Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-16
A MONROE DOCTRINE"
COUNTRY is BtG ENOUGH Tc
MAKE A MIGHTY EMPIRE.
A Bloody Land From the Very Dawn
Of Its History-States
and Peoples.

Tipus and ever threatening as ii is
And yet to almost the whole world the
Balkan question is little more than a mud
| die OF obscure geography. tangled history
and still more tangled intrigue.
Briefly. expressed, the Balkan question is
the keystone Of that tenderly poised arch,
the balance Of power-the Monroe doctrine
Of Europe.
And as the Monroe doctrine of the United
States was susceptible to the meanest out
break Of Instruction in Cuba, so Europe S
doctrine is shaken every time a handful of
patriots or brigands raises a revolt in Tur-
keys Cuba of Macedonia.
At any day horde Of mountain robbers,
with no aim higher than to piilage a poor
village, or a band of devoted liberators,
with the mere aim of freeing their obscure
province from the Turk, may strike the
spark that will blow up the whole balance
Of power and bury the peace Of all Europe
In the wreck. 49,
AS a concert the powers are bent on
keeping that keystone Of the Balkans in
its place. Jealousy and fear are the power
full motives that make them jealous in the
endeavor.
Individually, each power is studying to
see how 1t can assure Itself of advantage
enough to pay to pull It out
Nations Most Concerned.
/ The two nations most openly concerned in
the Balkan question today are England
and Russia. Englands interest just now
lies in keeping the question as 1t has been.
Russia cannot. and will not. be content in
the nature Of the case till she controls the
Balkans or has been SO signally defeated
In trying that she will not be in position to
try again.
To Russia, the ownership Of the Balkans
would mean the ownership of an empire
covering the entire eastern portion of the
European continent.
That would mean the control Of the Medi-
terranean in the east and the movement
toward Englands oriental empire would be
advanced by mighty step.
To Austria the acquisition of Balkan ter
rftory would mean a free way to the orient
and Austria is doing immense business
with the far east. Her interest is far more
important than the world guesses.
To Turkey a collapse Of the present con-
dltion means almost certainly that there
will be no Turkey I'm Europe after the
smoke clears away; whatever other nation
Is defeated or victorious
1t Is written that Turkey must go out Of
Europe.
1t Is barely possible that she will go fin
ally without war, squeezed out by the slow
and fatal process Of diplomatic coercion.
II she does not go peacefully, 1t is Ger
tain that there Will be war in Europe soon
er or later. = ..
United States Concerned.
1t is this that makes the Balkan question
no mere academic question. but one rife
with constant probabilities for mischief
that may involve the whole world.
Now that the United States is a world
power, with thousand foreign interests In
none, the Balkans may be said truly to be
OF vital concern to this country as well
as to Europe. No man can guess at how
many ends the world might catch fire in
case of a general European war.
So it Is to the present interest of all
civilized communities that the Balkan buff
fer be kept inyiolate and undisturbed as
long as possible.
pied largely by semi-savage and half-ciyiI-
lied tribes is no small territory valuable
merely on account of its strategic position.
1t Is big enough to make a formidable
lempire, II ever another Boris or Gear
Simeon could arise to subdue the tribes
and hold them together. The Balkan
states-Servia, Bulgaria. Montenegro, AL
bania, Macedonia and other Turkish prov
fnces on the peninsula form territory big
ger than England, Scotland, Ireland and
Wales put together; bigger than Italy or
Norway; almost as large as Sweden, and
thrse-quarters Of the size Of the German
empire.
The states of New York. Pennsylvania,
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
in one Jumbled mass, would make a coun-
try Of almost the exact size of the land of
the Balkan question.
What the Country Is Like.
If jumbled together hard enough, the
states would make a land something like
the Balkan peninsula, too. in conditions
Throw in the Maine winters and the rocks
Of Vermont. Tumble the mixture down to-
ward the sea- Throw the Pennsylvania Oil
wells Into the middle Stir them up, throw
the Adirondack and Allegheny mountains
Unfortunately into the pudding, and you
would have a hint Of the Balkans. The
Adtrendacks and the Balkans have about
the same average height The forbidding
aspects Of some Of the Allegheny mountain
scenery Is duplicated In the Balkans
Throw in. furthermore. vast tracts of land
denuded of lumber and blackened; throw
in smiling sea; throw In villages and
towns ranging in appearance from the
charm Of thriving New England villages to
the desolate ugliness OF a pennsylvania
coal mining town; mix In the grotesque
architecture Of the American seashore;
stir In sulphur wells, magnificent scenery
earthquakes and blood-red mud, and you
have the Balkans.
There are many ways of entering the
Balkan peninsula; II but there are not so
many of getting out. Too often one goes
in by railroad and comes out by ransom,
method too expensive for any except large
purses. [FE 81 tsGI
The Seryian Country.
me most comfortable, way or entering
the land is by. way Of Hungary into
servia- The serXians have advanced be-
yond the old and simple life Of throat slit
ting and revolution. and are building up
fine land rich with agriculture and mines.
Austria Hungary Is pushing her feelers of
railroad through It. In, all directions. I'm
nense tunnels bnrroW under the noun
tains. All the Hungarian railroads lead to-
ward the Balkans. Her constant stream of
freight and passengers turns either into
the Adriatic sea across Bosnia or through
Belgrade, both by land and by Danube
ports. into Seryia, eRoumanfa and Bulgaria
and so finally reaches the Black Sea. the
Aegean sea. and the anrcient highways lead
One Of the last places to be touched
by the railroad before 1t leaves Hungary
to cross into the Servian boundary. Is the
Austrian Gibraltar-the mighty and ancient
fortress of Peterwardefn.
Then the train steams into Belgrade a
city with one of the most romantic records
Of history. 1t IL a magnificent city to APP
proach. for its site on the Danube Ii SO
beautiful that travellers give 1t fourth rank
in point of site among the capitals of Eu-.
observation-disclosures Lisbon. Stockholm
and Belgrade.
Almost everywhere In Belgrade are mon
uments and memorials. They are to mar
tyrs of the Turkish wars. murdered states
men and assassinated patriots.