The chronicle=news., 1914-08-26
Springfield Republican:

I
Europe has left the central figure of
| the broil as unknown to the great
body of American people as though 1t
were located among the ice floes of
the polar regions. Everyone who
has followed the present situation at
all knows something of the causes
of the quarrel and a little of the his
tory of Austria, but OF Servia, the
| other primary party to the war, most
OF us are ignorant save that 1t Is
one Of the Balkan states, that the
name of the ruler is King Peter and
that, while politically independent,
1t has close affiliations with Russia.
to which 1t must ultimately look for
its protection. Newspaper maps
have given most people an idea as
to the general location of the coun-
try, and there is a notion that the
population is made up OF Serbs. al
though Just what Serb Is. more or
less of a mystery to most.
servia Has Great History.
Yet Servia, while still In many re-
spects primitive nation. has long
and momentous history back Of 1t.
and more than once before the pres
ent crisis has had the eyes of all Eu-
rope turned toward 1t as the pivotal
point. Servia is an inland kingdom
OF southeastern Europe. situated In
the north of the Balkan peninsula.
The frontier. as defined by the Bcr-
lin treaty of 1878. is. roughly speak,
ing, indicated by rivers In the north
and by mountains in the south. In
the north, between Verciorova and
Belgrade, the Danube divides Servia
from Hungary for 157 miles. In the
northwest the Drina flows for 102
miles between Bosnia and Servia,
and in the northeast the Danube for
SO miles, and the Timok constitute,
respectively. the Roumanian and
Bulgarian boundaries. Various noun
tain ranges mark the frontiers of
Herzegovina, Turkey and Bulgaria
to the west, south and southeast.
To bring the small size of the
country. that is causing so much
commotion. home to New England
ers. 1t may be said that It is roughly
about as large as Vermont and New
Hampshire combined Belgrade,
the capital, has a population of but
about 10000, and, with the exccp-
tion of market day. when the popu-
lation of the surrounding country
come In to buy their provisions there
is hardly any animation. Most of
the old houses are unclean, of a
single story, and small even for
buildings of that height. The aspect
OF the stores does not suggest that
they contain any considerable
amount Of merchandise. Unlike
most European capitals. the life Of
Belgrade is anything but gay. The
municipal council Is against any in
novations, and there is but one thea
ter. The situation of the city, while
far from good strategically. is beau
tiful. 1t stands upon point where
the Save and Danube join, and the
two rivers minsle their waters be-
meath the very eyes of the inhabi-
tants of the city.
The People.
In 1910 the population of Servia
was in the ncighborhood of 2.75O,-
900. More than four-fifths of the
population belong the the Serbo-
Croatian branch of the Slavic race.
while the remainder is made up of a
scattering of different peoples, in
Guiding Rumanians, Gypsies, Austria
Hungarians, Germans and Jews. In
the present crisis it is worthy of
note that Austria-Hungarians and
Jews only amount to about 5000.
Many Servians returned after the
Berlin treaty of 1873 to the territor-
les which were restored to their
country, and which had previously
been occupied by Turks, Albanians
turn of Servians occurred during the
recent Balkan war. While the Aus
trians and Germans arc small in per-
ccntage of population. they control
large proportion Of the commerce OF
the country. The physical attributes
of the people vary, but the general
rule is that those of the northern
section are taller and faircr than
those of the south.
Servia is land without an aris-
tocracy or middle class. In 1900
there WAS uot d pdupei Vi WI hhouse
in the country. The people, less
thrifty than the Bulgars, less versa
tile and Intellectual than the Rolf-
manians, less martial than the Mon
tenegrins, value comfort far more
highly than progress. Agriculture
is their principal industry. and. al
though great strides in this have
been taken since 1890, 1t still re-
mains in a primitive condition in
many parts of the country. Manu-
factures and commerce form small
part of the resources of the country,
though there are scattered iron foun-
dries. potteries and sugar and tobac-
CO factories. There are few small
domestic industries, such as the
manufacture of sandals and of hand
,-oror oorpntc ,ra