Evening star., 1921-10-02

To the Editor Of The Star:
The article by Mr.. Oliver o. Kuhn
in last Sundays Star on the Albanian
question fails. think. to give cor
rect impression as to the matter ac-
tually at issue. May I. therefore, be
permitted to present the situation
from another point of view?
In order to completely understand
this question we must go back to the
beginning of things SO as to find out
the exact status of Albania and where
her territorial and other rights be-
gin and end.
Up to the war between Turkey and
the Balkan states lin 1912. Albania
That she today enjoys freedom and
independence she owes to the very
Serbia which she now opposes and
attacks. The Albanians as a people
are turbulent. ignorant (about 80 per
cent are illiterate), and restive under
certain primitive virtues of courage
and hospitality no one denies. They
possess a language of their own and
have strongly marked racial and ma
tional characteristics. The various
tribes have also kind of primitive
love of liberty, which inspires a GER
tain amount of sympathy But. un-
fortunately. this love Of liberty on
their part does not include respect
for the liberty of others. AS a re-
>sult brigandage is rampant and plum
dering incursions into neighboring
territory, especially after the harvest
has been gathered, are of constant
occurrence.
During the whole time Albania formed
part of the Ottoman empire it was in
against the authority of the sultan.
Then came the war of 1912 and the
liberation of the Balkans from the
Turkish yoke. One of the first bene-
which hastened to proclaim it's inde-
pendence.
At the conference of the powers in
1913 it was proclaimed an independ-
ent state. its frontiers were defined
and Wilhelm zu Wied. German
prince, was elected mvret or king. His
reign. however was neither long nor
glorious. He proved completely in
cpable of ruling the turbulent tribes
men. and had. after few months, to
riedly. After his departure Essad
Pasha, a former general Of the sultan
and native Albanian, seized power
and succeeded in maintaining himself
at Durazzo until the Germano-Aus-
tro-Bulgarian invasion of 1915 COM
PEELED him to leave in his turn. Essad
Pasha's methods of government would
hardly recommend themselves to
more westerly peoples, but he main
tanned that as he was born Alban-
ian. he knew better how to rule the
country than an outsider. This, he
frankly admitted. had to be done with
a heavy hand 1t was his ambition
to return to Albania after the peace,
but this the opponents OF his rule
settled in characteristic Albanian
fashion by assassinating him in the
streets of Paris.
Italy then proclaimed protectorate
over the country, but proved unable
TO obtain Albanian support. the
tribeSmen took up arms against the
Italians and their troops were forced
TO evacuate the country. From the
general anarchy which followed a
government emerged which called It.
self the government of Tirana, from
the fact that it established its head
quarters in the town of that name.
Its authority is. however, far from
being universally admitted. 1t Is
largely Mohammedan in character and
has, therefore. excited the nl-wiH
Of the Mirdites or Catholic section,
which forms about one-third OF the
population. These are now in revolt
against the Tirana government.
One of the great problems In Al
bania is that of the blood-feuds of the
various tribes or clans, which keep
the country in a constant state OF
turmoil and trouble. In q country,
where everybody goes armed and
where the respect for human life is a
negligible quantity this internecine