The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-29

1c- lidH system Insurance, etc.) will
 nnnuence them against joining an uhknown and experimental Polish
 regime; thirdly, and much the most
 important that in any plebiscite men vote not only according to what they desire the future to be. hut aIao oo, oordlhs to what they think the future
 will be, so as to safeguard their prlVate interests in that future- But all this is hypothettca1 u | snail very soon know which way the vote mas gone, and the issue will then oe determined. Oppeln, the chief
 town In the German borders of the region dehned, is mainly German ana yet 1t submitted to the vote meanwhile, in case the Polish Re-
 PuoIlc succeeds to the territory of | honlgshutte on the eastern edga ot the reglon-which is overwheInoineIv Follsh-it becomes possessed of coal ana minerals which are essential to
 US life; for the denseIy populated small district of Konigshutte Is one of
 the great industrial centres of En- rope. The German authorities have ! maintained, with reason, that, were they forbidden access to this region they would be gravely handicapped in i that industrial effort which Is neces- terms the Treaty are to be observed bv them. Their industry has. however i been safeguarded by certain clauses
 which guarantee them a supply of coal from over the Polish frontier for
 certain time (fifteen years, Article 9O), even though that new border
 come far west of the old frontier and include all the industrial area.
 The voting machinery erected for
 this plebiscite should be known, for it
 IS model of what will be done else where, the machinery being everv-
 where. the same; and as we have
 heard little more hitherto than the
 word 'plebiscite," the details are well
 worth close attention.
 In the first place., both parties
 pledge themselves to take no steps
 ponalizing those who vote against
 which ever power may ultimately find itself the master. Next, the period of
 delay is very short, it is only a fort
 night Within fifteen days (says the
 first clause of the annex) of the com
 ing into force of the present Treaty (that is presumably somewhere
 towards the middle or the end of Au
 gust) the area will be placed under
 an International Commission of four
 members. nominated by France, America, England. and Italy.
 This commission will remove from
 the area the German troops and also such officials as they choose, in or
 der to prevent pressure upon the voting. The voting will take place by
 communes, that is, as we should say.
 by towns and parishes, and each
 commune will decide its own fate.
 The troops present will be troops of the Allied Powers. Lastly, the voting
 will be taken at some date later than
 six months after the Commission
 takes over the area, but not later
 than eighteen months. All men and
 women who have completed their
 twentieth year will vote, no count be-
 ing taken of the size of families. To
 count all souls, children as well as
 adults, Is provision which no
 modern Treaty has-yet admitted, and
 yet such an analysis is of vast con-
 sequence to the future
 The only difference between the
 plebiscite in the Masurian region and
 that in Upper Silesia is in the number
 of Commissioners (Five instead of
 four). and in the absence (which 1 is curious and the reason of which
 1t is not easy to determine) of a time limit.
 Section II on the free City of Dan
 zic I leave on account of its import
 ance to the close of this article, and
 proceed to the clauses dealing with
 the control of the waterway. which is
 at the end of the Treaty in the third
 chapter of Part XII Articles 3S1-
 Ss4). It Is revolution in the man.
 agement of the Central European
 waterways. and 1t will need most
 careful handling. for 1t penetrates to the heart of the various German States, Baden, Saxony, Prussia, Ham, | burg, etc.
 Five great rivers are concerned. and a sixth waterway, the project cd greatly enlarged canal from the Rhine to the Danube. These five rivers are the Elbe, the Oder, the Me men. the Danube, and of course, the i Rhine. Navigation upon these rivers , is to be international and free. and their ports are controlled so that the , inland peoples shall have full access to the sea. Most minute regulations are laid down, indeed, for the pro- | tection of property and national ! rights throughout. but the exclusive | ly national character of these streams | disappears; and that, I say, is a revo- | lution.
 | The navigable Elbe, being the wa I ter-outlet of Bohemia-that is, of the l new Czecho-Slovak State-wll be put | under an International Commission | of ten members whereon the Ger ! mans are in a minority. There will ] be four representatives of the Ger man States bordering the river, two i af ths Czecho-SiovaS State, and one
 each of Great Britain, France. Italy and Belgium.
 ! The Oder falls under a Commission : three of whom are Prussians, and one each of Polish, British, French. Dane and Swedish. The regimen of i the Niemen cannot be so closely de- | fined because of the Russian chaos. IL is only vaguely characterized as | Commission comprising one repres- 1 entative of other States to be speci- | fled of each riparian State" and | three representatives of other States | to be specified by the League of Ma | tions.
 The Upper Danube above the point | where the old European Commission | (which resumes its powers) ceases | (for the lower Danube has long been internationai) Is to be under