Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-10-24 | Page 13 | Small Nations of Europe Join

SHI ills IF EUHPE 11 Representatives of 65,000,- 000 People to Seek to Remove Teuton Yoke. PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 23. Unofficial representatives of Gj.OOO.OOO people of the oppressed nationalities of central Europe opened a conference here today which is ! expected to culminate ln the organ iza- I tion of the mid-European union of small j nations and the drafting of a declaration . of independence of their peoples from the domination of the Teutonic nations. Absolute crushing of the "dream of Mittelouropa. ;ind the establishment of this mid-h:irrier to any scheme of Berlin I to Bagdad,.',' was the dominant note of all j the addresses. Destruction of the absolut-i absolut-i ism thiit prevails in the German and Aus-i Aus-i tro-Hungariun empires, was demanded. The meetings are being- held in Independence Inde-pendence hap. Thomas G, Massaryk, president of the newly organized Czecho-Slovak republic, and head of the delegation, said there could be no actual federation of the Czecho-Slovaks for. some time, mainly because be-cause of the number and divergency of the dialects spoken by the individual units of the new nation. "There is no j question of doubt about the saUdarlty of the Czecho-Slovaks in the matter of op- posing the German and Austrian governments govern-ments and armies," he added. Gregory Greg-ory I. Zatkovitch, representing the Ukro-Ruthenlans, Ukro-Ruthenlans, who dwell on the Hungarian Hungar-ian side of the Carpathians, was admitted admit-ted to the conference "as an earnest of the democratic un,ity that must pervade a gathering of this sort. Other nationalities nationali-ties represented include -the Jugo-Slavs, I Poles, Italian lredentists, Ukrainians, I Lithuanians, Rumanians and Huthenians. The conference will continue until Saturday, Sat-urday, when the new Set of principles formally will bo proclaimed.