Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-06
KAvALLA AGAIN
LIFTS ITS HEAD
WITH FREEDOM
Historic Little Macedonian
City, After Four Years of
Bulgarian Persecution,
Is Now Free.
international News service.)


those in the TOBACCO industry, hav,
ever heard of this little port on tn,
Aegean sea. Yet it has many fea
lures and activities to commend i
TO the interest of the people of thu
United States, Here the finest to-
bacco in the world-the bulk O.
which is consumed in Americas
grown. Here the great American
tobacco companies have export
headquarters. Here. the biggest OF
company of the United States and
Americas greatest relief organiza.
ton, the American Red Cross. have
distributing centers. Indeed, kaval-
la has come to have some of the as
poets of real American city
There are so many Americans here
that one feels himself only few
7 hundred miles from home, instead
of in the heart of remoteN region
whose beginnings antedate the birth
Of Christ. r. 80.
For years Bulgaria has looked
upon Kavalla with a covetous eye.
Although defeated and subdued, she
looked hopefully to the peace con-
gress at Paris to give her kavalla
as a port Yet Kavalla is not har-
Dor 1t is merely roadstead at
fording good anchorage for coast
wise steamers. Millions of dollars
and endless development would be
required to convert the city into a
first class port. But Bulgaria,
which now has only the shallow
port of Dedeagatch at the modth of
the Gulf of Enos, was and is anx-
ious to get any outlet through
Macedonia and the sea for her large
output of tobacco, wheat, livestock,
silk and altar of roses, and would
be quite ready to spend any sum in
developing and deepening the har-
Dor.
Yanks Admire Scenery.
Kavalla is situated on a rocky
peninsula and is dominated by the
ruins of an old Venetian fort. 1t is
protected from the south by the
Greek island of Thasos. Back from
the seacoast is a mountainous dis
trict known in Macedonia as the
Pangaion. The Pangaion range
rises directly \from the low-lying
Macedonian plain to height OF
nearly 10000 feet and COM
mands an unsurpassed panorama of
Kavalla and the historic Aegean. By
Americans it is considered the most
beautiful range of mountains in
Greece. Coursing through the val
ley, on Pangaion's eastern slope, is
the placid Anghista river which
some historical writers believe to be
the stream where Paul baptized Ly-
dia. On all sides of the mountains
in this region is rich, arabic land.
peculiarly adapted to the growth OF
tobacco. The best leaf in the world
is grown here, and so valuable are
the fields for tobacco culture that
very little else is cultivated.
During The war the Bulgarians
adopted in Kava1la the same ruth
less practices they followed in all
occupied territory. They pillaged
and destroyed. They made every
effort to make the land uninhabit-
able. They cut down tries and
carried off furniture and everything
made OF wood. They sacked the
homes and drove the Greek inhabi-
tants ont, As. result of all this,
when, the Greek Commission of the
American Red Cross established re
lief posts here. few days after-the
armistice, their representatives
found living conditions almost TIN
-supportable. There were no stoves
or fuel OF any kind, and they shiv-
cred even in their heaviest clothing,
Liter they burned Ignite, which they
mined themselves in the Pangaion
mountains.
.Kavalla was the first city in Mace
donia to become a base for Red
Cross operations. 1t was here that,
soon after the signing~ef the armis-
tice, Lieut. Col. Edward Caps, who
in peace times is professor of Greek
at Princeton University, came with
trainload of supplies and a squad
Of Red Cross workers and began
immediately|the task of feeding and
clothing the destitute population and
the immense number of refugees
who had started back from their
places of internment to their native
country. even before the cessation
Of hostilities.% This work doubtless
resulted in saving thousands of per,
sons who might otherwise have Sue
cumbed to starvation and exposure.
The natives speak with unbounded
gratitude of the help given them by
the Americans. They say the food
furnished by the American Red Cross
was the first substantial nourish-
ment they had in four years. The
Bulgarians had carried off every
thing and left them utterly destitute.
Their own government was unable
to help them. for the blockade had
left Greece short of everything.
No section of the Balkans ever
presented more depressing picture
Of misery and squalor. When the
Americans, came in they found the
inhabitants dying by the dozen from
famine. exposure and typhus. They
Immediately established soup kitch-
ems and thousands Of American
made garments. They sent in doc
tors, nurses and medical supplies.
They distributed hundreds of thous-
ands of loaves of bread made Of
American flour. They established
shelters for the homeless women
and children. They cared for the
hordes of broken and dispirited
Greek and Serbian soldiers who had
been released from vile prison camps
in Bulgaria. In their devotion to
the task of rescuing the typhus-
stricken population Two of their
number lost their lives and three
nurses contracted the dread disease.
Shoes Will Cost More
it They Wear EN- Higher
Cf.rni,rd ob;o J,,1,,, S-nf