The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-14
CROATIA :STEPCHILD
 OF THE BALKANS
R77 AsHINGToN, June 1s- WNW (speeial)-"A brief cable
 V item concerning a proposed

wv (speeial)-"A brief cable
 V V item concerning a proposed peasants congress in Croatia may seem remote to many Americans, but 1t is home news for some hundreds of thousands of Croatians and their kin in the United States" says bull letin from the Washington headquar- ters of the National Geographic so- ciety
 Before the World war the emil grafton stream from Croatia flowed from Plume and Trieste as constant ly as the water trick1es through and under the limestone plateau of the Karst region, a noteworthy physical feature of Croatia. And it is because parts of Croatia are barren of soil that the indigenous human product had to transplant itself to subsist.
 Another physical feature of Croatia, the bora, 8 violent north east wind that sweeps down the Adriatic coast from the back country plateau, seems symbolical of the countrys history. It has been said that Croatia was to Hungary what Hungary was to the fallen dual em- pire. For centuries Croatia strug- gled to throw off the yoke of Magyar domination.
 But one shoudl not conclude that Iat TA "a northwest is the majestic range which gives to the region the nick name of 'Croatian Switzerland The plum brandy, 'Slwowitz, betokens the luxriant orchards of Slavonia. For the full title of the present com ponent part of Jugo- -Slavia, which formerly was crown land of Hun gary, is Croatia and Slavonia, hav- ing an area twice that of our Massa- chusetts and two-thirds the popula- ton of the Bay State.
 Though Croatia and Slavonia is rich in agricultural land, has vine yards, pastures and forests, lack of capital has handicapped commerce and industry. Indeed it's southwest, rich in forests and grazing land and accessible to the sea, is accounted one of the least developed regions, economically in Europe. The chill ing blasts of the bora have something to do with the sparse population and backwardness of this region.
 Wine is cheaper than water in some sections. A curious by-product of the vineyards Is the grape cure at Zombor, a sanitarium where the chief prescription is stipulated ra- tion of the variety of grapes held to be beneficial for the ailment under treatment.
 "Croatia's chief city, center of her politics and culture, is Zagreb, for merly known better by its German name, Agram. Here Is modern, busy city with art collections, a univer- sity, parks and approximately as many statues, it would seem, as Washington, D. c. For thousand persons to gather here in a week en route for port to set sail for Amer ica was no uncommon event in pre- war times.
 But the rural regions of Croatia, with an almost patriarchal or family order Of life, naturally betray GUS toms and costumes of remote genera tions. As one writer to the National Geographic society put it:
 "In Croatia every village and hamlet has it's particular costume So one who knows the countrysides can tell at once the girl from Sissel1 from the vineyard lassie of zombor, and she can tell you who has come from Ogulin, where the moss grows heavy on the roofs, and who makes her home beside the Plitvica lakes, the summer resort of all Croatia
 "A handkerchief. not a ring, is tho engagement present of a Croatian swain to his lady love. If he finds favor in her eyes, she acknowledges his gift with an apple. Marriage is the Croatian girls long contemplated aim. At seven or eight years she begins knitting stockings, for cus- tom decrees that the bride must bring enough stockings fo last both her and her husband for the rest of their lives"