Arizona republican., 1919-01-17
MANY TOM THUMB
 REPUBLICS ABROAD
Washington Times)

There are number of republics of which we never hear and of the very existence of which most people are ig norant.
 There are states in various parts of Europe so isolated from the rest of the world that they might as well be on the moon.
 Indeed, few maps bear any trace of them. But for all that they are very important communities in themselves and can boast of a prosperous exist ence which would be Q credit to any state, especially nowadays.
 One of the most interesting of these Tom Thumb republics is St. Goust, in one of the most inaccessible parts of the Bases -Pyrenees, which, so far as area is concerned, enjoys the distinc- ton of being the smallest self governed state in the world It is hardly a square mile in area. The population numbers 130, who rule themselves mainly owing to the fact that the little state is so hard to get at that no one will take the trouble to alter it's constitution. Perched on a rocky mountain, St. Goust has such a steep descent that when anyone dies it is impossible to have an ordinary funeral.
 A coffin could not be carried down the mountain side. and consequently the inhabitants have cut a groove into the face of the rock, and the coffin is made fast to q rope and allowed to slide down to the cemetery in Ossan Valley below, where all baptisms and marriages are performed. The presi- dent of St Goust, who. by the by, is also tax collector, assessor and judge, is elected by council of twelve, who are.chosen for five years by the people, the little. republic having been ruled for more than two thousand years through Council of Elders About 150 miles from St. Goust is to be found the republic of Andorra, an almost inaccessible state of about 1000 inhabitants, in the eastern Pyreness. Andorra was declared a free state as long ago as the ninth century by Charlemagne. The republic is governed by it's own representatives, who con- stitute a sovereign council of twenty | four members, which council elects a president every four years.
 1 The chief occupations of the Andor- l ramos are agriculture, cattle breeding | trade in wool and charcoal, and snug ! gling. At the same time they are good natured, hard-worl1ing, hospitable peo- 1 pie and, needless to say, are devoted to | liberty, which they are prepared to de- 1 fend with a standing army of 1,10t men.
 | The smallest republican state in re- gard to population is Tavolara, little 1 known island about five miles long
 with an average width of half mile
 situated off the north coast of Sar-
 dinia Many maps and geography 1 books totally ignore the existence oi l this state. Yet it is a free and inde- | pendent republic of about seventy in
 habitants, who are their own rulers. The people of Tavolara declared theil independence. as recently as 1886. thu
 island having previously been mad'
 over in 1886 by King Charles Albert O
 Sardinia to the Bortoleonj family
 None of the great powers objected
 when the island threw off the yoke 0
 monarchy, and during the last seven
 teen years the inhabitants have live'
 at peace with the world. They cleo
 president every six years, and
 council of six members all of whom
 serve the state without payment.