Evening star., 1918-08-23
ISSUE IN POLAND
WORRIES GERMANY
Indicated That People De-
mand Settlement on PreSi-
dent Wilson's Plan.
UPRISING NOT UNLIKELY
by DAVID LAWRENCE.


the Polish question, but information
that has reached here in the various
ways that reliable news is gotten out
of the domain controlled by the CEN
tral powers would seem to indicate
that the only settlement which the
Polish people will sanction is that pro-
posed by President Wilson himself.
In other words. the Poles are stir
ring up enough trouble for Germany
to cause the two emperors
to take the matter in hand personally,
and the prospects are that along with
the Czecho-Slovaks the Polish desire
for nationality will in a short time
have worried the overburdened mill
tary STATS at Berlin and Vienna to no
small extent. For there are veiled
threats of insurrection in the speeches
of the Polish deputies. both in the
German and Austrian parliaments,
which means that If Germany is con-
templating the dispatch of troops iEto
Russia to head of the Czecho-Slovaks
and allied forces she must first be
sure that her armies can go through
Poland embarrassed.
1t means also that all the Poles
Poland and those scattered in various
parts of Russia. will rally around the
allied forces and the Czecho-Slovak
expeditions. And the example of two
oppressed peoples may have an i'm
portant effect upon the other races
held in subjugation SO long by the
dual monarchy.
Justifies Presidents Strategy.
Tba czecboSIov,l movement has
justified President Wilson's strategy
in appealing to the peoples of all
countries instead of their govern
ments. and especially in stating and
restating with explicitness Just what
the democratic war aims of the allies
mean in concrete terms for the small
nations struggling for autonomy and
independence.
The creation of Polish army in
France has been valuable in giving
itS. but IL Is not detracting from the
splendid work which the small con-
tingent is doing at the front to say
that by and large a greater strategic
brave opposition of Polish leaders
now living in Poland to the govern
ments of the central powers. In the
German reichstag. for instance. Dep
uty Korfanty, a Pole from Silesia, has
repeatedly announced that he stands
a
nation, and in the Austrian refchsrath
a number of Polish deputies have an
nounced that the only solution Whicn
will meet the desires of the Polish
people is a settlement based on the
which provides for a united and inde-
pendent Poland with access to the
seas.
Even more important is the fact that
such Poles in the Austrian parliament
tnol olsV06 r.
gencies to trade the Polish question for
royal favor have been warned by their
constituents that they will have no pa
thence with such maneuvers. Deputy
Jaworsxi, formerly president o. s;a tne Sa-
a Polish organization which derived its
orientation from Austrian sources, has
been advised, for example, by his con-
stituents that he must resign his post or
abandon his sympathetic attitude to-
ward the Austrian solution" Of the
Polish problem
Issue Up in Both Parliaments.
In the parliaments Of both Austria
and Germany the Polish deputies have
not hesitated to oppose and obstruct the
plans Of the respective governments. In
Germany they voted to man against
ing against budgets and cabinets. In
Vienna there also has been a wonderful
change. Even the Polish Parliamentary
Club. which handles Polish affairs in
the Austrian reichsrath and which has
been inclined to yield to the coddling
of the Austrian government, shows signs
of needing the wishes of the people back
home, who in mass meetings have de-
nounced the so-called Austrian solution
that would make Poland a part of the
monarchy or personal union of rulers.
German strategy aims at the crea-
tion of some form of government for
Poland to which Berlin hopes the
so that at the peace congress the
claim can be made that the Polish
question already is settled and there
fore does not call for discussion. To
Polish state council are endeavoring
to make the present council of regency
permanent body. By statutes and
laws these men are trying to tie Po-
land hand and foot to the central
powers. The nationalists. known as
bi-partisans. are, on the other hand,
combining the activities of the council
and the regency to mere preparatory
work for the creation of an independ-
ent Polish state and the preservation
of the Polish question for considera-
tion at the general peace conference
that ends this war. While the Ger
man supporters have a slight ma
,Grify; the 6,paftlsans have more
ward a different speaker as each de-
bate arises.
Deputy's Bold Declaration.
Recently this honor fell to Deputy
Swiezynski. whose speech has Just
been smuggled through the German
censorship. He boldly declared:
THE council of state has not the
right to enter into a discussion of
the political policies of the Polish
nation, for it has but one purpose
to prepare the way for a general
convention. At a time when the
whole world accepts the Polish ques-
tion as an international affair and
regards the demands Of Poland as
just and their realization as a con-
dition of the new political order.
based on justice and liberty: at the
moment when the echoes ring of the
solemn declarations at Versailles.
nothing is being done~on Polish soil
to show that they who have the
power do prove their promises with
acts 1t Is the more difficult to un-
derstand the declaration of a gov
ernment which opposes the recognf-
tion of the wishes of the Polish ma
tion and at the same time claims
that it is backed by the will of the
people.
"The declaration of November 5,
creating state out Of the conquered
territory. has not offered the solu-
Continued On Seventh Pagesl