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Show oo Appeals Made to United States By Albanians TIRANA, Albania. Oct 6. (By The .Associated Press.) Continued np Ipe-als are being made by the Alban J ians for Ihe 1'nited States to assume a mandate for Albania. The Alban ian has an amaxl&g confidence In America. Scarcely a week goes by In which some local Albanian society or group of patriots does not present a petition addresse to the Americans ap pealing to President Wilson to intercede inter-cede on behalf of their country. When The Associated Press corre spondenl was passing through a small town south of here on horseback, he was slopped by the mayor and local officials who presented to him an ap peal seeking the protection of the United States because the (".reeks i' np"i't'l ti hae taken posses- 1 sion of the city of Koritza, in Southern South-ern Albania. The Italian protectorate is in operation, opera-tion, but most Albanians profess a i distinct dislike for the Italians, saying their desire Is merely to exploit the ! country and to retain a strategic foothold foot-hold in the Balkan!. Some of them say thev fared better and the country proxies M-d more under the Austrians. American observers say the Italians have brought great material nnd moral I good to the country and have siabi-lised siabi-lised things in an effectual way I The country Js extremely primitive and there are 'ontinual interna! disorders. dis-orders. Railroads or telegraphs do not exist, many of ihe most, ordinary conveniences con-veniences of life are wanting, sanitation sanita-tion is almost unknown, schools md churches are few in number, and altogether al-together the countrv seems extremely backward. Except for the southern part which la fairly fertile", It is a barren bar-ren wasto of docks and woodless hills and mountains. Albania produces scarcr-lj enough I crops f support its inhabitants. The l inil.it ion 1 upward of two millions, divided about evenly between Christians Chris-tians and Mohammedans (inly about " per cent of this number is able to read or write. The women do all the work. They are veritable beasts of burden. Is-j d( '1 they compete with the ponies and i donkeys Hfl pack earners, but an- not considered bv the men as valuable be- : cause they cannot bear up under suc h i heavy loads. In the frequent sale Ol 'young women for wives, the price j often paid i; not as high as that given for a good horse. This severe life among the women shows itself In pre mature old age and in many forms of serious physical disability. Fifteen I per cent of ihe mothers die in child birth. The men sit around coffee houses. I discussing politics, or attend lo the ; business of repelling by gun or sword the frequent Serbian or Montenegrin , invaders The hostility to the Serb land Montenegrin never erases- Feuds pistol duels and vendettas are of daily I occurrence. The Albanian, once he I believes himself or relatives wronged, ! never rcsu until complete and fierce j vengeance is secured The American j Red Cross hospitals throughout the j countrv are constantly called upon to treat the victims of these feuds and vendettas The Italians have a force of bout ' 25.000 troops in Albania. The major part of these are in the vicinity of Yalona. The rest are used in police and garrison duty in different parts of the country. Their presence has tend-I ed io tranquilise the country and) keep down the troublesome elements among the population There are re curring sporadic clashes, however, between be-tween the Albanians, Serbs and Montenegrins, Mon-tenegrins, in which frequently the Italians Ital-ians are forced to take part. |