Evening star., 1921-07-16
7W0NEW NATIONS '
FIGHT AGAINST ODDS
Esthonia and Latia May Be
Either Gateway or Bar
rier to Russia.

| .btSIVS OQIV"oy VI 0os
rier to Russia.
World attention has been focused
SO closely upon storm centers of cen
| trail and southern Europe that COM
! paratively little has been heard of
the new nations carved from Russia
| along the Baltic sea-" says bulle-
| tin from the Washington headpearters
OF the National Geographic Society.
But with the gradua. resumption
OF commerce between Russia and the
| outside world, Esthonia and Latvia
| will assume more important aspect,
either as barriers or gateways to in
terror Russia
'Much. too. has been written Of
the expressions of other subject
peoples. The Esthonians might well
claim to be the peers of any national
| suffering since medieval times. be-
cause they have been sore beset both
by Germans and Russians.
Germans Enforce Russian Laws.
From the eighties of the last CEN
| tury until the world war period Es-
thonta bore the double yoke of Tsar-
list laws administered by German Of
| dcials. AS one writer exclaims,
| Heaven preserve US from Russian
| law as interpreted by Germans! The
| Russian official may not take Rus
sian law very seriously. but one can
be sure that the German officials
| will
| "One must go far back into Estho-
| nian history to trace the origin OF this
| duplicate despotism. And to the stu
dent Of human geography the emer-
gence to a sudden independence Of a
people so long submerged will make
an eXDeriment worth watching,
| THE Esths are an aboriginal peo-
pie of northern Europe, who once ter
rorized the Baltic by piracy and later
clashed often with Swedes and, Danes.
Tradition has it that the Oldest
| flag of Europe. that OF Denmark,
dates from 1919, when the Danish
Waldemar II. who may be likened to
| Alfred the Great, was conducting a
campaign to subdue Esthonia. A
| great silver cross appeared against a
fiery background in the heavens as an
! omen OF success. This same Walde-
| mar, in the same year, founded the
| town Of Reval. now capital and sea
port of Esthonia.
Conquest i'm Guise Of Conversion.
Few nations can show so consist
| ent a record of conquest under the
guise OF conversion as the Esthonians
The Danes came to baptize them al
the point Of the sword: then entered
/
the role Of Crusaders and remaining
for some six centuries as overlords
During the long era of German as.
cendancy the country became thor.
oughly Protestant.
within the past half century the
Russians undertook strenuous metn.
ods to gather the Esths into the fole
of their Orthodox church. Long ex
iperience taught these people the wis
dom of accepting conversion anC
then returning to their fold. Bu
when they tried this expedient after
the visits Of Russian priests the,
found it q civil crime to withdraw
from the Russian church after hav.
ing entered it. Moreover. for a Prot.
estant clergyman to marry a man oil
woman who belonged to the Russian
church was punishable by imprison.
ment.
''The rugged endurance of this
northern people, their vitality anc
spirit, Is sufficiently shown by thei,
bearing up under oppression that wa.
both religious and political. and from
the political standpoint both Prus
sian and Russian. Perhaps thei,
Mongolia descent helps account fo
that.
Nations and Nature Unkind.
Before the world war Esthonia wa
accounted one Of the most progressiv,
regions, agriculturally. in Russia
Nature is scarcely kinder to the Esth
than nations. They live in low
swampy country. nowhere as higl
above sea level as the base to toJ
height of the Washington Monument
Their summers are hot: their winter!
cold.
THE people have an especial Low,
for song. are Industrious and progres
sive. and their struggle to gain
livelihood from the soil rather thar
q lack of enterprise accounts for tn,
fact that some of their smaller vii
lagos have been described as being
among the most non-descript ant
least lovely in all Europe.
1T should be noted that the fre,
Esthonia recognized by many Euro
pean governments comprises NOR,
than the old Russian Esthonia. i
part of Livonia is included in the new
state. while the southern part o
Livonia. along with Courland, goes t,
make up Latvia The Esthonians an,
the Let's have less in common tina,
one might expect of two neighbo
peoples who have suffered for cen
turtles the same sings Of outrageou
national fortune.
Reval Member Of First Biz Trust,
"Reval, busy seaport city, betrays IT
: German influence, and has been de
scribed by some visitors as akin to ,
medieval German town. 1t has had
commanding position in commerce sine
1t was one of the eighty five city mem
bers Of the first giant trust. the Han
seattle League. But 1t has Russian hal
marks, notably the Tower Of st. Olaf
one of the tallest in Russia. which woul,
Ger top the Times building in New
York.
'Dorpat is the Cambridge of Esthoni.
I-perhaps the Heidelberg of Esthoni;
would be the better appellation. sine
Dorpat was a seat Of German influence
The University of Dorpat was founde,
by Gustavus Adolphus twelve year
, after the pilgrims set tooth on Plymouth
rock and more than a century befor
the next Oldest university in pre-wa.
Russia, that at Moscow"
RESOLUTION FAvORS IRISH.