Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-25
TWOCROWN PRINCES
studiOus Alexander Put in Wicked
Georges Place.
MEETING WITH DEPosED HEIR
Double Crisis Passed In servia with
Outward CaIm-Thc TemperIess
servians and Their Arti-
hcial Demonstrations.

BELGRADE. April 17.-one would hardly
surmise from the undlsturbed quiet which
pervades, the streets Of Belgrade that an
other dynastic crisis is upon the country
and that at the same time the future meas
ure OF servia's independence is being de-
cided In the Austrian capital.
It Is almost a blessing that the streets
here are paved with cobblestones, over
which the peasants OK carts and the mill
tary four-horse wagons cannot fail to
rumble. The Servians complain of the
noise OF traffic and promise the stranger
thai the city shall be paved with asphalt
before many years, but the stiffness which
will follow such an Improvement is almost
to be dreaded.
Would 1t be possible TO find another civil
ICED city of 10000 inhabitants where the
newsboys at the moment Of a double mem
ace to the country did not make the names
of their papers ring through the streets?
A slow, drawing cry which would never
induce one to believe that there is news
eliminates at noon from struggling urchlns
and bearded old men who carry under
their arms the first and only edition of the
Politika, the most sensational Belgrade
daily. with dispatches from the capitals
Va Nv NhICuNtninb uudl nelBnDOT ana an
editorial calling upon the government to
mobilize the army Immediately.
Only Foreigners Impatient.
Foreign correspondents, of whom there
are numbers here, men from every Euro
pean country and from America, buy the
paper rapidly and generally open it at
once upon the streets, but none of the
peasants does likewise, and the long cloaked
army nffiaara zEaf-4-t -
shopkeepers who have just closed their
stores for the noon hour generally wait TO
read the news till they get home for their
midday dinner or till they may sit for an
hour at their favorite cafe. Bulletin boards
are unknown, and extra editions even in
these stirring times are of no more than
monthly occurrence.
l have heard the Servians called phleg-
matte, but this word seems to me to apply
to stout, beer drinking peoples, while tho
Servians are tall and lean. They may be
described. 1 think, as temperless people.
They are not Indifferent TO the turn of
events. nor are they slow to realize the
significance Of happenings that affect
them.
Yet it is seldom than anything can make
one of them lose control Of himself. When
aA aNN VI NlOttilCt II seems 10
be only after forethought and with full in
tent. and often much drink is necessary
to fire his determination.
There is, of course, a striking execution
TO this rule In the person of Mr.. George
karageorgevitch." as one paper describes
the ex-crown prince. But Prince George
was raised in western Europe, which may
have had some influence upon his char
acter; and his mother was a Montenegrin.
Way of Thinking.
Today the resignation of Prince George
because the papers demanded an m
ton into the death OF his valet is attract
ing more attention than the attitude OF
Austria Hungary. And this is in keeping
with the Servian, If not the slav, character
generally. To the Servian internal affairs
have always been of more interest than in
ternational matters. because to them a po-
litical rival has always been a greater en-
envy than a foreign one. The Serbs do no.
seem to be able to see broadly or far.
Things nearest to them are always of mos;
Importance.
The bad name which servia has for kine
killing and the sight OF soldiers with rifles
slung across their backs doing police dut,
on the best lighted streets after shutdown
might lead the newcomer TO suppose that
life was not always safe In the Seryian
capital. But the place is, on the contrary,
most peaceful. Among the Servians there
hardly exists a tout or a sharper. while
criminals from neighboring countries find
the place too poor to ply their trade hi.
a stranger could visit any part OF the
country in safety even at this moment
when the peasant soldiers think that It Is
their duty to arrest every foreigner OF
the chance that he may be an Austrian
spy. Hero house breaking and murder ar,
very little known. An intoxicated man Il
rarely seen upon the streets. and when a
slavas or native festivals men drink toC
much OF their homemade sllvavitza Il
makes them only stupid or gay and les
than ever inclined to be pugnacious.
serbs of Initiative Bent.
The Serbs are an initiative race and fol
low the example OF others or obey orders
and the Servian government has show
recently that II has much OF the characte
of the people. In employing the armed mel
at night-an unnecessary measure-it
initiating the countries round about. Tur
key TO the south is, OF course, very lawless
Bulgaria and Rumania on the east am
Hungary to the north across the Danub
and the Save are states in which the peas
ants might not recognize the authority o
the law unless the officer of it carrie
some inspiring weapon, and west acros
the Drina river there Is troubled Bosnia.
From over the Danube, from Hungar