Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-15

be kept inviolate and undisturbed as long
as possible.
That buffer of mountain and plain peo-
pied largely by semi-savage and half-civ-
ilized tribes, Is no small territory valuable
merely on account of It's strategic position.
D 1t is big enough TO make a formidable
empire, IL ever another Boris or Gar
Simeon could arise to subdue the tribes
and hold them together. The Balkan
states-Servia. Bulgaria, Montenegro. AL
bania, Macedonia and other Turkish prov
inces on the peninsula form a territory
bigger than England, Scotland, IRELAND and
Wales put together; bigger than Italy or
Norway; almost as large as Sweden, and
three-quarten Of the size of the German
empire.
The states OF New York, Pennsylvania,
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut II put together
in one jumbled mass, would make a coun-
try OF almost the exact size of the land
Of the Balkan Question.
II 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 m Tumble the mixture
down toward the sea. Throw the Pennsyl-
vania oil wells into the middle. Stir them
up, throw the Adirondack and Allegheny
mountains Unfortunately into the pud-
ding, and you would have a hint of the
Balkans. The Adirondacks and the Bal
kans have about the same average height.
The forbidding aspects Of some Of the Al
leghany mountain scenery is duplicated in
the Balkans. Throw in. furthermore, vast
tracts OF land denuded of lumber and
blackened; throw In a smiling sea-; throw
in villages and towns ranging in appear
ance from the charm OF thriving New Eng
land villages to the desOlate ugliness OF
q Pennsylvania coal mining town; mix in
the grotesQue architecture Of the Ameri-
can seashore; stir in. sulphur wells, mag
nincent scenery, earthquakes and blood
red mud, and you have the Balkans.
There are many ways Of entering the
Balkan peninsula; but there are not so
many Of getting out. Too often one goes
in by railroad and comes out by ransom, a
method too expensive for any except large
purses.
The most comfortable way OF entering the
land is by way of Hungary into Servia.
The Servians have advanced beyond the
old and simple life of throat Sitting and
revolution, and are building up a fine land
rich with agriculture and mines. Austria
Hungary is pushing her feelers OF railroad
through 1t in all directions. Immense tun-
nels burrow under the mountains. All the
Hungarian railroads lead toward the
Balkans. Her constant stream OF freight
aud passengers turns either into the Adrl-
attic sea across Bosnia or through Belgrade,
both by land and by Danube ports, into
servia. Roumania and Bulgaria and so
finally reaches the Black sea, the Aegean
sea and the ancient highways leading to
the far east.
One of the last places to ne touched by
the railroad before 1t leaves Hungary to
cross into the Servian boundary, Is the
Austrian Gibraltar-the mighty and ancient
fortress OF Peterwardein
Then the train steams into Belgrade, a
city with one Of the most romantic records
of history. 1t is a magnificent city TO APP
proaeh, for its site on the Danube is so
beautiful that travellers give 1t fourth rank
in Tolnt of site among the capitals of Eu-
rope - Constantinople, Lisbon, Stockholm
and Belgrade.
Almost everywhere In Belgrade are monu-