The Connecticut labor press., 1918-02-16

The huuBarldIASs 1.KN eAAG ICAtAuuS DL Austria, manage their electoral dis tricts so as to keep majority of par .iament always Magyar. j. But besides the two parts of the dual monarchy there are the Imperial prov inces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of about 2,O00, GOO, nearly aE Serbians. These provinces by the great general European treaty of 1878, by which the war between Rus sia and Turkey for the liberation of the races of the peninsula from the age-long tyranny of the Turks was ended, were turned over to Austria Hungary to administer, with the spe- citic provision that they should not be annexed. They were to be. held in trust. In justice both provinces should have formed part of the kingdom of Serbia, to which country they naturally belonged by race, language and his torical traditions. But Austria Hun gary was determined to keep Serbia weak, and in 1908 the dual monarchy annexed them, in fragrant disregard of the treaty of 1878.
 SIaVs Kept in ssbjection.
 Here, then, we have the essence of Austria Hungary An autocratic Ger man monarchy; a pretense of parlia- ments with elective lower houses; a German minority dominant in Austria by aid of the German monarch; in Hungary the Magyars keeping down the Slavs and Latins with an iron hand.
 Now comes in the German kaiser. In order to save control from Ham burg to Bagdad, which is absolutely essential to the plan of German world dominion, there must be complete Ger man ascendancy in the Balkan penin- sula. Dependency of Bulgaria under a German king; dependency of Greece under a king ruled by his queen, the kaiser's sister; Serbia crushed and made dependency by conquest would secure this object. The crushing of Serbia was the keystone of the arch.
 Control Of Austria Necessary.
 But German control of the Balkan lands could not be effected without ab- solute German control of Austria Hungary. The alliance which has now prevailed for so many years is not enough. The bonds must be drawn far closer, and in such a way as to make Germany really the controlling force; to make German will law throughout Austria-Hungary. A con- federation of the two countries in GUS toms union is the first step to be de- vised. This was the well-known device by which Prussia paved the way for political supremacy in north Germany. Then these economic ties would soon be supplemented by others, which would in fact make the dual monarchy, though under the guise of an alliance, little more than satrapy of Prussia. The war has brought the two powers long way on this path, the Austrian armies being under German command and Austrian policies being determined now in Berlin. This is the Mittel Europa of the pan4eernan schemes, to which reference has been made above.
 Thus we see clearly the sequence of the Prussian plan: To dominate Aus tria-Hungary, then to dominate the Balkan peninsula, sen to dominate Turkey, then to dominate the world. And the keystone of the arch is Aus tria-Hungary.
 Security Only in Complete Victory.
 The world can be made safe from the Prussian piratical attack only, first of all by military victory so complete that German militarism is definitely OverthrOwn; in the second place by adequate securities against another such Wanton breaking of the worlds peace.
 What these securities must be can be determined definitely only after the victory is made sure. But. whatever else may be decided to be necessary, surely the most essential thing of all will be to prevent Germany from add ing to her military power the millions of subjects of Austria-Hungary, the great majority of whom are not Ger man, are not Magyar, and who are themselves inherently hostile to all schemes of German aggression.
 How can this insurmountable bar be put across the path of the German in- vasion of the East?
 In either of two ways. Should the dual empire give freedom to its Slav subjects and become a federation of three-German, Magyar and Slav-or of four-German. Magyar, North Slav (BOhemian-Slovak and South S!av (Serbo-Croat)-ther would be 10 diff ficulty.
 If this reorganization is refused. then the only alternative for the safety of the world will be found in disruption of the ramshackle Austro-Hungarian empire of oppression. The Poles of Galicia should gosto free Roland, not a German-ruled Poland, but an inde- pendent Poland. The Bohemians, with their fellow Czechs in Moravia and Si- lesia, should be restored to their old freedom. The South Slavs should go where they belong, to greater Serbia. The Roumanian ,Latins of TransyI-