The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-30
CITY PROTESTS
 ITS ANNEXATION

Odenburg, German West Hungary, April 30-Red, white and green
 posters with legends of protest
 against the separation of this pro
 Hungarian city from Hungary, and its
 accession by Austria as. soon as the
 peace is ratified, appear in nearly
 every house and shop window.
 Two Austrian commissioners, sent
 here to make preliminary arrange
 ments for taking over the admins tration of the town, upon their arrfv- al were hooted and jeered by great crowd, vegetables were thrown at their carriage and black flags hung from most of the public and other buildings. They seem powerless, it is | said, and are now virtually voluntar- | fly interned in their offices here.
 This little city, which the Hungar- i ians call Sopron, is the metropolis of | that strip of territory which the l Peace Conference took from Hun 1 gary and gave to Austria on econo-
 mic, ethnologic and strategic grounds. 1 Its loss has caused the Budapest government to make various propos- 1 a1s to Austria in an effort to retain | it, all of which have been refused. 1 Meanwhile the men here very gen. orally wear the Hungarian colors in their coat 1apels and the women on their hats or as hair ribbons. The Austrians charge that the demonstra- ton against their mission was a gov-
 ernmental1y organized affair.
 The Hungarian government has en-
 deavored, it is charged, to create the
 impression that this region is pre-
 ponderantly Hungarian in race, ton
 que and by prediction. The Vienna
 government, on the other hand, re- sisted this with counter claims tha the people are dominantIy GermaniC
 by blood, language and desire.
 Of late weeks there has been con
 siderable publicity given semi-offf , cia1 Austrian statements that, pend : ing their withdrawal, the Hungarian were expressing the Austrian popula
 ton, .requisitioning material of al l kinds and generally wreaking thei revenge in much the same way tn 8 Rumanians did to them. It was evel i stated in high Vienna quarters tha z farmers horses were being takel z away.
 These reports were so persistent a q to lead the correspondent for tn s Associated Press to attempt a frs a hand investigation. This has covere 5 ten typical villages, exclusive of thi little capital, with talks here an, /! there with peasants in the fields o 3 II along the roads.
 Ell It is fair to say that in the regio visited no evidence in support of tn Ell alleged Hungarian oppression or re ] II Quisitioning was to be had. The ne impression gained was that the ma a jority of the population in the local \ ties covered gre in favor of union wit g Austria. Ohe reason assigned by th a peasants was because the Magyar. 2 they said, had never given them pror ! CT schools Their children were poor a ly taught, if taught at all, and the s at least knew the Austrians had goo q schools. Then, Vienna was their maj A ket. Budapest was a long way off. I'll S l Hungarian official classes were "ur s sympathetic with the farmer and S S on. This was echoed in other town q Naturally, there was dissent. Hel N and there men talked of the Vienr E Communist government, with whic s they wanted nothing to do.
 4 Here in Odenburg at present an A S lied Commission is sitting, compost S of British, French and Italian officer z watching over affairs until the Au A trians take hold.
 s This is a vine country. It h A always looked to Hungary for 1 grain supply and fear exists that tf ,a may be cut off. Thus the econon g5 problem assumes a very vital pha 2 for Austria which must supply sa least as much grain as this regi sa has received heretofore.
 @ While the territory involved H small and the population only abe H 300,O0O, the strategic aspect Of u Fl area probably is it's most imports & one. Austria's present frontier is N garded as dangerous in that Wien E and Wiener-Neustkdt, as well as ma W other industrial centers lying alo E the main line of the railway, are ] E little distance from Hunga N easily open to attack from that m E powerful neighbor. The acquisit E of German West Hungary is thus Ea |