Serbia is one of the most democratic countries in the world. It has no
titles, except those of the King and his next of kin. All other Serbians
are "gospodin" and "gospoja," our "Mr." and "Mrs." The farmer is the
real aristocrat and eighty per cent of the Serbians are farmers.
The farmer has many things in his favor. Even the peasant has five acres
of land allotted him by the government; and in his home garden he raises
carrots and turnips and pumpkins and melons. The larger farmers raise
wheat and corn and sugar beets, oats and all the cereals; and cattle in
large numbers. They raise their own food and they are chiefly
vegetarians; and they carry their surplus in ox-teams to the nearest
market. Prices are regulated by the Agricultural Society. Every farmer
gives one or two days a year to the State and pays his taxes in kind.
When crops fail, the Coöperative Agricultural Society lends him money.
It also advances money for implements and buildings, and offers prizes
for cattle and improved stock.
Living a simple life, the average Serbian needs little money. One dollar
in Serbia is equal to five dollars here. If a farmer enters trade, he is
thought to be going down in the world. He may enter banking or life
insurance with no discredit, but the shopkeepers of the country are
largely foreigners. In all Serbia there are hardly two-score
millionaires. Serbian women are good housewives and do much of their own
work. Serbians, in general, are too independent to be servants; and the
latter are largely Austrians. Government employees in Serbia are
natives. Young Serbians also are educated for the church, the army, for
law, and for school teaching. Young men intended for the army generally
study in France, for scientific work in Germany, for the church in
Russia. Many young Serbians, too, have studied in Switzerland and in
Belgium. Thus, Serbian society as a whole is sympathetic with foreign
countries.
Of the four million inhabitants of Serbia proper, the larger number
belong to the Orthodox Greek Church, but there are also a good many
Roman Catholics and some Moslems. Though their life is in general very
simple, Serbians are not wholly untouched by modern progress. Many towns
have electric lights and telephones, and electric trams are by no means
unknown. Serbia has rich mineral resources, which the State is
undertaking to develop. Among their manufactures is a remarkable wool
carpet and a certain kind of coarse linen. Though they have a fairly
large output of silk, silk fabrics as well as finer textiles are
imported. A man who has a salary of three thousand dollars is an
exception, and considered very prosperous. Salaries of cabinet ministers
hardly exceed this sum, and court life does not tend to any
magnificence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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