New-York tribune., 1919-06-20
S6XX 7Ho is Poland.s big man7' I In
wv quired Of Polish editor shortly
after the opening Of the Diet in

after the opening Of the Diet in
February.
We were looking down upon two rows
of chairs the side Of the Speakers
stand. Paderewski sat in one Of the chairs,
the various members Of his Cabinet in the
others.
The editor faced about and seemed to
be searching for some one ON the floor of
the house.
<'You see that middle row there" he
pointed out finally, ''the third man from
the end-the peasant, yes-that is Poland's
big man. That is Witos." ]
Witos, or Wicenty Witos, as Is his full
name, is the head Of the peasant group in
tha Polish Diet which Is known as the
"Piast" group. Past is the name Of one
OF the peasant kings OF old Poland, and
the peasant group in the new Polish parlia-
ment has taken this name as a party en-
blem to symbolic the political programme
of the group, which is *"The peasant must
rule"
The Balance of Poaper
The Past, or Witos, group Of peasant
Deputies, numbering forty~one, form the
centre. There is another peasant group Of
Deputies led by NJ. Thugutt, known as the
"Thuguttowcy," and numbering ffty-nine
Deputies This group is classcd with the
moro radical elements, and with thirty-six
Socialist Deputies and some Of the smaller
groups forms the left wing Of the Diet.
The Witos group holds the balance between
the Socialists and the Left and the Ma
tional Democrats and the clerical groups
forming tho Right. Hence tho Importance
Of the group and of the man who is lead
ing it,
When I asked Witos for an interview he
was amused. Ho had never been inter
viewed before, at least not for America
He looked me over curiously as if I were
going to sell him something and he wanted
to make sure it not gold brick.
He is Of middle height and dresses like
a peasant: high boots comings up to his
knees, coat and trousers Of the material
usually bought by peasants and of peasant
make He wore a shirt without collar.
He was not bowlegged, but his limbs were
a trife bent, indicating much walking be-
hind the plough and horseback riding in
peasant fashion-without saddle. On his
face there was two days growth of beard.
His hair and mustache were black. He is
forty-five years old His eyes are small,
black and piercing.
''The Land Of the People,
I asked him for his card; he had none
I asked him about his farm. He responded
willingly. He had what would probably
correspond in America to about twenty-five
acres of land. He had six cows, three
horses and ten pigs.
asked him what the programme Of his
party was He said:
"Our programme is chiefly agrarian.
What we want is to see Poland ruled by the
agrarian element We are not against in
dustrics, but want our industries in
Poland to be supplementary to the agrarian
industry. We wish to develop first and
foremost the industries that will help the
agricultural classes.
with regard to the land" Witos con-
tinued speaking guardedly, "our programme
is, The land to the people who work it,
We are not communists, we are not revou-
tionary; but we want the land and we will
take it. We will begin our land parceliza-
ton programme by dividing up among the
peasantry the so-called state lands, the
land that the Russian government, for in
stance, had taken from Poland and given to
its governors and generals, and which has