THE ~ALKAN PIVOT: GOSLAVIA RLES A .. BEARD AND GEORGE RADIN --t<'STUDY IN r;QVERNMENT AND )MINISTRATION . rhe Balkan··Pivoh i"UGOSLAVIA I A STUDY IN GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRAT_ION By CHARLES A. BEARD •ormer Director of the New York Bureau of Municipal Re· search, and GEORGE RADIN of theNew York Bar :; It was at Sarajevo, in Bosnia. that the Austrian Archduke fell in 1914. It was with Belgrade. in S~rbia that Austria began the nego­ tiations which culminated in the ~tisis that plunged half the world fhto war and destruction. Now .oth of these cities are in the King· om of the Serbs, Croats, and lovenes-a kingdom whose loca­ I.tion in the heart of the troubled ~alkans and whose heterogeneous racial and economic components make it still a likely source of com­ plications. ~ The most important phases of 'the Yugoslavia of to-day are ex­ :amined here by two men whose competence as observers and an­ aJystscannot be questioned. Their findings as to the country's natu­ ral resources, political organiza­ tion, economic situation and for­ ~ign relations are clearly set forth ~n.. this very readable book. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY f'UBUSHERS NEW YO~ THE BALKAN PIVOT: YUGOSLAVIA -3·~· Q THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YOU:. • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DAU.III ATLANTA • SAN >'IIANCIBCO MACMILLAN & CO., Lntl'l'ZD LONDON·BOMBAY·CALCU'ftA JlBLBOUBNII THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA.~ 'IOIION'l'O THE BALKAN PIVOT • YUGOSLAVIA A STUDY IN GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION BY CHARLES A. BEARD I'OUO:B DJIIEC'l'Oa OP 'I'RB :NEW TOut B1111BAV and GEORGE RADIN NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY '1929 CoPYRIGHT, 1929, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1929. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. PIIIJiftD IN I'HII 17NlftD BTA'l'BS OP UIBBICA PREFACE THIS study was undertaken at the request of the America-Yugoslav Society of New York and carried out under the auspices of the National Institute of Public Administration. For many reasons the Society was inclined to the view that such a volume might be of interest to people in the United States and Yugoslavia. It is not for­ gotten in either country that President Wilson gave inspiration and support to the movement which finally led to the establishment of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes at the close of the World War. When the President's name was mentioned by one of the authors in an address before the municipal authori­ ties of Belgrade in February, 1928, a hearty cheer indicated a deep-seated appreciation of that states­ man's services in the creation of the Yugoslav nation. It must be remembered also that there are in the United States more than half a million Yugoslavs who, even if they have transferred their allegiance to this country, watch with concern the progress of their own race beyond the sea. Although Belgrade is rather remote from New York, there are many analogies between the conditions in which the Yugoslavs found themselves at the close of the World War and those prevailing in the United v vi PREFACE States when our great experiment was begun at the end of the American Revolution. Both nations were launched at the close of a long and devastating war which spread ruin throughout a large part of their territories. Both of them were predominantly agri­ cultural and set up as their ideal the freehold system of agrarian economy. Their public finances were in disorder. They staggered under a great burden of indebtedness. They had long been engaged in a struggle against the authority imposed upon them from above and were suddenly thrown upon their own responsibilities. They were divided into distinct sec­ tions, with marked diversity of economic interest, and yet were compelled, for self-defence and the promotion of general welfare, to form national unions. At the outset of their careers, the newly established govern­ ments found themselves in possession of immense natural resources-timber, minerals, land, and water power. In both countries, the people were called upon to choose whether they would attempt to administer their heritage in the interests of agriculture or would adopt a policy which in the long run would insure the predominance of industry in their economy. There are other grounds for thinking that this study may appeal to citizens of the United States. The importance of Yugoslavia in the affairs of Europe is a matter of continual comment in the daily press. It is the pivotal state in the Balkans. Not even the stoutest optimist believes that stability has yet been obtained in this historic peninsula; and the Balkans are a part of the European system of politics. It was in Sarajevo that the shot was fired which was literally heard around PREFACE vii the world, disl~ating an avalanche that swept even the United States into the general European War. Per· haps it is not too much to say that, for the peace of the world, wise and competent government in Belgrade is as necessary as in London, Berlin, or Paris. If the people of the United States care nothing about the political experiment in Yugoslavia as such, they never· theless should study that country in relation to the ever-trembling balance of power in Europe. The researches upon which this volume is based were made on the ground in Yugoslavia. In the process the authors laid themselves under a deep obligation to public officials and private citizens in all parts of the Kingdom. They refrain, however, from making per· sonal acknowledgment lest their errors and criticisms might be laid at the door of innocent parties. They should add that the National Institute of Public Administration and the America-Yugoslav Society, having given them a free hand, are not to be held responsible for their conclusions. On the morning of January 7, 1929, when the proofs of this book were being returned to the printer, the New York newspapers carried dispatches announc. ing that King Alexander had dissolved Parliament, assumed sovereign powers, and formed a non-partisan cabinet. This action, the outcome of methods, con· ditions, and events described below (pages 75-78, 171· 178), had long been expected; indeed it had been urged upon the King by the late Stephen Raditch, leader of the Croatian Peasant party. But, while the parlia­ mentary system is thus suspended, temporarily at least, the economic and political heritage of the Kingdom described in these pages, yet remains and forms the viii PREFACE substance with which the statesmen of the future must deal, whatever may be the superstructure of the government. C. A. B. G.R. · CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE v CHA.PTEB I. EcoNOMIC REALrrms 1 II. THE PoLmcAL IlEB.rrAGE 12 III. FoRMATION OF THE CoNSTITUTION 30 IV. THE CROWN 57 v. PARLIAMENT 79 VI. PoLmcAL PARTIES 113 VII. THE CABINET SYSTEM 159 VIII. NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 179 IX. THE BUDGET SYSTEM 198 X. NATIONAL EcoNOMIC PROBLEMS 220 XI. PUBLIC OPINION 249 XII. THE CoURTS AND THE LAW 266 XIII. LocAL GoVERNMENT 279 XIV. FoREIGN PoLICY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 302 THE BALKAN PIVOT: YUGOSLAVIA CHAPTER I ECONOMIC REALITIES Foa more than two thousand years those who have taken thought about government and politics have been uncertain whether statesmen are the makers of destiny or the victims of circumstances. The great Aristotle, whose birthplace is only little more than a day's journey from the capital of Yugoslavia, was so dubious on this point that his writings were posi­ tively confused. Sometimes he spoke of statesmen as if they were lawgivers who made social realities corre­ spond to their dreams. At other times he wrote in a fatalistic vein as if the inexorable movement of exter­ nal forces cut the channels in which statesmen were compelled to move. Long afterward Abraham Lincoln pleaded with his countrymen to make specific choices fraught with national significance, as if they were free agents deciding which way they would go; but not many years later, in the very midst of the Civil War, he found himself and his country, as he grimly remarked, in a condition which no man or party had · "devised or expected." Nevertheless, there are some prime factors which enter into determining the form of government, the I 2 THE BALKAN PIVOT: YUGOSLAVIA division into classes, the development of political par· ties, the content of legislation, the nature of admin· istration, and the possibilities of national development. Those factors are: (1) the economic realities of the country, that is, climate, soil, natural resources, geo­ graphical location, industries, and the prevailing distri· bution of capital and wealth; (2) its heritage of polit. ical ideas and practices; (3) its borrowings from other nations; and ( 4) scientific research, kindled by imagi­ nation, in technology, political economy, government, and social policy. Of all the succession states which arose from the wreck of empires at the close of the World War, none has a more majestic setting for its destiny than Yugo­ slavia. Its territory stretches from the rich plains of the Banat on the borders of Hungary to the towering mountains of Dalmatia looking down on the blue Adriatic; from the snow-crested Alps of Slovenia to the rolling hills of Macedonia. Here are diversities of climate, soil, and configuration ·which stimulate diver­ sity of economy and activity, which invite the exercise of all the complex faculties of human nature. Here are plains and mountains, rivers and gorges, low level savannas and high plateaus, arid areas and swamps, coast lines and land-locked frontiers. In area the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slo­ venes embraces 96,134 square miles-about 4,000 square nliles less than Italy without Sicily and Sar­ dinia.