New-York tribune., 1920-11-11
For Greater Runa17ia
Union of Bessarabia Supported by Testimony of Russian
Experts
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In IL letter published in your
issue of November 2 Mr.. Jerome Land
field makes few assertions about
Bessarabia which are entirely contrary
to the truth and must be based on IN
adequate knowledge of the situation.
Considerations Of space forbid de-
tailed refutation of all Of Mr.. Land
fields statements, but l shall analyze
some of them in order to show their
Nerer Russian
/. Mr.. Landheld says "Bessarabia
was united to Russia in 1912. At that
time Rumania did not exist and Bes
sarabia was but one of the Danubian
provinces belonging to Turkey, which
was thereby liberated from Turkish
rule" But the present State of Ru
mania was formed in 1859 by the union
Of Moldavia and Wallachia. which both
existed as consolidated states since
the early twelfth century and were
from the beginning Of the sixteenth
down to their union autonomous prin-
cipalities under Turkish suzerainty
Bessarabia was simply the eastern half
of Moldavia. 1t has never been Rus
sian. In 1912 the Cars government
secured it from Turkey by bribing the
two Turkish delegates, Morouzi and
Ghalib Bey, who were afterward be-
headed for their treachery. AS for the
"liberation," it may be interesting to
know that even Gar Alexander | found
the Moldavan laws more liberal than
the Russian. Serfdom existed all over
the Russian Empire; it did not exist
in Bessarabia, and attempts to intro
duce it there were forestalled by the
fear that the whole Bessarabian popu-
I lation would fee across the frontier
into Moldavia proper. This is attested
By the Russian historian Casso, not a
wild revolutionst, but a minister of
education in the Cars government
Another Russian historian, Batinsh-
koff, though bitterly hostile to the Ru-
manians, admitted that Turkish rule
was more just and less hard"
Statistics by Trick
.. Mr.. Landfeld asserts that "the
present population of Bessarabia is
about 2,5oO,0o0 and the Moldavian part
of it constitutes less than so per cent"
Indeed, according to the official Rus
sian statistics Of 1897, the Rumanians
form 48 per cent Of the Bessarabian
population; the Russians and Ukrain-
lans together, 10 per cent; Jews, II per
cent; Bulgarians, per cent; Germans
3 per cent: the remainder being small
groups of Moslem colonists. Even ac-
cePtlng these data as correct, which
they are not, by what right would 19
per cent Russians and Ukrainians (by
the way, two distinct nationalities, who
hate one another cordially, overrule
the will of 4S per cent? But the above
quoted Russian Minister Of Education,
Casso says in his book, Russia on the
Danube: "The information received by
the central departments on Bessarabia
Is not correct. The Russian Year
Book Of 1910, published by the Central
Committee on Statistics of the Depart
ment of Interior, in cnumerating the
nationalties of Bessarabia, does not
even mention the Modavian nation. AL
though this nation forms more than
half of the provinces population" 1t
IS pity Mr.. Landheld did not possess
copy of this year book; he might ve
quoted from it.
Another beautiful trick of Russian
statisticians was to invent Russian vii
lagos and put them on the map Of Bcs-
sarabia. Says Professor e. dc Mar
tonne, Of Sorbonne University, the
great French geogra pher who visited
bessarabia in 1919: Everywhere on nv