Evening star., 1925-08-16
BY JUNnUS B. WOOD.


nttnorttieS in the BGlkGnS.)
BY JUNIUS B. WOOD
Correspondence OF The star and Chicago
Daily News.
SvILENGRAD, Bulgaria, June "a.
The foreign relief organizations named
by the League Of Nations as assisting
in the work of establishing Greek
refugees in Greece are the save the
Children Fund and the Imperial war
Relief Fund of England and the
Near East Relief, the American
Women's Hospitals and the American
Red Cross Of the United States. Ihey
are assisting while the work OF TO-
eating the refugees is carried out ny
The Greek governments under tns
refugees settlement commissions OF
the league.
The commissions have ther head
quarters in Athens. They have a
closer view of the work of locating
Greek refugees in homes and on
farms and supplying them with lVe
stock, agricultural machinery and
crops than with the new refugees
who are despoiled of homes and prop
crty to make room for the Greeks.
The second quarterly report of one
of these commissions for May rs, 1924,
signed by J. Campbell, chairman,
contains the following Significant
paragraph:
TT rhe commission) has felt un-
able TO embark freely on schemes of
expenditures which all depend on the
existence of land available for set
Element. It has continued TO press
the matter upon the attention Of the
Greek government
No Time for Humanitarian Questions.
The fifth quarterly report for
March 4, 1925, signed by Charles P.
Howland. chairman. indicates consid
cradle progress in inducing voluntary
emigration and urges continued ef-
forts. 1t does not comment on the
inhumanity of the methods The re-
port states that the commission rs
not able to devote itself to humani-
tartan questions" and says:
The increasing scarcity of land Is
becoming a matter of serious con-
Germ. The refugees settlement
commission ha srepeatedly drawn the
attention of the Greek government
10 this matter and still hopes the
state will be able to satisfy its re-
qulrements.
The scarcity of availa BILE land often
leads to trouble between native cul-
tivators and refugees. On the whole
however. these incidents, though re-
grettable, are Of small Importance
the work in hand. which naturally
cannot be carried through without a
hitch"
The sixth report Of the commission,
dated May 25, 1925. and signed by Mr..
Rowland. shows that Ill. $50 Greek
families, so per cent of the refugees
settled on agricultural land in all
Greece, have been located in Mace
donis. The report says that $4,000
Turkish homes have been available un-
der the treaty of Lausanne. that
5.023 were built by the Greek govern
ment and 1892 by the commission
and that 1,261 are in process Of con-
struction.
Macedonian Emigration Gives Homes.
The figures show that 30.444 addi-
tional homes were NEEDED for the ILL.,
$50 refugees. Macedonian families that
have voluntarily" emigrated provided
most of these. The report shows that
l29. .30s animals were distributed by the
commission and $500 were "requisi-
toned and distributed" by Greek au-
thorities. It adds that from 80 TO so
per cent in addition were obtained by
the refugees themselves. Correspond
ing figures are shown for the wa gons,
carts. farm tools and other property
which Macedonians were forced to
leave behind.
The groundwork for tho system
which today is driving the helpless
families from Macedonia and western
ThraCe was laid under the Ottoman
Empire when it ruled the Balkan
Peninsula. The sultans accorded TO
each of the races and religions a sem
hlance of autonomy, making them re-
sponsihle to a head, usually religious
governments within the empire. The
capitulations did the same for Ameri-
cans and Europeans.
When the Balkan nations started to
become independent the same per-
niciouS divisions continued in smaller
new states-rninorities of race or re-
ligion attached to their fatherland,
instead of being absorbed into the
body polite in which they lived as is
the immigrant in the United States
The rivalries and jealousies of the
Balkan states were fostered and the
system has not been eradicated. Only
Bulgaria and the new Turkey. and
Rounlania to a less extent, permit re-
ligious and cultured freedom. They
have abolished the old system by in
sisting that all within their borders
are their nationals regardless of race,
religion or place of birth.
Exchanges Far from Even.
After the great war the treaties i'm
posed on Greece, Turkey and Bull
Saria aggravated the pernicious sys.
rem. They provided for the exchange
of minorities. That sounds harmless.
1t contemplates that a Bulgarian
farmer in Greece will he exchanged
for a Greek farmer in Bulgaria
thousands of Inhabitants uprooted
from their homes and traded. In the
first place there is no equality of
numbers to exchange, except possibly
between Greece and Turkey. The
number Of farms is not the same;
each one differs in value from the
others, and exchanging a shopkeeper
who has sold his stock and has the
money in his pocket for a peasant
who could not sell his farrn and was
not permitted to take anything with
him is neither a satisfactory nor an
even trade. Thus comes the neces-
stty for forcing voluntary emigra-
ton.
Into this enter the Macedonians.
They have been fighting for inde-
pendence for fifty years. They did
not get 1t in the great war. and now
a very small part of their territory
is in Bulgaria, while about one-thtrd
of II is In Greece and q little more in
.Iugoslavia
The Macedonians from Greece are
sent to Bulgaria. The Slays from
western ThraCe, which now belongs
TO Greece and formerly was part of
Turkey, are driven along the same
road. Few MacedonianS come from