Evening star., 1920-02-29
BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

episode at the present hour
lies in the extent to which it
serves to shed light upon the
character Of the great American ad-
venture in Europe. Examining this
incident In all of it's various phases,
one may see how difficult and how
complicated is the task which Presi-
dent Wilson undertook at Paris, the
task Of imposing American ideas upon
Europe.
To begin at the beginning, Ffume is
a purely Italian town, situated in a
wholly Slavonic region, surrounded
on three sides by Slav populations,
winch, In fact, constitute a consider
able minority within its limits. On
, the fourth side is the sea. Historic
ally Fiume has only the remotest as
! sociation with Italy, having been for
centuries connected with Austria or
with Hungary and in recent times a
crown possession Of the Hungarian
kingdom.
Commercially and economically it is
the natul:u port Of the vast Slav and
magyar regions, which constitute it's
immediate and remoter hinterland
and it is one of the two ports by
Whlch all the districts which were in
cluoeo within the Hapsburg empire
; must communicate with the outside
worio' The other port. Trieste. is al
reaoy IN Italian hands Even in the
| case OF Trieste. however. the Savonic
cialm IS worthy of note, because all
the populations surrounding the town
are Slav and Trieste mas a large and
growing Slovenian minority
Why Italy Wants Fiume.
The Italian claim to Fiume rests
upon the fact that within the narrow
| limits OF the town a majority Of the
people are Italian. Under a strict in
| depreciation of the fourteen points,
| self-determination might establish
| Italian rights. But, on the other hand.
| the real desire of the Italians is
| founded upon the wish to dominate
| the Adriatic coast, to control the two
ports of the Slav hinterland and thus
TO establish economic and political
control of this portion of the world.
II F1ume were to pass out Of Ital-
| ian hands it would at once become
| the formidable rival Of Trieste and it
| is by no means certain that this would
not spell the ruin Of Trieste. because
the Slavs would naturally use Fiume
| and Trieste would be deprived of it's
! commerce. 1t would lie within Slav
power. since the Jugoslavs control
| the whole hinterland with its rail-
| ways, to divert all traffic to Fiume
| and Trieste would perish.
I Dy SOHlEdSls IL 1ldIy SdiHcu SOHtIoi
| of both of the available parts of Jugo-
| slavia, that country would be eco
nomica1ly at the mercy of Italy. Nor
/ is the Italian insistefice upon the
| availability Of other ports worth dis
| cussing. The character of the con-
| try, which is mountainous. forbids the
| construction, save at prohibitive costs.
of any alternative railway line. Actu-
ally IL the Italians acquire both Fiume
and Trieste they have Jugoslav COM
| merce at their mercy.
In this situation President Wilson's
opposition to the original proposal
| that Italy have Fiume is understandable.
| is in fact, unassailable. as a question
l of right and wrong. A country OF
| IL 100000 of people, as large as Italy
! in area and destined to have a popu-
| lation nearly as large in a future not
| too distant, cannot safely be deprived
| of a sea gate or placed in economic
subjection to the Italians. Moreover.
| if the population of Fiume. less than
| 30 900, contains a majority of Italians,
very large areas with purely SlaV
population have been assigned TO
italy on grounds which could be cited
| to warrant Jugoslav claims TO flume'
Secret Treaty In 1915.
| Unfortunately. the naked question
of right or wrong has little TO 10
| with the larger aspects Of the ques-
| ton. In 1915. when Great Britain
! and France needed Italian aid. they
made a secret treaty with the Italian
government by which they promised
Italy the Austrian territory in the
| Trehtine and Tyrolese districts. as
| far north as the Brenner pass.
Trieste and the Istrian peninsula, the
northern half of Dalmatia and GER
! tain other things in Albania and Asia
Minor.
All this was done long before the
fourteen points were even porn;
| Italy accepted the promise. entered
the war and performed her part or
| the bargain. She therefore feels en-
titled to claim her reward. and.
looked at purely as a contracturai
obligation, neither France nor Brit
ain has the smallest warrant TO de-
cline to carry out the agreement OIL
1915.
But when the matter was raised at
Paris, President Wilson firmly op-
posed the performance by Britain
and France of their contract. His
opposition was based upon the solid
foundation that this meant placing
many hundreds of thousands of Slavs
under Latin rule, depriving them of
their own nationality and also de-
priving the Slavs of the hinteriand
Of access to the sea A more ma
grant break with the fourteen poihts
was not conceivable.
Meantime the Italians on their
side had formulated other demands
In their agreement with the British
and the French they had left Jugo-
slav claims to Fiume unquesttoned.
Rnt % this concession had aroused pro-
test in certain italian quarters. ana
for reasons of domestic politics 1t
became necessary for the ministry
of the hour to advance claims to
Fiume also. These claims were based
upon the fourteen points. upon the
right Of fseIf-determination. In Paris,
therefore, the Italians claimed lstrla
and Dalmatia, the Slav hinterland
of Trieste, on the basis of the Anglo
French bargain, the treaty OF Lon
don of 1915. But they claimed rune
on the basis of self-determination.
Fnench.Englfsh Compromise.
This opened a way for compromise.
France and Great Britain had no wish
to oppose President Wilson; they had
no private or selfish interest in ad-
yancing Italian claims. They. were
merely bound by a bargain; II tney
could be relieved from the bargain
they would welcome the escape. ape hHt hn
the treaty Of London they could hon
orabIy insist that the whole treaty
he enforced, and that. while Dalmatia
was assigned to Italy, Ffume shouid
be turned over to the JugoslaEs.
TO this the Italians at Paris could
not consent. because it merely con-
victed them at home of weakness and
insured the fall Of the ministry.
While this debate was still in prog
ress Mr.. Wilson appealed to the ltal-
ian people over the head Of ORLANDO,
e1necting that the Italian people
would see the injustice Of the Italian
nosition and compel the ministry to
ahandon it's stand. Instead. the coun-
try rallied to the italian claims and
the ministry fell, precisely because it
had not made good Italian demands.
ftaiy then withdrew from the peace
conferences, but presently resumed