Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-06
Our Stake F'tsFht5es4 4drizttfe

1 &ge N-t8 Sss& 4 " " NnuH y VS. Si
VIZ HEN critics like Senator Lodge pro-
wv test against the Presidents med
ding" as they call it, in the Adri-
attic situation they miss entirely the vital
point at issue. Let Italy get Fiume if she
can; it is no business of ours" Expedient
though it may sound, this sort of counsel is
as weak in practical sense as in moral prin-
cipIe. He was a fatally foolish man who
cynically asked, some six thousand years ago,
Am l my brothers Keeper" Whatever
touches the foundations Of world justice and
world peace concerns America and concerns
her vitality, whether it involve the lands and
waters of her native hemisphere or the far
distant shores of the Adriatic
We entered the war in defense Of certain
principles which considered the bulWark
of what is best in our own national life, and
the hope of what is dearest to all peoples.
1t was on those principles and for them that
we demanded the overthrow OF Prusslanlsm
and the vindication of the rights OF those
lands that had fallen its victims. Moreover,
we formulated those principles into pro-
gram of peace that the world might know for
precisely what we were fighting; and our CO.
belligerents, Italy among the rest, heartlly
concurred. Thus it was that the famous
Fourteen Points were proJected-the state
ment of ideals and OF policies on Wnlch the
armistice was initiated and in accordance
with which, as all the concerned nations
agreed the peace settlement was to be made
By every consideration of interest and OF
honor we, together with the Allies, are bound
to make those professions good. II, then,
Italy's proposed course in the eastern Adrlatlc
region runs counter to them, America
stand is predetermined by the very nature
of the case, as is that also OF Britain ana
France. If Italys seizure and holding OF
Fiume to the exclusion of Jugo-Slav1a and
the other nations whose only sea outlet lies
through that port, would tend to renew ana
to perpetuate those very evils which the war
was fought to uproot, then assuredly ltalys
course should be opposed.
Fiume, be it remembered, was not claimed
by Italy in the London pact of 1915 under
which she joined the Entente allies; instead.
it was allotted to the Croatians Ia branch OF
the -Jugo-Slavs) as being essential to their
rights and well-being. 1t is much to be re-
Tretted that the leaders Of her diplomacy now
overlook the principles and expedlencles
which they then sagaclously recognized.
For since the fall and dissolution OF the
Austro-Hungarian Empire and the rise OF the
Jugo-Slavic States, there is less reason than
ever why Italy should hold Fiume and the ad-
jacent regions to the grave detriment OF the
emancipated peoples. She no longer mas
cause to fear Teuton ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. AS
President Wilson cogently pointed out:
"Austria-Hungary no longer exists. 1t is pro-
posed that the Notifications which the Aus
trian Government constructed there snail De
RACED and permanently destroyed Furtner,
the components of the old Empire are to De
~SSSSH
ated in League of Nations, not with those
who were recently our enemies, but with
Italy herself and the Powers that stood with
Italy in the great war for liberty" In these
circumstances, therefore, "to assign Fiume to
Italy would be to create the feeling that we
have deliberately put the port upon which all
those countries chiefly depend for their access
to the Mediterranean in the hands of Power
If which it did not form an integral part and
whose sovereignty, if set up there, must in
,vItaDly seem foreign not domestic or ldentl-
lied with the commercial and industrial lie
of the regions which the port must serve
To allow so wide and bold a breach to be
made in the basic terms on which peace was
initiated and in which lies the hope of its
preservation would be an incalculable wrong.
Therefore, the Presidents conduct in this
issue is no more 'meddling" than insistence
upon Justice for Belgium and France was
medding To treat with Indifference or in
consistency the foundation principles on
which we entered the war and on which we
hope to rear durable structure of interna-
tional concord would be set at naught the
treasure and the heroic blood that America
has spent in this world conflict. If we wink
at injustice to others, what claim shall we
have for Justice to ourselves? If we desert
our ideals at this decisive moment, what hope
shall we have of ever bringing them to pass?
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