l and
Teme[vs]var, each of which was under an official who looked direct to
Buda-Pest. The adoption of this ancient county frontier as that of the
two countries would put an end to the present absurd and unjust, not to
say dangerous, situation. It should, therefore, be brought about as soon
as possible.

A similar rectification is needed in the country to the north and
north-west. The three German villages of Komlo[vs], Mariafeld and St.
Miklo[vs] have their fields near Velika Kikinda, in Yugoslavia, whereas
they are themselves in Roumania. To bring home his maize from the land a
farmer was obliged to pay, at the most favourable rate, up to 200 crowns
a pound. Considering that this part of the country is an absolute plain
with no river flowing through it, one would suppose that a rectification
could easily be made. If these Germans had been consulted they would
naturally have opted for Yugoslavia. The Peace Conference officials
might, also have studied Velika Kikinda, a place with a very creditable
past, which--as I was told by a Serb professional man of that town--will
be completely ruined if she loses the custom of these German villages
and has to depend upon the Serb peasants who make one embroidered suit
and one pair of sandals last them for ten years.... It will be necessary
for the Yugoslav authorities in the Banat not only to endeavour to raise
their countrymen's standard of living but also in the southerly
districts, where the standard is higher, to persuade them not to persist
in limiting their families. The Serbs in the old kingdom have been one
of the most prolific of European races--they would otherwise have been
incapable of carrying on their twenty-six years of war during this last
century--but in the south and south-east of the Banat, perhaps through
mere love of comfort, perhaps through Magyar oppression, there has been
a marked tendency not to increase. The Magyars and Germans have had
normal families, the Roumanians have increased by assimilation (a woman
marrying into a Serbian family will often cause them all to speak her
easier language). The Serbs, however, will in their part of the Banat
absorb the others if they show political understanding and a liberal
spirit. "We will give the Germans," said Pribi[vc]evi['c] to one of them
at Ver[vs]ac--"we will give them everything up to a university."

The north-west corner of the Banat, which has a considerable Magyar
population, has been ascribed to Hunga