"Prepare the fatted calf, for my beloved son is returning home."

The many thousands of Greeks in Chicago and other American communities, who are living and struggling many thousands of miles away from their homeland, have just cause to celebrate the triumph of Greek arms in the recent Balkan wars. We are all jubilant and happy over the territorial expansion of our homeland, but our enthusiasm should not stop here.

We who are living in Chicago, amid a practical and enterprising people, can imagine what great benefits we can derive from the new turn of events in our homeland. Our great and rich territorial acquisitions in Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace, and in the Aegean Islands, are awaiting the farmer, the herdsman, 2the merchant, the industrialist, and the sailor, who will cultivate the land and develop its resources. The fatted calf of the gospel has been prepared by our loving mother, Greece, and with open arms she expects us to share the rich feast.

How many of our immigrant Greeks in Chicago will partake of this happy, endless feast? As a patriotic newspaper, Saloniki sounds the call and invites all our people, not only in Chicago but in every foreign land, to think about and discuss the great opportunities which are being offered us.

The immigration question has been amply discussed during the last decade without any definite results. The arguments for and against immigration are familiar to everyone. Today, however, conditions have been reversed, and Saloniki is the first to raise its voice and proclaim that immigration to this country in huge numbers should cease. It favors the repatriation of 3our people.

Let us all,therefore, take the road back to our beloved homeland. We do not know how many will heed our advice and accept our suggestions, but even if one person listens to our voice, this newspaper will be proud of having performed one of its greatest patriotic duties.

The huge wave of immigration to the United States has reached tremendous proportions in the last few years. This increase in Greek immigration is primarily the result of the adventurous nature and the restless, inquisitive instincts of our people. Other important reasons are: 1) the extreme poverty of the agricultural areas of Greece; 2) the misery and suffering among the working class because of the lack of adequate protective laws; 3) the practice of usury and exploitation. It is no exaggeration to say that one third of the manpower of Greece has crossed the broad expanse of the ocean to seek a better fortune in the New World. To what extent our golden dreams have been 4realized is known to each one of us here in this great city of Chicago.

Today, with the new political order in Greece and with double the territory she had before, there is no excuse for immigrating to America. We should now be happy and hopeful of returning to the sacred soil of our enlarged and prospering fatherland. The yearning stranger and wanderer who desires to see the smoke rising from his ancestral home once more could never find a better opportunity. Our country is eager to embrace its beloved children. Its joy will be great when its lost sons shall partake of the feast for which the fatted calf has been slain. The rich fields and undeveloped resources of the newly acquired territory offer such great opportunities that European and American capitalists have already begun to buy or lease great tracts of land, especially in the fertile Macedonian valley, with the certainty that in five years their investment will multiply a hundredfold.

The legislation recently enacted by Mr. Venizelos' liberal government has rid 5the country of the disgrace of usury and all other injustices, so that life, property, honor, and opportunity have been protected and safeguarded in every way. Consequently, there is no basis for the arguments of some of us in Chicago who are proposing an increased rate of immigration to America. No soundly thinking individual will continue to hold these ideas.

The sad truth which was uttered by a French economist must be borne in mind. He declared that the emigration of a hundred thousand from one country is equivalent to the loss of an equal number of soldiers in battle. The 30,000 Greeks of Chicago and the 250,000 Greeks in the United States may form an exception to this rule, for they have given 40,000 fighters to Greece in a critical moment of her history.

It was the might, the courage, and the unfailing patriotism and devotion of the immigrant Greeks that returned home to fight two bloody wars during the 6last two years. It is they who have created Greater Greece and who have broadened the territorial, national, political, economic, and social horizons of our great country.