Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1921-02-09

There were originally thirteen cast
les. Beyond Trau near the harbor of
Saldon are the ancient marble mines.
from here stone was taken for Sal
ona. The Palace of Diocletian, Ath.
ems, Rome and Venice. 1t was men,
toned by Pliny. The Krka falls and
the Jader river spring from the side
OF the mountain and are worth walk
ing the necessary four miles to see.
The strip of land between the noun
tain and the waters edge along this
Riviera is narrow, being seldom over
three miles in width.
The cement company where our
Naval Supply Depot is located has
its crushers and kilns and shelters
near the waters edge. Their dock is
an old Roman or Venetian dock and
ships Of 10000 tons may come along
side at low tide without danger. A
three mile trolly carries buckets of
rock from the quarry on the noun
tain side to the massive llilns and the
very scientific machinery turns this
into cement with little human as
sistance. The machinery is of Aus
trian and German patent. The COM
panies operate on American and
French capital and are run by local
managers, the chain of plants ex-
tending along the coast from Trieste
to Cattaro.
Castle Sucuras, where we live is
a small town of 1000 people and
would obably cover blocks of De-
corah. About four families live in
each floor of each house. The houses
are built close together and are
solid stone with tile roofs. They are
all four and FIVE stories high. The
house l live in is of later date than
most and is on the Spalato-Salona-
Trau road on the outskirts. 1t has
a large yard walled in with stone.
There is no heat, water or light in
any of these houses. The cooking is
done on an open fire built on a plat
form of stone with a masonry hood
to catch the smoke. In cold weather
the people huddle around this fire
in the smoke and cooking gases and
the odors coming from their clothes
are easily distinguishible at five
yards, (anywhere if indoors.)
The people are Jugo Slaves a sect
(species) of the slavic race which
resulted from the occupation of the
barbarian hordes. The national lang
.uage is "Cevatian" but most speak
Italian we'll and many speak German
and Hungarian as well. They are
a peculiar race, always fighting, get
ting ready to fight or convalesing
from fight. The backwardness and
undeveloped state of the country is
due to the constant unrest and IN
certainty. At present Dalmatia is in
chaotic state of political fanatic
ism. There are fifty parties with a
name and as many without a name.
Bolshevism is getting more promi-
nent and seems inevitable, though
the government is openly at war
with the movement. Austria in her
long domination crushed the people
under heavy taxes, military rule and
church grants. The church held all
property of value, except those
grants held by feudal lords, and de-
manded nine-tenths of the produce
of the land from the peasants. De-
lmatia is just today being delivered
from the feudal system that was
present in England, France and prac-
tically all Europe during the Mid
! die Ages. One evidence of this is the
farming of the big parks and game
preserves of the Counts who held
the land on the Riviera of Seven
Castles and around Trau and the
church lands.
You say turkey was expensive
this year. Here turkeys are driven
on foot from Albania for market and