Imperial Valley press., 1914-05-15
KING OF ALBANIA
is MAKING GOOD
lRY HENRY WOODY

/ - AAL@ANRl WI
CBy United Press staff Correspondent
Durazzo, Albania, May 12.-"Now
you don't see it, and now you do"
This reversal of the old sleight or
hand formula, Prince William of AL
bania is finding great deal more diff
fcult than the naturalization of its
original form. To make disappear an
already existing kingdom, especially
one as small as Albania, Prince Will
liam is finding would be mere child's
play compared with making the world
see q new kingdom where there wasn't
one before, and where, as a matter
of fact, there was mighty little out
of which to make one. Yet, when the
United Press correspondent visited
Durazzo, capital of the newly-created
Albania, less than three months after
Prince William had become its SOW
ereign, it was more than apparent
that the latter had already demon
strated his ability to put one over
eventually on the sleight-of- hand men.
That there is going to be an actual
kingdom of Albania where formerly
there was only theoretical, diploma
tically-created one, there can be no
further doubt.
The creation of Albania into a sep
arate, independent kingdom, after it
had been redeemed from the Turks
by the Servians, Greeks, and Monte
negrinS during the two recent Bal
kan wars, was decided upon by the
diplomats of the leading European
powers as the only way to prevent
an eventual European war. Austria,
Italy, Greece, Servia and Bulgaria
were all determined to grab Albania,
and it seemed certain that when one
grabbed all would grab with newt
able diastrouS results for the peace
of Europe as a whole. When, however,
on March Z, Prince William landed at
Durazzo, the capital of this diploma
tically-created kingdom, he found that
the decision itself was about the only
tangible thing there was out of which
to create kingdom. He found
country without industries and with
out resources to create industries; he
found a country of people without
houses and with nothing out of which
to build houses, he found as subjects
hostile, half-civilized tribes with very
little basis for uniting them into a
single loyal nation.
Prince William, however, went to
the task like boy to swimming
hole and remarkable results already
have been attained. Difficult as were
the material tasks which he had to
face they were nothing compared with
that of winning over to himself and
wife the goodwill and support of
their new subjects. But by series
of master-strokes of real human kind
illness and real human brotherhood the
two new monarchs already have won
the Albanian people to the heart. On
March Z, when Prince William and
Princess Sofia landed at Durazzo the
reception accorded them by the AL
banian people was no more than re.
Spectful But within a week, Princess
Sofia had pierced this half-repellant
respectfulness. There were at Duraz-
20 two or three schools founded and
maintained by the Italians and the
Austyians in their efforts to gain the
upper hand of goodwill with the AL
banian people. To each of these schools
Princess Sofia went on foot and got
acquainted with the children. Then
when she had gotten them over their
shyness, she invited them to the palace
and most of them who had never seen
the interior of an actual house before,
got for their first glimpse that of
a royal palace, even if the latter would
~---------------------------