Evening journal., 1919-06-05

ily constructed railroad TO connect il
with the main lines.
Italy bases lis claims TO Fiume moi
merely on The historic lialianty OF thai
city, but on the Milsonian doctrine OF
self-determlnallon For Fiume was the
very first to exercise this right. II was
an ancient right Of that commune's and
had been exercised before; therefore il
was natural for is people TO exercise
I ii Immediately after the armisticc and
TO elect almost unanimously TO be an
nexcd TO Italy Tho last time FiumC
! had exercised lis right Of self-detcrmi-
nation was, it may be noted i'm passing
10 rid itself OF CrOatan rule. This i
did by having Itself annexed to Hungary
In t779 although the nearest point IN
Hungary was a hundred miles distant
The foregoing statements Of facts
are. I believe, undNpuiable. Now for
the rival claims. The Jugo-Slavs are
unon Of the Serbians, the Slovencs and
/ The Croats. The Scrbians were our
Allies from the beginning Of the war
IN fact 10 was primarily on Servia's ac-
count that we all went into the war
and the Serbians suffered at least as
much as the Bclgians during the war
I The CrOats and Slovcncs. however, were
a part Of the Austro-H Hungarian army
and, as such. fought against the Allied
armies 90 The very last moment. They
/ however say that they did so unwill-
ingly. being cOnscriptcd into The army
and their regiments being pushed into
into the FIRST line with Hungarian
b.r.r,ls k.tfpT ttor, 10 urorc fhat,, for.
ward and shoot them I'm The back at the
/ ilrst sign OF unwllngness TO fight
They say also that the ultimate down
fan Of Austria was brought about by
them. by their dissemination OF disaf-
tcclion among The imperial troops at
The front and by their political con
spring In The capitals Of the provinces.
10 is we'll known that long before The
war many Of them had been agilaing
for autonomy within the empire. which
They desired 10 make a triple instead OF
OF a dual empire. 10 is also well known
that The Archdukc Francis Ferdinand,
heir TO the throne. was a leader Of This
movement which sought 10 embrace
not only The Slavs who already formed
a part Of HE empire but also TO add to
10 The Serbs, whose independence would
thus have been destroyed u is gener-
ally believed that this attitude ON the
part Of the Crown Prince was wnat led
10 his assassination. The Croais say
that they conspired 20 hasten the col
lapse OF Auslro- Hungary in order that
they might win their liberty and join
their Serbian brethren in forming an in
dependent nation.
To these assertions Italians reply thai
there was never any evidence that The
Croallan troops needed urging TO night
the Allies: That they were the most
loyal Of AN The imperial troops and
fought liko tigers 10 The very last, so
much so that for several days 10 looked
as If The Italian advance must be stop
ped. so terrific was the slaughter
around Mt. Grappa. They point to the
very last Austrian war bulletin in
which the hcroism Of the Croaiian
regiments in nghting back The tidal
wave OF Italians was highly praised.
The Italians recall also that IL was the
General Harlnau at the head
Of Croatian soldiers who massacred the
unarmcd people OF Brescia and imposed
a tax upon them for the clubs his sol
dlers had broken over their backs, and