The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-26
LANDLORD AND ! / 1[ II
!. PROBLEM FOR LEAGUE

Washington. b. c.. March 25.--|
Here" Says a bulletin from the Na-l
/ of the tangled International landlord
and tenant problems the peace con-
ferees at Paris must wrest1e with:
III You huild a city in a mans
house, and the city grows, and grows,
until 1t outgrows the house, in fact,
! does the city belong to the nationl
which Ia heir of the man who. built
| the house, or to the nation Of the city
! z. ~ -, n~at4r~ in The honse? Nd
/ Sounds like a com bination con1h-
drum Of the house that Jack built,
and the mooted priority of egg or
chicken. but it Is an exact statement
of the case of Spalato, contended for
by Jugo Slavs and Italians. Feeling
runs so high that American and Brit
ish destroyers rushed there this
month, dispatches state, following the
allegation of Italians that Jugo Slavs
| compelled an italian warship to haul
down it's flag.
''Of course Spalato is unique. first
Of all, for being a city founded and
still largely contained in a house
in the palace that Diocletian built
when he voluntarily abdicated as
Roman emperor in the early four.S
| teenth century. He betook hims T.
not to Elba or some reluctant Holland,
but to a beauty spot In his own domain
which he choshnfor the site Of a palace
covering nearly ten acres. more than
twice the GROUND area of the United
States Capitol building.
"Diocles of Dioclea was born near
Salona, three miles from Spalato. So
after he made a success In life. which
consisted in those days of getting a
crown rather than a fortune, he re-
z, turned to the place his humble birth,
as many an American millionaire has
one, and became the citizen that
made his hometown famous
Three centuries after Diocletian
died, and his palace in the meantime
, had been converted into a cloth fac
tory and then deserted. Salona was
overrun successfully by Huns, Goths
and Avars Inhabitants fed to the
islands along the Dalmation coats and
| after the storms OF invasion blew
over dug into Gargantuan palace.
and thus founded Spalato.
Thousands OF Spalato citizen today
live and keep shop among the chapels
and suites. the vestibules and festal
halls, of the palace ruins. Bright
green shutters flare out like post
limpressionistic daubs of gaudy color
=
stone columns and granite pillars.
Crumbling walls that surrounded tho
city been built into those dwell
ings and stores that cluster along both
sides of the old boundary.
! ''Spalato has been called a city Of
the dead. But 1t In intensely alive,
tingling with memories and pulsatinE
! with the business hustle of what was.
before the war. the most important
+, trade center of the Dalmatian coast.
! Tho people than offered contrasts as
vivid as the buildings. Turban and
| fez, cap and hat gave n hint OF many
types The dominant element of resi-
dent population lis Serbo- Croatian.
"Incongruous. but picturesque, Is
this modern moving picture projected
among the ruins of what has been
called the .vastest and noblest dwell
ing which ever arose at the bidding
/ of single man Remembered
chiefly as a despot and prosecutor
| Diocletian's reign was noteworthy Tor
some governmental experiments us
ualiy considered ultra-modern. He
adopted price fixing for needful COM
modities, abolished Inheritance taxes,
swung q mighty imperial stick against
trusts and graft, and acted as . sort Of
sublimated trade booster for the en-
pire that he evolved from a republic.
Had Diocletian done nothing else
posterity would be grateful for his
country home, Its four noble gates.
two still standing. its cathedral. once
the mausoleum. It's temple of Jupiter,
| supposed to have been a private
chapel. are priceless treasures for the
student OF architecture. The palace
discioses the earliest known example
of arches planted directly on the CAPT.
tails of the columns. In museum
along the eastern wall IL a collection
of priced relics, inscriptions, sculp-
lures, fragments of vases. glass terra
Gotta metals and gems. recovered dur
ing years OF perservering excavation.
| though most OF them came from
Salona and not from tho palace.
"Salona was a principal port In
Roman times "a Spalato is in the
twentieth century. Before the war
Austrian Lloyd steamers stopped
\ tf4sfvA. x k;.sS1xtsE acczxss ~ sranA
tourists. and the city did thriving
trade In wines and oils. Its location,
between the Braxza and Salona CULTS,
is advantageous. Its population 10
/ about 10000