Olyphant, Pennsylvania

June 10, 1919

Paris, June 7, 1919 - American delegates to the Peace Conference are, in all probability, taking a strong position against revealing the contents of the peace agreement with the Germans until it has been signed. They do not even desire to show it to the American Senate in its present form.

One of the members of the American delegation, in response to complaints from the Senate regarding (non) disclosure of the treaty and (regarding the fact) that copies of the treaty were already in the hands of New York bankers, declared that the American delegation would not break mutual agreements with other nations, meaning that the delegation had not, and would not, reveal the text of the treaty before it had been signed. Regarding Germany, he declared that they had not been presented with the clauses concerning publication of the treaty and, too, Germany was not as experienced in the practice of diplomacy.

In response to the question as to why the charter of the League of Nations was made public (before being signed), the delegate responded that the charter was entered into under (conditions of mutual) agreement, that its purpose was to promote peace, and that the charter was of a completely different character (than the treaty).

Washington, June 7, 1919 - Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Polk, announced today in Congress that Germany owed the United States nearly one billion dollars for damages resulting from underwater warfare and other acts of the German government. Damages from underwater warfare alone reach 600 million.

Bern, June 6, 1919 - The independent socialist Berlin newspaper, "Freedom" reported that passionate efforts are being made in Germany to recruit men into the army and to gather ammunition.

According to the paper, "Socialist Evening Prospect," the activities of German recruiting agents have come to light in Austria.

There are reports out of Basel that German recruiting offices are appealing to men to join the army, offered 9 marks a day and rewards for fidelity.

Washington, June 6, 1919 - The governor of Texas, William Hobby, asked Secretary of Defense Boyker to put the first and second Brigades of the Texas Cavalry under arms and place them in positions so that they would be ready to respond if the Mexican situation requires that significant numbers of troops are required to protect the life and property of American citizens.

The Defense Department immediately sent a telegraphed inquiry to the border forces so that they could give their own opinion of their relative strength in the situation.

Wilkes Barre, Pa., June 8, 1919 - So far about 90 miners have perished on account of an enormous catastrophe in the number 2 Baltimore tunnel of the Delaware and Hudson coal mine.

While it was being transported into the tunnel, gunpowder ignited and it was the resulting dreadful explosion that took so many victims.

84 miners died immediately and there were 42 injured - of these, more are dying daily.
The true causes of the explosion have not yet been discovered.

Chicago, June 7, 1919 - The International president of the Telegraphists' Union of America, Conencamp, made an announcement from union headquarters that there would be a general strike among telegraph and telephone operators.

Strike orders were sent out to workers employed by Western Union Telegraph Co., American Telephone and Telegraph Co., and Postal Telegraph and Cable Co.

It is estimated that the numbers going out on strike to be between 60 to 100 thousand individuals, out of which 25 thousand are members of the union. Those that are so rich that they are not in the union have promised to support the union members in their strivings.

This week there will be wide-spread activity to awaken interest in becoming a member of the American organization, "Boy Scouts."

What the "Boy Scouts" are is something that we believe is known by everybody, so let us simply add that this youth organization has performed enormous services for the United States during the present war and that it performed these services with an unblinking determination. Therefore, we recommend that all parents introduce their children into the ranks of the "Boy Scouts." This organization makes boys into men. Boys that are members of the "Boy Scouts" do not squander their free hours on mischievous doings, rather, they are introduced into honorable activities, they strengthen their bodies with physical exercise and they get used to performing the civil duties of adults. Those that are members become more serious in all respects without loosing youthful playfulness. For these reasons we urge parents to bring their children from 12 to 21 years of age into the ranks of the "Boy Scouts."

The yearly fee for being a member is only 1 dollar. Those that want to receive the special magazine, "Boy's Life," have to pay yearly installments of 2.50. The cost is not great but the benefits for parents and for authorities are enormous. That is the great merit of the "Boy Scouts."

It is not out of the question that our entry into the daily lives of the Irish and Polish will result in the formation of a separate section of the "Boy Scouts" for our own people.

At the present moment the whole of Galicia is in the hands of the Poles. And not just Galicia. The Poles are already in Bukovina and right off they joined up with the Romanians to become the masters (of that area, too). It seems that except for Urgo-Russia, almost all of the former Austria-Hungry is now occupied by alien people and these aliens are ruling over the Rusyns.

How the Poles are treating the Rusyn people in eastern Galicia is not known at the moment. But we do know that Lemkovina, which had fallen into their hands long ago is groaning just as bitterly under the yoke of their oppression now as it did under the Austrians. The Poles mercilessly tormented the unfortunate Lemkos, they put them in jail, they put them in camps where they perished from privation and hardship. It is distressing to hear accounts of the lives led by Carpatho-Rusyns in the Stipia internment camp where they died of disease and hunger, but it is a hundred times more bitter to live under the Polish yoke of oppression. And, truly, a yoke is what it is, being ruled by others as before. The Poles in Galicia have the deciding voice and all persecutions as have befallen our unfortunate Precarpathian Rus' may, with a clear conscious, be attributed to them.

Can this be tolerated? Can we allow rich Polish farm owners to abuse our people? Is it still impossible to find justice for our poor Precarpathia? Is it written in destiny that Precarpathia must whither away under foreign domination? No, this way of life can not be tolerated. It is not possible to see the Poles freely carry out such terrible cruelties and then be forced to stand proudly up under their rule.

We oppose the Polish actions. We say that freedom is everyone's concern. But even when the Poles have gone so far as to shamelessly subjugate Carpatho-Russia and even (parts of) native Russia, even then we do not protest as would be expected. And the reason for this - that we do not protest - is that we do not wish to tread forth into the limelight. We forget that they sinned against us, we see in the Poles an unfortunate people, seeking freedom themselves. But now they don't just rule over the almost forcibly captured Russian people living on their ancestral lands, they seize them and order them straight away to be crushed under strict military discipline, they persecute the Carpathians even harshly than they persecuted the Germans and Magyars.

It is painful to hear of all the misfortune that our long-suffering motherland has gone through, but it is a thousand times more painful to have lived through it. And suffer through it they shall, not one day, not two, not a year, not two, but a very long time, maybe even a whole century, unless we get a better deal for our homeland. Our people there in Europe can do nothing, they have neither the means nor the chance. Only we can better the destiny of our homeland. This doesn't mean that we are to hold out our hands and beg, this doesn't mean that we sit and wait, this means that we protest and provide monetary support. This coming period can be the end of Polish impudence. If we are not able to do something now, then we never will.

Everyone that does not want to see Precarpathian Rus' absorbed by Poland must protest. It is true that we owe support to our party comrades, but when our homeland is in dire need, it is not to the party our thoughts turn, but to the need for help. Those that are against Polish rule but do not protest are supporting Polish rule. So protest and show that there are not such traitors among our people.
Prepare your protest letter like this:

If we attain freedom for our people, or more exactly, help our brothers in Precarpathian Rus' to take the final step in obtaining freedom, then they will pray for us to God for centuries. If we just stand around apathetically even now, listlessly contemplating the situation then they will curse us and our memory year after year.
The choice is up to us.

Notes: Bukovina is the area in the Carpathian Mountains around the Rumanian-Ukraine border where many Carpatho-Rusyns live. Urgo-Russia is the area in the Carpathian Mountains close to the Hungarian border having a mixed Carpatho-Rusyn and Hungarian population. Rus', Precarpathian Rus', Precarpathia and Carpatho-Russia are in this context all more or less equivalent terms for the entire Carpathian Mountain area having a large Carpatho-Rusyn population. Nowadays "Precarpathia" is used more often to denote an area more towards the east. "Native" Russia as used here is evidently the term used to describe the nation of Russia. An apostrophe is often used in the word Rus' to indicate the place where a "soft mark" should be if written with the Cyrillic alphabet.

Data collected by the Statistics branch of the Department of Labor show that food prices in April were almost as high as during the record month of December 1918.

After December, when prices were at their peak, prices displayed a downward trend, falling 1% during January and another 7% during February. But then prices began to rise again, first by 2% during March and then by 4% in April. By the end of April there was only a 3% difference between current prices and prices in December of 1918. Information about the prices of 41 food products was collected from places of business by the Statistics branch. Of these, 26 had gone up during the month of April. Butter went up 7%, lard - 6%, cheese - 3% and vegetable oil - 1%. The price of lard had risen in all the 50 cities from which complete data had been obtained. Cheese became more expensive everywhere except in Atlanta, Newark, New Haven and San Francisco. The price of butter went up in all cities except Portland, Oregon, San Francisco and Seattle. Milk, both fresh and condensed, became 2% cheaper in April. Meat - pig, sheep and chicken - rose in price by 2% to 7%. Flour rose 6%, although in Birmingham and San Francisco it remained constant and in Portland, Oregon the price actually went down. The prices of bread, sugar, rice and preserved peas were unchanged.

Of the other products increasing in price during April can be mentioned cabbage - 72%, onions - 15%, potatoes - 7%, prunes - 5%, oranges - 4%, bananas - 8%, eggs - 2%, and coffee - 2%. Falling in price during April were the following products: preserved tomatoes and beans - 3%, baked beans - 3%, preserved corn - so-called "korn-flaks", tea and raisins - 1% and plums and wheat less than 5-10%.

The report show that the prices of 22 different food products (in April 1919) were on the average 18% higher than in April 1918. If one gives the average cost of food products in 1913 the number 100, then the price level in March 1919 was 174 and in April of this same year it was 182.

The Russian Brotherhood Organization is an organization in the United States just for working men. All peasants* should be members of this organization and free themselves of the cares that come with incapacitation (mutilation) and death. Remember that death takes everyone unawares, and for the working man death is always near by. Disperse your worries by taking your place as a member in the ranks of the RBO, Russian Brotherhood Organization of U.S.A., Box 475, Olyphant, Pa.

*Note: this word was evidently used as a synonym of "workers" or "working men"

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