Evening star., 1926-05-27

Next Monday Poland will hold q
special election Of IL President. The
law allows 1t and Pilsudski DEGREES il.
Who is Pilsudski? He is the strong
man of Pola and''-its deiiyerer from
Russia, it's One-time President after
having been its foremost "ba ndit.
He is the chief whose secret legion Of
units OF ten" sworn in 1907 to obey
his every order, SO demoraliZed and
terroriZed the Russian army garri-
soned throughout Russian I'ola nd to
guard It's railroad stations and trains
that the Russian inspector of infantry
reported: There Is no longer II Rus
sia n army In Poland There is only II
band Of demoralZed policemen" Pill
sudski had ordered his legiOnnaires to
laugh at the Russian garrisOns and 10
80 fraternize with them that they
would be off their guard.
His "units Of ten" ubeyiHg their
chiefs secret order, came out Of
nowhere for u specific raid upon the
Cars property. and when that had
been accomplished they disa appeare
into civil life. where no avenging
army could trace them. Pilsudski had
lea arned secretiveneSs by bitter expert
ence - five years u Siberian exile, two
years free, then five years in a Rus
sian prison. whence he was delivered
by feigning insa nifty and by the con-
niva nee Of a Jail physician. who had
plotted two years to that end.
When the World War broke, Piis,ld.
skis secret legion was 10000 strong
but at the first draft all but 1000
were swept into the Russian mObiliZa
tion. Yet 900 under Gen. Pilsudski
was an army which even Russia could
not despise. Germany and Austria
recognized its importa nee in harassing &
Russia and encouraged recruiting, un-
til Gen. Pils,idski declared:
I'VE start lighting Russia. We shall
probably finish fighting other ma
tiOns." And the prophecy came true.
In 1915, the German army entered
Warsaw. Russia was driven out OF
Poland. PiIsudski ordered recruiting
of his legion to cease, saying, openly,
Russia is beaten now; next, We must
fight Germany"
His army under German control
ceased to recruit, but a new secret
army was being orga nized by Pilsud-
ski. Germa ny and Austria suspecting
this "treachery" of the Polish patriot,
to, whom no cause was sacred which
did not include the freedom and inde-
pendence of Poland. incorporated an
oath of the legionnaires in 1917.
pledging allegiance to Germany and
Austria.
The legion was paraded and the
oath was Eead to the army. The Of
ficers were ordered to step forward
and repeat 1t. AS one man, the whole
army stepped forward the required
PAGES, then the officers broke their
swords and awaited their fate. All
were arrested, including Pilsudski,
who. with his aide. was imprisoned al
Magdeburg, where shortly they were
relea sed by German Socialists. PHI
sudski is a Socialist. though not
red"
PiIsudski's secret Orga MIA tiOn was
not disma yed. AS soon as he esca ped
from the German prison, he returned
to Warsaw, where he found the capi-
tai under a regency government. He
became minister of war, and his first
act was to call out his secret army,
the "Polish Military Force" and or.
der it to disarm and intern all Ger.
mans. Two days after the armfstice
he became dictator, with Paderewskl
as prime minister.
When the constitution of revived
Poland was adopted and the repub
lican government began to function.
he was elected President, and he
served his term as such. Then came
the presidency Of Wojciechowski, un
der whose administration the rising
jealousies and power of the % parties
in the Diet hampered and made i'm.
potent the cabinet in its efforts to
economize expenditures and to balance
the budget.
The cabinet fell. last month, and
m coalition could gain the support
Of the Diet. Anarchy was upon Po.