The Cordova daily times., 1919-03-08
PR0TECTI0N0F BALKANSFR0M
 TURKS NEEDED

SALONIKI, Feb. 1 Correspondence of the Associated Press) .-Macedonia at present strikes one as a peaceful and well organized country with little or no population Many of the vil- lages and towns which furnished the battle-ground of the allied armies and those of the Central Powers have been destroyed and the population scat tered, mostly by the Bulgarians, but partly by the necessities of the allies.
 The allied army of Macedonia, too, is dwindling and it gives one feeling of strangeness to travel up and down Macedonia and see familiar places which once were populous with allied troops now deserted.
 Camps occupied for two years by the allied forces and which one had come to regard as permanent institu- tions, now are the feeding grounds only of flocks of crows picking about among the refuse. All the troops have by no means left this part of the world and SalOniki still remains the most i'm portant military base in Eastern Flu rope; but great change has come over things and one now sees the sturdy native on his diminutive donkey riding in places which for three years were barred to everybody not in khaki
 The writer passed through Doiran the other day. It once w2o a pretty little town, picturesquely situated on the shore of the lake Doirar, and dur ing the greater part of tho war was only few hundred yards beyond the British lines, in enemy territory. Of all the thousand or more houses, there | is not one left that is more than a heap of rubbish and that is typical of the situation in Macedonia today.
 The population is slowly Altering back, but the chief things that they find are the excellent roads made by the British-the best roads in Mace donia since the days of the Romans. These roads will be invaluable for the future Macedonia has large agricul- tural possibilities and it's population will begin to settle down again after the ravages of the war as they have done so often before.
 The old Macedonia question" still awaits solution. It contained the seeds of trouble and grief for the whole of humanity. Viewed from here, the war seems to have done absolutely nothing to settle the problems of the mixed and warning races in these re- giors. Age-long antiquities and preju- dices remain apparently as firmly rooted now as before the war But the Austro-German menace which heretofore overhung the whole region like thundercloud now has been dissi- pated and the western powers now ap- parently realize that there is every reason for them to take a keen inter- est in what is going on in tho Balkans.
 It is generally felt here that Turkey needs strong master and the Balk- ans kindly but firm friend who will ordain their future on a basis of right and justice and conditioned partly, though not wholly, on the parts played by various nations in the war, on Serbia's answering gallantry and loyalty, on the great aid finally given by Greece and the treachery of Bull gaRia.
 The allies may not need to grand mother" the Balkans, but it is likely that they will have to godfather" them Otherwise the Macedonia question will some day come to the front again. The dead of the British and allied soldiers who lie in Mace donian soil seem to demand that henceforth peace shall prevail in the land where they fought and died.