Evening star., 1920-06-13
M0NTENECR0LAND
. OF LIGHT OPERAS"
Mountainous Edition of Bad
Lands Holds Graus-
tark Romances.
Correspondence Of The Star and Chi
caEO DniIy News.

correspondence OF The star and Chfs
cago Daily News.
CET1NJE. Montenegro, June O.
Montenegro. which has a population
less than that of Washington, looks like
a mountainous edition of the bad
lands and has all the trappings for
Graustark romance. 1t boasts Of an
ancient. exiled dynasty. continuously
plotting to return. 1t contains the
| theater which housed the first per-
formance of The Merry Widow" the
| hero of which was the Montenegrin
crown prince, Danil, who Is said to
| have been devil of fellow in
Vienna. At the end Of the main
street is tavern in which. for few
pennies, one may lodge for the night
| In the room in which the ex-king used
to amuse his favorites out of office
hours. In the royal palace there Is
furniture which. the Montenegrins
Will tell you. Is as good as or better
than that in the Tuillerfes in Paris.
There is Montenegrin literature and
a Montenegrin national drink. Final
| namely. Scutari. which. though in
habited by foreigners. Is the New
York Of Montenegro" Montenegro's
very life depends upon the annexa-
tlon of Scutari and the Montenegrins
cannot understand why President
w ilSoh uocsH uO SoIHGlHlhS dOoul -.
Owing to circumstances over which
1T has no control, the exiled dynasty
of the Petroviches now resides In
Paris. In the last three years ex-king
Nicholas is reputed to have distrfb-
uted more decorations than any other
two monarchs in Europe
During the last three years OF the
war Montenegro Jared fairly well,
since the Austrians, who meant '
annex the country, sought to make
friends with the inhabitants. But
after the Austrian debacle the Monte
negrins held congress at Podgoritza
and voted the union with Jugoslavia.
There is, however, large nationalist
party, whose members would like al
autonomous Montenegro. or even
free republic of Montenegro. and
whose leaders would like the Monte
negrin jobs. These probably COM
prise a good half or more of the in
habltants. At present the military
is in command of Serbian officers.
but the civil administration is entire
ly Montenegrin
Whatever the Montenegrins want
they will be able to fight for. Some
where between the ages of two and
three every male child is given a
gun and taught the use of it. The
traditional baptismal prayer in Monte
negro is a petition to the Almighty
that the baptized shall not die iE bed
Every Montenegrin male carries
revolver to help transact the duties
of daily life; usually he carries two,
one fancy heirloom of ivory and sill
Yer and an Austrian repeater for
business.
Accept Drink Under Protest.
One does not refuse drink in
Montenegro. The last man who tried
it was DIR. Butler. dentist. with the
American Red Cross in Cetinje. A
grateful patient of seventy-six, who
had just had a tooth extracted, in
vited him to the corner cafe for a
rakia. and he dared to decline. plead
ing business. Thereupon the patient
gravely extracted his revolver from
his belt and pointed it at the doc
tors stomach. DR.. Butler accepted
the drink.
The soil Of Montenegro is adequate
for goats. but somewhat less than
adequate for Montenegrins. The Red
Cross has saved thousands of per-
sons from actual starvation, besides
and clinic. Many of it's cases are
broken ribs and broken heads result
ing from differences of Montenegrfn
opinion.
The subsoil of Montenegro is sup
posed to contain rich deposits of coal,
iron and copper. But one must take
it on faith. However. if America will
only continue her Red Cross work
indefinitely. and give Montenegro a
bit of a loan, and send some more
bread and good supply of pork. and
enable Montenegro to annex Scutari.
this hypothetical coal and iron and
copper are hers. Montenegro never
rorgets favor.