Evening star., 1927-10-24
Mr.. Salmon Defends
Greek Census Data
To the Editor of The Star:

L note with interest the letter from
Mr.. Carlyle s. Baer, published In The
Star of October II, in which he takes
exceptions to certain statements
made in your columns few days
earlier. There was no intention on
my part of touching upon anything
of a controversial nature, nor do
see where I have done so. Mr.. Baer
attempts to discredit the statistics
published by the Refugee Settlement
Commission, saying that commission
and the two international commits
sions for the exchange Of populations,
also referred to, did not come into ex-
istence until after the war. This. OF
course, is true.
The figures given, however, were
compiled by the Refugee Settlement
Commission upon the basis of what
we must assume they considered the
most authentic statistics available.
They were published by the League
of Nations in 1926, in book entitled
Greek Refugee Settlement" There
is no question as to the international
character of the three commissions
referred to.
Mr.. Baer quotes figures, which he
says were taken from two Greek
writer's, in an attempt to prove that
the Refugee Settlement Commission s
figures for 1912 were incorrect. Dur
ing the period of Turkish rule all fig
ures were based more or less upon
guesswork. l am not familiar with
the estimates made by ChalkiopOulos,
but have before me the other book re-
ferred to by Nh Baer. written by Co
locOtronis and published in 1919. i
cannot check Mr.. Baer'S figures with
the book itself. but l do find n table in
which the writer estimates the num-
her of Greeks living in Greek Mace
donia as a little over 4S8,000. This
figure is easily reconcilable with the
900 mentioned in the Refugee Set
tlement Commissions report.
During the Bulgarian invasion of
Greek Macedonia, shortly after Bull
Saria entered the great war on the
side of the central powers, thousands
Of Greeks We're driven out, their
homes destroyed and the territory laid
waste. I have personally visited this
section and am speaking from my
own knowledge. Therefore, II we are
| to accept the fact that the figure was
| 1000 in 1912, it would not be sur
| prising that it had shrunk to slightly
under 100000 shortly after the close
| OF the war. Neither is there any diff
Guilty in reconciling the figures given
| for 1912, even if we accept Mr.. Baer' S
| high figure of 100000 for the Greek
| population of all of Macedonia for the
same date, for the reason that Greece
was given only the portion of Greek
| Macedonia in which the Greek popu-
lation predominated-that is, the
southern portion.
| Mr.. Baer gives figures for the area
of Macedonia which he says are ac-
cording to the 'limits as drawn by the
| best historians and geographers of
modern times" The best geographers
and historians of modern times agree
with a recent editorial in The Star
| that Macedonia is "a classic geograph.
| ical rather than a political designa-
tion." and, further. with great una
nimity, sidesteps any attempt to draw
the boundaries of Macedonia, thing
which Is obviously impossible, for
| Macedonia, as such, has never existed
since ancient times. Isaiah Bowman
! director of the American Geographical
| Society of New York, when referring
to Macedonia in his book, 1.-The New
| World" says 'the region has always
had indefinite boundaries"
The whole point which I attempted
to raise in my previous communica
tiontion is that as far as Greece is
concerned the Macedonian question
is settled definitely, and as Mr.. BaeI
seems willing to accept the figures OF
the Refugee Settlement Commission
| for 1926, assume that he agrees with
me on this point.
! incidentally, 1 am not interested ir
perpetuating or arguing old feuds, but
only in the constructive efforts which
are being made to heal them. Such
an effort Is the settlement in Greek
Macedonia of the Hellenic populations
of Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace and
Bulgaria whether they came as refu
gees or under the treaties for the ex
change Of populations, changing the
entire district into a busy hive of in
dustry and definitely settling the
Macedonian question as far as Greece
is concerned. B. p. SALMON.