The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-01-11

Serbia and Greece had agreed to d.
vide Albania, the portion north OF the
Skumbi to be Serb, the portion south I
to be Greek. But today Serbia is less
interested in the Albanian problem
since as a portion OF Jugo-Slavia she
is assured of an outlet on the sea- I'm
questionably the old Serb claim to
Scutari will be pressed, probably the
Serbs will ask that the valley Of the
Drin be the northern frontier OF Al
bania, instead Of the eccentric from.
tiers traced at London, but this is |
relatively a minor point.
To the south the difficulty is larger !
Italy desires to organize al OF Albania |
as a protectorate, this desire may be !
realized at Versailles. but having this
purpose, Italy seeks to make Albania
as big as possible and she Is insisting !
on retaining for 1t Northern Epirus,
which is Greek, desires to join New
Greece and was happy in Hellenic ex-
istence in the present war. before
Constantinaple chose the German
course and we'll nigh ruined his ma
ton.
Plan italian Post.
At Valona in Albania, which faces
Brindisi and overlooks the Straits OF
Otranto. Italy plans to erect q great
naval post, which will, in reality be
the Gibraltar OF the Adriatic. In do
ing this she wishes to push Greek
frontiers as far away from this naval
port as possible. This is the practic-
al reason for her demand that the
Greeks abandon their claims to North
ern Epirus. But the demand is un-
reasonable and it is to be hoped that
1t will not be honored at Versailles.
Argyrocastro, Tepelleni, Devino, San
ii, Quaranta, Korytza, these towns,
wholly Greek in sympathy should be
returned to the new Hellas.
Two weeks ago I poined out the
clash between the Slavs and the Ital-
| ians over the Dalmatian coast. 1t
will be seen that in the lower Ad-
ratio and in the Aegean, 1t is the
Greeks who have reason and just rea-
son to complain of Italian imperial
istic aspirations. One must sincerely
hope that Italy will not too much urge
claims which do violence to her own
| history and her own aspirations as
expressed in half century of longing
for Trieste and the Trentino. II she
earns the lasting hostility of both the
Southern Slavs and the Greeks, she
will lay up trouble for herself and for
Europe, which can hardly be exag-
gerated.
Juso-Siav Dispute.
At this point, I should like to cor
rect an error in one of the previous
articles. which gave cause to GER
tain friendly criticism in Serb and
JugoSlav quarters. There are, as
then pointed out, three separate state
ments which affect the JugoSlav and
Italian dispue. The first is the argu'
ment between Italy and her allies,
France, Britain and Russia. which pre-.
ceded Italian entrance into the war
; This assigned to Italy substantially
, the territory she has occupied as re
sui of the terms Of the armistice and
included northern Dalmatia.
This agreement was never accepted
by the Slavs, it was made over thei,
!, heads and against their rights and in
1 terests. In refusing to accept it now
as they do, they are not repudiatine
an agreement made by them but one
: which disposed of their lands ant
|, peoples without their consent or agree
1 ment. Certainly such an agreemen
can have no binding force for thu
0 United States and it does violence tt
a all the principles expressed in Presi
dent Wilson's many utterances.
: Adriatic Problem Troublesome.
g In addition to this agreement o
a London, is that of Corfu, made be
= tween the various tribes Of the Jugc
(. Slavs and arranging for an associa
s ton between these tribes, including tn
l. Serbs of Montenegro and Serbia. Thi
- is the basis Tor the new Jugo-Slavi
y state, which has ben constructed il
e very recent days. But this agreemen
J. did not surrender any of the Sla
l. claims to Adriatic coast lands.
e Finally there is Delphic utteranc
q at Rome last Spring, which commit
o ted Italy to nothing but sympath
y with the Slav aspiration for unite
e. nation and to rather indefinite recoe
e milton Of the principle of self-detel
s. mination and the claims of race an
1t language in settling the disputes bt
re tween Italians and Claws. But thi
n was, as my Slav friends point GU
n purely Platonic and has not yet en-
S. bodied in any definite document, nc
has the concession made in lal
I. guage been made in fact, as yet by tn
,e Italian Government.
n l have said and / repeat that thl
a. problem of the Adriatic, with that {
"a the Aegean added, is the most trout
n lesome of the material questions
N be settled at Versailles only the Polls
,e complications are comparable in p'
I. tential obstacles. AS it stands, tia
II ian aspirations contemplate doin
,c violence to the legitimate ambition
&. of two small peoples. the Souther
~ Slavs and the Greeks. Behind tn
IS Italian purposes lies the sanction {
2. France, Britain and Russia, which wa
n given at The critical hour when it wa
r. necessary to pay any price to pc
m suade Italy to enlist. But howeve
ID the governments may be bound, it
v. clear that both the British and II
French people stfengly oppose tn
a. Italian demands al rely upon u