The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-06-20
montenegro IS
THE QuEEREST
OF COUNTRIES
Man May Be Imprisoned for
Eating Hedgehog and One
Struck May Kill Striker.

WASHINGTON, d. c., June 20
George Higgins Moses, FORMER United
States minister to Greece and Monte
negro, In a communication to the Ma
t1onal Geographic Society at Wash
tngton, D. c., describes montenegro as
one Of the Oldest countries in the
world. There, the women are the
producers, clothes make the man, the
king is greater than the ministry, the
chamber 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 murderer.
A Constructive King.
The writer paints King Nicholas In
glowing colors. "In the fifty-four
years of his reign, he has doubled his
territory, added two Adriatic ports to
his possessions and has organized
ministries, the courts, finance, and all
the departments 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
It may be said of Montenegro alone
among nations, that wherever one may
go at all in wheeled conveyance
one may go in an automobile. Nicholas
has established posts and telegraphs,
so that whereas once a Montenegrin
mobilization was effected by stem
torian halooing from peak to peak,
Centinje Is now constantly In touch
with all parts Of the country and with
the outside world. He has moditieO
the laws, task already begun by his
predecessor. He is statesman at
once bold and cautious, a dIplcmatist
of many talents, a capable adminis-
traitor, and thoughtful reformer,
writes Mr.. Moses. Again and again
he has repressed the warlike ardor OF
his mountaineers, and has led them
to battle only when no other course
was possible.
All Wear Blue Trousers.
cat the creation, so runs the Mon
tenegrin legend, an angel was sent
forth to pick up the superhuous stones
on the earth's surface He placed
them in bag, which burst as he was
flying over oernagora, one of the
Hottest OF the Black mountains, and
certainly the landscape 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
the peasant, as is the gaily colcred
sash which holds the invariable re-
volver. But from the red jacket and
the redingote one connotes whether
the wearer be man OF substance and
consequence or not. Among the wonl-
en- there are slighter distinctions,
Women the Workers. =
1.-THE women engage in the produc-
tive pursuits. And yet the man has
capacity and when taken from his
bellicose environment of his mountain
home becomes one Of the best OF work
ers. His 500 years OF freedom have
given the Montenegro fine sense OF
order, and it is current saying along
the Dalmation coast that when Mon
tenegrin applying for job is asked
what he can do he invariably answers,
'Superintend.'
Respect for age is entoined by law,
and in the articles regulating public
conveyances It is provided that the
traveller may have the seat indicated
by his ticket, but 1t is added, The de-
ference due by youth to age requires
that the former yield the better place
to their seniors Another article de-
clares the equality of all before the
law, lays down the democratic prin-
ciple Of the universal ownership OF
land and the equal right OF all to hold
office.
practically the only motor cars N
Montenegro are those in use by roy
atty, and as the machines purr along
the splendid roads all the peasants
working in the fields, even the most
distant, straighten themselves and
make a deep 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"