Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-13
Geographic News
Bulletins By the
National Geographic Society
ABOUT
Bulletins by the

Dedeagatch, which Bulgaria is
I! seeking as an outlet on the Aegean
Sea, and which she Is even report
ed to be ready to take by force, is
| the subject of the following bulletin
| from the Washington, d. c.. head
quarters Of the National Geographic
| Society:
In asking for Dedeagatch to pro-
| vide an Aegean port, Bulgaria Is not
| voicing a new DESIRE" says the bull
letin, "but is following q policy
| which expresses almost as cherished
a national aspiration as was Rus
sia's longing for Constantinople and
a warm water outlet Twice Bull
! garia has had its Aegean doorway
| in its grasp, and twice it has been
snatched away. by diplomacy or war.
Those occasions, paradoxically, fol-
lowed victories by Bulgaria. Now
| that she has come out Of a war de-
+, feated, the situation seems ripe to
the Bulgarians for the reversal of
the paradox and the gaining of a
permanent southern sea entrance to
their country.
| Grew Like American Boom Town
The Bugarians look to Dedea-
Catch as a very valuable acquisition,
but its value In almost entirely po-
tential. The port has no harbor but
only a roadstead. Probably a great
deal Of money will have to be spent
before 1t car be classed among the
safe and convenient world ports.
Tho town itself. situated about
twenty miles west OF the mouth of
the Martha river, and forty miles
south OF the present Bulgarian bor-
der, is small. Its population has
waxed and waned in recent years
with the passage Of wars and
changes of sovereignty. In 1913 IT
had close to 10, 900 residents.
Its rise had been not unlike that
Of American boom towns Of the
railway expansion era. 1t came into
existence shortly after the Turks en-
tered Eu,cpe, but remained a tiay
fishing village until about 1878. 1t
then grew at the cost of Enos, sit
uated at the Maritza's mouth. When
The OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES railway
touched Dedeagatch in 1896 it gall
vanized the town into rapid growth,
and It became tho outlet for Tur-
Keys grain, Almonds, timber and
tobacco from the Martha valley.
Owned Aegean Port Twice
"Bulgaria's first aegean port was
ku.ala. half way fe;n Ger Deded-
Catch and Sllcniki. This was given
10 her by hsTreatI o. san Stefano,
following the Russo Bulgarian de-
feat of Turkey in 1878. But the
Powers feared Russia's control of
Bulgaria, and by the Berlin confer
4 Qnna eallad alr1nSf i'm M odiotn1u NJ
ter San Stefano, they took away the
territory by which Bulgaria reached
the Aegean and returned it to Tur-
key.
After Balkan vars Dedeagatch
and a sea frontage extending almost
to kava'a were coded to Bulgaria.
But the railroad connecting the
port to Bulgaria proper ran for forty
miles through Turkish territory.
Turkey gave this road and the ter
ritory it crossed to Bulgaia in July,
1915. Shortly afterward the Bulga-
rians entered the World War beside
the Turks and the Germans. Dedea-
catch was held throughout the
World War, though the port was re-
peatedly bombarded by allied war
ships.
Bulgaria saw her dream of an
Aegean port fade away for the Sec
ond time on October %, 1918, just
two weeks before the Germans sign
ed the aTnlstice, when the Allies
landed troops at Dedeagatch and
marched toward Adrianople.
"By the treaty of Neuilly Bulga-
ria gaze Dedeagatch to the Allies!
and by the Treaty Of Sevres it was
turned over to Greece. Now that
the Treaty CT Eevres has been torn
up. Bulgaria again advances her
claim"