WHERE WAR BEGAN AND MAY BEGIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 4, 26 March 1927, Page 24 (Supplement)

WHERE WAR BEGAN AND MAY BEGIN

YUGOSLAVIA; A PROSPEROUS LAND JUGOSLAV I A, “Land of the South Slavs,” whose allegedly “warlike designs” on Albania have stirred Europe with the fear of another world conflict, was, strangely enough, the starting point of the Great War, though at that time the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had not combined to form a nation. The union was declared on December 'l, 1918. The sturdy Serbs have become the strongest element in the new nation, but three peoples have come together in a determination to repair the wreckage of the war by hard work. The prosperity of the new land is already a marked contrast to Hungary, still shabby with the ruins of warfare and the fall of exchange. A nation of peasants, illiterate and superstitious, but indomitable, the Yugoslavians are yet building modern cities, planning railways and laying down the foundations of greatness. In his recently-published travels, the late Mr. Frank G. Carpenter, Litt.D., F.R.G.S., describes Yugoslavia. "To understand this kingdom made up of pieces of old Austria and Hungary added to Serbia and Montenegro,” he says, “you must understand something of the peoples which inhabit it. Their ancestors lived on the northern slopes of the Carpathian mountains, between the Black and Caspian seas. A little after the birth of Mohammed, and while his followers were taking Jerusalem and Constantinople, these Carpathian tribes established themselves In the valley of the Danube. The newcomers were of the great Slavic family to which the Russians, the Poles, the Czechs, and the Bulgarians belong. Now there are twelve million people in Yugoslavia. About 40 per cent, are Serbs, 30 per cent, are Croats, perhaps ten per cent, are Slovenes, and the rest are Magyars, Germans, Rumanians, Albanians and others. Early Migrations “In the early migrations the Serbs settled between the Danube and the Drina. When the great Turkish invasion swept over the land, the Serbs were conquered and had to submit to the rule of the Moslems for more than four hundred years. Yet all the time they kept their traditions. They fought against their masters again and again, so that when the Turks were Anally driven back, the Serbs had developed a sturdy, indomitable character. They have stuck to their own language, still using the Greek characters common in Russia and they belong to the Greek Orthodox Church. “The Slovenes and the Croats drifted northward and westward. They made their way to the borders of Austria and Hungary and spread out over much of the land to the south along the Adriatic Sea. Under the influence of the Austrians and Hungarians, most of them were converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith to which they still belong. They were affected by the civilisation of the West rather than that of the East, and adopted the Latin alphabet. In the new kingdom, a number of papers are printed in both Latin and Greek letters,. This is also true of the official records of the Parliament and of many public documents.” Tiny Farms—Picturesque Peasants Peasants in bright-coloured homespun toil on the farms. The agricultural area is different from that of Hungary with its huge estates and ribbon-like farms. In Serbia most of the farms are mere garden patches. At present 85 per cent, of the population of the kingdom is engaged in farming, stock-breeding and fruitgrowing. The people pride themselves on belonging to the land. Nearly every family is land-holding and a man would do anything rather than part with his farm. The homestead law provides that, even if a man becomes bankrupt, he can retain, debtfree, five acres, a pair of oxen, a plough, and agricultural tools. Another statute which helps the small farmer is an old law requiring every land ov,ner to contribute a part of his corn and wheat to a municipal store, from which supplies are lent to the peasants if they need grain for the next planting. A third useful institution is the village custom of turning out in a body to aid the poor man in cutting his corn and bringing in his harvest. Yugoslavia claims to be first on the continent in raising corn, fifth in wheat, and ninth in rye. It ranks next to the United States in the production of corn, and seventh in the lands of the world in oats, tenth in barley, and ninth in potatoes. It produces also, beet sugar, raw silk, and tobacco. The lands along the Adriatic have almost as many vineyards as those of the Rhine and there are orchards everywhere, yielding app’es, pears, peaches and plums. Movements in Education The percentage of literacy throughout the kingdom is small. In Serbia, Montenegro, and parts of the country which did not belong to AustraiaHungary, a large portion of the people cannot read or w-rite. But new schools are being started and the Government has a big educational programme. The University of Belgrade, which has eight thousand students, and the Universities of Zagreb and Ljubliana are thriving. The areas, formerly belonging to the Austrian Empire have many public schools and all kinds of academies and colleges. Plans have been made to connect Belgrade, the capital, with Cattaro, on the Adriatic, by a trunk railway of 380 miles. This is an important

move as Yugoslavia, at present has nc rail outlet to the sea entirely within her own territory. “The White Fortress” Belgrade, “The White Fortress,” was a dead town of 60,000 people, 20 years ago, “a second-class operabouffe show.” Now it is booming. It is shuffling off its old clothes, ragged and soiled with the wear of almost two thousand years and putting on the frills of the modern capitals of Europe. It was a Celtic village as early as the third century before Christ and was called Singidunum, when the Romans took it and stationed a garrison there. It was a fastness of great importance when the Turks overran south-eastern Europe, and, about four hundred years ago, it was captured by one of the sultans. Old fortifications still stand, despite the bombardment by the Austrians in the last war. Government plans provide for the erection of 18 public

schools, an opera house, a museum and a new university. The city authorities have decided to make Belgrade the most beautiful city of the Balkans, and have offered prizes for townplanning. The population has doubled since the war, and is now nearly 200,000. The picturesquely dressed people of different nationalities make a gay moving-picture show in the streets. Women work with the men in cities and country of Yugoslavia.