Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-07
THE COCKPIT or EUROPE
Odd Features Of Life In the Balkan
Peninsula-AmerIcsn Faces In
Ragusa-oueer. Results Of At
tempts to Ape the Life Of
Western Europe
BY GEORGE NOx MCCAIN
THE Balkan Peninsula is again in a

~ 10 hoe WituOuJ ulStOTlC TeHSOu tnaI IL
has been aptly described as the cockpit Of
the Near East "the tinderbox of Europe"
Today the spectcr of interracial war
hovers over the entire collection of turbulent
nationalities. From Belgrade on the north
to Salonica on the south, from Cattaro
the Adriatic to Varna on the Black sea.
brigandase, fear, starvation and Bolshevist
revolution threaten the peninsula
1t is because this great and sparsels set
tied territory is so little known to Ameri
cans that interest in its racial and internal
affairs appeals so lightly to us. 1t is the hazy
territorial borderland of the greater and still
less known further east south Russia, the
vast spread of the mysterious Black sea, and
further down Turkey in Asia, the handle
like geographical extension of the Arabian
peninsula.
BULGARIA is threatened with Boil
~ shevist uprising. Sofia, the capital, is
the center of the threatened disorder.
1t is one of the least attractive cities of
the so-called Near East. Architecturally
speaking, it is n rude blending of the Mont
martre section of Paris and the rickety wood
and mastic structures of Stambou on the
Golden Horn.
More than any European capital today
east of Vienna does it represent the meeting
fine building suggest the work of amateur
architects. Even its mosque and cathedral
suggest this impression to western eyes.
The life, amusements and art, what little
there is of the latter, are an aping of the
middle class and poorer sort to be found in
Paris, Budapest and Brussels. Even New
York contributes its share to the jumbled
ensemble.
Crossing the poorly Illuminated public
square in Sofia one night, I was astonished
to hear gypsy orchestra in a gaudily deco
rated and brilliantly lighted cafe playing a
popular American air. That is, it was pop
ular in the usual ephemeral way two years
before in the United States. 1t had for long.
however, reposed in the discard of neglected
melodies But it was new in Sofia, SO my
interpreter informed me, and was all the
rage in the cafes and wine houses.
ENX-CzAR FERDINAND, "the fox of the
~ Balkans who should be on the black
list of the Allies with Wilhelm and Prince
Rupprecht, was the curse of Bulgaria. He
had the most repulsive face / ever saw on
any individual claiming right to the title of
nobility. His great nose resembled the beak
of hawk, his lips were sensual and, with
his heavy jowls, they suggested ferocity, bru-
tality and cruelty.
He was German prince picked up at ran
dom in wine house in Vienna by a COM
mittee Of three sent there by an ad interim
government to select a ruler. He was Ger
man from one"of the petty principalities
The first act that distinguished his career
was the instigation of the assassination of
Stambouloff, "the Bismarck of the Balkans"
and the ablest statesman Bulgaria ever pro-
duced. But the statesman stood in the way
of Prince Ferdinand's ambitions. He was
Prince of Bulgaria then
That was thirty years ago, and in all the
intervening time the occupant of the throne
swayed Bulgaria to his own purposes.
The cathedral of the Greek Church. in
Sofia, which is plainly visible from the win
dows of the Orient express and which has
been completed only within the last few
years, was the gift of Gar Nicholas of Rus
! sia. Russia saved Bulgaria from the Turk
| after 300 years Of semi slavery then when
the opportunity came that Bulgaria could
repay the obligation she drew her sword in
| favor of Germany.
But it was not the Bulgarians who were
| guilty of this supreme act of treachery and
| ingratitude. Ferdinand, against their pro-
| tests, forced his people to take up arms
against their ally.
| TN SPALATO the Italians and Jugo -Slavs
| are slaughtering each other. 1t is one of
| the fairest cities of the eastern Adriatic.
The great attraction to American travellers
who reach this little known city are the re :
mains of the wonderful palace of Diocletian.
| Diocletian was the wonder of the Roman
! world, for The reason that he voluntarily laid
down the imperial crown and retired to Spa :
lato, where he spent the remaining years of
his life in building and adorning this won =
derful structure.
| One of its outer walls, ten feet thick in
places, faces the harbor. The palace was
not one building, but cluster of them.
| When completed it sheltered, it is said
nearly 5000 persons, all of whom were at
tached to the imperial household. 1t was a
city within itself.
The odd feature of the ruined palace TODAY
! is that presented by this wall facing the
| harbor. Shops and dwellings have been built
into it, some of the latter reaching the top of
| the wall three stories in height Narrow
streets with dark little stores and gloomy
| residences have been cut through the old
palace, with wide spaces between, of what
were once corridors and rooms of the palace,
but now open to the sky.
| D DAGUSA in one respect is the most Ameri
1S can city in all the Balkans.
Not in its physical features however. but
in its people. One can see more faces in
Ragusa suggestive of crowd in New York,
Philadelphia or Chicago than in any other
city not only in eastern Europe but in any
country outside the United States or Canada
Yet they are all Dalmatians.
The reason, doubtless, is that this seaport
for 1900 years was the meeting place of Eas
and West. 1t was vast melting pot. The
nations of the Occident and near Orient mel
and mingled here. At various times durinr
the centuries it had the greatest commerce Of
any city on the Adriatic or Mediterra nea n
excepting Marseilles.
In the course of time the physiognomy Of
the Ragusans came to be what might be
termed Of the cosmopolitan type; a mergipr
and softening of the characteristics of ali
races.
In way Ragusa up to the beginning ot
the world war retained some of her ocear
supremacy. Her sailors were to be foupt
in every port of the world A maritime cor
poration with a capitalization of millions
and with it's steamships on every trade rout,
east and west, had its Headquarters in tbi,