STILL THEY FALL

One more king has been invited to pack up and move along. King George II of Greece is, by request of the Greek Cabinet, to take himself and family for a vacation in some unmentioned place while Greece--or perhaps the Greek Assembly--decides whether it wants him back or not.

The effects of the war are evidently still working themselves out. Crowns have been rolled out of Russia and Germany and made practically impotent in Italy. Now the contagion has spread into the Balkans.

The Gonatas-Plastiras government rode into power in 1922 on the backs of a revolting army and a wave of revulsion of popular feeling against a king who had refused to join the Allies and made a mess of a campaign against the Turk. To make their position quite safe, the Revolutionists proceeded to execute the governing ministers and to get rid of King Constantine. Evidently then believing that they had better "make haste slowly," they invited Constantine's son to take the throne for awhile. Now, feeling with some reason that the new king had a hand in the abortive counter-revolution of last October, they are willing to take advantage of the republican spirit refired by this occurence and get rid of a king for good and all.

Two questions naturally arise; will Greece become permanently a republic? and if it does, what will the effect be upon the other Balkan states? As to the first, appearances seem to be much in favor of a permanent republic. In view of Greek royalty's record during the past eight years, there is little in its favor except long habit. And habit has not proved a great deterrent in other countries.

If, as evidences seem to snow, Greece becomes a permanent republic, the effect in the Balkans should prove notable. In the first place it will spoil Queen Marie's imperialistic dream--a dream of a Balkan federation swayed by herself and her children. Moreover, with Greece's example before them other peoples may begin to feel that the Rumanian queen has overreached herself in her ambition. At any rate if Greece continues to revivify at the present rate, the Balkan pot, always near the fire, is likely to be set once more a boiling.