Return of the Natives

At Rhodes and on Leros, Patmos, Kasos and the rest of the Dodecanese Islands there was hope. Since 1912 the patient sponge divers and herdsmen, the shipwrights and honey gatherers had watched their Italian masters strut in the bright Aegean sun. Since 1912 they had heard Vittorio Emanuele's ministers of state promise again & again to end the lawless stay and had seen those promises torn up. Greek in race, religion and language, they fought Italian efforts to Italianize them.

Earnestly in Cairo last week Greek Premier in Exile Emanuel Tsouderos explained to New York Timesman Cyrus L. Sulzberger the basis of the Greek claim and warned against "outside" (meaning Allied) assistance in settling the future of the Dodecanese. Greece, he said, "is entitled to demand that these islands, on which Italy has no rights, be returned to the Motherland."

Tsouderos could relax. By last week all important exiled Italians, including Count Carlo Sforza, who as Foreign Minister in 1920 had a part in strengthening Italy's grip on the potential naval base, had declared for a return of the Islands to Greece.

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