The New York herald., 1922-03-12
Attitude of Lett Government
Toward. Poles Marked by
Great Injustice.
special Correspondence to THE NEW YoEK
HERALD.
ny CAPT. FRANCIS M,CULLAGH.

table No Mans Land which still exihts
in Europe. There Is no fighting, but
The narrow strip Of neutral zone fixed
by the officials of the League Of Ma
tions is real No Mans Land of the
fighting days, being carefully pro-
tected by barbed wire. sentry Posts,
and obstacles of all the usual descrip-
lion. Practically all the Lithuanian
army is scattered in the villages be-
tween Kovno and the frontier; and /
found it to be well disciplined army,
strong in field artillery and with
plenty of horses.
On the Polish side there is only one
platoon of soldiers at the frontier, and
there is nobody at all looking after
the one excellent system Of barbed
wire that has been put up halfway
between Wilma and the frontier. But
the Poles can afford to dispense with
precautions, for their army In Wilma
is numerous and well appointed. The
streets are patrolled by UhlaLs in
their brilliant uniforms. and saw
several batteries OF artillery travers-
ing the streets.
crammed with Polish officers all day
long, and the scene there and In the
streets reminds one of the early days
OF the great war in London. everybody
being in uniform, great Generals NOV
ing about like gorgeous peacocks. and a
constant saluting. clanking of sabers,
jingling Of spurs. and standing to atten-
ton. going on from morning to night In
all public places. General Zeligovsky
has left Wilma and civilian, M. Mesta-
witch. has taken his place: but this
pretence at yelling the mailed fist Is a
very thin pretense for other Generals
are there. I saw one highly imposing
specimen in the restaurant of the st.
George. and I do not know how many
others are in wilma. Portraits OF Zeli-
govsky and PilsudsN are displayed
everywhere, even at the Polish Control
Post on the frontier. and. before leav-
ing. was obliged to get wise not from
a local wilma authority. but from the
Polish Delegation. All these Polish
functionaries were. however. exceed
ingly polite and efficient: but It is clear
that the wilma territory is already prac-
tically annexed to Poland
NtcrOry Tor AnnGxnt1Ons
NJ. Mestavitch. the Civil Governor.
discussed with me the results Of the
recent plebiscite. He told me that in
the town or wilma the elections had gone
overwhelmingly in favor OF annexation
to Poland, fifteen deputies being In
favor OF annexation, and only three for
autonomy inside the Polish republic.
There was not a single vote cast in
favor of the Kovno Government. with
which lin the Civil Governors opinion)
nobody in Wilma wants to have anything
at all to do. In the country districts
so per cent. of the people voted and II
per cent. of the Jews. So. at least. NJ.
Mestavitch said. A large majority of
the country deputies want incorporation
with Poland though they are really in
favor OF autonomy inside the Polish
state. Out OF 106 deputies in the wilma
Seim. 40 are in favor OF downright
annexation, while from 20 to SO will
vote for annexation in the hope that
Poland will afterwards give them auton-
omy. The remainder want autonomy
inside Poland but viii have nothing to
do with Lithuania. 30 that a great
majority win therefore support incor-
poration. =.
The Jews in wilma refrained from
voting, all but about IL per cent. OF
of, their leader. DIR. vigodsky, tried
TO obtain concessions from the Wilma
Government and from Warsaw. but ap-
parently without success. What they
wanted. according to M. Mestavitch, was
the recognition of the Jews as separate
nationality by Poland, but the Civil Gov
ernor said that this would make them
a State within State and could not
be conceded. Then DIR. vigodslty went
10 Warsaw. but got no satisfaction there
so that the Jews refrained as rule
from voting. NJ. Mestavitch explained
why he could not concede to the Jews
all they wanted, but he maintained
that they we're absolutely equal before
the law; and he said that he had gone
as far as he could go IN the direction
of meeting their wishes by promising
public money for their schools and spe-
cial facilities for the supply Of food pre-
pared in the Jewish manner.
strictly Polish Town.
He pointed out to me that wilma was
a thoroughly Polish town and showed
to me by means of statistics whiSh t,c
had collected that much pos-y gsan nalf
the letters nt syshsyss discounted in
warsaw pes-. the war came from
wilma ana Lithuania, showing how close
ly allied economically Ltthuania was to
Poland. These economic ties he said.
could not be broken In such a way as
20 separate Wilma from Warsaw: and
Kovno had been so dependent. economi-
cally, on Wilma that, In his opinion, an
independent Lithuania without wilma
must necessarily fall within the German
orbit to the great political danger of
Poland.
Instead Of discussing things tenn
perately the Lithuanian Government at
Kovno." he said, behave with great
violence and injustice towards the Poles
their territory. The prisons
IN Es~p0 are full OF those Poles One
Polish lady, Madame Larina, was i'm
prisoned for long time In very filthy
prison where she gave birth to child
amid crowd OF other prisoners and
ira particularly, filthy cell. The Polish
+ ifndlords in Bithuania are threatened
With appropriation, for political not for
economic reasous go long as this per-