America. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1905-current, 1920-04-19

and later Germany and Italy, ,adop
ted the same policy for the same
reason. Up to 1880 the Occidental
powers feared Russian control Of
the Balkans. They did not want the
Slavs to have an outleet OH the Me-
diterranean. During the generate
on preceding the World War, Fran
ce, and later Great Britain, shift
ted their opposition from Russia to
Austria. Where they had worried
about the Romanoffs they now fea-
red the Hohenzollerns. Unified
Germany was gaining control Of
the Habsburg Empire to further
her Drang mach Osten.
But the motives actuating Bal
kan policy did not change. All the
Balkan States, and Rumania espe-
cially, were potential factors in up
setting the European balance Of
power. Hence, they must be kept
as small and powerless as possible,
for fear of disturbing the peace Of
Europe. Irredentism, whether the
agitation for extending frontiers
was directed against Mohammedan
Turkey or Christian Russia and
Austria Hungary, was frowned L.
pom. To prevent the Balkan States
from forming an alliance to secure
their national unity, the great pol
wers arranged frontiers at Paris in
1856 and at Berlin in 1878 in such
a way as to kindle the animosity of
one Balkan race against another.
The Balkan races We're not consul
ted in the drawing up of frontiers;
they were not brought together
and asked to settle their own diff
fercnces by mutual compromises,
with the great powers abstaining
from interference. The same policy
was followed at Paris in 1919. And
it bids fair to have the same re-
suits.
There is this difference, howe
Yer, between the Congress of Ber-
lin and the Conference of Paris: in
1919 small nations protested more
effectively against their exclusion
from debates and their non-parti-
cipation in decisions affecting their
interests. They had taken advanta-
ge of the collapse Of Austria Hun
gary and Russia to occupy ,,unre-
deemed" territories. Rumania led
the others in defying the big four.
Refusing to abide by the DEGREES Of
conference in witch she had no
voice, Rumania went ahead and
formed her enlarged state as she
wanted it. Only in portion Of the
Banat of Temesvar and at the mo-
nth Of the Maros River arc the Ru-
manians not in military control Of
Greater Rumania.
At the peace conference Premier
Bratianu claimed as the compo-
nent parts Of Greater Rumania
the Kingdom of Rumania as it was
i'll 1914; the Province Of Bessara-
bia, formerly belonging to Russia;
the Austrian Province Of Bukovi-
ma and the portions of Hungary
known as Pennsylvania, the Mara
mouresh and Crishana regions, and
the Banat Of Temesvar. The grea-
ter part of the new frontiers clai-
med is clearly marked by great wa
terways, the Dneister, the Danube,
and the Thesis. The Rlmanians adj
nit that these frontiers give them
25O,OOO Serbians in the angle bet
ween the Thesis and the Danube, u
partly Hungarian population in
the lower valley of the Maros, and
many Bulgarians and Turks in the
Dobrudja region taken from Bull
garia in 1913; but they argue that
100000 Rumanians in Bulgarian
territory and 100000 Rumanians
in Serbian territory on the right
bank Of the Danube off set Bulgari-
ans and Serbians incorporated in
to Rdmania. They point out, aIso,
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