Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-07-18
LITTLE LIEcHTENSTEIN.
Small Country Demands Place in the
League of Nations.

LITTLE llECHTENSTElN.
Small Country Demands a Place in the
League of Nations.
IF some McCutcheon would but
forsake mythical Graustarks and write
the bald facts about Liechtenstein,
what a fascinating, swash buckltng,
bizarre romance he could compose,
SAYS the bulletin from the National
Geographic Society concerning the
tiny principality that delivered an
"ultimatum" to the Peace Conference
the other day, demanding q place In
the league of nations.
"Liechtenstein is about the size OF
the Dictrict of Columbia. The last OF
it's princes, who ruled 1t until about
year ago, owned estates outright that
almost equalled the area of Delaware.
He sat in the upper house Of Austria,
and ruled his miniature domain prin-
cipally by long distance telephone.
When the citizens asked for constitu-
tional government he created a parll-
ament of Is members, appointed a
governor with a cabinet and granted
suffrage to all males.
Long the princes have paid for the
upkeep of Liechtenstein largely from
The enormous incomes OF their prl-
vate property. The inhabitants Pc
titioned for an entertainment fund and
granted q subsidy, perhaps with q
smile. It was used thereafter to dec
crate Vaduz, the Paris Of Liechten-
stein, and to set the foundation play
ing and the fireworks going when he
visited there.
In the Austro- Prussian war Liech-
tenstein cast her lot win her ally
Austria. Her entire population brave
ly said goodbye to her soldier boysi
and the entire standing army and four
score men marched off to battle. But
they arrived after the war was over.
When it came to making peace
terms Bismark nodded, for once, and
little Liechtenstein was completely
forgotten. 1t was just as well, or she
might not have retained freedom,
But. apparently, she is determined not
to be ignored again.
"Her army marched home again,
stacked their muskets and hung tner
leather helmets, the bugler's trumpet,
and the captains sword in the ancient
castle of vaduz, where they remain
today. The citizenry informed the
prince they wanted no more OF war.
He abolished military service and since
then there has been no standing army
though, technically, Liechtenstein has
been at war with Prussia since 1856.
Moreover Liechtenstein paid vir-
tually no taxes nor did she have a pub
lie debt so long as her princes ruled.
small levy was made for keeping up
the dikes lest the Rhine overflow her
fields in springtime. Customs and the
ready generosity of her monarchs kept
her treasury filled.
"This quaint, but electric-lighteda and
hot heated nation, with Its road
side shrines and modern typewriters
lies in the eastern Alps. south Of Lake
Constance, scene of Count Zeppellns
early aerial ventures, with the Rhine
for it's western border. 1t is elongated,
as if by the pressure of its neighoor
nations, Austria and Switzerland, sug-
costing Mark Twain's complaint about
another land where, he said, people
had to sleep with their knees pulled
I'D because they couldn't stretch out
without passport
1.-TWO fiefs Of the Roman Empire,
Schellenberg and Vaduz, make up the
latter day Liechtenstein. Both came
into possession Of the Liechtenstein
family while their previous overlands
were financially embarrassed. Many
travellers passed through the little
ctate, within a sight of the Vaduz cas-
tie mounted on its white cliff pedestal
for the route from Paris to Vienna
lies that way. That is why Liechten-
STEMS threat to stop communication
might be annoying. But none of the
travellers even stopped. When Robert
Shackleton visited there not many
years ago he was welcomed as the
first American to set foot in the coun-
try.
"Yet Liechtenstein small as 1t Is, is
larger than the oft visited Monaco or
the much written about Marino. Its
peasants are simple, sturdy, shrewd
folk, intensely proud Of the bright
stone of the Alps which, they love to
recall, has not been captured for a
thousand years. There are good
schools, even to kindergartens, and the
abundant water power makes electric
ity available to the humblest residents
of Vaduz or the smallest towns.
Cattle raising and agriculture are
two industries. The stalwart men are
not to be misjudged by the fact that
nearly all Of them embroider and veal
earrings. The origin Of the earrings
| is not clear, but the embroidery is q
common occupation in the adjoining
| Swiss cantons. Many American foli
to whom Liechterstein is no more
than q name have bought linen hand
kerchiefs in department stores which
were embroidered by these noun
taineers after their outdoor work o.
| tilling and herding cattle.
| "The tolerant and whimsical johann
II, who let his subjects levy taxes OF
| his private purse, left Austria along
with other potentates, good and bad
last year, and was succeeded by al
innsbruck lawyer"
| In ,.in,,. of the statement bY PreSi