Evening star., 1924-03-16

ZAR OF THE MACEDONIAN NOUN.
INTURE OF THE BALKAN KU kLJX
appendage of the kingdom of Bull
garia. And Macedonia to her great
misfortune, is the common receptacle
lof the cast-off portions of all the
Balkan races and nationalities; hence
the Macedonian salad" that appears
in many menus. And every one of
them claimed the whole of Macedonia
for itself Therefore the baffied Turks
discovered soon, to their amazement
that, in suppressing the Bulgarian re-
hellion, they had the assistance of
Serbian and Greek bands.
Then the central Macedonian COM
mittee changed tactics. 1t would send
its Bulgarian bands against Serbian
and Greek villages, either to convert
them to the cause Of Autonomous
Macedonia" or purge them of their
r: cial curse. by fire and sword In
their turn, the Serbian and Greek
bands would retaliate on Bulgarian
ivillages in the same correct fashion.
And what was left Of the wreckage
In both instances would be finished by
the Turkish soldiers. who arrived, in
variably after the disaster, to punish
the rebels"
| While the other great powers of
! those days were betting on their ia
| vorites Great Britain was franticaIly
| trying to maintain the status quo in
I L.
avert general conf1agration, which
was not slow in coming, however.
+, * * x
THE bloody and barbarous contest
lasted for ten years, to be imme-
diately superseded by the legitimate
horrors of the great war. By the
terms of the treaty of Neuilly between
the entente and Bulgaria most of
Macedonia was awarded to Serbia and
Greece; and Aleko Pasha took up the
! work again on behalf of autonomous
! Macedonia in defiance of the pro-
visions of that treaty and of the le-
gally constituted Serbian and Greek
authorities.
"Alexandroff leads q, life which
needs to be seen to be believed" the
London Times correspondent reports.
His wandering life is dedicated to
the creation of an autonomous Mace
donia- Always on foot and always by
night, Alexandroff travels throughout
| Macedonia, without. however. ven
turing into the large towns like Sa-
loniki and Monastir. In winter he
lives in some humble peasant cottage;
in summer he sleeps in the open air.
During the day time he lies low.
Never stopping more than two or
three days in the same place, he is ac-
companied by a small band of devot-
ed friends. The chief preoccupation
of this band is to visit and control
the different committees which, dur
ing the last three years have sprung
up in almost every town and village.
The correspondent goes on explain
ing how Alexandroff has succeeded
in establishing his rule throughout
Macedonia over and above the heads
of the hostile local authorities,
| Alexandroff is ruling the population
in his own name. His orders and
commands are the paramount law for
the whole region. He has his own
courts to which the people appeal,
in preference to the Serbian and
Greek law courts, Alexandrof stated
to the correspondent. His special
Legislation has reached even the do
mestic relations of the population.
He has abolished the system by
which men chose the young girls who
r.. 1,ey
ttheir wives. Now each girl is free
to choose the husband she likes.
Relations between employer and
employe and between landlord and
tenant are closely watched by Alex
androffs organization. Profiteers are
| punished summarily. In n certain
| district the tobacco merchants sought
to combine and reduce the purchase
price of tobacco, to the detriment of
! the peasant producers. The organiza-
ton stepped in and threatened the
merchants, with the result that fair
price was paid and the affected peas
antry became devoted partisans Of
Alexandroff.
when 1 went to visit Alexandroff.'
the correspondent states. II confess
to having given first thought to my
| personal safety. In bygone days
Macedonia had gained reputation
! for banditry and outlawry, which the
revolutionary organization {of Alex
J andror) might well seem inclined to
| foster. But the exact contrary Is
now the case. Everywhere thriving
! pea@antry declared that robbery and
Fcrime were things of the past
Il met Alexandria, tall, strong
| ~ built man of forty-two years,
dressed in the dark brown uniform
| VIII ch his organization affects. A
| pair Of steely eyes and lips, which
! in conversat ton can be mirthful, but
which in repose are very stern: a
! long, black beard and rather deli
cate hands; full military equipment,
which he rarely takes of; q service
rife leaning against the wall, and
! Alexandroff looks what he is-a
born fighter and commander OF men,
He greeted me in French. language