_From the Moldava of Bucharest, organ of the Conservative Party, of
April 1, 1915._
For a long time public opinion in Rumania has been lulled into
believing that we shall take Transylvania, but not a word has been
said about Bessarabia. We do not know why our political predecessors
wanted to create a strong barrier in the face of Russia, behind which
live, condemned to perpetual isolation, 3,000,000 Rumanians. That
territory which lies between the Rivers Pruth and Bug contains a
population of more than 5,000,000, of which 3,500,000 are Moldavians;
it comprises, also, the mouth of the Danube, fertile lands, an
extended shore, and the City of Odessa itself. The budget of that part
of Bessarabia which lies between the Rivers Pruth and Dniester amounts
to 250,000,000 lei, ($50,000,000,) or nearly as much as half of the
entire budget of Rumania. But this wealth is not used for the benefit
of the country which produces it. There are neither schools nor
highways nor hospitals in Bessarabia. Ignorance and misery are the
sole companions of that population, every national sentiment of which
is smothered under the sway of Russian absolutism.
We in Rumania are ignorant of all these facts because our education is
such as to make us ignore such vital issues. But only because we do
not know ought we forsake Bessarabia?... Or is it that the national
ideal of Rumania is to live at the mercy of Russia, by abandoning old
Moldavia?