Evening star., 1924-06-21
NEW GOVERNMENT
SET UP in ALBANIA
BY CONSTANTINE A. CHEKREZL,
Commissioner Of Albania the United States.

| delegates of the league were dis
missed by. the government of Ahmed
| Zogu, in his desire to have a free
hand for himself.
| To be sure, organization Is the
paramount need of Albania-a thor
| ough, painstaking organization. Great
| wealth is reputed to lie under her
soil. Green plains, whose surface has
| scarcely been scraped, lie near the
| coast, the beauty of which was sung
long ago by Lord Byron. These plains
| give way to forests, almost virgin,
as one moves inland. And the forests,
| in turn, sweep up over pan oramic
hills that are believed to be bursting
with mineral wealth. The Anglo
| Persian Oil Company, the Standard
| Oil Company, the Sinclair Oil Com
pany are already on the spot, vying
| with one another for the exploita-
tion Of her oil fields Italian and
French companies are bidding for
the construction Of railroads.
Education has been paralyzed. For
| reasons of false economy Ahmed
Zogu closed a great number of the
schools. The Methodist Episcopal
| Church Of America has been cohsid-
| ering the project of establishing in
| Albania an American college to rival
! the Robert College of Constantinople,
but. seemingly. 1t has not been en-
couraged to put 1t into execution.
X X X
Those are, broadly speaking, some
| of the problems that await solution
in the hands Of the present govern
| made iby it's new head, Bishop Fan
| Noli. He is the founder, head and
bishop of the Albanian Orthodox
Church Of America: a graduate of
Harvard, man Of remarkable learn
ing and literary ability. He has made
masterful translation into Albanian
verse of Shak kespeares "Othello," of
the orations of Brutus and Marc An
tony from Julius Caesar" and of
Poe's THE Raven" and 'Annabel Lee"
Until the year 1921 he was COM
paratively little known in Albania,
because he was born and had lived
practically all his life outside of her
territories. But in the month of De-
cember of that year he won a great
reputation as head of the Albanian
delegation by the admission of AL
bania to full membership in the
league Of nations
1t was a crucial moment for the
fate Of the Albanian people. The
great powers were undecided as to
whether there should be any Albania
at all on the map of Europe. The
council Of ambassadors admonished
then the assembly of the league not
to admit Albania. But in a heroic
gesture of defiant challenge directed
against the omnipotence claimed by
the great powers to regulate the af
fairs of Europe, the assembly of the
league unanimously admitted Albania
to full membership.
Bishop Noli's colleagues in the new
cabinet are all members of the old
parliamentary opposition and active
leaders in the recent insurrection
The minister of foreign affairs,
Sulejman Delvina, is the wartime
premier of Albania He was at the
head of the government when the
Albanian people asserted their own
independence by driving the Italian
troops Of occupation out Of their coun-
try.
The minister of public works and
agriculture, Kiazim Koculi, is, on the
forces that stormed the fortified Ital-
ian position by laying their heavy
woolen cloaks on the barbed-wire
entanglements and climbing over
them, as it was reported by The
Evening Stars correspondent, Hiram
l.. Moderwell. Strange to say, NJ.
koculi had spent long time in the
ranchos of far-off Argentina before
he won his military laurels.
Prof. Louis Gurakuqi. the minister
of finance. is the leading man of the
north. He has been member of sew
eral other cabinets.
The two colonels of the cabinet,
Redjep Shala and Kasem Kiafezezi
We're the military leaders of the in
Surgent forces of the north and south.
respectively. during the late hostili-
ties against the government of Ii
rama
To all appearances the new cabinet
is well chosen team. 1t ought to
work as we'll and redeem the good
name of Albania 1t is high time
reputation that she is the chronic
disturber of the peace of the Bal
kans. And it is quite possible that
she be made an element of peace