Show U H TRY za a N VT A ar A i etya Kt yA fe oteff A is f y N N k M t lm I 1 V I 1 Z 11 R yv r A v orrill lin ROOM VU ORA filli hilli IV hil LRI V AND T envia Is a peasant country like the other balkan states its SERVIA peasant people bellee believe in III their rights to nationality thit was nas what nhat re ill kindled tho the european war max conflagration some sears ago in traveling over serbia with an englishman who mho had more or less to do with the affairs ot of his country this tact fact was mas ampt impressed cared on me at t that time the murder of 0 the king and queen b the arm group inas ft as comparatively recent and english indignation was as still so strong that the british government hall had refused to recognize the regicides but this en ED gl geishman ishman vas philosophic and re marked that serela sen la would get lecog in time because its existence could not be ignored bv any ot of the european powers events showed that he was as right As we me traNe traveled led across the country countr he called nl mv attention to the small number of towns and cities there were nero groups ot of huts which might be called villages but lev fenn real towns ana an one coming across on the orient express from constantinople to vien na notes this and getting aw vaa a irom from the railroad line it is even more doti noticeable ti belgrade on the danube is a fine une capital modern in most respects with a lot of ancient history but belgrade is not topical of seria senia the vaclev alle and the mountain and the hie forest are what constitutes ser serbia ia and what bat make the serviano ians people who have bae lived in the country sa sav that the bulk ot of the population Is almost fanatical in its hatred ot of oil life these seri serbian ian countr countrymen men are pic tur esque in their vav a as ire are all the natives of the balkan stats the chev im press one as rather dull but as dogged civilization really seems to have haia touched them verv light lightly li and only on the surface for thea the are caude and primi primitive tiie frugal and saving aside from the race question the eternal anti antipathy path of 0 slav sla and economic conditions also ila ilae have e corn bained to foment the anti antipathy path between the Seli ians jans and tho the Aust Austri nans ins the servian serian peasant Is a landed tor ter the country count rj is one of small land owners slid and this condition nL natural creates a large measure of individual independence the servian country men according to the testimony of those who know knon them best are as frugal and having bang a the french peas ant then aie also alo temperate and industrious owing to the habits of frugality and to tile tie agricultural surroundings al most very nery year sernia sen la has a surplus of allett and corn fruits and cattle and pigs pegs tor for export hemmed in as aa it is lt it exports have babe been subject to the pleasure of austria the chief markets for the tural products Dro Oro ducts are austria and ger mana man although the rest ot of eusope is also a buver buer bernit sen la makes its own tariffs and when friction has been greato t with mith austria there have hane been tariff w m irs but the ad advantage adan altage antage tage alv always a s has rested with austria because it could impose such restrictions as it phased ase on importations into its own toy and in other was mas could hamper serbian fernian exports austrian statesmen at times haie spoken contemptuously ot of tile the fernian pea salt and his bis pig as an illustration of chrt which has been the chief con corn ot of servian ca cabinets billt it has not been bimal the pea peasant ant and his pig but the peasant and ins his beet beef hit torn corn his heat md ind his hib fruit that the ser alan goern government ment has had to look att aft er pressing political roli conces biens on oil servia austria usually hs has modified the commercial restrictions doina this as a fanor instead of a right the serviano ians have chafee chafed under this restriction estrict ion much mort more than alian has been commonly understood they hue h ue wanted access to uw the gilds markets and the denial of if this privilege has added to the iclal hicl il antagonism the servian semian peasants who mho komlose tile the army timis have really been fighting for commercial freedom as much as tor for political independence have big army the with mith whom I 1 lour jour coed ed pointed out the tiet in the i servian countrymen which made for good soldiers As art an observer cr he than I 1 rev ren the general scheme schem of the servian group to create an effect he army out of this material it was N Ls from this agricultural tion that the compact disciplined ax ar my of 0 was mas formed and was mas icid icide tor for active service bernice when nhen the hal bal kin kan sattes made war inar on the pirt part the servian troops placed in that war var and in the subsequent wars mars among the allies does not need to be recalled that the servian army will mill prove effective in the present general war mar maj ma be a assumed tor for the material of which it Is composed has not changed As a result of 0 tho the successful war mar against turkey the old serbia ceased to exist and the new servia was mas formed with a territorial area in creases b bi more than one third and with mith an addition ot of slav in habitants the servia that was created by the berlin treaty of had an area of a fration atlon fra tr tion under nineteen thousand square miles and a population when the turkish war mar was begun of nearl three million As the spoils I 1 Is of the war serila sen la got an addition of nearly nearl fifteen thousand square miles and an added population of 1 so the new nen serla serbia which is a factor in the present war mar is a country of more thin thirty three thousand square miles with mith a population of nearly four million se hundred thousand cheth er when ihen the war mar is over there will mill still be an independent sernia serbia is of course one of the questions question which cannot be answered now DONN while serna senia as the outcome of the turkish and bulgarian wars mars got this addition to territory tern terri tor and to tion the national aspirants mere not siti sHed led servia wanted th seaport ot of salonic Sal on the aegean sea which autria austria also wants the serbian ter aitor now comes to within 40 miles of Salor ilki serla sen la did obtain exten eten tiie port privileges at Sal include ing a cession of a zone for NNa warehouses tor for merchandise in transit port ex emotions empt ions and a reduced tariff on the railway this would mean much for the development of the country but the 10 40 miles of greek territory be tween the servian frontier and the sea alwais aguas will aill appeal to the serviano ians as something that they ought to hive the adan advantage tage serla had and still has as an agricultural country pro not only sufficient tor for the sus cenance of its own population but a surplus for export is not to be overlooked in the existing war mar if the aus trian arlan troops were not under the feces sit of fighting russia the could sta in seri serbia la and live off the country N er cr easily easil but with mith russia engaging them seri serbia Is Is likely to ha have e the hen ben befit of her agricultural surplus to feed her own onn arma arm and to omo ome extent the russian arm when the food supply is ib so essential an element in the war mar the crops of servia sernia become a military mili tiry le ie source no 0 great iolue |