Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-07-22
Save YANK CITY
IN MACEDONIA
Red Cross Cares for People
Made Destitute by Bul.
garians.
LIKE REAL AMERICAN CITY
Headquarters Of American OH and To.
bacco interests Opens After Bull.
garian occupation--see Awful
Picture Of Misery.

Kavalla, MncedVlia---Few Ameri.
cans. except those in the tobacco in
dustry, have ever heard of this little
port on the Aegean sea. Yet it has
many features and activities to com.
mend II to the interest of the people
Of the United States.
Here the finest to'prco in the world
the bulk of which is consumed in
Americans grown. Here the great
American tobacco companies have ex-
port headquarters Here the biggest
OH company Of the United States and
Americas greatest relief organization,
the American Red Cross, have distrib-
uting centers.
Indeed, Kavalla has come to have
some of the aspects of a real Amerl-
can city. There are SO many Ameri-
cans here that one feels himself only
n few hundred miles from home, in
stead Of in the heart of remote re-
gion whose beginnings antedate the
birth of Christ
Bulgaria Wants Harbor.
For years Bulgaria has looked upon
Kavalla with covctous eye. Al
though defeated and subdued, she
looked hopefully to the peace con
rress at Paris to give her Kavnlla ms
a port. Yet Kavalla is not harhor.
It Is merely roadstead affording good
anchorage for coastwise steamers.
Millions of dollars and endless de-
yplopment would be required To con-
vert the city into tirst-clHss port. Bnt
Bulgaria, which now has only the
shallow port of Dedeagatch at the
mouth of the Gulf of Enos, was and
Is anxious to get an outlet through
Macedonia and the sea for her large
output of tobacco. wheat, live stock
silk and altar Of roses and would be
quite ready to spend any sum In de-
veloping and deepening the harhor.
kuvnla is situated on Il rocky pc
ninsula and is dominated by the ruins
of an old Venetian fort. 1t is protect
ed from the south by the Greek island
of Thusos. Back from the seacoast Is
mountainous ulSlif't Nil'N IL ~ .''',
donia as the pangaon.
Coursing through the valley, OF
PunguiCn's eastern slope, is the placlo
Anphista river, which some historical
writer's believe to he the stream where
Paul baptized Lydia. On all sides OF
the mountains il this region Is r.cl
arabic land peculiarly adapted to Tho
growth of tobacco. The best leaf IL
the world is grown here, and so valn
able are the fields for tobacco culture
that very little else is cultivated
During the war the Bulgariani
adopted in Kavnlla the same ruthless
practices they followed in all occu
pied territory. They pillaged and de-
stroyed They made every effort tC
make the land uninhabitabln. They
cut down the trees and carried of fur
nlture and everything made of wood
They sacked the homes and drove
the Greek inhabitants out.
As a result of all this. when the
Greek commission of the American
Red Cross established relief posts
here few days after the armistice
their representatives found livlns
conditions almost unsupportable
First Red Cross Base.
Kavala was the first city in Mace
donIa to become a base for Red Gross
operations.
The natives speak with unboundcf
- a. l,J mi, hl
the Americans. They say the fooc
furnished by the American Red Cross
was the first substantial nourishmen,
they had in four years.
No section of the Balkans ever
presented a more depressing picture
of misery and squalor. When thu
Americans came in they found the
inhabitants diving by the dozen from
famine, exposure and typhus.
They Immediately established souI
kitchens and dlspensarirs and gave
out tens of thousands of American
made garments. They sent in doc
tors, nurses and medical supplies
They distributed hundreds Of thou
sands of loaves of bread made of
American flour. They established
shelters for the homeless women and
children. They cared for the hordcs
of broken and dispirited Creek ar Il
Serbian soldiers who had been rc
leased from vile prison camps in Bul
gnria.
In their devotion to the task of
rescuing the typhus-stricken popula.
ton two Of their number lost their
lives and three nurses contracted the
dread disease.