New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-12-28
From Piano Stool
70 the Premier
ship of a Re-
born Nation
By George Palmer Putnam
DADEREWSKI.

H Sl4iS AZ HWY
Il to Americans at large than
Il ,hst Certainly no one else asso-
,;ated with the fine arts is nearly
k - we'll known to the rank and file
this extraordinary Pole who
& sepped from an American piano
9 tool to the premiership of Europes
3 hrgest new republic.
q In 1914 Ignace Jan Paderewski
& vas acclaimed the worlds greatest
y PIANIST and was said to be the
4 vealthiest Of all musicians. After
& erving his fatherland throughout
Z the war az sort Of patricia large,
d he became Premier Of Poland just
year ago. And now comes the
news that he has resigned and, pre-
a mmably. will again devote himself
4 to music.
n On November IL Paderewski
s made q speech to the Diet which
actually marked the end of his min
shtry. The day following that fare
sIwell appearance" lunched with the
SPremicr and his wife at Zamek, the
nroyal palace at Warsaw, home of
I poland's kings of old and occupied
lin turn by Russian and German
j governors Of the prisoner land.
j Paderewski then was in the midst
Of bitter political fight and it was
current belief about the capital that
The fall of his ministry was inevi-
Jtable, although few expected it to
leone SO promptly. The Polish Diet,
which Is about so per cent Of peas
ant extraction, has from the outset
lacked clear-cut majority party,
the ministry having been sustained
by shifting amalgamations of vari-
Gus groups. The final crash came
when the Peasant party, comprising
actually only a portion of the peas
ant members, threw its votes to the
Left and brought about vote
which was practically one of "no
confidence.
He has fulfilled his mission"
In nutshell, that was the view
of the premier's opponents as
voiced in Warsaw.
Gail II ork Finished
A critic might amplify this state
ment by saying that while Paderew-
skis services had been invaluable
to Poland in winning recognition
among the other ratiors, he alone
among Poles having . worldwide
name. tho time Of such usefulness
Ihad ended he was not equipped.
temperamentally or from expert
ence, to conduct the business of in
ternal organization and administra-
ton.
Whether or not such criticism was
justified. it resulted in the Pre-
mier's resignation. And whether or
not any one else could have done
better, or half az we'll, is, of course,
unanswerable.
The important point for America
To realize is that the change in no.
wise involves q crisis in Poland's af-
fairs, though doubtless it viii offer
ammunition for her critics There
Is widespread propaganda every
where designed TO stir up trouble for
the new republic A weak Poland,
FOR instance, is a consummation de
voutedly wished by Germany. Also,
Poland now has an army of some sly
hundred thousand soldiers in the
held against the Bolshevist forces of
Red Russia whose agents natu-
rally slip all the MONKEY wrenches
they can into The machinery of
Polish progress.
But Josef Piisudski, the outstand-
ing strong man of Central Europe,
remains as chief of state, with the
overwhelming majority of the coun-
Try solidly behind him. Changes in
government personnel are perhaps
unfortunate, but they need have no
fundamental effect. Only one who
has visited Poland as disnterested
observer, and really sensed what has
been accomplished in the one short
year OF her national existence, real
ICES that she is really out of the
woods. Out of the worst of them,
anyway.
Resurrecting q nation Of twenty
nve million persons which has been
aeld IN bondage for 147 years is no
'mple single-year task, of course,
md naturally much remains to be
done. But the foundations seem to
be solid.
Inc Dig test now is whether the
popular morale can stand the strain
:" bolshevist temptation and propa-
sanda, Of which there is vast
AMOUNT, tangible and intangible /
1nis winter successfully weathered
and / firmly believe it will be
F0land will be able to hold her nlacn |