The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1920-01-06

Relief Missions, both in Austria and
in Hungary, and in a number of unof-
fetal British workers are doing ev'
erything possible to stem the tide of
distress" In Serbia alone, Sir Will
liam declared, there are 100000 faith
erless children, most of whom are
suffering from hunger and exposure,
1T seems to me that you cannot
trifie with starvation and privation in
Central Europe such as prevails to.
day in Vienna without running the
risk of a carnival of Bolshevism
which would probably not be confined
to this continent / do not want to
cry wolf and | am rather inclined
to think that Bolshevism has been
used too much as bogy, but anyone
with half an eye must realize that if.
as result of apparently legitimate
grievances, forces of unrest are loosed
in the heart Of Europe, the whole
world, the United States as well as
ourselves, will be menaced."
Sir William declared that first
and foremost among the causes Of the
present situation in Central Europe
is the delay in making peace.
1T scarcely seems to be realized
in the United Kingdom he contin-
ued, isolated from the continent Of
Europe by narrow strip Of water
and still less in the United States,
isolated by the Atlantic. Ocean, that
Austria, Hungary Bulgaria and Tur.
key are still technically at war with
the Allies and, what is more import
ant, at war with nose of their neigh
bors.
"As one approaches the frontiers
one finds every little wayside station
packed with soldiers, bayonets fixed
and railway sidings congested with
wagons War, and all
the wasteful effect Of preparedness
for war upon economic and industrial
are visualized for miles as
enc travels through these countries
"In many corners of Central Eli
rope today the inhabitants do not ey-
en- known their own nationality. I'm
til universal peace is ratified. until
boundary commissions are able to
get to work. and until plebiscites can
determine the future of democracies,
Central Europe will be patchwork
of chronological dislocation An over
prolonged armistice; following upon
four years of war, has knocked away
almost every fundamental prop; no
litical, financial and economic II.
States on. the 4Danube-the.. main
avenue Of traffic--fear to send barges
out of their own territorial waters
lest they should be appropriated by
their nextdoor neighbor Just as on
land the British Tommy is the only
safeguard for train Of supplies, so
on the Danube one of Admiral TrOu-
bridges British mine-layers, with
little British MILDLY in command, is
the only guarantee of safe conduct.
THE other day, on the Jugo-Slav
frontier, trains of food supplies ar
ranged by the Allied Relief Missions
and all paid for by the Austrian gov
eminent were on their way to miti-
gate starvation in Vienna. At the
last moment the Jugo-Slav govern
ment clapped on an export duty OF
40 per cent and refused to permit
the trains to 60 forward unless that
tax was paid in foreign exchange.
ventured to take international law
into my own hands and, thanks to the
resourcefulness and intrepedity Of a
couple of young British Army officers,
those trains arrived in Vienna.
Another interlocking difficulty as
between food and transport is the
persistent flocking of peasants with
eggs, sacks of -four. live geese and
ducks and all kinds of agricultural
produce into the towns. In snow.
rain, or any kind of weather, you can
see not only the inside but the roof
OF every railway carriage thronged
with this quacking crowd of food
spectators. Their traffic has as
sumed such proportions as to make
legitimate railway travelling almost
impossible. What it means in the
problem of food distribution will be
apparent when tell you that a train
OF 40 carriages full of these pictur.
esque profiteering pedlars can only
carry as much food as could be nut
into four ordinary railway trucks"
a