Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1943-12-17
THE PERgSCOPE
BY SARUNAS.

TT is SAD TO SEE a man make
a jackass of himself. Especially if
the man aspires to the honor Of
purveyor of intelligent discussion
of important questions. Thus, we
are sorry to see the fall of Ray
mond Moley in his article "The
Baltic States" (Newsweek, Decem-
Der 13).
One has to go far to see another
such collection of ignorance and
misstatements in two short columns
of print. The whole tenor of the
article is un-American since it de-
nies the right of small nations like
Iithuania, Latvia and Estonia to
freedom, democracy and indepen
dence and condems them to Soviet
slavery.
Mr.. Moley Ga former Cleveland
professor), for instance, says, mot
everything that is small is a ma
Itoii oiliiiIhllS VIC Hlcy SOilSli uSI
another sentence, just as good as
Mr.. Moley's: mot everything that
looks like a man is man.. There
fore, as Mr.. Hitler does, it is per-
missible to do anything to "sub
human" Poles, Jews, Czechosloyaks.
So, according to Mr. Moley, what
Soviet Russia does to the Baltic
nations will be alright, because
they are small and do not look like
nations to Mr.. Moley.
THERE are other prize imbecili
ties in the article mentioned. For
instance, "The Lithuanians are by
origin Slavs". Maybe so, but only
in the sense that all humankind is
supposed to have descended from
monkeys. Anybody knowing any
thing at all about Lithuanians will
never be caught Grating that they
are Slavs. They most emphatical-
~ dlc lot CldFo, anu liloI 10 oiiS
of the reasons the Slavic Poles, or
the Slavic Russians could never
digest the Lithuanians, the Latvians
or the Estonians They only got
indigestion for their pains.
.gg Sgz
THEN LISTEN to this: after
Hitler came to-. power, it became
clear that Lithuanian sympathies
were turning strongly toward Ger
many. In the elections of the Diet
in 1888, the German ticket elected
25 Diet deputies; the Lithuanian
nationalists, only four. This is a
corker!
The 1888 elections were held on
ly in the small Lithuanian province
of Klaipeda (MemeD,. governed by
a special statute pressed upon Lith-
uanians by the Allies and Associ-
ated Powers after the last war.
The deputies elected sat only in the
local Memel Diet. The Diet of
Lithuania never had more than
five Germans out of some 85 dep
uties, and these usually came from
the Memel province, which was
governed by Germany since the
14th century, but was always Llth-
uanian by race.
THE FACT is, LITHUANIANS
never, at any time, turned toward
Germany. They knew better than
Mr.. Moley. Not only the Lithuan-
ians did not kow tow to Hitler, as
the British Chamberlin or Mr.. Sta
lin did, but they went out on the
limb to support their laws and
prosecuted in court over one hun
dred Germanized Lithuanian Me-
mellander Nazis who, like the Su-
deten Nazis, were organizing a
"back to Berlin" movement. These
traitors received prison sentences.
Germany retaliated by economic
hlockades which created some diff
ficulties for Lithuania, even caus-
ing peasant riots. Lithuania, how
ever, found other markets for her
agricultural products, and never
bent down to Hitler willingly. He
had to grab Memel by sheer use OF
force.
THE LATVIANS Ito Mr.. Moley
only) are "indistinguishable from
the Lithuanians" The Baltic states
(again, to Mr.. Moley) arc a crea-
ton Of Versailles, when, as mat
ter of fact, Versailles had nothing
to do with them. The Baltic states
are a creation of their own people
who wished for political indepen-
dence land fought for it) way, way
long before Mr.. Moley sported in
diapers. 1t is pity that some
people who tend to write about
matters of which they know no
thing, do not take the trouble &c
oE ,,,fn