Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-13
AIDING M|NOR|T|ES
.. IS TASK OF LEAGUE
D'sgruntled Peoples Fewer
by Half Since War
Changed Europe.
Correspondence OF The Star and Chicago

Correspondence of The Star and Chcago
Daily News)
PARIS, France. November 20.-One
of the most arduous and most inport-
ant duties of the League of Nations is
mat of seeing to it that radical, lin
Iuistic and religious mnorities in
Europe are accorded the civic liberties,
me freedom from oppression, assured
Them by the, peace treaties
An increasing part of the debates at
roth council and assembly meetings is
taken up with this question. The
blight of the Bulgarian minority in
creek Macedonia is alleged as one of
Ss1e causes of the recent Greco-Bul-
Sarlan frontier hoStilities. Polish
treatment of the German minority re
Gently created anxiety throughout the
continent. Various minorities that
consider themselves ill-treated are con
linually petitioning the league. Pro
pasanda for and against these mi
noritfes is widely circulated. The re-
cent congress Of League of Nations
unions voted for Il reform of the
leagues whole minorities procedure
hungary and Lithuania have been Wig
orously pressing the issue before the
league assembly. And it is confidently
anticipated that Germany'S first move
after joining the league will be TO as
sumo leadership of the movement in
defense of minority rights.
All these signs point to serious
trouble ahead, for the situation is com
picated. Sinister motives are Sus
pected on all sides. and up to the pres
ent the league in this respect has not
succeeded in inspiring general conf
dence.
The Isolated Minorities.
There are two sorts of minorities.
There are isolated minoritieS, like the
Moslems of Jugoslavia, like the SaXonS
Of Rumania, like the Jews scattered
throughout eastern Europe far from
any national group with which they
might claim affinity. And there are
The irredentist minorities, like the Ger
mans of Czechoslovakia, the Hunga-
1ianS of Rumania, who are separated
only by political frontier from the
country which they regard as their
true motherland.
Ideally, the isolated minorities ought
10 be peacefully and happily assimi-
lated. Ideally, there ought not to be
any lrredentist minoritieS, for frontiers
should be SO drawn that all peoples
would live where they really want to
live. The reality, with respect to most
isolated mlnorities, is that they have
thus far SteadfaStly resisted asSimila-
ton, whether forcible or persuasive
The reality with respect to irredentiSt
minorities Is that the peoples of Eu-
rope. while homogeneous at their mass
renterS, are so intermixed at their out
skirts that to draw truly clinical from
tiers is impossible.
Everybody however. recognizes that
minorities hre entitled to certain
rights. Nobody seriously denies that
some progress iE this direction has
been made. A The same time, nobody
considers the present minorities situa-
ton 10 be wholly satisfactory.
so Per Cent Improvement Since War.
Before the war more than $4,000. 900
people were living more or less dis
grunted under "A rule more or less for
elSn. Self-determination eXerted an in
fuence in the peace settlement which
was only partially counteracted by
political expediency. and now only
about 3o,0o0000 people are more or
less disinClined to accept their new ma
tiOnal status. This so per cent i'm
provement IS not negligible, but it was
thought insufficient by the principal
allied and associated powers. There
fore they put into the peace treaties
definite political and cultural gllaran-
ties for these 3o.000.o0o people, and
placed the guarantees under the SUI
pervision of the League of Nations
which 1t was their intention to create.
So powerful a hold has the idea of
protecting minorities taken upon in.
ternatonal consciousness that all sub
sequeut treaties involving transfers of
populations have contained minorities
clauses. Special minorities agreements
have beeh negotiated between certain
countries.
The countries that are bound by
treaty under league guaranty to treat
their minorities we'll are Poland,
rzechoslovakia. Jugoslavia Rumania,
Greece. Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary
and Turkey. Similar engagements
have been taken under moral pressure
by Albania, Lithuania, Latvia and Is
thonia. Special minorities agreements
have been concluded between CzeCho-
sslovakia and Austria. Poland and Dan
zig. The Aaland Islands settlement as
affecting FINLAND, and the Upper Sile-
sian settlement, as affecting Poland
and Germany, contain stringent
rtnorities provisions Also, under
treaty Stipulations, the league has
been supervising novel experiments in
the wholesale exchange of minority
populations between Greece and Tur-.
key and between Greece and Bulgaria.
Copyright. 1925. by Chicago Daily News Coz