CHAPTER XXV 

 AN OBJECT-LESSON FROM SERVIA 



IN my book on ' The Organization of Agriculture ' I 

 dealt so fully with the action being taken in the various 

 countries of the world in seeking to improve their agri- 

 cultural conditions that there is no need for me to enter 

 in any detail in the present volume upon that phase of 

 the general question. But early in 1905 there was 

 published, in connection with the Liege Exhibition, a 

 collection of official reports, issued by the Servian 

 Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry, 

 under the title of ' La Serbie a 1'Exposition Universelle 

 de 1905 a Liege,' and some of these reports have so 

 direct a bearing on much that I have said in the fore- 

 going pages that I venture to offer a brief outline of 

 such of the facts given as concern the matters here 

 under discussion. 



Servia is essentially a land of small holdings. Farms 

 of less than 12 acres in size represent, approximately, 

 54-56 per cent, of the whole; those of from 12 to 

 25 acres 27*55 per cent. ; and those of from 25 to 50 

 acres 13*87 per cent. Even the very small properties 

 are much split up, and measures have had to be taken 

 to prevent the peasant proprietors from being entirely 

 dispossessed by money-lenders or other creditors. Thus, 

 a special law guarantees to each Servian peasant an area 



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