Evening star., 1934-06-10
BULGARIAN COUP STARTED
BY SCRAMBLE FOR SPOHS
System Which Undermined Admins.
trative Efficiency Giving Way to
Democracy of Unusual Promise.
BY. S. w. PETROFF,

.. w.
Charge d'Atairs OF Bulgaria to the United
States.
= N CONNECTION with the political
change which took place recently
in Bulgaria, some observers have
i been led to maintain that democ-
racy has never existed in Bull
garian. Such a sweeping statement
deserves to be closely scrutinized.
To begin with it is quite fair to as
sumo that democracy does not have
in Bulgaria quite the same senti-
mental value which Is attached to it
in older countries, like England,
France and America, mainly because
In their case it is an age-long heritage
handed down by ancestors who them
selves obtained it through epochmak
ing struggles. In the case of Bulgaria
1t must be kept in mind that she was
obliterated as a nation in the Middle
Ages. and that beginning from the
fourteenth century and up to the late
nineteenth century she was completely
shut off from the outside world
Serbia, Rumania and Greece, which
were similarly conquered by the Turks
had the good fortune to have at least
civilized world, and through that aper-
ture, liberal ideas first. and liberating
armies next, poured in. Bulgaria, on
the contrary. was for centuries COM
pletely surrounded by Turkish terri
tory, and this explains that the big
popular movements which followed the
discovery of America, the Reformation
the Renaissance, and the rise of lib
eralism eliminating in the American
and French revolutions, had but
faint echo. if at all, in Bulgaria that
Ottoman province which the Sultans
were careful to keep in complete igno-
rance of the emancipatory movements
taking place in the western countries
Struggles for Liberty.
In her misery, down-trodden Bull
garia kept hoping and struggled not
for liberal reforms, which obviously
were out of the question as long as
the rule of the SultanS endured, but
for liberty. In 1862 humble monk
kindled the first spark of Bulgarian
self-assertion independence and unity,
and the whole of the nineteenth cen
tury was filled with the struggles of
Bulgaria for her emancipation from
Turkish subsection. But, when finally
this end was obtained, through the
instrumentality of Russia and the
valance of the Bulgarian people, the
fact that a most liberal constitution
was given to the new state was over
shadowed by the ma jor result, namely,
that henceforth the Bulgarians had
the right to live for themselves. In
fact, the wisdom of granting most
advanced constitution copied on the
Belgian, to people first emerged from
slavery, without any political traditions
behind it, has often been challenged.
Be it as it may. in the technical sense
of the word. Bulgaria started her new
life as a democracy. Has she how
ever In the SIS years which have
elapsed since then really acted as a
democratic nation? This is now being
disputed. To answer the question, it
ing Of the word democracy A de-
mocracy is in the first place a gov
eminent for the people, and secondly
government by the people. 1t be-
comes therefore necessary to examine
at first whether Bulgaria has been
ruled for the benefit of her people as
whole. or for that of certain priv
1leged classes or sections of the popu-
lation. The answer is that there are
no classes in Bulgaria, endowed either
with hereditary rights or privileges.
The Turkish domination, ruthless and
disastrous as it was, had at least that
good effect, that it abolished the old
feudal order. and when the Bulgarian
nation finally emerged to freedom all
her members equally ruined were equal
before the law. The land abandoned
by the Turkish pashas was at once
distributed among the people, with the
result that even today there are no.
where in Bulgaria large landed estates
and that nearly every villager is the
owner of the land he tills. Bulgarian
democratism had as yet another test
to pass. at this early stage; the Turk
tsh rule had gone, but the Turkish
population imported by the conquest
had remained.
Old Foes Taken In.
1t would not have seemed too un-
natural if the Bulgarian population,
which had been held through CEN
turies under the heel of the Turks and
hands, had resorted to retaliation.
But nothing of the kind happened.
Not even we're these Turks forced to
emigrate, as were hundreds and thou
sands Of Bulgarians compelled to do
at the conclusion of the World War
by the conquerors of their land On
the contrary, and this speaks highly
for the democratism and tolerance of
the Bulgarian race, the oppresSors OF
yesterday were not only allowed to
remain on their lands. but they be-
came automatically full-f1edged citi-
zenS OF the new Bulgarian state. There
are today in Bulgaria 100000 Turks,
tens of thousands of Greeks, Ruma-
mans, Jews, etc. all of them possessed
Of every right enjoyed by the Bull
garian majority. Moreover, Bulgaria
although by no means a rich country
has at all times held her doors open
for thousands and thousands of Arme-
nian, Russian and Macedonian refu-
gee fleeing persecution in their native
lands. Having thus established equal
lty for all people living on her soil.
Bulgaria started applying in practice
democracy as a system of government
In little more than so years Bull
garia, until then kept by her op-
pressors in the thickest of barbarism,
has risen to very advanced state of
material civilization by a conscious
and gigantic effort, wasting neither
time nor energy. Space does not per-
init to go over all the stages of this
rapid growth, of which only a faint
idea can be given by saying that be-
tween 1879 and 1882 foreign trade
went up from $11 100000 to s78,000,-
900, the annual budget from $4,000 900
to s50,000 900, the population from s.
100000 to 100000. Where misery
and devastation reigned before. a
flourishing country extends now. full
of energy and progress. In the place
of former oppressed "rayahs" there is
going nation. whose aptitude for