Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-22
STRONG POLAND
+. NEEDED TO KEEP
HUNS IN LEASH
Germany Not Yet Beaten in
East and Has Designs Upon
Russia, Declares Pre-
mier PadereWski.

WARSAW, W dISH Sl'-1Ci many,
although defeated in the west, is not
yet beaten in the east, and if its
aims in that part of Europe are to
be frustrated and there is to be
peace, there must be strong Po-
land, Jan Ignace Paderewski, the
premier of Poland, declared today.
In outlining the present situation
OF Poland and its relation to the
whole European question, Premier
Paderewski said:
THE Importance to the peace OF
B Europe of strong and united Po-
land cannot be exaggerated. Ger
many made war not for hopor and
ideals. but for markets and raw ma
terials. The war has not yet been
won, Germany is ready to ac-
knowledge itself beaten in the west,
but not i'll the east.
Want Raw Materials.
s'The same men who organized
the present war count on reorganiz-
ing Russia in their own interests.
Ii they do so they will have an end
less supply OF labor and raw ma
terial In addition to wheat, they
will have cotton from Turkestan,
oil and great lumber supplies from
the forests of Russia and immense
coal and iron deposits, to say moth
ing OF gold. platinum and other min
erals. With these endorsements
Germany would inevitably stamp its
dominion on the whole world.
Think OF the effect on the splendid
body of America highly paid labor
ii Germany trained and directed the
cheap labor of Russia and China.
No one could compete with such
cheap production.
what stands in Germany's way
is not France or England, which are
SO far off. Germany is at the gates
Of disorganized Russia, and once
let it combine with the bolsheviki
and reorganize Russia, as it will
have the leisure to do in peace time,
it will dominate the world. A strong
Poland alone can block this plan.
Protect Civilization.
From time immemorial it has
been the task of Poland to protect
civilization from the hordes of Asia.
Organized by Germany they would
be machine to crush democratic
civilization. This Germany would
do by breaking the standard OF liv-
ing of the western peoples. For the
present task we need tree nation
to cope with Germany in influencing
the development of Russia.
'Danzig we must have, because
without it our commerce would al
ways be at the mercy of Germany.
With Danzig we must have the Wis.,
tula river, which is navigable almost
to Cracow. 1t is an artery which,
with its tributaries, gives life to the
body of the Polish nation.
.F-om Danzig to Posen the ma
jority of the population is Polish.
The country is garden and it fur
nishes two-thirds of the potatoes
for Germany The people are in
dustrious, somewhat slow, but good
organizers. They will furnish con-
structive men for the development
Of our country.
Need Coal Land.
supper Silesia is even more Polish
,than Posen. 1t will be the center
Of our iron industry. 1t is a pity
that the Czecho-S lovaks have at
tempted to deprive US of the Tes-
chen region, which is inhabited in
great part by Poles, The Bohemians
do not need the coal there, because
they have many thousand tons for
export in addition to what they use
in their own country. hope the
congress in Paris will not deprive
the people of this region of their
right to national unity with Poland.
IT might have disastrous effects.
In eastern Galicia majority OF
the inhabitants are Ruthenians. The
distinction between them and the
Poles is not racial, but only religious
and linguistic The Ruthenians be-
long to the Greek church, which
recognizes the authority of Rome.
When Polish woman marries
Ruthenian, the girls are classed as
Poles and the boys become Ruthen-
ians and vice versa. Thus in the
same family you will find Ruthen-
ians and Poles, speaking the lam
guages of both countries and with
the only distinction being the re-
ligious rite in the same church. The
Polish peasants in eastern Galicia
are enthusiastic over their newly
found national unity, freedom and
independence.
This patriotism is rooted deeply
in the Polish people and will cement
our nation in strong barrier
against bolshevism on the one hand
and against pan Germanism on the
other, if we receive from the peace
conference those districts which
will give use real independence ma
tionally, industriaily and CONNER
cially. hope that the American
people will help us to attain this
end"