Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-07
BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

| The announcement in Paris dispatches
that. as a consequence Of the failure
Of the peace conference to decide Balkan
matters, and particularly in view Of the
American position with reference to
TIE disposition of Thrace. venizelos has
publicly stated his loss of confidence in
the league of nations lis Of more than
passing importance at this time. ! re-
member sitting beside the Greek premier
at dinner early in the peace confer
ence when, both at table and in a
speech which he made afterward, he
lforcefully and eloquently defended the
league Of nations from the point OF view
! of the representative of a small nation.
Venizelos himself was not only most
| conspicuous representative OF small
| nation, but he was one OF the great
| figures at Paris. man whose force and
| whose intelligence marked him from the
outset.
| Had Venizelos saided with the Ger
\ mans in the war Greece would have
been totally lost to the allies. would
have become an invaluable base for
German submarines and the victorious
Macedonian campaign in September of
{ last year could not have occurred. In
| the face of the open sympathy of. King
| Constantine. the court and Greek army
| with the kaiser. Nenizelos saved Greece
TO the dllleS ana TenQeTeu ScINlCe VI d.
most incalculable value at critical hours.
Championed League at First.
In Paris, as in the various peace
conferences after the several Balkan
wars, Venizelos displayed a modera-
ton and reasonableness in striking
contrast to the attitude of repre-
sentatives of other small but am
bilious nations. From the very out
set he was a champion, and a power
full champion, of the league of ma
tions, not only as an ideal, but also as
a practical machine calculated to pro-
tect small powers in the presence OF
the great; not only as an instrument
for peace between large nations, put
as a guarantee of the independence
and rights of little states like his
own.
In the peace conference Venizelos
asked for his country only lands In
which the population was Greek
lands which had Hellenic tradition
but in advocating these demands ne
encountered the hostility of the 1tal-
ians. and HE found himself not alone
opposed by the Italians in the Aegean
and in northern Epirus, but. to his sur
prise, he found the United States ad-
vocating the bestowal OF territories
upon the Bulgarians as well as the
Albanians, in which the population
was Greek, and in which, during
brief occupation, the Bulgars and the
Albanians had prosecuted the Greek
population as the Bulgars had also
prosecuted the Serbs during the time
they held Serbia.
The crux of the situation was the
disposition of Thrace, and particularly
that portion of Thrace which lies be-
tween the Martha river and the
present Greek frontier. The occupa-
ton of this country had permitted the
BuIgars to assail Greece In the second
Balkan war without provocation and
have a valuable base for Bulgar oper-
atoms during the world war. In Bull
garian hands it was a constant menace
70 Saloniki.
The arguments that this territory
should go to Bulgaria rest solely on
the fact that without it Bulgaria will
have no outlet upon the Aegean. but
and, unless the Bulgars are again to
be presented with the Greek city Of
Kavala, it Is difficult to see how much
Importance attaches to this strip OF
sea front.
Great Britain and France have
agreed in recognizing Venizelos' de-
mand, based alike upon the fact that
the population Of the territory in
volved is Greek. not Bulgar. and upon
hands it is a constant threat to Greek
security.
<Twice in two years Bulgaria at
tackled her neighbors in undisguised
efforts to seize their territory. She is
the disturbing element in the Bal
kans, and her ambition was and re-
mains to acquire an actual hegemony
south of the Danube.
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