Evening star., 1928-10-14
PROBLEM OF RACES KEEPS
JUCOSLAVIA In TROUBLE
After.War ABSORPTION of People Bobs
u p in Disputes With Old Serbian
'--'- Elements.
BY A. r. DECKER.

By 4. r. DECKER.
~ AGREB.-The kingdom of the
Y Serbs, Croats and Slovenes IS
known as Jugoslavia to most
AA people. This name is correct.
for yuao is Slav for south. and
Yugoslavia Is the home of the southern
Slavs. That is. the name is almost COR
rect. But 1t is not true and perfect
Jugoslavis. Within its present frontiers
are many non-Slavs. and outside Of
Yugoslavia are still several millions Of
Jugoslavs. Over 100000 Bulgars axe
Slavs. and in italy there are about
$1,000 Slovenes and Croats Then.
within the frontiers of Jugoslavia are
about 100000 Hungsrians and Ger
mans.
In round numbers the 10000. 900
population OF Yugoslavia is divided as
follows: Serbs, 5,000,000; Croats. 3.000.-
600: Slovenes, 900 900: Montenegrin7.
500.000;. .Macedonians. 1.000,0 900; Mos
lems 100000; Hungarians. 100000;
Germans. 250000, and Rumanians.
$4,000 The Montenegrins and Mos
lens are nearly pure Serbs. a faruy
mountain race of fighters. The Ger
mans are entirely isolated from any
other German population and are
SlaVs.
A real cthnographic weakness comes
from the Hungarians. for this miner
ity lives adjacent to Hungary. and some
day the question OF the return of the
Hungarian element to Hungary will
have to be considered. But in general
Jugoslavia is the strongest OF those
states which came into being because
OF the war.
Traces Of Turkish Rule.
The Slavs of the south differ from
those of the north. Mixture of races
has brought new characteristics. Ger
mans and Hungarians have mixed with
the Slovenes and Croats of the north.
Italians have mixed with the popula-
tion along the coast. The Serbs have
mixed with Greeks and Turks. And
there are still traces Of Turkish occu-
patton in Serbia and German possession
of Slovenia. The Croats and the Slo-
venes are blonder than the Serbs or
Montenegrins or the people from the
coast Indeed. in the hundreds of dark
years in the history of the Balkans.
who can tell what racial changes oc-
cured? Anyway. today the races seem
to be very similar and many of the
! Balkan states could be united to the
advantage of the peace of the world
Many of the names have been given by
states interested in keeping the peoples
apart, and differences in religions have
| been an important means of separation
The Jugoslavs do not divide them
selves into Serbs. S1ovenes and Croats
although they know each other under
these names. The real division now
is that of the "Pretchani' and the
Serbianski The Serbs are those from
old Serbia. and the Pretchani are
those who live on the other side Of the
Sava and Drina Rivers. The Pret-
chani are those from ''over there
across on the other side
You will find Serbianski who call all
non -Serbianski SchWaben." or SchWabs
the name given to the Germans who
settled here long ago. To these
Schwabs are still the onemv of so many
received with open arms? Why should
they be let into the councils and the
, government?
Racial Anita gonisms.
The Prctehani are no more pleased
+ with the Serbianski: they hold them
! ia contempt as lower race, less cul-
/ tivated, less civilized, brigands anC
Bandits. Turks, barbarians.
1t is all product of tradition. Dur
! ing many centuries the Slovenes anc
! the Croats lived under the civilizins
! and softening influence of Vienna
! and Budapest They became Catho-
! lies. They became versed in the art:
and sciences. The Serbs, during al
most as many centuries. we're edu-
! Gated by the Turks. They learned
bad government and stubborn, pas
siVe resistance. Finally they became
free, and during IL years fought al
most constantly trying to defend their
country. Theirs was hard school
They had no time for education in arts
and sciences outside of the art of war
Once free they became Greek Orthodox
in religion. -'-- ,--- ---,--------- -
The Serbianski number. about $780,
900 today, Those from the other
side the Pretchani. are about 7,500,-
000 A million Macedonians and an
other million combined Of Hungarians
and Rumanians bring the total popu-
lation TO about 100000. Thus it is
seen that the Pretchani outnumber the
Ssrbianski.
Here is where we strike the first