SERVIA. 



603 



train, sanitary corps, etc.; total, 22,448 officers 

 and men. By mobilizing the reserves the strength 

 can be brought up to 110,245 men in the 5 divi- 

 sions, 14,863 independent cavalry, mountain, siege, 

 and fortress artillery, pioneers, railroad troops, 

 etc., arid 35,643 depot troops; total, 160,751 men. 

 The first ban of the militia contains 126,610 men 

 and the second 66,005, making the total fighting 

 strength 353,366 men. A scheme of army reform 

 approved by the Skupshtina in 1901 reduces the 

 period of service with the colors to eighteen 

 months for the infantry while retaining the two 

 years' period for the cavalry and artillery. The 

 army consists of the regular national army, di- 

 vided into 3 bans and comprising all able-bodied 

 Servians between the ages of twenty and forty- 

 five, and the Landsturm, comprising all between 

 the ages of seventeen and twenty and the ages 

 of forty-five and fifty. This Landsturm adds to 

 the military strength of the nation a new reserve 

 which in case of mobilization is destined for gar- 

 rison duty. Students have to serve in the army 

 only six months. A superior council of war was 

 created by royal decree on Sept. 4, 1901, consist- 

 ing of the Minister of War and 9 members, ap- 

 pointed for three years, whose duty it is to study 

 and report on all matters concerning the organ- 

 ization, formations, and armament of the army, 

 works of fortification, and schemes of mobiliza- 

 tion which are laid before the council. 



Commerce and Communications. The soil 

 of Servia is divided into farms owned by the 

 cultivators, most of them from 10 to 30 acres in 

 size. There were 293,421 owners in 1897. Corn 

 occupied 448,334 hectares, grass 355,051, wheat 

 279,743, oats 100,087, prunes 97,971, barley 14,940, 

 vines 60,000, hemp 8,198, tobacco 1,500, and flax 

 956 in 1897. The export of wheat in 1899 was 

 355,559 quarters; of barley, 103,822 quarters; of 

 corn, 121,150 quarters. The export of dried 

 prunes was 40,529 tons, and nearly as great a 

 quantity was consumed in 'the distillation of 

 prune brandy. The fruit is also exported fresh 

 and made into preserves. Sheep, pigs, and cattle 

 are exported in large numbers. There are 481,213 

 acres of forest from which barrel staves are ob- 

 tained for export to the wine districts of Hun- 

 gary and France. Flour-mills, breweries, and a 

 few other manufactories exist, and to encourage 

 their multiplication the Skupshtina voted in 1898 

 to give for new industrial enterprises free sites, 

 exemption from customs duties and taxation, fa- 

 cilities for the purchase of fuel, a 25 per cent, 

 reduction in freight rates, and a preference in the 

 allotment of public contracts. Coal, iron, lead, 

 zinc, quicksilver, antimony, asbestos, and copper 

 are found, and concessions have been granted for 

 gold-mining. 



Political Events. The Skupshtina met on 

 Jan. 12, 1901, and listened to a speech from the 

 throne, in which -the King's marriage, an ex- 

 pected heir, the Czar's friendship, good, relations 

 with Austria, Turkey, and other states, and rid- 

 dance from the former Government which had 

 brought the country to the verge of anarchy, and 

 from ex-King Milan, who had quit Servia for- 

 ever, were described as omens of a better future, 

 and the budget of 1901 was praised as clearing 

 the way by serious and important economies for 

 the restoration of the equilibrium of the public 

 finances. A bill was passed for the reform of the 

 judiciary, making judges irremovable and en- 

 trusting their selection to a board composed of 

 the supreme court judges, the Minister of Justice, 

 and the dean of the juristic faculty of the uni- 

 versity, which shall propose their names to the 

 King for appointment. The southwestern part 



of the state copper-mines at Majdanpek were 

 granted to King Alexander as . 'token of the 

 devotion of his people. When King Milan died 

 he was buried in Austrian ground, according to 

 his last wish, although King Alexander begged 

 to have his father's remains brought to Belgrade. 



A Metropolitan named by Servia, Nicenhorus, 

 was accepted by the Porte and consecrated in 

 Constantinople on Feb. 3. On Feb. 18 the Cabinet 

 was reconstructed. The Prime Minister took the 

 portfolio of Justice, relinquishing that of Foreign 

 Affairs to Dr. Michael Vuich. Nicola Stefanovich 

 became Minister of the Interior. Mika Popovich 

 was appointed Minister of Commerce ad interim. 

 Of the new ministers one was a Radical and one 

 a Progressist. The change facilitated the transi- 

 tion to a Radical Cabinet with a distinctly Russo- 

 phil policy, and was viewed therefore with dis- 

 pleasure in Vienna. The Austro-Russian entente 

 for the maintenance of the status quo in the 

 Balkan peninsula was not involved in any change 

 of Government in Servia or the other Slav states. 

 Whatever racial bonds and political gratitude and 

 sympathy are felt in Servia for Russia, the coun- 

 try must remain on good terms with Austria- 

 Hungary, on which it is economically dependent. 

 The King and his ministers consulted with the 

 leading men of all parties about a new Constitu- 

 tion to be framed on liberal lines, guaranteeing 

 complete freedom of elections, liberty of the press, 

 freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and 

 the right of assembly and of association. The se- 

 curity of officials in the tenure of their offices, as 

 well as the life tenure of judges, was one of the 

 proposals of the Yovanovich Cabinet. The reor- 

 ganization of the army was another. A revision 

 of the income tax and a new administrative par- 

 tition of Servia were also in the program. 



On April 3 a further transformation of the 

 Cabinet took place. Dr. Michael Vuich was 

 made Minister-President; Peter Velimirovich, 

 Minister of Public Works; Dragutin Stamenko- 

 vich, Minister of Justice. The Cabinet was now 

 composed of 4 Radicals, 4 Progressists, and 2 

 neutral members. The new Constitution was pro- 

 mulgated on April 19. A Grand Skupshtina was 

 not summoned to construct the new Constitution, 

 as the existing Constitution prescribed, because 

 such an assembly would waste valuable time. 

 The King preferred to grant the Constitution to 

 the people, and considered that in so doing he 

 was the more bound to respect it scrupulously 

 forever. The ministers formally tendered their 

 resignations and were reapppinted. The King in 

 a proclamation said he was resolved that the new 

 Constitution should establish regular relations be- 

 tween the legislative and the executive power and 

 secure a permanent system of government based 

 on strict legality and civil liberty. The Constitu- 

 tion settles the form of government, the powers 

 of the King and of the state, the rights of sub- 

 jects, and the working of the national representa- 

 tion, but it leaves details to be arranged by legis- 

 lation. The power of the executive is far more 

 extensive than under the last Constitution, that 

 of 1888, yet it can not be exercised summarily by 

 the method of decrees, as the Constitution of 1869 

 allowed, but only by regular legislation accepted 

 and approved by the King, the Senate, and the 

 Chamber of Deputies. In the Chamber the intelli- 

 gent classes have a greater proportional repre- 

 sentation than the Constitution of 1888 gave them. 

 The Senate, which is a new institution in Servia, 

 consists of the Crown Prince, if of full age, the 

 Metropolitan of Servia, the Bishop of Nish, 30 

 members nominated for life by the King, and 18 

 members elected by the people, 1 in each rural 



