Wiarus. (Winona, Minn.) 1895-1919, 1919-05-02
Memoryai Wydzialu Narodo-
Wego do prezydenta Viii
soma " spraWie Gda1ska.

go rozwiazania kwestyi Gdanska
przeproWadzi1 Wydzial Narodowy
Polski W spos6b najwlasciwszy i
Observation-Disclosures, jeszcze dnia
5go kwietnia, kiedy w momencie
krytycznym, przes}a} "a posredni-
ctwem amerykanskiego Departa-
mentu Stanu kablogramem, ener-
giczny MEMORIAL do prezydenta
Wilsona, z prosba o przed1ozenie
Konferencyi Pokojowej protestu
ca1ego wychodztwa polskiego W
Ameryce przeciw ustepstwom ia
rzecz Prus W sprawie Gdanska.
Memoryaf ten, kt6ry doszed1
juz rak prezydenta Wilsona j "a
komunikowanym zostal Konfer.
paryskiej, opiewa W Originate ma
stepujaco:
Hon. Woodrow Wilson,
President Of the United States,
Peace Congress, Paris, France.
/. American citizens Polish origin
have heard reports Of change Of
attitude in Peace Congress as to
disposition Of Danzig and crea--
ton proposedPolish corridor from
Baltic through Polish territory of
West Prussia, with grave appre-
hension, been disappointment. Be
cause Of years of oppression un-
der German rule and understand
ing Of German character, which
drove many to America, we view
with distres possibility Polish PEG
pie II Danzig region and country
extending from Danzig Gulf
through Polish West Prussia
south to Posnania may be conti--
nucd under German authority,
Conditions from which we fled
and which the Poles have been O.
! bliged to endure are almost indies
cribable. Fundamental rights, to
speak Polish language, to hold
land, to build homes, to observe tie
nets of their religious faith, have
been brutality denied. The pledges
and promises of solemn covenants
and treaties have been ignored,
not impusively, but as a part Of
a, formal Polish nationalistic feel
ings.
Remembering these past Ger
man excuses, we feel obliged to
testify, that any plan for NEUTRAL
cation Of Danzig territory even
with guaranteed railroad commu
nication, must inevitably fail. 1t
will only precipitate a struggle
between the ambition of. the Ger
mans to control this land, and the
| Polish desire for existence. Under
any plan other than complete te-
ritoriaal possession Of the Danzlg
territory, it will mean that at a
time when the Poles require all
their energy for the moral and
physical rehabilitation Of their IA
ton, they will be obliged to enter
into a new struggle with an impla
cable foe. It will mean that a ma
ton which has suffered four
years Of war, whose fields have:
been ravaged, and factories dis
mantled by her oppressors, will
be called upon to meet in combat,
q nation industrially intact, with
an armed and equipped force OF
considerable size already in the
field.
TO permit Prussia to keep Dan
zig, makes the existence OF an eco
nomic, independent Polish State
impossible and, further, confirms
Prussia in the principle that
might is right = that because she
was mighty enough a century and
a quarter ago to rob Poland, she.
has established an international
law of limitations, confirming tit
lie to stolen property, This is con-
trary to the principle Of equity
and justice.
The German population in Dan
zig, the German population such.
as exists on other distinctly Pol.
ish lands, is there by reason OF a
systematic colonization system, to
which the German people have
devoted billions Of marks and
which they have executed with a.
brutality beyond the comprehen--
sion Of all except those who have
felt the iron rule.
If the Peace Conference con-