Politically, however, Serbia in the nineteenth century had made great advances, and King Peter's domain was a well-organized limited monarchy. After many vicissitudes Serbia at last has an excellent Constitution, well meeting all the needs of the Nation. In the King and the Skupchtina is vested all the legislative power. The Skupchtina, an assembly elected by proportional representation, has complete control of the national finances. Serbia has good Courts of Justice and a humane prison system, and her standing army not only has to be taken into account by the Great Powers, but has spoken loudly for itself in the present war. Serbia has also good local government; the scheme for which includes two public bodies, a municipal council and a communal tribunal. [Illustration: KING PETER ABOUT TO LEAVE SERBIA--NOVEMBER, 1915] Serbia, after many years of backwardness, has been paying great attention to education. The Minister of Education is a man of great prestige and influence. Teachers are well trained and well paid. It is not strange, perhaps, that a people with the Serbians' deep poetic sensibility should in the past have given little attention to technical training, but a change has of late been coming, a change of attitude that after the war will undoubtedly produce important results. From the earliest days the Serb has had a marked aptitude for handicraft. In medieval documents, certain Serbian blacksmiths are named as expert makers of penknives, and to-day Serbian metal work has high rank. Unlike the Greek, the Serb has little aptitude for trade, and unlike the Bulgar, he is rather sluggish in working his farm, slow to use improved methods or new implements. Yet, in spite of the many upheavals at home, he has been constantly progressing, and since he threw off Turkish rule has each year become sturdier and more self-reliant. Indeed, he can be called to-day efficient in both the economic and the military sense. In the Middle Ages Serbia was one of the largest silver-producing countries in Europe. Her mountains have as yet given up but little of their treasure. The Romans knew the mines and brought out of them much gold, silver, iron, and lead and, during the later Middle Ages, the merchants of Ragusa obtained no small portion of their wealth from the same source, but about the middle of the fifteenth century the Turks put an end to all enterprises of this kind. In the first half of the last century, mining was revived. Belgian capital had a large part in this, especially in producing copper and iron.