The New York herald., 1921-09-22
A Poser for the League.

Just when the special commission
of the League of Nations for the con-
servation of peace was in session at
Geneva was most inopportune mo-
ment for the Serbians to line up their
artillery along the Drina valley anc
open up bombardment of the AL
banian villages across the border.
The shells which shrieked through
the heated Balkan air dropped, figu-
ratively speaking, squarely down on
the council table of the covenanters.
They tore also through two of the
most sacred covenants Of the League.
Article X, which provides that the
members of the League-both Jugo-
Slavia and Albania are members
undertake to respect and preserve
as against external aggression the
territorial integrity and political in
dependence of all members of the
League" and Article XVI, which
specifies, Should any member of the
League resort to war in disregard OF
it's covenants it shall, ipso facto, be
deemed to have committed an act of
war against all other members Of the
League" The reverberation of these
shells, in the well known language
of the political forecaster, was heard
in every chancellery of Europe.
The Balkans, as history has shown,
is no place for individuals or nations
to be careless with firearms. There
are always hidden powder magazines.
The war cloud. though it be not big
ger than O mans hand, Is ever
lowering. The delicacy of the pres
ent situation is due to a trouble
which antedates the world war and
neglect of the Powers to define the
boundary line between Serbia and
Albania in the valleys of the White
and Black Drina.
In the first place, 1t is difficult to
tell where the Albanian population
ends and the Serbian begins, and in
the next it would be impossible to
force these two peoples to observe the
line of demarcation even If it was
drawn. BY the London Conference
Of 1913 Prizrend, the most impor-
| tant town OF the region, was awarded
to Serbia. This deprived the North
Albanian mountaineers OF their only
large market place and 1t incorpo-
rated within Siberia a considerable
Albanian population. The Albanians.
however, accepted and abided by the
decision. The Serbians said that
although they had the town they
lacked the defences to protect It
against the hostility OF their neigh
bors. The deep valley of the White
Drina, on the south, invited to incur
sions by the Albanian tribesmen. The
high ridge OF mountains Just over the
Albanian frontier on the west could
be quickly and easily fortified, and
Prizrend would be at the mercy OF
the Albanian guns.
So, with the boundary line high In
the air and the Albanians on their
good behavior for the purpose OF
showing how peaceful and lawful
they could be, the Serbians put forth
their pre-war claims and enforced
them with artillery and soldiers.
Naturally they took over and occu-
pied the contested villages. every
one OF them a strategic point" How
else could we get them? exclaims
SpALArKovrTcH, the Serbian delegate
We are going to get them back, says
Bishop NoLr, the militant Albanian
churchman and delegate. So the
matter goes before the League to be
threshed out in some sort OF way
along with that similar puzzle in the
Baltic region, Does wilma belong to
the Poles or the Lithuanians? Both
are difficult OF settlement; one is a
Baltic, the other Balkan, powder
magazine.
The depressing feature of the Serb
Albanian trouble grows out Of its
international entanglements. Great
Britain and Italy have openly de-
clared for tho integrity OF Albania as
established by the London Confer
cree of 1918. In this declaration
they are perhaps upheld by France.
What support Jugo-Slavia has in her
pretensions is not clear. but she is