Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/405
Professor A. C. Coolidge to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received April 28.]
Sirs: I have the honor to enclose herewith some material of various sorts concerning the situation on the Austrian-Jugoslav frontier.70
Conditions there are undoubtedly deplorable. The long uncertainty as to the ultimate future of the region has more than got on the nerves of the population, and made the task of the authorities, who have to keep the peace, extremely difficult. I am not only in frequent receipt of written complaints of the sort of these I am now enclosing but I am also continually appealed to personally with fresh stories of the misbehavior of the Slovene authorities in the occupied districts, of violations of the armistices, wanton acts of aggression, and other things of the sort. I believe that these stories are in the main true but that such outrages as there are, are due rather to the nature of the situation itself and to the exasperation produced by what seems to the people intolerable delays, than to any special evil intention.
I have no doubt that the Slovenes on their part have a tale of grievances which they are repeating to the government of Belgrade and which are transmitted to Paris, or at least to the ears of sympathetic Allied correspondents.
Meanwhile the unfortunate population of the disputed regions is suffering severely. Owing to the cutting off of communications, often contrary to agreement, the daily life of thousands of people is constantly affected. In many places there is a shortage of necessaries, and no one is sure of the morrow. No permanent amelioration of the situation can be hoped for until the final boundaries have been established.
Expression of opinion, and especially plebiscites, are worth very little in any disputed territories when they are in favor of the side that actually occupies the region. Anything like a fair expression of opinion in such votes as have been taken here is inconceivable under the present circumstances. The only demonstrations that are worth while are those directed against the powers that be, and plebiscites of this sort, for obvious reasons, are few and far between.
I have [etc.]
- None of the enclosures printed.↩