The Benson signal., 1919-03-29

anese groups and serious trouble was threatened
was only the thought that back in Paris
t1sn'lui t~ statesmen were assembling fully de-
terhned to settle once for all the possibility of
war; that enabled one tn yo throuob Einma With
W. hiitkng the prediction that the war was in its
INFANCY rather than at it's end
~ soMe unknown reason Fiume was not in
c'uueu IN the list of towns allotted italy In that
.o" famous pact Of London, which was signed
~ tue ailles just before Italy entered the war.
Foia ana Iriste, ports on the Adriatic and situs
a'eu Vh the 1strlan peninsula, given to Italy.
1tailan possession of the last-named cities was
more or less unquestioned. But Fiume wa, liter
ally No Mans Land when the peace conference
started, although neither Italy nor the Jugo-Slavs
would admit as much.
Americans as Medators.
America had a really prominent part in the af-
fair. noncommital part, because we were not
one OF the nations signing the pact of London.
In every respect we were neutral But we had
one warship and four destroyers in the harbor
and-a battalion of soldiers ashore, and our colors
were cheered with enthusiasm ! by both elements
contesting for possession of the city
Americas popularity may in measure he
Judged by the fact that one of the local hotels
had just been rechristened Hotel Wilson, and
there were numerous American flags in evidence
ase pictures Of President Wilson.
While small in number-the American so1dierv
numbered only battalion--onr troops, had q nres
tige that was wholly out of proportion to. their
numerical strength. The responsibility of patrono
the streets and maintaining quiet was dividad
among the four allied nations. In this lob Amor
lean troops had one quarter Of the work to Der-
form. since each street patrol was composed Of
four sOldiers-a French1nan an Italian 3 RritiS6
Tommy and an American. They walked in fours
abreast, and you could see several such groups in
even brief survey of the city from one Of tho
principal business corners.
Somehow or other the patrols managed to con-
verse with each other. The Americans and mo
lish could understand one another of course ond
the italian and French could talk Then in each
patrol there were usually one or two men that
knew few words of either Latin or English. 80
the men had little or no trouble lin transmitting
given idea about
Most Of the American boys were natives of
Ohio, although Lieut.. Col. William Everson their
commander, hailed from Indiana Among the nm
der officers were strappng young fellows mainly
from the middle West. One of these explained TO
me some of the Importance that had been thrust
on the American contingent through the develop-
ment of the political situation
1--WE are mediators here" the officer said. "and
are rather popular all around In q way our ont
it is sitting on the lid. When we get off trouble
Is going to break out right away. The JugoSlavs
are mobilzing army back in the country Sew
eral Slavs we know. natives of this community
received their orders to go to camp. Should we
leave it's q moral certainty the Jugo-Slavs and
italian troops will clash before long,"
French Are Accused.
The actual contention, however, was not between
the Jugo-Savs as such, and the Italians, but be-
tween the Italians and the French. The highest
Italian officials in this Istran territory believed
the French were backing the Jugo-Slavs, arming
them, and encouraging them In their demands for