New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-04-30

II ar THE RAIKAN STATES OF TO-
| DAY. BY Blair jacket WIN numerous pt.s
| Illustrations from photographs taken
| specially for the book. 12mo. PIP w.
| ea1 Boston: l.. c. Page * Go.
! II is annually becoming more difficult
for the tourist in search OF the pictu-
rescue I'm life and manners to discover
new regions to visit. OF recent years he
has discovered Norway and Finland, and
has rediscovered the Dalmatian coast,
well travelled in the days of the Eng
lishman's grand tour Of the eighteenth
century. The turn Of the Balkan princl-
palities is coming. Modern civilization
has already penetrated them sufficiently
N insure the safety of the traveller and
( q measure of his material comfort. WITH
ont as vet spelling with its levelllng uni
forn1ity the romance Of dress and man
ners of their peoples or celebrating the
visible memories of their tragic heroic
past.
| Mr.. jacket is a leisurely Traveller VINO
does not seek to crowd too much IN
formation into the record OF his "Trip
His point of view is that of the transit
tion If Servia. Bulgaria and Dalmatla
and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian prov
inces from Turkish misrule ana rum 10
modern freedom, safety and progress
He links the past with the present which
ts transforming unconquerable monte
,erro no less than rescued, ravased
Bosnia. and he looks into future that'
however promising economically ana So
c,aIIv. cannot fail to rob these regions
~ much Of their picturesqueness OF cos
tune and customs. amid the apioihs
ho.u,v and grandeur Of their scenery.
servia's advance impressed MN sredt-
" The blood stained history or us rui-
ers record OF black medlaVailsm III
,b. modern era. counting four assassl-
nations and an equal NUMBER OF aoui0a
tione in the nineteenth century. con-
trasts strangely with the steady advance
Of national education. A hundred year
ago Servia contained not single schooi-
house. TOT DAY the country MAINTAINS
eight hundred and sixty elementary
schools for boys and one hundred ana nity
for girls: fourteen middle grade schools
with classical departments and twelve
without: six high schools for girls TWO
technical academies, two schoois iol
,.ocbers 2 school of agriculture COM
mercjal college military academy ana
university. The population is $500
ooo Education IS free and compulsory
but in Belgrade, the capital OF crime
as the author calls IT, there were III
| 1910 twcnty-nine mon in prison charged
with nlottinc against the life OF King
Peter And Of the eighty thousand IN
bab;tants of the city two thousand are
policemen.
! German is the language Of greatest
service in Balkan travel, Mr.. Jaekei ois-
covered; he even calls it compulsory.
con the other hand English crops up IN
unexpected places Trains are SLOW
and the Balkan cities appear to have
strange habit Of lying mile or two dis
tant from their railroad stations. The
sleepers of the Oriental Express bore
curious printed rules and regulations for
the passengers, among them one forbid
ding them to 90 to bed with their boots
on. The hotels varied greatly. The Bull
garians seemed determined people to
the author, who pays a fine tribute to
the efficiency Of Austrian rule in the
now annexed provinces. Reverting to
Servia for q moment, he gives the fol-
| lowing explanation of the interest given
by its rural population to pig raising. 1t
sounds plausible.
The contemplate pig still constitutes the
| chief article OF export. but the raising Of
swine instead Of the cultivation Of the soil
1 although the latter Is by no means unpfo-
| life. has been handed down from genera
| ton to generation as an ingenious method
| Of the Servians for saving the products of
| their country from the destructive raids or
the Turks pork being forbidden to those Of
| the Mahometan faith.
Greece was not included in the authors
itinerary, nor was Turkey proper.
wherever he went, racing was a ma
tional sport-and such racing, he adds,
mournfully. Evidently Dalmatia inter
ested him most. A curious chapter for
those interested in that sort Of thing is
the one dealing with Predictions of
Servian Tragedies" in which Mr.. Stead,
Nine de Thebes and various peasants of
the country figure side by side so far as
King Alexander and Queen Draga are
concerned. a portrait of this unfOrtu-
nate woman forms the frontispiece of the
| hook