The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-12

wv cial) - Austrian silesia'
 v which contains the Teschen mining districts in dispute between Po' land and Czecho-Slovakia, is the sup feet of the following bulletin issued hv the National Geographic society from it's Washington headquarters:
 "Austrian Silesia, smallest among the Austrian provinces, is not to oe confused with German Silesia, largest of the Prussian provinces. Small as it. Austrian Silesia before the war pro- duced more coal than any other sec ton of the empire. In 1915 it's output was almost half that of all Austr'a. It's coal farms, sheep and minerals especially iron, made it coveted prize for 10 centuries.
 "Stretch Delaware as one might pull piece of taffy, then cut through the thinnest portion of the slenoer middle, but do not separate the two parts left by the lesion, and you nave picture of Austrian Silesia. The area is less than Delaware, in fact. though the population is three times as large.
 "Of this population, in 1900,< almost half were German, about third were Poles and a fourth were Czechs and other slavs.
 Before the creation of Poland and Czecho- -Slovakia as independent na- tions. to the west and north of Aus- trian Silesia was Prussian Silesia; to the east, Galicia, and on the south Hungary and Moravia, with which II was united for time until 1t became a separate crown land in 1S49. .~rhe two parts of Austrian Silesia. snapped asunder where Moravia juts toward Oderberg, are but remnants of the old Silesia. The original sile-- sia was clipped to pieces by civil wars and souvenir hunters at the peace ta- bles. welded by a common appeal to | Bohemia for protection in the four teenth century. and crunched into oth- CT shapes and fragments by the Sile- sian wars.
 historically Austrian Silesia has been a pallid maiden aunt in the fam fly of European nations. She was the unwilling pretext for war making that involved most of Europe, and the unir- 1 terested hostess of famous internation- I al meetings. l .Despite her rugged exterior and chilly air-for the Silesian climate IS more severe because her mountain | tDu md Y1n~th--- | this rich and fr!endless relative pos- | sessed a fortune in natural resources. So the rising generations of nations in Europe never recognized her as more than a duchy, made her the playthins Of flirtatious states whom she acc cepted without ardent affection, and upon her demise as duchy divided her legacy of mines and farms and herds
 among themselves.
 "By the early eighteenth century the struggle for Silesia had narrowed down to two contestants, Austria and Prussia. Thus arose the first and sec ond Silesian wars. really part Of the struggle known as the war of Aus- trian succession. The third so-cailed Silesian war. decade later, was a part of the seven years war. Alter that war, which ended in 1762, Aus- tria was ceded that part of Silesia which now awaits disposition by th' peace conference at Paris.
 "At one time Silesia was divided in:c I1s duchies. Teschen was the capita of the duchy of Teschen. With less than 10000 inhabitants the city's ini-
 portance arises-from it's position al
 the end of. the Jabluzka pass ma'r
 highway between Hungary and Ger
 many. and it's situation on the Olsa
 which empties into the Oder in ths 7, midst of the rich coal mine region.
 'Teschen. too, is historic. rather a.
 a setting than as a participant. Fred
 erick II of Prussia and Maria Theress of Austro- Hungary met there in 17Ti to sign the peace which concluded tns
 war of Bavarian succession. Prince
 Albert of Saxony had received ths
 duchy of Teschap few years earlie
 as a portion of hls wife's dowry whes 1 he married the daughter of the Aus
 trian empress.
 .'Teschen is 50 miles, by rail, south east of Troppau, the Silesian capital meeting place of the Congress of Trop pau one year short of century aga
 when measures were taken to stamI