The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1919-05-05
ITALY SHOULD NOT
GET CITY OF F|UME" !"
Iohn K. O'Heeron Saws That
Italians Have no Racial
Claim.
RETURN TO ALLIES
Expects Rome to Return
Soon to Peace Table-Ad-
vises Patience.

On the basis of national self-deter-
mination Italy has no relational claim
to the city of Fiume, according to
Chaplain John X. O'Heeron of the
S32d Infantry, who spoke at the
Christian Church last night on his
experiences at the Italian front
There are a few Italian merchants
in Fiume; there are $4,000 Magyars,
Serbians and Croatians who don't
know any Italian; there are some
$4,000 non-Italians who speak the
Italian language. Practically none
of the peasants living in the dis
tricts surrounding the city is Italian.
So why give Italy Fiume just because
it has a handful of Italian business
men in it?" This was the way
Chaplain O'Heeron supported the po-
sition of the Council of Three in its
stand against annexation of Fiume
to Italy.
The people of Dalmatia do not want
Italy to have Fiume, he said. Rather
than see their city under Italian rule,
they prefer their harsh pre-war task
masters, the Austrians, he declared.
Italy's claim to Fiume, said Chap
lain O'Heeron, is based on the fact
that the Roman government estab-
lished the city and that up to 1903,
when the Austrians took it, the city
was controlled by Venice. The Ital-
ians will not be satisfied with Trieste
as a substitute for Fiume, he said, be-
cause they claim that with only the
former in their hands all commerce
would go via Fiume, and that with
this port in the possession of the
enemy, Austria could realize her
dream of a direct outlet to the East.
VIII Return to Peace Table.
But whether they get Fiume or not,
Chaplain O'Heeron feels certain the
Italians will soon rejoin the Allies
at the peace table.
What reduced the military strength
of the Italians after their first two
years of effective fighting was the in
sidious propaganda circulated
throughout the country by the Teu
tons, the chaplain declared.
THE Italians were made to believe
that the English and French could not
spare men for their assistance and
that there never would be any Ameri-
can reinforcements sent to the Ital-
ian front" he said This propagan-
da had so undermined the Italian
morale that, although there were
more than enough soldiers to with
stand the Austrians on all fronts, they !
were helpless until Allied reinforce
ments arrived, and the dissemination |
of propaganda was stopped.
The 332d Infantry, he said, was
the only American unit actively en-
gagged in fighting on the Italian
front, and its main work was to try /
to keep up with the fieet-footed Aus
trians, who were then in full re-
treat.
Advises Patience.
Chaplain O'Heeron advised an atti-
tude of patience toward the efforts of
the Peace Conference.
MANY details that we never |
dream of come up before the confer
ence, and these all need careful de-
liberation" he said "A lasting peace |
cannot be formed in twenty-four
hours; these problems must be
worked out carefully and slowly"
Chaplain O'Heeron lives in Mont
gomery City. Before he left his regl-
ment, the men gave him a large sill
yer loving cup in appreciation of his
services. They referred to him as "our
chaplain on Sunday and our pal ev-
cry day in the week"