Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18
BY FRANK II. s7MONUs.

| A RECENT frontier incident be.
| ~ tween Czechoslovakia and Hun
| ~ gary, following rather closely
4 "A upon formal protests of the
| ministers of all three Little
Entente nations at Budapest-protests
provoked by the speech of the Magyar
| Premier, Count Bethlen-has served to
| emphasize once more the unchanging
! purpose Of the Hungarians to regain at
| least a portion of the territory lost in
the treaty of Trianon and the menace
this resolution constitutes for the tran
| quillity, II not the peace, Of South
future, one can fairly say that the two
apparently insoluble problems of peace
| in Europe are supplied by the Polish
corridor and the Magyar minority ques-
| tons.
The question of the Magyar minori-
| ties naturally fails into two divisions
| There is, first, the extreme nationalistic
and almost mystic faith of a portion of
the Hungarian population in the even
tual restoration of the old frontiers of
1914, and thus the refrigeration of the
Crown Of st. Stephen and of the state
that had celebrated the thousandth an
neversary OF its attainment Of national
unity before the nineteenth century
closed. BY contrast there is the uni
versal demand of the whole people that
the existing boundaries shall be modi-
fed to permit the inclusion of rela-
lively large groups of Magyars living
just across the new frontiers.
One is bound to recognize that the
possibility of the realization of the first
| of these aspirations is slight. The
Hungary of 1914 was a state of some
| % 100000 people. and in this number
the 100000 Magyars were an abso-
lutte minority. That any violent, much
! less any peaceful, Transformation could
! bring back the millions of Rumanians,
Slovaks. Croats and Serbs to their for
mer status as subject races is actually
! incredible. And responsibility for this
| impossibility must be charged primarily
against the Hungarians themselves, who
in their period of ascendancy endeav-
ored by a process of violent aSsimila-
ton to Magyarize their minorities.
Justice in Program.
When, however, one examines the
second of the programs 1t is clear that
1t is founded upon justice, and were 1t
possible to realize it peacefully would
certainly contribute to improving con-
ditions in the Danubian area. Thus,
while the peace settlement deprived
Hungary of not less than a third of its
| Magyar population, at least half of the
| 5000 900 and more of the old ruling
race could be brought back to the SOW
ereignty they prefer at the cost of no
more than relatively slight boundary
rectifications.
1t is. too. beyond any doubt that
Hungary, mutilated in the name Of self
determination. was alike the victim of
| her own domestic political conditions
and OF the extreme and unwarranted
| claims Of her neighbors. While the
Serbs and Rumanians, as allies of the
opponents of the central powers. were
able even during the war to establish
political claims TO Hungarian territory
! to which their ethnic title was invalid
the CZechoslovaks through the skillfu
| diplomacy of Masaryk and Benes in al.
lied capitals were equally successful
At the Paris peace conference allied
feeling still ran high against both the
German and Magyar elements, which
had been the ruling races in the old
Hapsburg monarchy and as such were
held responsible for the war. But to
this cause for anger Hungary added a
new offense when. during the actual
sitting of the Paris conference, the
Carolyi government surrendered to Bella
Kun, who was himself an agent and
follower Of Moscow. At that moment
the statesmen who were in control at
Paris were fearful Of Soviet triumph
everywhere east Of the Rhine and north
Of the Alps and the Hungarian episode
bulked large in their eyes.
Hungary Is Deprived.
'As consequence the Rumanian
army was permitted to occupy Budapest
and the treaty of Trianon paid scant
heed not merely to the ancient boun-
daries of the Hungarian state, but also
to an exact application of the principle
Of self-determlnation in maxing the new
frontiers Hungary was thus deprived.
to the profit of Czechoslovakia. Jugo-
Slavia and Rumania, of very considera-
BILE areas in which the population was
Enthusiastically Magyar. And today it
must be agreed that any equitable divi-
sion would have reduced the Magyar
minorities abroad by substantially half
AS to Pennsylvania proper. Croatia
and the districts south of the Draw
there can be no real debate. Although
in all there are considerable Magyar
minorities. as there are also influential
Latin or Siav majorities are decisive.
On the other hand, all around the
periphery of contemporary Hungary are
regions not only purely Magyar in pop
ulation but others in which there is q
mixture Of races. Since any possible
line was bound to establish minorities il
was a counsel not of perfection but of
ordinary justice that the attempt should
be made to establish balance between
the two minorities.
Harsh Separations.
Instead, Rumania, Serbia and Czecho-
| Slovakia were first permitted to extend
| their frontiers to and even beyond the
outermost limit of their several linguis-
tic areas and then to take still more
territory, where it was desirable, because
! Of strategic reasons or because of lines
! Of communication both by river and by
rail. Thus while more than 5000, 000
Magyars were cut of from Hungary, the
new Hungarian state contained less
than half million Serbs, Rumanians
and Slovaks.
From the purely economic point OF
view this Transformation Of Hungary
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