Evening star., 1924-06-11
ALBANIAN CAPITAL
TAKEN BY REBELS
Populace Refuses to Fight Victor-
ous and Popular National
ist Army.
BY HIRAM *. MODERWELL.


By Gable 10 The Star and Chicago Daily
News. Copyright, 1894.
ROME. June 11.-An official dis
patch faom Bishop Fannoli today
confirms the capture of Tirana by
Nationalists, the first troops having
entered the town late Tuesday night
amid wild enthusiasm and the
soldiers were showered with flowers.
Amet Zogu, with a dozen faithful
followers, fed to Jugoslavia.
The fall OF the Albanian capital,
which completes a sweeping victory
for the patriotic Democratic party,
is said to have occurred without blood
shed. When Anet zosu, feudal boss
his forces Monday in the market
place of Tirana. he discovered that
all the leaders of his party had fed
and nearly all his followers had gone
over to the Nationalists.
Not Anxious to Die.
Zogu asked the population whether
they wished to resist to the last drop
Of blood and they indicated that they
decidedly did not, whereupon, ac-
cording to a Bari dispatch. he fed.
With the fall of Cavaja confirmed
late Tuesday. all the gates of Tirana
were opened.
A real siege OF Tirana might have
been bloody. The town, which lies
in a mountain pass overlooked by
snowy peaks, could be barricaded so
as to offer resistance for a long time
acter of the present movement that
such a struggle was unnecessary.
Bishops in Charge.
Bishop Fannoli, who virtually is
minister OF foreign affairs OF the pro-
visional government has telegraphed
! all foreign representatives. in Albania
that henceforth they are subject to
the new government
The Nationalists face difhcult
task The national finances are in
| ruins, since the rich have not been
taxed and the government has spent
all it had on salaries. 1t had no
money left for roads and irrigation,
on which depends development of the
country to the minimum standard OF
civilized life.
The old tribal structure of Albania
was a constant temptation for petty
the nation and impeding economic
progress, thereby offering easy oppor-
tunity for bribery by foreign agents
The basic idea of the new govern
ment of Albania is that there must
be a nation. not collection of more
or less hostile tribes. The first item
on it's program is to collect taxes tc
cover minimum administrative needs
The second is to obtain comparative
ly small loans from abroad, which
are necessary to build roads, to pur-
chase agricultural machinery and to
irrigate the land. The country is
good and it is certainly able abun-
dantly to support the comparatively
small population.
The government can probably OBJ
tain moderate financial support from
aboard II 1t can prove the economic
soundness of the country.
Financing OF Revolt.
The financing Of the Nationalist up.
rising was curious A sort of in
formal liberty loan" was issued BY
the oonspirators (who began plotting
year ago). secured by the land o.
four big feudal families who are the
chief object Of Nationalist hatred and
whose gigantic estates were largely
amassed by fraud at the expense G,
the poor peasantry.
One of the first acts of the new
government will be to retire the
bonds by dividing and selling the
estates. The correspondent was q
guest OF one OF the four Beys-Sam
Boy Vrioni. son-in-law OF Essad
Pasha-in 1870 at his estate.
Though his land was desoiate and
uncultivated. his house groaned with
expensive things. some beautiful and
many not SO beautiful. His sincere
but barbaric hospitality consisted in
forcing on the writer a dinner twice
as big as any man could eat. He OBJ
yiously was not Intelligent. Ger
tainly his feudal mentality was wholly
unsuited to the government of a poor
nation under modern conditions.
With the breaking of the power OF
SAINT Bey and others like him and
confiscation of their estates, Albania
definitely emerges from the feudal
Iepoch whose downfall began in France
nearly a century and a half ago, and
begins a new period of Albanian his
tory.