Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-01
BREAKUP OF AUSTRIA
GIVES WORLD A PUZZLE
Crazy Quilt of Small States Offers League
n sd
of Nations Problems Whose Solution,
Defes All Diplomacy. @' as:


and between the Italians and the Aus-
tro-Hungarian empire, hut today
with the Hapsburgs gone and tFS|
empire fallen. twenty questions. eacif
threatening the peace of the world.
have arisen.
Nor is IL possible to solve these
questions by the simple applica ttoe
OF the fourteen points or of any other
formula. .hatl
An example: Banat. claimed by
Hungarians. Serbs and RumaniahN.
is actually inhabited by half a score
of races. no one of which is in the.
majority. There are more Rumanians
than Serbs or Hungarians. but there
are several hundred thousand Ger
mans. Further. any chronological di-
vision would result in economic pa
ralysis. since it would give one coun-'
try a larger part of territory. but
another all railroad and river outlets.
To solve the Austro- Hungarian
problem by faithful appreciation OF
the right Of self-determination would
be to create a craZyQuilt. To settle
1t on the basis of economic interests
would be to perpetuate chaos by con-
tinuing a mixture of races. and yet
some solution, some settlement, must
be made.
At the present moment We have
seen the whole progress of the peace
conference threatened by the dispute
of the Jugoslavs and Italians over
Fiume. A temporary compromise for
this question may be found: solu-
ton remains, practically speaking,
impossible.
There is not a we'll informed oh-
server in Paris who does not believe
that war between the Italians and the
Jugoslavs is moral certainty within
the next decade. We have removed
the peril of Italia irredenta. but de-
spite the best intentions of the Paris
conference, a new irredenta has peen
created on the Adriatic. Moreover. the
old tendency toward combination Is
Rumanian policy march toward a
common alliance against Jugosiavs,
since Rumania claims all of Banaf.
and Italy the Jugoslav regions on the
Adriatic. A similar drift of Hunga-
rian policy toward Germany Is inevi-
table. since Hungary will find herself
without natural frontiers and reduced
from a state of twenty million to an
insignificant republic of seven. Ger.
man Austria has already demanded
union with Germany. s1~
Defes All Rules of Nationality.
In uniting Czechs. Slovaks and
Ruthenians, South Carpathians the
Paris conference has liberated large
numbers of Slavs, but the new state
1t has created def1es all rules of ma
tional existence. 1t extends trans
versely across mountains; railroads
and highways uniting east with west
do not exist and cannot be built, ana
If the Czechs and Slovaks have been
united of their own wish. the Ruth
enians will clamor for unity with the
Ukraine.
Beside the solution of the Austrian,
problem, the German question 10
trivial. Actually, in creating half a
dozen new states we have raised twice
as many new problems. Exactly as
the liberation of the Greeks, Bulgars
and Serbs led to immediate rivalry
between these three new states. a
rivalry which provoked at least two
wars between Serbia and Bulgaria
and one between Greece and Sai-
garia. we have now prepared the way
for similar conflicts between Poles
and Czechs. between Poles and
Ukrainians, Czechs and Ukrainians.
Rumanians and Ukrainians, Magyars
and Rumanians. Magyars and Czecho-
slovaks, Jugoslavs and Rumanians.
Jugoslavs and Italians, and Jugoslavs
and Austrfans. u,
In all this welter of conflicting ma
tional aspirations a single solution is
discoverable. although it seems today
impossible to realize. The reunion of
at least a portion of Austria Hungary
in economic IL not political fedora
ton, the association of Czechoslovaks.
Rumanians. Jugoslavs
and German-Austrians This may
lead in time to the creation of a sit
uation OF peace and cooperation. But
two great powers will set their faces
against such solution: Italy, which
fears that such a federation would
contest it's supremacy on the Adriatfc::'
n hi oh IN ira
and. by preserving anarchy
to the southwark. keep alive the OPP
portunity to recreate Mittel Europa,'
which was her dominating ambition
before and during the war.
1t must be apparent that the treaty
of st. German which we are present.
ly to make with Austria and the sub
sequent treaty which we shall make
with Hungary will in fact settle.
nothing. To Iiquidate the Austro-
empire will at least be as
and difficult an operation
as the liquidation of the Turkish en-
pire in Europe, which has taken a
years and is not yet COM
plete. In fact. the war has simply
extended the eastern question from
the shores of the Bosphorus to the
frontiers of Germany. In place of.
the little Balkan states which have
kept Europe in an uproar for half
we have created a dozen
larger states. equally certain to
threaten the peace of Europe. With
these races the league of nations can
have no weight. since whatever the
situation in the west of Europe, ma
tionalism still remains rampant In the
east. The solution of the questions
involved on the basis of the fourteen
points brings no aid. because in all
major conflicts each side can with
equal justice invoke at least one OF
these points to support its contention.
Harder Than German Problem.
ST.
In sum it is essential for Americans
to recognize that. SO far as the peace
Of the world is concerned, the Aus
TRAN settlement is even more i'm
portant than the German and that the
of permanent ADJUST
nent are far less numerous. Actually
the war, by destroying the central
authority of the Hapsburg monarchy. :
has released races whose rivalries are
at least a thousand years old. These
races are as unwilling to submit their
claims to the final decision of the
league of nations as were the Balkan
aces to subordinate theirs to the VIII
If the concert of Europe. However
may be drawn. hundreds
Of thousands of people will in the
nature of things be subjected to "a
rule they will not recognize.
The Germans will be placed under
Slavs. Slavs under Italians. Hun :
yarians under Rumanians. Poles un-
Ter Ukrainians and Ukrainians under
Poles. and such a situation can only
cad to new crises. Already the Itai-
ans and the Rumanians have threat
sned to leave the peace conference II
heir claims are not recognized. while
the Poles have defied the Paris con-