Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1919-01-09
BY A II. s.MoNos.

describe certain developments which
have followed closely upon the teYmin-
alton OF fighting and have in some re-
spects leSsened and in others increased
the practical problems which will face
the Versailles gathering. These prob
lens follow the rapid rise in what we
had learned to call Mitteleuropa, OF
several considerable nations.
Until the Bulgarian defeat served as
the first sign OF the rumbling of the
Who,e edilice buil: by German arms
there stretched across Europe from the
Baltic to the Black and lIasean seas. a
great mass Of territory, dominated by
German arms, constituting a single
unit, and consisting of the territories of
Germany. Austria-Hungary. Bulgaria
and Turkey. together with the con-
qiered lands of the Serbs and the Ru-
manians. IN this territory some 49,
100000 Germans. 40. 600, 900 Magyars
ana 100000 Bulsars and Turks We're
TIE masters. under their yoke were
Upward of 10000 of subject races, in
Guiding at least $1,000. 100000 Slav-
Poles. Czecho-Slavs and J~uso-Slavs
and Ruthenians. Four million Latins,
Ruinanians and Italians We're also in
cluded in this list of the .inferior
races
1t was the dream of the nations in
arms against Germany to liberate
these subject races, to erect in the
place of the Austro-Hungarian mon-
archy not one, but several states,
which should have racial unity and be
capable of i~nterposins an effective and
permanent barrier to German eNpan-
sion to the near east. These states
We're to be for the future the guar
antees against Il return of the Ger
men to his Mittleuropa ambitions.
Recognition by the allies of. the aspi-
rations of the R~umanians, the Jugo-
Slavs and the Czecho-Slovaks was a
sure sign of what the future would hold
in store should Germany lose the war.
What was not clearly perceived any
where before the end of tie war was
the rapidity with which these national
reunions would take place once he
cement OF German military power a
removed. Therefore, what has taken
place in the past two months has sur
prised one of the most marvellous
spectacles of nation building and map
making in all European history. Since
the Austrian collapse we have seen
greater Rumalia become a solid and
accomplished fact. Jugo-Slavia spring
into life and the Czecho-S lovak state
take its place anlong he free nations
of the world. In the same period. but
with less definiteness, Poland has been
rising from her ruins.
With the rise of these several states
the whole situation in eastern and
southern Europe has undergone a ire
mendous transformation. And the
changes seemed destined to endure.
VI. sill a., N@ @~~@n l~~kI.-
there shall be q marked increase in
the number Of European nations, but
what shall be the boundaries of these
new states.
And in this article 1 desire first of all
to set forth a few statistics and facts as
to some of the new nations. and then
briefly to indicate the problems which
remain to be settled at Versailles, the
disputes between the several races and
states which have already caused blood
shed and have assumed a threatening
aspect. Exactly as the old Balkan
states. having escaped from Turkish
slavery. found themselves at once ar
rayed against certain great powers and
against each other, the new nations are
standing en- the brink Of similar dam
gers which are quite as threatening to
world peace as the old eastern ques-
ton.
New Nations Face Dangers.
TO begin at the beginning. the fall
of Autsria was followed promptly by
the realization of all the Rumanian am
billions. In August, 1914, Rumania was
a state of $4,000 square miles. holding
81 population of $500, 900. On all sides,
save the south and southeast. where its
political and photographic frontiers
were identical, Rumania was surround
ed by Austrian, Hungarian and Russian
territory inhabited by Rumanians. In
1917 Rumania entered the war on the
allied side, seeking to liberate not less
than 5000, 900 brother Latins living in
Bessarabia. Bukovina, Pennsylvania
and the Banat.
This policy Of national instinct. as a
celebrated Rumanian patriot define it.
led to immediate disaster n Rumania
was conquered and crushed; she lost
her political and economic independ-
ence. Hungary and Bulgaria seized a
portion Of her territory, and the sole
consolation for the Rumanians "a the
partial union with their country of RUS
stan Bessarabia. a union favored by the
Germans solely to give them control Of
this Russian province under the color
Of a Rumanian occupation.
Rumanian Dream Realized.
But since Austria fell Rumania a
her program of 1917. First of all, the
made complete. Next. Rumanian troops
occupied the old Rumanian lands taken
by Bulgaria and Austria Hungary.
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