Republican farmer., 1920-06-25
|AuSTRlANS CLAIM SERB SOLDIERS
 ATTACK CITIZENS


 Along the center of the beautiful val ley in which this old capital of Ca rinthia lies, runs the demarkation line separating Zone A and Zone B of the Austro South Slav plebisTnlte region It's population of some 125.- 900 are still waiting to know to what government they shall belong. whether they are to be part of Aus tria or subjects of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
 The Treaty of St Germain provides that within three months of the final ratification of peace the ballot shall be held and it is believed here that the plebiscite will take place in Aug ust-
 Meanwhile, Jugo-Slav troops who moved north last May, hold the south side of the demarkation line between the two zones as tightly as a war time frontier. They stand guard within rifle shot of K1agenfurt and in only cases can the line be passed by the inhabitants of the val ley.
 Several persons have been killed Iby Serb guards. One was the nat lsralized American citizen, Ernest JakIitsch, of Jackson, Kans., shot dead, the Austrians claim, without challenge while passing the frontier. The Jugo-Slav authorities say he was Ia notorious smugg1er.
 Fffteen-year-oold Betty Eide, shot by a South Slav guard while crossing the little stream that indicates the frontier, was buried with great cere- mony by the city of Klagenfurt. Citizens of the villages and towns along the zone have petitioned the Vienna government to seek relief through the Entente from the alleg- ed oppression of the Jugo-Slav sol diery and authorities. The following Is an extract from a letter addressed to the correspondent of The Assoclat- ed Press, reciting the killings men, toned and certain other specific at tAcks on citizens:
 ''From the vicinity of Lavamund tand Ruden are recently reported nu- merous cases of violation of girls and women by Serbian soldiers. The peaceful population of voting dis trict A is constantly exposed to all kinds of vacations. Crimes of every description are committed daily and those who live near the frontier are risking their lives every hour" I It is difficult even by the personal investigation just concluded to estab- fish the truth of the charges freely made by the Austrian authorities, but that the inhabitants of the zones Lare having a. rough time of it is cas- I ily apparent. The Jugo-Slav occupa- tion of the whole of Zone A. on the South, with the rigidly closed frontier works great hardship.
 Passing east and west through the fertile basin of Klagenfurt, and bi- secting literally Lake Worther, on whose eastern tip the city lies, it cuts farms in two, often separating farm house from it's fields. leaving others with their woodland on the other side, and as the Jugo-Slav auth ori- ties grant permits to pass only in Ger tain cases, much hardship has result ed.
 Farmers with stock on the other side have been compelled to kill or sacrifice, and in several instances the correspondent was shoown piled fire wood across the line, sometimes but a few hundred yards from the house, which the owner was not permitted to bring home.
 No food can cross to the north. It is all diverted to Laibach and other Slav cities. Thus while milk from COWS that pasture within sight of Klagenfurt goes to Laibach, the American Relief is feeding the city's children with milk shipped from America They have just been -e- guested, to try and feed an additional thousand.
 The Jugo-Slav authorities in this region deny that permits are refused to land owners or others who have legitimate business to cross the line They admit the complete embargo on food, but claim they exclude only po- litical agitators and propagandists They meet the Austrian charges with counter charges of the same charac- ter and point to the fact that through the intervention of the Entente Mis- sioh~ here, composed of British. French and Italians. all but about 1900 of the refugees who fled north when the Jugo-Slav troops moved ir have been permitted to return to theil fhomes. Also they allege that among rthem are hundreds of agitators an6 relectioneers we'll supplied with money ,Hwho are abusing their privilege 1T proselyting the population agains the impending vote. Then, too, the, charge that the Austrian officials re fuse passage to persons of Slav sym pathy. They do not, however, accuse the Austrian guards of killing.
 
 don of Zone A. the southern region at 23, 900 Germans and 50,000 Slo ivenes and kone B at 49.000 German and 5000 Slovenes. The JugoSlav: kdo-not admit this, claiming that tn ,Austrians list as German everyon' who speaks the tongue, while thu population is largely bilingual.
 Neutral observers point out that i ,K1le Southern zone votes Jugo-Slav sKlagenfurt will be forced to do like wise for economic reasons. Should remain Austrian with political iron rtier drawn across the edge of the city
 cutting it off from the agriculture
 and village population that means it
 life, it would perish
 One of the Jugo-Slav arguments
 however. is that their boundary mus
 be thrown north of the Karawanke
 mountains for military reasons. The say that this great natural fort, dom
 mating the regions to the soutf
 must be the back line to their iron
 in event of a war with German coun
 tries.