeping Schleswlg Tor Its own,
! but Germany would not agree to this
t declaring that the two provinces could
| not be separated This announcement
/ brought about a great deal Of internal
! STRIFE among the Danes and Germans in
) habiting the provinces which resulted in
| evil war AT this point the great
! European powers interfered and sue
! ceeded in putting an end TO the war.
POWERS AVOIDED ISSUE.
With their usual caution. however, the
great powers avoided the real issue at
| stake. and as consequence the quarrel
between Denmark and Germany was
merely postponed When the royal Dan
lsb line actually became extinct in 1868. ii
broke out again with even greater yiru-
Ience. II was then that Bismarck took
chance. He obtained the backing Of
Austria, and proceeded to send an army
into Schlcswig- Holstein, with orders to
expel the Danes.
II is 10 this period that We owe our
Danish immigration and It IS the de-
scendants Of these Danes, now American
citizens. who are pleading for tho res
toration of Scheswig to Denmark
Denmark believing hat the great pow
ef-. particularly England, would como to
her aid, sent her small army against the
invasion Of the Prusslans, but she was
destined to be disappointed The great
powers carefully ignored the whole mat
ter. although Intervention af this time
might have avcTtcd both the Austro-
German war and the Franco-PrlSsian
War
With Denmark 5 defeat, the provinces
we're occupied by Germany and Austria
IN arrangement which lasted until 1866
when tie AustT0-Gcnnan war occurred
! md Schloswig-H g-Holsten was ccded to Ger
many in the peace terms. In 1871 tho
two provinces were incorporated INTO
the German empire, where they have re-
manned ever since
AS has been said, tho province Of iiol-
stein and the southern portion Of Schles-
! viz are so completely Germaniled that
/ thev are entirely satisfied to be under Ger
man control, and Denmark along since
rclInduishcd any ambition to reclaim the.
1 If an attempt were made TO restore the