New-York tribune., 1921-06-06
Poland's Claim in Silesia

propaganda. Poland has been repre-
sented as trying to make good by
force claims in the plebiscite district
which have no foundation in equity.
It is charged that the Korfanty up
rising was inspired from Warsaw
and that the Polish government is
intriguing TO prevent fair applica-
tion Of che terms Of the Versailles
Treaty.
On May Ia Premier Witos made
an address to the Polish Parliament
defining Poland's attitude toward the
Upper Silesian disturbances. He
said: II again declare that the Polish
government stands firmly by the
Treaty of Versailles, desires above
all its execution, and is resolved to
maintain this point Of view" He also
announced that the Polish-Silesian
border had been effectively closed,
that the Warsaw government was
opposed to use Of arms by the people
of. Upper Silesia to secure their
rights, and that it had done all it
could to restrain Korfanty and his
followers.
Korfanty is not a Pole. He Is an
Upper Silesian, long Deputy in the
German Reichstag. He is the leader
# q body of former German subjects
who have risen in protest against the
assignment to Germany of territory
which voted in the plebiscite for
union with Poland.
Korfanty hes drawn a line to
separate what he considers pro-
Polish Upper Silesia from pro-Ger-
man Upper Silesia. This line runs
from the Posen boundary, north of
Rosenberg, in a southwesterly direc-
ton to the Oder River, above OPP
peln, and then follows the river
south-southeast to the old Austro-
Prussian boundary. 1t includes two
small enclaves on the western bank.
In this district the total pro-German
vote was 408,890 and the total pro-
Polish vote 434,037. The German
enigrant voters numbered 94,065,
the Polish emigrant voters less than
5000. The vote was taken by com
nunes. Of these 662 went Polish
and only 226 German.
= In this region, as elsewhere in Up
per Silesia, there are numerous
manor estates owned by Germans.
They have favored status and are
kept separate from the communes in
which they are situated. The own
ers exercise semi-medieval legal and
political powers. Nearly all of these
manors registered the will of the
owners. Apart from them the bulk
of the German vote was cast in the
chief cities.
According to Berlin reports, the
British and Italian members of the
Upper Silesian Commission wanted
to give the two southeastern border
districts of Pless and Rybnik to Po-
land and to turn back the rest of the
territory within the Korfanty line to
Germany. This would be manifest
injustice. There was a strong pro-
Polish majority in many other dis
triets than Pless and Rybnik. An
apportionment which would separate
the pro-German manors and cities
from the rest of the territory is I'M
practicable. Any fair division, tax
ing into account economic solidarity
as we'll as the wishes of majority
of the actual inhabitants, would give
i Poland virtually all the territory
Within the Korfanty line.
= The pro-Polish Upper Silesians do
not covet the territory west of the
Oder or the big northern and north
western segment of the plebiscite
area. They concede these to Ger
many. But they have a valid claim
on the eastern and southeastern sec
tions.
This claim was admitted at Paris
III the unanimous report of the com
mission named to fix the Polish
boundaries. 1t wasn't challenged
until after the treaty was submitted
to the German delegates. Then, un-
fortunately, Lloyd George influenced
Glemenceau and Wilson to annul the
commission settlement and to sub
stitutc the plebisoite interregnum.
Two years of delay and pickering
ever the execution Of the treaty have
weakened Allied unity and given
Germany chance to profit by it.
Upper Silesia has become football
in lnter-Allied politics. Justice to
Poland is being forgotten in a desire |