Of many instances of starvation which he gave was one of a parish in which in 1912 there were 67 births and 23 deaths. In 1917 there were 23 births and 68 deaths, without counting those who died in military service.
CONFERENCE AT ROME
The significance of the whole movement was deepened by the Conference of Oppressed Austrian Nationalities held at Rome on April 10, when a full understanding with Italy was reached. The territorial and other questions at issue between the Italians and Jugoslavs were settled, and the Poles joined the other delegates in the demand for a complete overthrow of the present Austrian Empire, declaring that the future of Poland lay in a firm alliance with the reconstituted nations of the Czecho-Slovaks, the Jugoslavs, and the Rumanians. The text of the formal declaration then adopted, is as follows:
1. Every people proclaims it to be its right to determine its own nationality and national unity and complete independence.
2. Every people knows that the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is an instrument of German domination, and a fundamental obstacle to the realization of its rights to free development and self-government.
3. The Congress recognizes the necessity of fighting against the common oppressors.
The representatives of the Jugoslavs agree:
That the unity and independence of the Jugoslav Nation is considered of vital importance by Italy.
That the deliverance of the Adriatic Sea and its defense from any enemy is of capital interest to the two peoples.
That territorial controversies will be amicably settled on the principle of nationality, and in such a manner as not to injure the vital interests of the two nations; interests which will be taken into account at the peace conferences.
The Polish delegates added their declaration that they considered Germany to be Poland's chief enemy, and that they believed the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be indispensable for the obtaining of their independence from Germany.
ITALY'S ACTIVE HELP
As a result of this important conference, a separate section was established by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look after the propaganda in favor of the Allies in the Austro-Hungarian countries and in their armies. The Austrian Premier, Dr. von Seidler, stated in his last speech before the adjourning of the Reichsrat that the Austro-Hungarian Government was fully aware of this propaganda and had taken measures to combat it. A Slovene paper, the Slovenic, commented as follows:
The German newspapers have begun at the same time to call the attention of the Jugoslavs to Italian imperialistic aims and to show all at once great devotion to our country, which, they say, is menaced by the Italian peril. With a special affection for our people, an affection never known before, they urge us to beware of our Italian neighbors, enumerating all the points of the London understanding with regard to our territory.
In publishing this agreement the Grazer Tagblatt, that ultra national German organ, wished to give us a political lesson of which they might have saved themselves the trouble. It was superfluous, if for no other reason, because it came from German nationalists, whose counsels we can never follow.
The Austrian Government and the German newspapers are troubling themselves in vain as to how to circumvent the Italian propaganda. It would be of more importance if they would take care to improve their system of government, the oppression and injustice of which only help the work of the propaganda. (Further thirty lines censored.)
PROTEST IN REICHSRAT
The Czecho-Slovak Deputies in the Reichsrat introduced a motion on April which was suppressed by the Vienna censorship. In the name of the Slovak Parliamentary Union, the motion, introduced by Deputy Kalinov, demanded that the Reichsrat refuse to sanction the imperial ordinance of May 1, 1915, which extended the age of service in the Landsturm from 43 to 50 years. The arguments presented in support of this demand, as summarized by a Berne correspondent of the Paris Temps, constitute a protest of all the Czecho-Slovak nations: