Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-22
MONTENEGRO IS ONE Of :
OLDEST Of COUNTRIES
There Women Are the Producers
and Clothes Make
the Man.
g. 81. Moses, Former United States
Minister, Writes High Praise
for King Nicholas.

George Higgins Moses, former United
States minister to Greece and Montene-
gro. IN communication to the National
Geographic Society describes Montenegro
as one of the oldest countries in the
world. There the women are the pro-
ducers, clothes make the man, the king
Is greater than the ministry. the cham
Der or the constitution, and a man may
be imprisoned for eating hedgehog A
man who Is struck may kill the striker
provided it be done at once; If he delays
he Is punished as a murderer.
The writer paints King Nicholas In
glowing colors. I'm the fifty-four years
of his reign he has doubled his terri
tory, added two Adriatic ports to his pos
sessions and has organized ministries
the courts. finance and all the depart
ments of the government" he says
Where. when he came to the throne,
only few difficult trails threaded the
hills. today splendid network of roads
connects all the principal points of the
Kingdom. and 1t may be said of Monte
negro alone among nations that wherever
one may go at all in a wheeled convey
ance one may go in an automobile. Mich
olas has established posts and tele.
negrin mobilization was effected by stem
torlan hallooing from peak to peak. Get
TIME Is now constantly in touch with all
parts of the country and with the out
side world. He has modified the laws, a
task already begun by his predecessor
He Is a statesman at once bold and eau
tious. a diplomatist of many talents a
capable administrator. and a thoughtful
reformer writes Mr.. Moses. Again and
again he has repressed the warlike ar
dor Of his mountaineers, and has led
them to battle only when no other course
was possible.
European Dress Scarce.
AT the creation, SO runs the Montene-
grin legend, an angel was sent forth to
pick up the superfluous stones on the
earth's surface. He placed them in a
bag, which burst as he was flying over
Cernagora, one Of the loftiest of the
Black mountains, and certainly the land
Scape bears out the tale. European dress
has made slight inroads in this part of
the world A Montenegrin's habit is as
costly as his purse can buy, and there the
apparel proclaims the man. The baggy
blue trousers are the same for the king
or peasant. as is the gaily colored sash.
which holds the invariable revolver. But
from the red jacket and the redingote one
connotes whether the wearer be a man
of substance and consequence or not.
Among the women there are slighter dis
tinctions.
The women engage in the productive
pursuits. And yet the man has capacity,
and when taken from the bellicose en-
vironment of his mountain home becomes
one of the best of workers. His 5OO
years of freedom have given the Monte
negrin a fine sense of order, and it is a
current saying along the Dalmatian coast
that when a Montenegrin. applying for a
Job, is asked what he can do, he in
variably answers, .Surerintend.'
Respect for age is enjoined by law.
and in the articles regulating public con-
veyances it is provided that the traveller
may have the seat indicated by his ticket
but it is added, The Difference due by
youth to age requires that the former
yield the better place to their seniors.
Another article declares the equality OF
all before the law, and lays down the
democratic principle of the universal own.
ership of land and the equal right of all
to hold office
practically the only motor cars in
Montenegro are those in use by royalty
and as the machines purr along the
splendid roads, all the peasants working
In the fields, even the most distant
straighten themselves and make deer
obeisance as the car passes. and at every
hating place the people swarm up In the
hope that they may have the privilege OF
kissing the royal hand.