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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



and Bagdad to that gulf, and she knew 

 that an}' Russian ascendancy toward the 

 ^gean or the Adriatic Sea would break 

 up her Asiatic and Arabian plans more 

 completely than shutting her out of her 

 railroad outlet to the Persian Gulf had 

 done. 



These, then, are the reasons why there 

 was an unending round of diplomatic 

 maneuvering for position going on in the 

 Balkans, and why Servia became an issue 

 that threatened and finally broke the 

 peace of the world. Sometimes she was 

 the victim of these maneuverings ; some- 

 times she was an active participant in 

 them. 



But, whatever her position and what- 

 ever her relation to the situation, she has 

 always been an interesting little member 

 of the family of nations, her people a 

 lively race, her faith in her destiny a high 

 one, her history replete with interest, and 

 her customs and manners possessed of a 

 charm that compels interest. 



A GROWING ARljA 



As noted at the outset, one of the most 

 interesting things about Servia is its 

 smallness. That such a small nation 

 could bring on the mightiest conflict that 

 the world has seen since man first made 

 war upon his fellow-man seems strange. 

 Yet with all its smallness — no larger than 

 Maine in area and no larger than New 

 York city in population — it is only in the 

 very recent past that it attained its pres- 

 ent size. When it was a participant in 

 the Balkan wars, it was only two-fifths 

 as large as Pennsylvania in area and but 

 little larger than Chicago in population. 

 Starting into that war with 18,000 square 

 miles of territory, it came out with 

 33,000 square miles ; starting in with less 

 than three million people, it came out 

 with mere than four million. And it 

 came out with many of its dreams real- 

 ized. 



Considering that Servia is only a little 

 more than a third of a century old as d 

 member of the family of nations, and 

 that only 37 years have elapsed since she 

 escaped the blight of Turkish rule, she 

 has made remarkable progress. When 

 she became independent of Turkey she 

 had few roads, for roads might be used 



to march over against the Turks, and 

 Turkey wanted to keep every community 

 isolated. Nor did she have many schools, 

 for schools would give the Servian the 

 power to read and write, and reading and 

 writing are great aids when a people 

 want to revolt against an oppressive rule. 

 We have no statistics as to the 15,000 

 square miles of territory taken from 

 Turkey as a result of the Balkan wars, 

 but for the 18,000 square miles that here- 

 tofore constituted Servia there are today 

 more than 4,000 miles of highways. 

 There were a few years ago nearly 1,500 

 public schools open and education was 

 compulsory. 



A H0ME;-s'rAYiNG p^opi^e; 



If one may judge from how closely 

 they stay at home, it might be said that 

 the Servians are a well-satisfied people, 

 because they very seldom figure in the 

 immigration statistics of any other coun- 

 try. And well they may be, for pauper- 

 ism is unknown. The government will 

 not allow any man to become an absolute 

 pauper. There is a certain amount of 

 property that the individual cannot alien- 

 ate under any circumstances, and this is 

 enough to insure him a roof for his head 

 and food for his stomach throughout the 

 year. The result is that there are no 

 poor-houses in Servia and no paupers to 

 demand them. A man may not alienate 

 his cottage, his garden, his plow, his team 

 of oxen, or as much land as he can plow 

 with them in a day. 



If Servia is a country without paupers, 

 it is also a country without its idle rich, 

 and also without an aristocracy. As some 

 one has remarked, a land which has had 

 a pig-driver for its ruler within a century 

 cannot boast of its aristocracy; and for 

 all that, Servia would not boast about it 

 if there was one to boast about ; for the 

 Servians pride themselves on the democ- 

 racy of spirit that makes King Peter the 

 idol of his people and the people united 

 in heart and purpose. 



sdrvia's i.ibe;rai, constitution 



The constitution prescribes freedom o£ 

 conscience, freedom of the press, the 

 right of peaceful assemblage, and the 

 right to inalienate property. The king 



