The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. c.
PRESS AGENTING A NATION.

| inquire on the troubled scene OF IN
ternational relations is the publicity
| agent who represents a small nation
i trying to get the recognition of larger
ones for its right to an independent
! existence.
The splintering of national boun-
daries which the war brought about.
| as We all know, produced a large crop
of new nations. 1t also brought be-
fore the whole world two principles,
| the first time made popular. These
! principles were the fright of self-de-
termination" and the rights of small
| nations" or, as one wag puts it since
the Versailles negotiations, the small.
| rights of nations"
1t is true that the old-line diplomats
| and politicians who made the peace
and who have held the reins of power
| in Europe ever since, made light of
these principles. The right of a peo-
pie to determine it's own political
| destiny has scarcely anywhere been
made good, and the rights of small
nations have appeared to be what
| ever the large nations found it con-
Ven1ent and profitable to allow them
Nevertheless, those two principles
nave become more than mere phrases
for the simple reason that they have
| been grasped by millions of men, They
| nave not been put into execution, but
they nave been enormously advertised.
The peoples of these small nations
cling to them with desperate hope,
and cry out, above the clash of armies
and the Sonorous rumble of diplo-
macy, to the people of other nations.
The whole world has grasped the idea
| that small and weak nation may
| have rights, which it is not strong
enough to enforce, but which must
nevertheless be enforced for the sake
OF Justice; just as a small or weak
man has rights which other men pro-
| feet
principle of justice and cooperation
instead of force and fraud is but i'm
perfectly enforced between man and
man. and force and fraud often tri-
| umph- AS between nations force and
fraud seem to triumph almost always.
Yet it is by evolving this principle of
! justice and>trying to live up to it that
men have been able to emerge from
| the jungle, and live together in larger
| and larger units-first in families,
then. in tribes, and finally in great and
| well organized states. The extension
of this principle to the dealings of ma
lions, SO that the whole world may be-
| come the safe home of all men, is
surely the next step. 1t is an. ideal,
4 and you may damn it with the ad-
jective Utopian If you wish, but it is the
I next step on the long road the race
| has been travelling ever since it came
down from the trees.
| The Case of Iithuania.
So the small nation, addressing its
| plea to the conscience of the world,
deserves some attention. And where
is it to get that attention unless thru
| the newspapers?
| Take the republic of Lithuania, for
| instance. In medieval times it was a
great nation, as nations went in those
! days. Its kings claimed a large terri
tory and controlled it more or less
| successfully. In the course of time
Lithuania became province of Rus
STA, but it always remained distfnc-
tive. The chief reason for this is that
i its people are not Slavs nor Asiatics,
tof any other kind, but are tall blonde
| Nordics, of the same race that has
/ given England and America some of
their best stock. This Baltic Iittoral
on which Lithuania is situated is said
by anthropologists to be the original
home of the Nordic type of man. Its
\ cold and cloudy climate evolved his
light coloring and high thin nose,
suited to breathe cold damp air. From
| this region the Nordic type has spread
over the whole world, all except the
tropical and semi-tropical parts, which
are not climatically suited to it
When the crash came in Russia,
L1thuanla seized the opportunity to
set up an independent republic. This
republic was not in the least like the
Russian government, but modelled
latter our own. Having thus resisted
the Bolshevik propaganda, of which
the allied nations are so fearful.
ILithuania ought to have had their
sympathy But Poland claimed a large
part of the Lithuanian territory, and
has seized about one-tl1ird of it. It is
said plebiscite would show beyond a
doubt that the population of Lithuania
is overwhelmingly in favor of a
Lithuanian republic and against Po-
; lish domination. But France wants a
large and strong nation as a buffer
between her and Russia, and she has
L, n -I@-1
ever since the war, with somewhat
distressing results. Hence France is
against the claims of Lithuania to an
independent existence. and in favor OF
giving most of the Lithuanian terri
tory to Poland.
England's Attitude.
England, on the other hand, is said
to be favorable to the Lithuanian as
pirations, and this Lithuanian prob
lem is said to be one of the several
which are straining relations between
| Britain and France.
| In this, as in so many other Eu-
ropean matters the United States
: holds q. sort of balance of power. II
the United States should extend for
NAL recognition to the Lithuanian re-
public. its case would be enormously
strengthened, probably won.
) That is why Lithuania has hired 8
: press agent, and put him here In
Washington to, tell the American peo-
pie all about Lithuania and her as
: pirations If the American people
thru their newspapers, can be con-
WINGED that the Lithuanian republic
should be recognized. it probably will
be recognized by the American gov.
t eminent in due course. Meantime
: most of the American public does not
even know that there is a, Lithuanian
republic. Its official publicity agent
Mr.. NJ. E. King, is up against one o.
the hardest jobs a press agent ever
tackled. The methods of putting ovel
a movie star or a candidate for con
: gress are well known and systema
5 tized, but when it comes to putting