Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-16
GREECE AND vENIZETO9.

Editor Every Evening" happened 70
run across an open letter which appeared
in your issue of December III, signed by
Elias Sellris. He starts out his tirafle against
the former Premier Venizelos by stat
ing that his defeat In very pleasing 10 the
great minority Of right thinking Greeks,
and explains that King Constantine was
deposed from the throne Of Greece BY
Others than the Greek people. THIS n
past history and no further explana~
tion IN necessary, as the American people
read the newspapers and are familiar
with the facts.
The young man also goes INTO rather a
lengthy explanation IN regard 70 certain
points of the VeErzelos administration,
from his personal viewpoint. Permit me
10 state that | am, FIRST Of all, an Amen
can citizen and have taken the stand that
it is my business 10 support the govern
rncut of this country rather than % take
partisan viewpoint as To what should be
dorie in Greece. But, IN justice 70 the great
majority Of right thinking Greeks who
feel that former Premier VenIzelOs u one
of the greatest statesmen ~ the world,
who did more for Greece than any other
one individual or groups Of people,
cannot feel that the statements made IN
the letter referred 10 should 90 unanswer-
ed
OF course the people Of all nations arc
vorid-weary, and changes have been
made in administrations not 20 mucn on
personal lines, but because the people de-
sired a change. This feeling was rcspon-
sible for Mr.. Venizelos' defeat n Oreece
we all know 10. Venixeios was the real
leader Of his people, real statesman, q
man who secured results for the Oenent
/ of his people AZ we'll &c for the rest Of the
civilized world He Was not prob Kaiser,
nor could he IN any way be considered
/ pro- Kaiser, as was the case WITH certain
/ of mis- enemies. The letter J refer 70 rnaEe7
/ the direct charge that while Fenizeios
/ Was Premier he had imprisoned, eTlled and
/ shot political opponents a. Will, ana slsn
/ discharged efficient army officers, about
/ three thousand IN number. Now J believe
/ that what Venizelos did do was ~ hre
+ about one hundred army officers who were
i dsloyal 70 his administration and acre
/ pro Kaiser, The charge made against
/ Venizelos censorship 81 the mail Is utter
/ IT. ureuosterous, because every country
under conditions of war ia. ike censor
ship. Mr.. Nenizelos, as the leader of his
country, naturally took fnil charge d me
duties of his office, feeling that his person.
Al responsibility yrs ~ great that he must
/ conduct ms Office in a manner that would
h benefit Greece 81 well 50 her Allies. ANY
normal and thinking usn must Of neoes-
slty stand by the countries which arF
allied With bis country in war and eHdOr7'
action in not effectlng coilus-
+ iGu m4o.. cenulry-old enemies, Turkey and
Bulgaria, the Kslser's allies
The question asked '' Why did Neuizeio'
leave Greece 30 quickly the night ot th'
election?" appears rather childish, Tor %
alone can best answer this question. IL U
not for any one Of Us 70 dictate 70 anothe'
what he shall do, provided his actions
are peacesDle and law-abidrnz. However
il is known that for the past three or fou
years Mr.. Venizelos has spent most o
bis time looking after the interests OF al
people IN foreign countries, and the re
suits Of MS efforts have been shown Dy M
concessions be mas received for Greece
The next question asked ls: Why 10
let the Greek people r1Ile themselves with
out outside interference" Personally
would answer this by saying that II Is u
opinion that Greece should run her ow7
affairs u a manner that s satisfactory z
) the interests Of Greece, not forgetting %
one moment the support that : due ne
Allies who for years have 50 stauncnl
supported Greece IS 3 nation. Howevel
such outside interference as s manifesto
bv the Young man who wrote the lettt
which appeared IN your columns on Deceu
Der II IS the xind OF interference Tnlc
appears rather ambiguous.
John Govstos.
wilmington, December Is, 1870.