Evening star., 1924-03-26
AlexandrOff of Macedonia
BY CONSTANTINE 4. CHEKREZL
History University Washington c. Former
Commissioner of Albania to United States.

! were arrested and imprisoned with
] out trial, on suspicion that lhey were
either coworkers or sympathizers of
! Todor Alexandroff.
I For once the situation was saved.
Inc invasion did not take place, and
the general rising in Macedonia, if
one was really planned at that par
ticuiar moment, seems to have been
frustrated. for the time being at least.
But Alexandroff and his organization
can oy no means be done away with
oy an invasion of Bulgaria or by the
mere Imprisonment Of any followers
ne might have in that country. If
mat We're SO, the Greeks and Serbians
would have rid themselves of him
Iong ago. Nor would there have been
any need of putting a price of 1OO0,-
ooo dinars on his head. The fact is that
the organization has such a tremen-
/ oous hold on the native population
that the Times correspondent agrees
with Alexandroff's statement that
/ the organization is the population,
ana the population the organization" +"
Furthermore, in commenting on the
Iitct that the organization maintains
at present unofficial representatives
IN the principal capitals of Europe.
and on Alexandroffs expressed am
| bltion that one day it will have its
oihciai representatives accredited to
| every European country. the corre-
| spondent ADDS the following signifi-
cant statement: still even today
! there exists in the revolutionary or
ganization a factor which neither
sseat nor small European powers can
TO sum up: In the existence of
| Aiexandrof and his organization the
balkan peoples are confronted with
| q condition, and not with a theory.
That condition must be met sQuarely
i one way or the other: and the inter-
ested Balkan states will, inexorably,
| be put to the choice soon enough
Either the widespread Macedonian
movement must be crushed out, or
the general demand for an autono-
| nous Macedonia must be given rec
ognitfon in some manner.
| The hrst alternative may, IL ii is to
| be attempted at all. be accomplished
only by the most ruthless extermina-
tion OF all the partisans of autono-
| nous Macedonia. And that simply
| means laying waste the whole coun-
! try; for. compared to Balkan meth
! DDS of destruction, the German raw
ages committed in Belgium and
northern France would appear like
the damage left in the trail Of a
frolicking jolly crowd. There will be
no quarter given or asked. When it
comes to delusions on matters of
wounded national sensibility or pride
every Balkan nation is self-worship-
ing enough to defy all laws and com
| mandments, human or divine.
x r r
The second alternative, that of an
autonomous Macedonia within which
! every component part of its hope
lessly mixed population may find
freedom and self-expression, is not
only a logical solution, but it may
also pave the way for a greater
and more general blessing. 1t would
seem, indeed, that Providence or ma
ture has, itself, suggested a defnitive
settlement of the whole Balkan
tangle when it made Macedonia the
portions of all the Balkan races
With its Albanian, Bulgarian, Creek,
Rumanian, Serbian and Turkish
population, Macedonia is but a mini
ature of the whole peninsula: an
object-lesson to profit from. a nature
made pattern for greater Balkan
com monwealth. Her very physical
location in the heart and center of
the peninsula outlines a natural
nucleus, which, itself, formed once
one of the greatest empires IN his
tory, around which the kindred sur
+ rounding peoples may freely consoli-
date again into a better, nobler and
more lasting federation.
True enough, this all may sound
like dream. For, if mankind
affects the slowest form of locomo-
tion in it's onward march toward in
ternational fellowship, the Balkan
peoples are, avowedly. but sorry
stragglers at the tail end of the line.
And yet, If those peoples are to rid
themselves of their present moral
and material bankruptcy; il they
have but a modicum of decency and
ambition to cease being the wretched
pawns and tools in the hands of the
great powers; IL they but desire to
put an end to petty discords which
are keeping them in an everlasting
condition of turmoil and resulting
neo- -barbarism; then they must steal
a march on themselves on the road
TO real greatness and permanent
prosperity.