HANDBOOKS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HISTORICAL SECTION OF THE, FOREIGN OFFICE—No. 21 MACEDONIA LONDON: PUBLISHED BY H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE. 1920n. of D. May 27 1920EDITORIAL NOTE Is the spring of 1917 the Foreign Office, in connexion with the preparation which they were making for the work of the Peace Conference, established a special section whose duty it should be to provide the British Delegates to the Peace Conference with information in the most convenient: form—geographical, economic, historical, social, religious, and political—respecting the different countries, districts, islands, &c., with which they might have to deal. In addition, volumes were prepared on certain general subjects, mostly of an historical nature, concerning which it appeared that a special study would be useful. The historical information was compiled by trained writers on historical subjects, who (in most cases) gave their services without any remuneration. For the geographical sections valuable assistance was given by the Intelligence Division (Naval Staff) of the Admiralty ; and for the economic sections, by the War Trade Intelligence Department, which had been established by the Foreign Office. Of the maps accompanying the series, some were prepared By the above-mentioned depart- ment of the Admiralty, but the bulk of them were the work of the Geographical Section of the General Staff (Military Intelligence Division) of the War Office. Now that the Conference has nearly completed its task, the Foreign Office, in response to numerous inquiries and requests, has decided to issue the books for public use, believing that they will be useful to students of history, polities, economics, and foreign affairs, to publicists generally and to business men and travellers. It is hardly necessary to say that some of the subjects dealt with in the series have not in fact come under discussion at the Peace Conference 3 but, as the books treating of them contain valuable informa- tion, it has been thought advisable to include them.It must be understood that, although the series of volumes was prepared under the authority, and is now issued with the sanction, of the Foreign Office, that Office is not to be regarded as guaranteeing the accuracy of every statement which they contain or as identifying itself with all the opinions expressed in the several volumes ; the books were not prepared in the Foreign Office itself, but are in the nature of information provided for the Foreign Office and the British Delegation. The books are now published, with a few exceptions, substantially as they were issued for the use of the Delegates. No attempt has been made to bring them up to date, for, in the first place, such a process would have entailed a great loss of time and a prohibitive expens and, in the second, the political and other conditions of a great part of Europe and of the Nearer and Middle East are still unsettled and in such a state of flux that any attempt to describe them would have been incorrect or misleading. The books are therefore to be taken as describing, in general, ante-bellum conditions, though in a few cases, where it seemed specially desirable, the account has been brought down to a later date. G. W. PROTHERO, General Editor and formerly January 1920, Director of the Historical Section.Macedonia] TABLE OF CONTENTS I, GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL (1) Position and Frontiers (2) Surface, Coast, and River een Surface : ian Macedonia ‘ (3) Climate (4) Sanitary Conditions (5) Race and Language Turks Greeks Viachs Albanians . Slavs , Jews . Gipsies Language and eee (6) Population Distribution Towns and Villages Movement . I. POLITICAL HISTORY Chronological Table : (1) Macedonia in the Middle Ages (c. 577-1430) Racial Origin of Meosdeniing Slav Immigration Bulgarian Empire Serbian Empire (2) The Creation of the Poleetes Tarohats (1870- 72) ° é ‘ . é t. 41225/396. 1,000. 3/20. 0: U.P. PAGE 20 21 21 22 23 24 25TABLE OF CONTENTS [2v0. a1 PAGE (3) The Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin (1878) . 28 (4) The Acute Phase of the Macedonian eee (1879-1908) . . 29 Rival National Pr opagenda . : : 7, 29 Bulgarian Bishops in Macedonia . - vant30 Macedonian Committee’s Memorial e may SL Schemes of Reform. a 33 (5) Macedonia under the Young Turks (1908-12) m 36. (6) The Balkan Settlement . - |, 38 TI. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS - 389 IV. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (A) Means oF CoMMUNICATION (1) Internal (a) Roads . : : 5 : . =) 40 (b) Rivers. - . 5 % é . 43 (c) Railways Salonika—Larissa . ‘ : ae ae Salonika—Monastir 5 - 5 . 44 Salonika—Nish . : % . ois 45 Salonika—Constantinople =. piece Lines built during the European War » 48 (2) External Ports and Shipping Salonika . . : . . > 650 Kavyalla . : 5 ‘ . i - 53 | Minor Ports . 5 2 : A eee (B) Inpustry (1) Labour : ; : 5 : : sean OD. (2) Agriculture Z z 5 . » 59 (a) Products of Commercial Value Cereals ‘ : A 5 a Do. Tobacco. { : S ‘ « +60 Gp Te oe eta ee, Cotton : ; , ¢ 5 el Red Pepper : : : A = pel Fruits : zs : . 6 eee Live-stock . : : : Se Silk . 5 c a : : 68Macedonia | (6) Methods of Cultivation (c) Forestry . i (2) Land Tenure . (3) Fisheries (4) Minerals 5 (a) Natural Resources Antimony . Arsenic. : Asbestos Chrome Coal . Copper Gold . Tron . ‘ Tron Pyrites lead . Magnesite . | Manganese . | Marble ‘ 6 Silver Slate . Petroleum . (6) Output (c) Methods of Extraction (5) Manufactures Flour Textiles Leather Soap. Hardware . (6) Power . (C) Commerce (1) Domestic (a) Principal Branches of Trade (b) Towns, Markets, and Fairs (e)) Organizations tol promote (Trade end Com: merce (d) Foreign Interests TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS (2) Foreign (a) Exports Quantities and Values . Countries of Destination (6) Imports Quantities and Values . Countries of Origin (c) Transit Trade . (D) France (1) Public Finance (2) Currency (3) Banking APPENDIX AUTHORITIES Mars.a Macedonia | I. GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL (1) Posrrtion AND FRONTIERS Tum area denoted by the term Macedonia has varied greatly at different periods, and has at no time formed a single administrative unit. The term, in its widest modern acceptation, comprised the central and largest part of Turkey in Europe, as it existed before the territorial changes of 1912-13. At that time Turkey in Europe was generally divided into Thrace, Macedonia, and Albania. Thrace consisted of the European part of the vilayet of Constantinople and the vilayet of Adrianople, and Albania of the vilayets of Scutari and Yanina, with parts of those of Kosovo and Monastir. Macedonia was the name given to the large intermediate area comprising the rest of the vilayets of Kosovo and Monastir and that of Salonika. For the purpose of this work, however, a somewhat nar- rower interpretation of Macedonia is employed ; and the boundaries are defined as follows. To the east the mouth and lower course of the Mesta form the limit, and the line of division follows the present Bulgarian frontier over the Kashlar Dagh as far as the Dospat range. This it follows north-west, so as to include the upper basin of the Mesta, to the Rila Dagh. It includes the valley of the Struma to the neighbourhood of Kustendil, touches the southern point of the former Serbian frontier near Vranye, and follows the Kara Dagh and Shar Planina to the present frontier of Albania. This it follows southward along a line of heights connecting the Shar Planina with the B2 GEOGRAPHY [xo a2 Pindus Range. On the south the boundary follows the old Greek frontier over the Khasia or Kamvunia Mountains to Olympus. South-east is the Aegean. Thus defined, Macedonia occupies the central position in the Balkan Peninsula, roughly between latitudes 40° and 42° 30’ north, and between longitudes 20° 30’ and 25° east. It falls under three different Governments. North of a line from Lake Okhrida to Lake Doiran by the Nidzhe Mountains lies Serbian Macedonia; to the south Greek Macedonia, the frontier being clearly defined by natural features, except in the plain between Monastir and Florina. The eastern portion, comprising the valleys of the upper Struma, the lower Strumitsa, and the upper Mesta, forms Bulgarian Macedonia. The total area is 64,745 square kilometres (approxi- mately 25,000 square miles). (2) Surracn, Coast, anp River System Surface The greater part of the country consists of moun- tains, which, however, seldom rise above 6,500 ft., and are usually under 2,500 ft. There are four considerable rivers—the Vistritsa, the Vardar, the Struma, and the Mesta—with important affluents, | and there is a large number of enclosed plains in the valleys of these rivers. The Vardar, flowing in a deep valley or gorge, cuts the country into two, from north to south. The central position of Macedonia in the Balkan Peninsula can be appreciated from the fact | that in it cross the two great through routes of com- munication: thewestand east route from the Adriatic to Constantinople, called in ancient times the Egnatian Way, and the north and south route from the Danube to the Aegean by the Morava and Vardar valleys. ThisMacedonia | SURFACE 3 route is followed by the Belgrade-Nish-Skoplye- Salonika railway, the northern part of the line being Serbian, the southern part Greek. The regions of outstanding importance in Serbian Macedonia are as follows. In the north-west, at the head-waters of the Vardar, is the fertile, grassy plain of Tetovo (Kalkandelen), sheltered by the Shar Mountains and their southern extensions. The rest of the country to the west of the Vardar consists of a triangular area, which may be called the Macedonian highlands. Only near the Vardar are there alluvial areas of any extent, like the Tikvesh, which lies across the lower course of the Rayets and Tsrna. It is a pro- tected region of small plateaux and deep valleys, the most temperate and fertile in Macedonia. In the extreme west is the basin of Dibra, which is the key to the upper valley of the Black Drin, running north from Lake Okhrida. The lake district of Okhrida and Prespa lies in the extreme south-west corner of Serbian Macedonia ; there is a strip of fertile plain round the lakes, which attains a width of some five miles on the northern shore of Okhrida west of Struga. The basin of Monastir is the largest in Macedonia, being nearly 50 miles long and 9 to 10 miles broad, and of great natural fertility. On the east bank of the Vardar is the basin of Skoplye (Uskiib), with a total area of about 150 square miles, a deep-soiled and fertile plain, but marshy in the lower parts. The Ovehe Polye, or Sheep’s Plain, lies south-east of the basin of Skoplye. It is broken into a series of small elevated plateaux, which offer good pasturage during the greater part of the year. Greek Macedonia is even more mountainous than Serbian. The mountains are so crowded together in its western portion as to leave little room for upland plains and plateaux, but there are small plains. at B24 GEOGRAPHY [290.01 Vodena, Serfije, and Verria. The valley of the upper Vistritsa lies in a fertile region of low hills known as the Anaselitsa, including the basins of Kastoria and Grevena. The plain of Salonika is not only of great natural fertility, but isalso the meeting-place of all but one of the great Balkan routes ; it is over 40 miles long from east to west, and 20 miles broad from north to south. In the eastern portion of Greek Macedonia are the extensive plains of Serres and Drama, especially noted for their tobacco, which is exported from Kavalla and Salonika, The peninsula of Khalkidike is separated from the mainland by the long depression containing the lakes Aivasil or Langaza and Beshik. It is remarkable for the three long promontories which project from its southern side, the eastern and western being separated from it by very narrow isthmuses. The easternmost, known as Athos or the Holy Mountain (Agion Oros), ends in a conspicuous peak 6,350 ft. above thesea; it contains twenty monasteries, and has fora long time enjoyed a measure of autonomy _ as a theocratic republic. Bulgarian Macedonia comprises the valleys of three rivers, the Mesta, the Struma, and its tributary the Strumitsa. The Mesta flows through the plain of | Nevrokop; in the Struma valley are the plains of Jumaia and Melnik; in the valley of the Strumitsa those of Strumitsa and Petrich. These are all highly productive. There is one feature common to Serbian, Greek, and. Bulgarian Macedonia, and to all the plateaux, plains, valleys, and roads in them ; all trend towards Salonika. In every other direction obstacles more or less formid- able are encountered, the least serious lying north towards Serbia. In Serbian Macedonia everything finds its way to the Vardar, and so to Salonika ; in Greek Macedonia, it is to Salonika, not to LarissaMacedonia | SURFACE; COAST 5 (which is shut off by difficult mountains), that the easiest routes run, and even in Bulgarian Macedonia, where the Struma and Mesta lead direct to the Gulfs of Orphano and Kavalla, the lack of harbours has led men to divert the routes from these lines also to Salonika. Coast The coast of Macedonia may be regarded as begin- ning at Platamona, just north of the old Thessalian frontier. It extends for about 460 miles, and is washed by six large gulfs of the Aegean, known as the Gulfs of Salonika (Thermaikos Kolpos), Kassandra, Agion Oros, Erissos (Lerissos), Orphano (or Rendina), and Kavalla. On the west side of the Gulf of Salonika there is for the most part a level belt between the hills and the sea, with landing-places (skalas) corresponding to the principal villages which lie at the foot of the hills. There is little shelter except at Skala Lefterokhori. The Vardar has formed a delta at its mouth which threatens to cut off the inner bay and harbour of Salonika from the greater gulf of the same name, and the river may have to be diverted. The shore, as far as Salonika, is cut into by numerous lagoons and inlets, which are useful only for fishing. At the extreme north-eastern end of the bay lies Salonika itself, the only good port between Volo and Constantinople. The point of Kara Burun, on the eastern shore, is a bluff table-land, 70 to 100 ft. high, commanding the entrance to the bay. | The rocky peninsula of Khalkidike ends in three narrow promontories—Kassandra, Longos or Sithonia, and Athos or Agion Oros—separated by the deep Gulfs of Kassandra and Agion Oros or Monte Santo. There are landing-places near many of the villages. On Longos are the harbours of Koupho on the west,6 GEOGRAPHY [20.21 and Sikia on the east, both near its extremity, and Dimitri, near the head of the Gulf of Monte Santo. On Agion Oros there are special landing-places opposite most of the monasteries, and also at Daphne, which is the principal port of call. The Gulf of Erissos has, just inside Cape Plati, an indentation which forms a safe port of refuge. On the opposite side of the gulf is the Bay of Stratoniki, where the manganese ore vessels are loaded. In the Gulf of Orphano there is an anchorage at the skala of Stavros, which has been | extensively used during the present war as a base for supplies. The Gulf of Kavalla is partly protected by the Island of Thasos. The town is situated on a high rocky | promontory, connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus, and is the natural economic outlet for the plain of Drama. In bad weather ships in this region have to take refuge either off Thasos or in the sheltered harbour of Leftera (Elefterupolis), on the west side of the gulf. River System and Lakes The rivers of Macedonia are extremely variable in volume, They are generally at their fullest in spring and autumn: in spring owing to the melting of the snows, in autumn owing to the rains. During the summer their volume diminishes greatly. The Vardar, for instance, has at Veles a flow of between 23,000 and 25,000 cubie feet (660 and 700 cubic metres) per second in spring and autumn; in dry weather its flow is less than 2,600 cubic feet (74 cubic metres), | that is to say, it shrinks to one-ninth of its former size. In the mountains the rivers flow through deep gorges; in the plains they spread widely. While in | the mountains they are rapid and torrential, in theMacedonia | RIVERS AND LAKES 7 plains they form large pools and marshes. The streams meander a great deal. The Vardar is the great river of Macedonia. It rises in the mountains on the west of the plain of Tetovo, and has a course of nearly 200 miles through many gorges. Its only large basins are those of Tetovo, Skoplye, and the Campania of Salonika. It flows into the sea through extremely bad marshes, 14 miles west of Salonika, and brings down a large quantity of mud. It is only useful for flat-bottomed barges and for rafting. The chief tributaries of the Vardar are, on the left, the Lepenats, which, flowing through the Kachanik defile, provides a route through the Shar Planina from the plain of Kosovo to that of Skoplye, and the Bregal- nitsa, which affords access to the valleys of the Struma and Strumitsa. The Tsrna, on the right, is the largest and most powerful of the Vardar affluents. Its volume, just above its confluence with the Vardar, at low water is 4,132 cubic feet (117 cubic metres) per second, and at high water 42,377 cubic feet (1,200 cubic metres). The rivers of southern Macedonia reach their highest flood in winter. The Vistritsa makes so many détours, and passes through so many defiles, that its valley is almost useless as a means of communication. It ) brings down large quantities of soil and discharges itself into the Gulf of Salonika, at the western edge of the Campania. Throughout its course it flows in a broad bed, and except in flood-time can be forded in most parts. The chief rivers of eastern Macedonia are the Struma and the Mesta. Both of these are mountain torrents ) in their upper courses. In the plain the Struma is 30 to 50 yds. broad, but as a rule only 14 to 34 ft. deep; it overflows its banks, however, during floods, and frequently changes its channel. Before entering the8 GEOGRAPHY [2t0. a2 sea, the Struma forms Lake Tahinos. This lake has an area of 70 square miles and a depth of 1} to 9 ft. Its banks are extremely marshy. The Mesta is about 125 miles long, 55-65 yds. wide in its upper course, and 70-100 yds. wide in its lower course, and its depth is 5-64 ft. The basin of Nevrokop is the one large fertile plain in its upper valley. There are defiles as far down as Buk, where the Dedeagach railway crosses the river. After this the valley opens out, and finally, after one more defile at Okjilar, becomes the plain of Xanthi. The lakes are a notable feature of IMeecddtian hydrography. Lake Okhrida in the west is 25 miles long, 9 miles wide, and in places over 900 ft. deep. It lies 2,264 ft. (690 metres) above sea-level. Lake Prespa is 14 miles long and 8 miles broad. In most parts it is not more than 65 ft. deep, though depths of 177 ft. have been ascertained. It is separated from Lake Mala Prespa, which is smaller and shallower, by a low isthmus, just over $ mile broad. Lake Prespa lies 2,812 ft. (857 metres) above sea-level, and drains into Lake Okhrida by a subterranean channel. Lake Doiran, which lies 40 miles north of Salonika, is a circular lake, 5 miles in diameter and 36 ft. deep. The lake of Ostrovo is 10 miles long and 2-4 miles broad. The lake of Kastoria, 25 miles to the south-east of Ostrovo, is nearly square, with sides 24 miles in length. It is 20-50 ft. deep. The remark- able depression north of Khalkidike, containing Lakes Langaza and Beshik, has already been noticed, Lake Okhrida is divided between two sovereignties by the Serbo-Albanian frontier, which runs across the south-western part; Lakes Prespa and Doiran are similarly traversed by the Greco-Serbian frontier. The lakes are all noted for their fish.Macedonia] RIVERS; LAKES; CLIMATE (3) CLIMATE Macedonia in general has a climate intermediate between the continental climate of Bulgaria and northern Serbia, with its extremes of temperature, and the Mediterranean climate with its hot summer and mild winter. Without the extreme cold of Bulgaria, the climate of Macedonia is bracing except in summer ; nevertheless in its protected plains many of the fruits characteristic of the Mediterranean area are grown. The Campania of Salonika has the regular Mediter- ranean climate. The summer is practically rainless ; in spring and autumn the rains are heavy. The winter is temperate. The mean temperature in January is 41° F. (5° C.), in February it rises to 45° F. (7° ©.). The summer is exceedingly hot, as the surrounding mountains keep off all winds except the north-west, or Vardaris, which usually blows for three days to- gether. The mean temperature for Salonika in July is 80° F. (27° C.). The climate of Kavalla is much the same. From the coast, and the enclosed plains of Drama and Seres, with their Mediterranean climate, to the mountains of eastern Macedonia, which have a central European climate, isan abrupt change. In the Rhodope and the adjacent systems deep snow lies in winter, and even the summer is temperate. At Rilski, just outside the Macedonian frontier, the records show a mean January temperature of 27° F. (— 2-7° C.) and only 61° F. (16° C.) in July and August. West again, in the basin of Skoplye, there is a climate very like the Mediterranean. Rain falls only in winter and spring; in summer the heat is severe, though the July mean is 6° F. below that of Salonika. The basins of Tetovo and Monastir10 GEOGRAPHY [p0. 22 have much the same climate as Skoplye, but with a mean temperature of about 2° F. lower in summer. The Tikvesh region is actually hotter than any of these plains, except Salonika, and its harvests are one month in advance of those of Skoplye and Monastir. The mountain regions around these plains have a severe climate, and the snow frequently lies in the higher parts even in summer. Greek Macedonia, outside the plain of Salonika, has a modified Mediterranean climate. The winter is rather colder, and the summer not quite so dry as in the Campania of Salonika, There is also more wind, especially in spring time. In winter snow lies even in the river valleys. (4) Sanrrary CoNnDITIONS The chief obstacle to health in Macedonia is the marshland, which is a feature of every plain. The villages, consequently, are usually placed either cn the slopes of the foot-hills, or on the vim of slightly elevated land which surrounds most of the plains. The natural conditions of the country are otherwise favourable, but the villagers do not take sufficient pre- cautions. Wells are often polluted, and no attempt is made to drain the marshes. In recent years there has been an increase of typhoid and also of typhus; since 1914 the people of Serbian Macedonia are said to have suffered especially from tuberculosis, probably owing to war conditions. In the inland plains and mountains, however, all travellers have found the conditions of life, if ordinary precautions are taken, to be perfectly healthy. Under the Turkish regime, epidemics of small-pox and diphtheria occurred frequently, and, owing to lack of doctors, cancer and tumours were allowed to make havoe, almost unhindered, among the peasants,mecedonia] HEALTH; RACE AND LANGUAGE 11 (5) Race and LanauaGE All the racial struggles of the Balkans have centred in Macedonia. There are five main races which inhabit the region: Turks, Greeks, Vlachs, Albanians, and Slavs. Of these, the last—the Slav—is divided into Serbs and Bulgars. t The Turks came into the country in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and formed the ruling class till 1912. There are two classes of Turks: the landowners or begs, and the peasants. The landowners, before 1912, were found in every district, but the Turkish peasantry were concentrated mainly in three districts: between the Mesta and Drama rivers, between the Struma and the Bregalnitsa, and in the plain of Ostrovo and the Sari Gol. The Greeks are concentrated mainly in the cities, particularly on and near the coast, in Salonika, Kavalla, and Seres. Inland they are in considerable numbers in the country west of Salonika, for instance in Kastoria ; but in the upper Vardar or upper Struma regions they are in much smaller numbers, except at Melnik, which is a Greek colony, with a complete Greek culture of its own, — A rural Greek population also exists in Macedonia, especially in the region north of the Khasia Mountains, and Khalkidike is almost entirely Greek; so also is the country west and south of Lake Tahinos, and to a more limited extent the plains of Seres and Drama. The Vistritsa valley has a predominantly Greek popula- tion, but not of the regular Hellenic character, as it is mainly Mohammedan in religion. The Vlachs, or Koutso-Vlachs, are probably the descendants of the ancient Thracians, and acknow- ledge a close kinship with the people of Rumania. Unlike the Greeks they are predominantly a rural12 GEOGRAPHY [0.21 people, not agricultural, however, but pastoral, and they consequently have a habit of migrating annually from their winter quarters to their summer pasturages and back again. They live mainly in the Pindus, in the hills south of Monastir, round Grevena and Kastoria, and in the Meglen. They are, however, also found in the cities—in Salonika, Seres, and Monastir—where they show themselves quite adaptable to town life. The Albanians or Skipetars+ are descendants of the ancient Illyrians. The northern Albanians belong to the Gheg branch, the southern to the Tosk. The Tosks have pushed eastwards from Albania, and many now dwell in the plain of Monastir and in the upper Vistritsa valley and Kastoria. The Ghegs live in and around Dibra, Tetovo, and Skoplye. In Macedonia the Slavs form by far the greater part of the population. Isolated from the Slavs of Serbia and Bulgaria until quite recent years, they were a people apart till 1870. In 1870, however, with the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, a national consciousness began to awake in them. While some remained, as they had always been, under the Greek Patriarch, others accepted the Bulgarian Exarch, while others acknowledged the national Serbian Church. After 1887 propaganda was maintained by the Greek, Bulgarian, and Serbian Governments, and this has become more prominent in recent years; Vlach propaganda was also started by the Rumanian Government. On the whole the claims of Greeks and Vlachs to include certain Slav Macedonians have not been difficult to define, but between Serb and Bulgar the controversy has been terribly acute. In 1912 the Serbian and Bulgarian Governments came to an agreement by which Serbia recognized Bulgaria’s claim on all to the east of Rhodope and the 1 See Albania, No. 17 of this series, p. 7.Macedonia | RACE AND LANGUAGE 13 Struma, and Bulgaria recognized Serbia’s claim on all north and west of the Shar Mountains. As to the district between the Shar, Rhodope, the Aegean, and Okhrida, a line was laid down running approximately south-west from Mount Golem (north of Kriva Palanka) to Lake Okhrida. Serbia claimed nothing beyond this line, and Bulgaria accepted it as a frontier, subject to the arbitration of the Tsar of Russia. The line assigned Struga, Skoplye, and Kumanovo to Serbia; and Okhrida, Prilip, Monastir, and Ishtib (Shtip) to Bul- garia. The agreement, however, became inoperative with the Second Balkan War. The Macedonian Slavs speak a dialect, or rather various very similar dialects, of the Slavonic tongue, They would be understood by either Serbs or Bul- gars, though their language on the whole is more like Bulgarian than Serbian; but this distinction must not be pressed. Like the Bulgarians most Macedonian Slavs use the suffix article, and words which in Bulgar have an J have it also in Macedonian, while it is omitted in Serb: e.g. Bulgarian, belo (white), Macedonian belo, Serbian beo. In religion the Macedonian Slavs who acknowledge the Bulgarian Exarch are more numerous than those who acknowledge the Serbian National Church. For this, no doubt, there is an historical reason, since the Bulgarian Exarchate, recognized in 1870 by Turkey, has worked amid favourable circumstances. The best test of the nationality of a Balkan Slav is, as a rule, his own consciousness; but so much political pressure has in recent years been brought to bear on the Macedonian Slavs, that it is doubtful whether much confidence could be put in a plebiscite. The Bulgarians have done splendid work by establishing schools, and education has undoubtedly done much to stimulate a Bulgarian consciousness.14 GEOGRAPHY [30.22 In what is now Greek Macedonia the Bulgarians also had claims, but in the Campania of Salonika, and west of this, there can be no doubt that Hellenic culture has prevailed among the people. Even west of the Campania, however, there are many Slavs. Vodena, for instance, is an almost completely Slavonic town. East of the Campania (except in Khalkidike), the problem is rather more complicated. Between the lower Struma and the lower Mesta there was before 1912 undoubtedly a considerable number of Bulgar- speaking peasants, and many of these were Greek in sentiment. In the early nineteenth century there was an influx of Greek colonists from Thessaly into the country south of Seres. Up to 1912 the town of Seres itself was more Greek and Turkish than Bulgarian. Drama, on the other hand, was more Turkish and Bulgarian than Greek, although here, as in practically all the Macedonian towns, there was a prominent business and shopkeeping element of Greeks, Kavalla, as a maritime town, was predominantly Greek, the tobacco industry being mainly in the hands of Thasiotes. Although a clear geographical division is impossible, a line drawn east and west through Seres, Sarmusakli, and Alistrati to the Mesta, would indicate roughly an ethnical boundary. South of this line is predominantly Greek ; north of it (including Drama) the proportion of Bulgarians is probably higher as compared with Greeks. Besides Turks, Greeks, Vlachs, Albanians, and Slavs, there are two other races which should be noticed. These are the Jews and the Gipsies. The Jews are an important class in all the Macedonian towns; in Salonika, indeed, they form about two-thirds of the population. Many of them came into Macedonia at the end of the fifteenth century, having been expelled from Spain by the Inquisition, They remain a distinct people with a strong national sentiment, and do not-Macedonia | RACE AND LANGUAGE 15 require any propaganda to maintain their racial con- sciousness. ‘They do not, however, complicate the national problem, as they have no prospect or hope of making a Jewish nation in Macedonia. They are good citizens under whatever constituted authority exists in the district. Thus in Salonika, where under Turkish rule they supported the Porte, and particularly in later years the Young Turkish regime, they have since 1912 become a law-abiding part of the Greek State, although not naturally very sympathetic to it. The Jews have the strongest physique of all the Macedonian races, and the passage of time brings no signs of degeneracy. The Gipsies are in a different condition. In Mace- donia, as in all countries, they have the appearance of strangers and sojourners in the land. They have no political aspirations, no national consciousness, and yet they stand wholly apart from the people in whose midst: they dwell. Their numbers are very small, and they are of no significance in the racial problem of Macedonia. Macedonia offers a great variety of languages. The Slavs speak one or other of the various Macedonian Slav dialects which are akin to Serb or Bulgar. The Greeks, Turks, and Albanians speak each their own language. The Vlachs speak a tongue which has only a few phonetic differences from Rumanian, with an admixture of Greek words. Most of them also under- stand Greek. The Jews all speak Spanish ; although their tongue has been modified by certain local de- velopments, it is structurally the same as that used in Spain, and is readily comprehended by any Spaniard. The Gipsies speak Turkish, Slavonic, or Greek, in each case imperfectly. French in Macedonia, as in most parts of Turkey, or of what was recently Turkish terri- tory, is understood in official and business circles. Religion helps to keep the Macedonian races divided, The Greeks are strongly attached ‘to their own Patri-16 GEOGRAPHY [aroma archal branch of the Orthodox Church. The Bulgarian Macedonians adhere to the Exarchate branch of the Orthodox Church, and in Serbian Macedonia the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church hold sway. Serb, Bulgar, and Greek are all Orthodox ; their faith, ritual, and system of Church Government are the same; only the head of the ecclesiastical organization is different. Among the Greeks this authority is the Patriarch of Constantinople, among the Bulgars, the Bulgarian Ex- arch, and among the Serbs, the Archbishop of Belgrade. The Vlachs acknowledge the supremacy of the Patri- arch. The religious difference between Greeks, Bulgars, and Serbs is thus very small, and yet it is sufficient to give rise to serious antagonism. All alike make great efforts at proselytizing in support of their respective national propaganda, and cannot be acquitted of the charge of intolerance and even of violence in their methods. The Albanians are predominantly Mohammedan. Of the southern Albanians, the Tosks, one-fifth or one- sixth adhere to the Patriarchal Orthodox Church, and the rest are Mohammedan. The Ghegs of northern Macedonia are practically all Mohammedan. The Turks are of course almost all Mohammedan, with the exception of three or four thousand who have joined the Orthodox Greek Church; on the other hand, there are a few thousand Greeks in the Vistritsa valley who profess Mohammedanism. ‘The great bulk of the Jews of Salonika have retained their Hebrew religion ; nevertheless there is a considerable body (reckoned as 11 per cent. of the population of the city) who are Deunmehs, i.e. Crypto-Jews who profess Moham- medanism and speak Turkish. The Roman Catholics in Macedonia are very few, chiefly about 4,000 Bulgarian Uniates in the south-east. The Gipsies are said to have no religion, cMacedonia | RELIGION ; POPULATION (6) PopuLaTion Distribution Under the Turkish regime no detailed statistics were kept of population in Macedonia, and the time and conditions have been wanting for the compiling of statistics under the new Governments. The total population immediately before 1912 was over 2,250,000. Of these, Serbian Macedonia had about 1,020,000, and Greek Macedonia 1,150,000. Of the territory added to Bulgaria in 1913, only the Strumitsa valley and the mountainous areas of the upper Mesta and Struma valleys fall within Macedonia. These regions have probably not more than 120,000 people. The density of population in Macedonia is approxi- mately 90 per square mile. Serbian Macedonia has a density of 103 per square mile; Greek Macedonia has 88 per square mile ; Bulgarian Macedonia has 40 per square mile. It is difficult to form any trustworthy estimate of the numbers of the various races in Macedonia. The figures given by the various national organizations differ greatly from one another, and most estimates made by travellers or other authorities are not free from a similar bias. Any figures given would be disputed by the partisans of one or other of the different nation- alities. It is, however, to be noted that the changes of recent years, both during the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and during the present war, have so greatly altered the conditions of population that even figures that were accurate before 1912 would now be to a great extent misleading. With these reservations it may be estimated that in Macedonia there were before 1912 approximately 1,150,000 Slavs, 400,000 Turks, 120,000 Albanians, 300,000 Greeks, 200,000 Vlachs, 100,000 Jews, and 10,000 Gipsies. 0GEOGRAPHY [so.22 Towns and Villages Salonika, Monastir, and Skoplye (Uskiib) are the only large towns in Macedonia, and of these only Salonika has over 100,000 inhabitants (its population may approach 180,000). Skoplye and Monastir in 1914 had each about 50,000 people. There were four towns each with a population of between 20,000 and 40,000, eleven with populations of between 10,000 and 20,000, and ten with between 5,000 and 10,000. About 25 per cent. of the inhabitants probably lived in towns of 5,000 or more inhabitants. Village life is, however, the characteristic feature of existence in Macedonia. There are few isolated homesteads, as the Slavs prefer living in groups, and considerations of safety in the Turkish period made this imperative. The villages generally consist of mud houses on the plain, and houses of undressed stone in the hills. The floor of each house is simply earth trodden hard. Two-storied houses are common, but even the houses of the prosperous villages are greatly overcrowded. Several generations of one family live in the same se—frequently as many as seventeen or eighteen persons having to live in one room. A typical village has about 150 houses. Where the country is fertile and the administration not oppres- sive, villages increase in size, so as almost to become small towns. They remain, however, purely agricul- tural: the peasants have their little properties outside, and spend their lives working in them, It is likely that the bulk of the population of Macedonia will always remain concentrated in large agricultural villages. Movement The history of Macedonia has been so troubled, that the rate of increase among the population has beenMacedonia | POPULATION 19 extremely slow. Very few statistics on this point were kept under the Turkish regime. The towns have shown a tendency to increase ; Salonika, for instance, has increased from less than 50,000 in 1865, to-over 150,000 in 1914. Not merely have towns near the coast increased, but also towns along the railways, such as Skoplye and Monastir. While the towns have increased in size, the country districts have remained almost stationary in population. Estimates made at different times in the last century have not greatly varied. This means that the country districts have been able to supply most of the increase for the towns, without diminishing the numbers of their own inhabi- tants. The birth-rate in the country districts is cer- tainly fairly high, otherwise the population could not maintain itself as it does, in the face of great infant mortality. The death-rate is high, owing to lack of medical treatment. After the Balkan Wars, the new Governments made great efforts to retain the Turkish peasantry on the soil, and in this to a considerable extent they were successful. Most of the Turks on the land, who were well-to-do, left the cou ntry.IL. POLITICAL HISTORY CuronoLocicaL TABLE 338 B.c. Battle of Chaeronea—Philip of Macedon imposes his leadership on the Greeks. 336-323. Alexander the Great. 168. Macedonia divided by the Romans into four Republics. 146. Macedonia becomes a Roman Province. 395 A.D. Macedonia included in Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. 577. Slavs first appear before Salonika. c. 850-1018. First Bulgarian Empire in Macedonia. 1014, Basil II, the ‘ Bulgar-slayer,’ overthrows Tsar Samuel. 1186. Second Bulgarian Empire of Trnovo founded. 1204-23. Latin Kingdom of Salonika. 1223-46. Greek Empire (and then Despotat) of Salonika. 1246, Macedonia annexed to Greek Empire of Nicaea. 1261. Macedonia re-included in Byzantine Empire. 1346, Stephen Dushan crowned at Skoplye. 1371. Turkish victory on the Maritsa. 1389. Battle of Kosovo. 1393. Fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire. 1423. Salonika a Venetian Colony. 1430. Salonika Turkish. 1870, Creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate. 1872. First Bulgarian Exarch appointed. 1878. Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin. 1890, First Bulgarian bishops in Macedonia. 1899. Macedonian Committee’s memorial to the Powers. 1903. Feb. Austro-Russian Reform Scheme. » Oct. The Miirzsteg Programme. 1905, British proposals for a financial commission. 1908. The Young Turkish Revolution. 1912. First Balkan War: the Greeks occupy Salonika. 1913. Second Balkan War. » Treaty of Bucarest.Macedonia | THE HELLENIC PERIOD (1) Maceponia iN roe Mrppie Agus (c. 577-1430) Ir is of practical importance to know something of ancient and still more of mediaeval Macedonian history, because in the tenacious traditions of the Near East the memories of the Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Serbian hege- monies of that land of conflicting races and overlapping claims have survived. Thus, while no Englishman would found a claim to large portions of France upon the conquests of Edward III, Serbs speak of his con- temporary, Stephen Dushan, as if his coronation as Tsar at Skoplye (Uskiib) had been but yesterday ; while Greeks talk of Alexander the Great and Basil ‘the Bulgar-slayer’, as if the centuries that have elapsed even since the latter’s day were ‘a watch in the night. For, the Turks being merely interlopers in Europe, Balkan history, when it was reopened in the nineteenth century, began almost exactly where it had been abruptly cut short in the fourteenth and fifteenth. The original racial character of the inhabitants of Macedonia is obscure, but there is no reason to suppose that they were at any time exterminated, though they were often affected by foreign influence or immigration. In ancient times they were reckoned as outside the Hellenic pale, though Greek colonies studded their coasts, especially those of the Khalkidike, and their ruling dynasty established its claim to Hellenic nation- ality. It was in accordance with this claim that Alexander the Great posed as the champion of Hellen- ism against the ‘barbarians’ in his conquests; and. while,'as kings of Macedonia, he and his father Philip imposed their leadership upon the Greeks, it was the language and civilization of Greece, not of Macedonia, that he spread throughout the world. Under his successors, and later when united with Greece as a Roman province, Macedonia became more or less completely hellenized.22 HISTORY [10.22 The Macedonian question began when the Slavs migrated into the Balkan peninsula thirteen centuries ago. Prior to their immigration, what has since been ‘the promised land’ of various Balkan races was an integral and undisputed portion of the Byzantine Empire, whose long tenure of Macedonia is considered by modern Greek writers as a strong argument in their favour. Bands of Slavs first began to penetrate into Macedonia in the latter part of the sixth century. In 577 we find them appearing for the first time before Salonika ; in 586 they repeated their attack. These onslaughts were repulsed, but several Slavonic tribes settled in Macedonia. In 904 the Slavonic Drougovits and Sagoudats were living in the plain between Salonika and Verrhoia ! (Verria) ; the Berzits, who took part in the siege of Salonika in 676, are said to have left descendants near Prilip; their comrades, the Velegezits, gave their name to a mediaeval province, and are said to be the eponymous heroes of the modern Velestino.? In the seventh and eighth centuries we read of a ‘Macedonian Slavonia’. But the only serious competitors for Macedonia whom the Greeks had to face in the early Middle Ages were the Bulgarians, who in 679 occupied that part of their present territory between the Danube and the Balkans which corre- sponded with the Danubian Bulgaria of the Berlin Treaty. Soon after the middle of the ninth century the Bulgarian Prince Boris was master of the interior of Macedonia; and under his son Simeon (893-927), the first Bulgarian Empire included the whole country, except the coast. Under his feeble successor Peter (927-68), the Bulgarian Empire was in 963 divided into two, the Western, or Macedonian, section acknow- ledging as Tsar a noble from Trnovo named Shishman. 1 Jo. Cameniates, in Theophanes Continuatus (ed. Bonn), iii. 496. 2 Theophanes (ed. Bonn), i. 557, 663,Macedonia | THE MIDDLE AGES Under his youngest son, Tsar Samuel (976-1014), whose capital was, first, at Vodena (now rechristened by the Greeks Edessa), then on an island in the lake of Prespa, and then at Okhrida, there was fought the struggle with the Greek Emperor Basil II,‘ the Bulgar- slayer’, for the supremacy of Macedonia. Basil II was victorious in 1014; four years later the Bulgarian Empire was annexed to Byzantium. The Bulgarian Patriarchate, created simultaneously with the Bulgarian Empire, which it had followed from Vodena to Prespa, and from Prespa to Okhrida, fell with it.. Okhrida became a Greek see, Macedonia once more a Greek province. During the break-up of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the twelfth century, a second Bulgarian Empire arose at Trnovo, and spread as far south as Skoplye, while two independent Bulgarian principalities were formed at Prosek in the Vardar valley and at Melnik. But after the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, Macedonia was contested between a Latin, two rival Greek, and a Bulgarian claimant. From 1204 to 1223 Macedonia formed part of the Latin kingdom of Salonika under Boniface of Montferrat and his son Demetrios ; in 1223 it was conquered by the Greek dynasty of the Angeloi, which had arisen in Epeiros, and converted into the Greek Empire of Salonika. This ephemeral state received a severe blow from the great Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II at the battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230; and he could boast that he had ‘ conquered all the lands from Adrianople to Durazzo, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Serbian land’. The Angeloi remained, however, by his good pleasure, at Salonika; and, upon his death and the suce: m of a feeble ruler to the Bulgarian throne, the remains of the Greek Empire of Salonika were annexed, in 1246, not to Bulgaria but to the24 HISTORY [roca rival Greek Empire of Nicaea, which, on the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, was itself merged in the revived Byzantine Empire. Thus, in 1246 Hellenism became once more predominant in Macedonia. During the first half of the fourteenth century Serbia became the most powerful state of the Balkan peninsula. Already, under Stephen Urosh II (1281- 1321), the Serbs penetrated to Serres and occupied Skoplye (Uskiib), whither he moved his capital, and other places in Macedonia, which were confirmed to him as the dowry of the Greek Emperor’s daughter. Stephen Dushan (1331-55) conquered the whole of Macedonia, except Salonika, which throughout remained Greek and has never been either Serbian or Bulgarian, and in 1346 was crowned at Skoplye, which he too had made his capital, as ‘Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks’. The Serbs have never forgotten his vast empire, but it crumbled away at his death, and proved, as the late Serbian statesman and historian, Novakovich, wrote, to be only a personal creation of the great Tsar, which died with its creator. Marko Kralyevich, the great hero of Serbian poetry, who was, however, an historic personage, did, indeed, retain Prilip; Serres continued to be the residence of the Serbian Empress ; and the great Serbian magnates Ivan Uglyesha, his brother Vukashin, and Bogdan held large tracts of Macedonia. But the Turks had now entered Europe; in 1371 they routed the Serbs in the battle of the Maritsa, in which Vukashin and his brother were slain. Marko Kralyevich retained Prilip and Skoplye only asa Turkish vassal; in 1389 the battle of Kosovo rang the death-knell of the mediaeval Serbian State ; in 1393 fell the second Bulgarian Empire, and with it the Bulgarian Patriarchate, which had been restored by Ivan Asen IT not to Okhrida but to Trnovo.Macedonia | THE TURKISH CONQUEST 25 Salonika alone survived ; but in 1423 its Greek rulers disposed of it to Venice; and in 1430 the city, after only seven years’ experience of Venetian rule, was taken by the Turks, who held it till 1912. Thus from that time Macedonia was politically under the Turks, ecclesiastically under the Greek Oecumenical Patriarch. Those who were not Moslems were classified collectively, irrespective of their nationality, as ‘Greeks’. The only exception was the large Jewish community at Salonika, where we hear of Jews in St. Paul’s time and also in the seventh century, but most of whose Hebrew inhabitants trace their descent from the Spanish Jews banished from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century. For nearly five centuries Macedonia remained in Turkish hands. (2) Tun CREATION oF THE BULGARIAN ExarcuatE (1870-72) The Macedonian question slumbered so long as the all-conquering Turk continued to suppress national feeling in the Balkans, but revived, as a direct heritage from the Middle Ages, as soon as the Balkan races began to revive in the nineteenth century. In its present form the Macedonian question is the direct result of the creation of the Bulgarian Exarchate. When the Bulgarians, about 1835, began to recover the consciousness of their national existence, their first aim was to emancipate themselves ecclesiastically from the Greeks and to have a hierarchy of their own race. Their first move in this direction was the erection of the first Bulgarian church at Constantinople in 1848. The next step was the omission of the Patriarch’s name from the prayers in this church—an example speedily followed throughout Bulgarian lands, where the demand for separation from the Patriarchate26 HISTORY [0.21 became so general that the Grand Vizier was ordered by Abdul Mejid to hear on the spot the complaints of the Bulgarian peasants. Meanwhile others, taught by the failures of the Russians during the war in Bulgaria and in the Crimea, turned their eyes towards Rome, just as the Bulgarian Tsars had done in the thirteenth century, and for a similar reason. Dragan Zankofi, the literary leader of this party, pleaded in his journal Bulgaria for union with the Roman Catholic Church, in the hope of obtaining thereby the protection of France, traditionally extended to the Eastern Catholics. Zankoff proceeded to Rome at the head of a deputation; and in 1861 Pius IX consecrated Sokolski, an ex-brigand turned monk, Archbishop of the Bulgarian Uniate Church. It was, however, at once evident that comparatively few Bulgars thought French protection worth a mass ; Sokolski mysteriously disappeared to Russia; and the plan of including the Bulgarian people within the papal fold remained unrealized, Still, the Oecumenical Patriarch was seriously alarmed by these movements. While rejecting the Bulgarian demands—the so-called ‘ seven points ’— for a national hierarchy and ecclesiastical autonomy under an elected archbishop, who should acknowledge his supremacy, the Patriarch was willing to appoint Bulgarians or at least Bulgarian-speaking bishops in purely Bulgarian dioceses, and to make other. con- cessions. These the Bulgars rejected; eight more ‘points ’ were presented, and refused. The demands of the Bulge ; they declined to accept the Patriarch’s offer of a semi-independent ‘ Exarchate of all Bulgaria’ beyond the Balkans, made to them under the influence of the Cretan insurrection in 1866; nothing would content them but an independent national Church, not limited to the district between the Balkans and the Danube. now ro:Macedonia] THE BULGARIAN EXARCHATE 27 The Cretan insurrection and the hostility of Greece made Turkish statesmen adopt the advice, given by Fuad Pasha in his political testament, ‘to sélate the Greeks as much as possible from other Christians ’, and “to withdraw the Bulgarians from the domination of the Greek Church’. Ali Pasha, fresh from Crete, supported the opinion of Fuad ; Ignatieff, the Russian ambassador at Constantinople, advocated the founda- tion of a separate Bulgarian Church in the interest f Pan-Slavism. The Patriarch, when pressed, referred the Turkish Ministers to the Canons of the Church ; : the Turks, invited to decide a nice point of Christian theology, preferred to consider arguments of statecraft. On March 11, 1870, a firman created a Bulgarian Exarchate, comprising the whole vilayet of the Danube, except notoriously non-Bulgarian towns and villages such as Varna, and including the towns of Nish and Pirot, afterwards allotted to Serbia by the Treaty of Berlin. The firman further stated that other places might pass under the authority of the Exarch, if two-thirds of their inhabitants so desired. The Exarch was to obtain a berat from the Sultan, to mention the name of the Patriarch in his prayers, and to receive from him the holy oil. Both races at once saw the importance of this act, which laid the founda- tions of a new power in the east ; Christian and Greek were thenceforth no longer synonymous in European Turkey. The Bulgars thanked Ali for his boon; the Patriarchate struggled against the execution of the firman, and succeeded in postponing for two years the appointment of the first Bulgarian Exarch. Then, finding further resistance impossible, the Patriarch excommunicated the Exarch and his clergy as schis- matic. From that moment there to the knife between Patriarchists Macedonia became the battle-field of one rival (ees k28 HISTORY [xt0. 21 and Bulgarian propaganda. Bishoprics became pawns in the political struggle, and peasants killed each other in the name of contending ecclesiastical establishments. The Bulgarian Exarchate had brought not peace, but a sword. The Exarchs resided neither at Trnovo, the seat of the Patriarchs of the second Bulgarian mediaeval Empire, nor at Sofia, the modern capital, but at Constantinople, thus accentuating their claim to ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the ‘ unredeemed ” Bul- gars of the Turkish Empire. (3) Tue TREatins oF SAN STEFANO AND BERLIN (1878) The notorious ‘ Bulgarian Atrocities’ and the Russo- Turkish War of 1877-8 are referred to elsewhere (No. 22, Bulgaria, pp. 16-22). The abortive Treaty of San Stefano,! signed on March 3, 1878, became a Bulgarian charter for Macedonia to which politicians constantly appealed, and had a lasting effect on the Bulgarian people. Had it been adopted, it would have restored the Bulgarian Empire of the Middle Ages, and, while hopelessly dismembering Turkey, would have put a final end to Greek ambitions in Macedonia. It provided for the creation of a vassal principality of Bulgaria with a frontage on both the Euxine and the Aegean, and with an inland frontier which marched with the Danube on the north and comprised the Macedonian lakes of Prespa and Okhrida, once the home of the Bulgarian Tsars and the seat of the Bulgarian Church during the first Bulgarian Empire. But the Treaty of Berlin? excluded Bulgaria from Macedonia, which was sum- marily lumped together with the rest of the Turkish Empire. For this no special administration was pro- vided ;’ and it had to be content with the prospect of 1 For full text, see Appendix IX to Hastern Question, No. 15 of this series, 2 For full text, see Appendix X, ibid.Macedonia | THE TREATIES OF 1878 29 an organization similar to that which had failed to satisfy the Cretans, the details being left to * special commissions’, representing the native populations. This Article XXIII, destined to cover Macedonia, Thrace, Albania, and the larger part of Epeiros, re- mained a dead letter, and thus in 1912 provided a casus belli. (4) Tae Acurn PHasre oF THE MACEDONIAN Question (1879-1908) The creation of a Bulgarian principality in 1878, augmented in 1885 by the union with Eastern Rumelia, increased the importance of the Bulgarian Exarchate, to which it assumed the same relation as the Greek kingdom to the Oecumenical Patriarchate. It was therefore natural that Serbia and Rumania, seeing the headway made by Bulgaria in Macedonia through the erection of the Exarchate, should begin to agitate for the restoration of the Serbian Patriarchate of Ipek (Pech), which had flourished in the Middle Ages but had been finally abolished in 1767, and for the creation of a separate Rumanian Church for the Koutso-Vlachs (Lame Wallachs) or ‘Macedonian Rumanians’, who, thanks to the propaganda of a certain Apostolos Margarites, had come into prominence as ‘another racial element in this macédoine of nationalities. Churches and schools became the favourite weapons of the rivals. So early as 1869, Prince Charles of Rumania had sent books for the Koutso-Vlach pupils; while from 1885, the Millenary of Methodios, the Apostle of the Slavs, dates the great spread of Bulgarian schools in Mace- donia. The Berlin Treaty, by cutting Serbia off from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the secret convention of 1881 by which Austria-Hungary, in return for Serbian non-intervention in Bosnia, promised to30 HISTORY [o.a2 support Serbian pretensions to territory ‘in the direction of the Vardar valley’, naturally made the Serbs look wistfully to Macedonia and recall the coronation of Dushan at Skoplye. For similar reasons Austria-Hungary was glad to divert the attention of Rumania from the ‘ unredeemed ’ Rumans of the Dual Monarchy to the ‘ Macedonian Rumans ’, whom Rumania was, indeed, too far away to annex, but who might form a useful subject for ‘ compensa- tion’ nearer home in the event of a Macedonian liquidation. Austria-Hungary, established in the San- jak of Novibazar, was none the less free to contem- plate a descent upon the valley of the Vardar and Salonika, until her military authorities discovered that it would be better strategy to march towards the Aegean through the valley of the Morava, than to traverse the narrow corridor between Serbia and Montenegro, and the cut-throat defile of Kachanik. The Turkish Government saw that to increase the confusion of the Macedonian races was its best chance of retaining a country where cag Turks, as distinct from Mohammedan Albanians, Circassian immigrants, and nomad Tatars, were, except in two or three districts, comparatively few. So the Porte favoured now the Bulgar, now the Serb, now the Greek, accord- ing to the weakness or importunity of each. Thus in 1890, Stamboloff could wring from the suzerain, by the covert threat of proclaiming the independence of the principality, two berats for the appointment of the first Bulgarian bishops of Macedonia at the sees of Okhrida and Skoplye. Great was the indignation of [Link] Patriarchate ; in vain it demanded that the Bulgarian clergy should wear a distinctive garb, as the badge of their ‘schism’; in vain it closed, as a protest, the Orthodox churches throughout Turkey. In 1894 two more Bulgarian bishops wereMacedonia | MACEDONIA (1879-99) 31 appointed; and further concessions to the Bulgars rewarded the neutrality of that principality during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, when Bulgaria, by cutting the railway between Constantinople and Salonika, might have hindered the dispatch of troops to Thessaly. Thus, too, the appointment of a Serb as Bishop of Skoplye in 1902 divided the Slavs, while the protest of the Koutso-Vlachs against the cession of Thessaly to Greece was recompensed in Macedonia, and in 1905 theirs was again the propaganda favoured by the Turks. In fact, whenever Greece was trouble- some to the Porte, the Bulgars and the Koutso-Vlachs benefited; while the latter, as having of all the Christian races least to gain and most to lose by an immediate liquidation of the Macedonian question, were conse- quently almost as much interested as the Spanish Jews of Salonika in the maintenance of Ottoman rule. In Macedonia, as elsewhere, that rule meant misgovern- ment; of the reforms stipulated in Article XXIII of the Berlin Treaty none was carried out. The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 seemed to idealists an excellent opportunity of uniting the Christian’ races of the Balkans in a struggle against the common enemy. But, under the pressure of their mutual jealousies and conflicting ambitions, and in consequence of the Austro- Russian agreement, which aimed at preserving the status quo and withheld the two great Powers most directly interested from exercising a separate influence in the Balkan peninsula, the Macedonian question was stifled. Two years had not, however, elapsed before a Macedonian Committee, which had its seat at Sofia, and summarized its programme in the phrase ‘ Mace- donia for the Macedonians ’, addressed a memorial to the Powers in January 1899, advocating the formation of an autonomous province of Macedonia with Salonika as its capital, under a governor-general ‘ belonging to32 HISTORY [xo. 23 the predominant nationality ’, who should hold office for five years. It was believed that this nationality would be Bulgarian; and it was hoped that an auto- nomous Macedonia under a Bulgarian governor would be a step towards the ‘big Bulgaria’ of San Stefano. As this memorial proved, however, to be waste paper, and [Link] congress at Geneva came to nothing owing to internal dissensions, the party of action took the field. Bulgarian bands again crossed the frontier, as had already happened in 1895; and conflicts with the Turks took place. But it was soon apparent that the Turks were not the only objects of the Com- mittee’s hostility. In 1900 one of its emissaries shot at Bucarest a Rumanian professor who edited a newspaper favourable to the Rumanian claims in Macedonia. _ Thereupon the Rumanian Government, already at variance with Bulgaria about an islet in the Danube, demanded the punishment of the Committee. The Powers and the Porte supported the Rumanian demand; and Boris Sarafofl, the president of the organization, was arrested with other leading members. The court, however, under the influence of public opinion in Bulgaria, whose army, schools, and press were largely officered by Macedonians, acquitted the aceused. A split then occurred in the Committee, the extreme section under Sarafoff favouring force, the moderate men preferring legal means and educational propaganda. The former were aware of the fact that the European press was only concerned with the Balkan races when they were either cutting each other’s throats or inflicting damage upon foreigners ; and the whole world became aware of the existence of a Macedonian question, when Miss Stone, an American missionary, was captured by a gang of political brigands. Meanwhile, Old Serbia was theMacedonia | MACEDONIA (1900-3) 33 scene of Albanian feuds, culminating in the murder of Mollah Zekko, a donkey-boy who had risen to be the leader of a movement for an autonomous Albania, and whom even the Sultan, always the patron of the Albanians, feared and conciliated. So serious was the state of things, that the Sultan appointed Hilmi Pasha Inspector-General of Macedonia; while Moslems as well as Christians were agreed ‘that the provinces of Turkey in Europe cannot be allowed to remain in their present deplorable condition ’. Austria-Hungary and Russia, the two Powers most immediately interested, were of the same opinion ; their Foreign Ministers met at Vienna and drew up in February 1903 a modest scheme of reforms for the three Macedonian vilayets of Salonika, Monastir, and Kosovo, which the other Powers supported. They recommended the Sultan to appoint an Inspector- General for a fixed number of years; to reorganize the gendarmerie with the aid of foreign officers, com- posing it of Christians and Moslems in proportion to their respective numbers ; and to establish a separate budget for each of the three vilayets, upon the revenues of which the cost of local administration was to be a first charge. The Sultan accepted the Austro- Russian reform scheme, but its sole result was to inerease the disorder. The Albanians of Kosovo, suspecting interference with their liberties, rose in rebellion, shot the Russian consul at Mitrovitsa, and held up the Sultan’s envoys at Ipek ; a gendarme shot another Russian consul at Monastir. The Bulgarian bands, despite the dissolution of the Macedonian Com- mittee by the Bulgarian Government, blew up railway bridges, placed bombs on steamers, and mined the Ottoman Bank at Salonika. The Greeks were ter- rorized by these Bulgarians and plundered by the Turkish irregulars, The Bulgarians seized Krushevo, D34 HISTORY [wo 21 a largely Patriarchist town, and levied blackmail on its inhabitants; when the Turks recovered it, ‘a golden powder rose round them and prevented them from seeing ’ (and sacking) the Bulgarian quarter. These occurrences nearly provoked a Turco-Bulgarian war. The position of the Bulgarian Government was extremely difficult. Nearly one-half of the population of Sofia consisted of Macedonian emigrants and refugees, of whom there were no less than 150,000 in the whole principality, while a military conspiracy complicated the situation, While Prince Ferdinand sought to pacify his suzerain by appointing the Turco- phil General Petroff Prime Minister, Austria and Russia in October 1903 issued a second edition of their reform scheme, called from the place of signature the Miirzsteg programme. ‘This programme, accepted by the Sultan, attached Austrian and Russian civil agents to Hilmi Pasha, the Inspector-General, entrusted the reorganization of the gendarmerie to a foreign general, aided by military officers of the Powers, who would divide Macedonia among them; and demanded the reform of the administrative and judicial institutions of the country with the participation of the Christian population. General de Giorgis, an Italian officer, was appointed to command the gendarmerie; and his successor was another Italian, Count di Robilant. All the Powers, except Germany, sent a small con- tingent of officers, subsequently slightly increased ; and Macedonia was, for police purposes, divided up into five sectewrs, the British taking Drama (a rich district almost wholly peopled by Pomaks or Bulgarian Moslems), the French Serres, the Italians Monastir, the Austrians Skoplye, and the Russians Salonika. Most of the vilayet of Kosovo, the worst of all, and part of that of Monastir, were excluded from this arrangement. An agreement between Bulgaria and Turkey for theMacedonia | MACEDONIA (1903-8) 35 prevention of armed bands helped to improve the condition of Macedonia in 1904, while a British committee did much to relieve its distress. But in the autumn of that year a new disturbing element arose. Unable to obtain protection for their fellow countrymen against the Bulgarians, the Greeks organized bands in their turn; and Paul Melas, one of their leaders, who fell in Macedonia, became a national hero, commemorated by a monument at Athens. The rival parties, which took their titles from the Greek Patriarch and the Bulgarian Exarch, and were secretly encouraged by consuls and ecclesi- astics, murdered one another in the name of religion ; while the Sultan widened the breach between Greece and Rumania by recognizing the Koutso-Vlachs as a separate nationality, with the right of using their language in their churches and schools. These national quarrels spread beyond Macedonia—to Bulgaria (where the Bulgars destroyed the Greek quarters of Anchialos and Philippopolis), and to Rumania (where the Ruman- ians demonstrated against the Greek residents), while a@ common danger caused Greeks and Serbs to lay the foundations of the Greco-Serbian alliance of 1912-13. Meanwhile, the British Government, disgusted with the slow progress made by the Miirzsteg programme, proposed in 1905, with the approval of the Mace- donian Congress at Sofia, its extension to the vilayet of Adrianople, and the appointment of a commission of delegates, nominated by the Powers, under the presidency of the Inspector-General, for the purpose of framing financial reforms, The Sultan at first refused to allow foreign interference in his finances ; but the occupation of the custom-house and telegraph office at Mitylene by an international fleet on November 26, and of the Kastro of Lemnos ten days later, forced D236 HISTORY [3r0,21 him to recognize the four financial experts whom the other Powers had already sent to Salonika as colleagues of the Austrian and Russian civil agents. In March 1908, all the arrangements made for the pacification of Macedonia—the appointments of Inspector-General, civil and financial agents, and gendarmerie officers, originally made for two, were prolonged for six years. Shortly before this, Sir E. Grey had made remonstrances at Athens and Sofia against the continued passage of Greek and Bulgarian bands into Macedonia, and had secured the recall of the Metropolitan of Drama and the Greek consul at Kavalla, as active propa- gandists. Towards the end of 1907 Sarafoff was murdered at Sofia by a Macedonian, at the instiga- tion of Sandanski, leader of the terrorist section of the organization, and an advocate of an entirely inde- pendent Macedonia. But still the bands increased, while the British proposal to augment the gendarmerie met with no support from the other Powers, mainly occupied with the rival railway schemes of Austria and Serbia. In short, the result of European intervention in Macedonia had been ineffective. If the taxes had been better collected and administered, if the Turkish troops had committed fewer outrages, the strife between Greeks, Bulgars, and Koutso-Vlachs had been bitterer than ever. Such was the situation when the Turkish revolution of 1908 broke out. (5) Maceponra UNDER THE YOUNG Turks (1908-12) That revolution was born in Macedonia, for the Committee of Union and Progress had been trans- ferred from Geneva and Paris to Salonika in 1906, and was warmly supported by the Jewish and Masonic elements of the Thessalonian population. It was at Resnya, near the lake of Prespa, that Major NiaziMacedonia] UNDER THE YOUNG TURKS 37 began the revolutionary movement ; it was in various Macedonian towns that Enver Bey and the Committee first proclaimed the Constitution. For some days Macedonia seemed to have become Utopia. Enver Bey exclaimed that ‘arbitrary government’ had ‘disappeared’. ‘Henceforth’, cried this enthusiastic leader of the revolution, ‘ we are all brothers. There are no longer Bulgars, Greeks, Rumans, Jews, Mussul- mans; under the same blue sky we are all equal, we glory in being Ottomans.’ At Serres the president of the Bulgarian Committee embraced the Greek Arch- bishop; at Drama the revolutionary officers im- prisoned a Turk for insulting a Christian. The Bulgarian bands surrendered, and the brigand Sandan- ski was received like the prodigal son. The new men and the new methods inspired such confidence in the Powers, that they decided to remove the vestiges of foreign control, as the Committee of Union and Pro- gress desired, from Macedonia. The foreign officers were recalled; the International Commission of Finance ceased to exist; ‘Young’ Turkey was to act by herself. The Macedonian honeymoon did not last long. The much-vaunted equality of races was found in practice to mean the abolition of their respective privileges in a craze for uniformity. Nothing proved such a potent cause of union between the Balkan Christians as the policy of ‘ Turkification ’ adopted by the chauvinistic section of the Young Turks, whose plan of reducing the various races and regions of the empire to one dead level of Turkish uniformity pro- voked general discontent. The Bulgars of Macedonia protested against the immigration of Bosnian Moslems, renewed their revolutionary organization in self- defence, and invited the Powers to resume their control. The Greeks had from the first been suspicious ;38 HISTORY [0.1 and, when the Greek Bishop of Grevena was murdered, the Oecumenical Patriarch proclaimed equality to be a mere phrase and declared the Greek Church to be in danger. Massacres of the Bulgarians took place at Ishtib and Kochana; and then, for the first’ time in Balkan history, the Balkan States resolved to solve the Macedonian question for and by themselves. The Balkan War of 1912 was the result. (6) Tue Barkan Serrnement (1912-13) The effect of the First BalkanWar wast hat Macedonia ceased to exist as a Turkish province. The. victories of the four allies, confirmed by the Treaty of London in 1913, banished the crescent from that sorely-tried land. Macedonia, freed from the Moslem, at once became an apple of discord between the Christians ; and the Second Balkan War was the result. That conflict, the Greco-Serbian agreement, and the third Treaty of Bucarest (August 10, 1913) fixed the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Greece had, with Salonika and Kavalla, all Southern and Eastern Macedonia to the River Mesta, and extending westward as far as the lake of Prespa, and north- ward to Gyevgeli and Lake Doiran; Serbia, with Monastir, which she had taken in the first war, as Greece had taken Salonika, became a large Mace- donian state. Bulgaria paid the penalty of her vaulting ambition by exclusion from her ‘promised land’, Such was the situation when the European War began.Macedonia | III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CON- DITIONS Maceponia being politically divided at present between Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria, information as to religious and political organization, public educa- tion, &¢., will be found in the Handbooks dealing with these countries respectively, viz. Nos. 20, 18, and 22 of this series.IV. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (A) MEANS OF COMMUNICATION (1) InrTERNAL (a) Roads Means of communication in Macedonia are in general unsatisfactory. They consist for the most part of rough tracks, some of them wide enough for carts, but many fit only for pack-animals. On the plains the tracks become, intolerably dusty in summer and impassably muddy in winter ; in the mountains, while their surface is generally hard, they are narrow, stony, and steep. The principal towns are connected by roads which before the war were of very various quality. Some of them, even along important routes, were poor through- out, and few were continuously good for a long dis- tance. Most of the roads, moreover, varied much in character from year to year according to the weather and the amount of labour devoted to their repair. Only the very best were capable of bearing heavy motor traffic. Since the autumn of 1915, however, much road- making has been done by the opposing armies. Full details of what has been accomplished cannot as yet be ascertained, but it may be assumed that all important routes have been provided with good roads. There would consequently be no purpose in classifying the roads enumerated below according to their condition in 1915; they must now, with scarcely an exception, be fit for heavy military traffic. After the war it shouldMacedonia | ROADS 41 therefore be possible to devote immediate attention to the improvement of lateral communications—a difficult task, in view of the mountainous nature of the country. ‘In Greek Macedonia the focus of the principal routes is Salonika, whence the following roads radiate : 1. To Karaferia (Verria), Kozani, Grevena, and Janina. From Plati, 28 miles from Salonika, a road runs south- ward, keeping near the coast, to the pass of Tempe and Larissa in Thessaly. 2. To Vodena and Monastir; this leaves the road to Karaferia at a point 20 miles from Salonika. 3. To Doiran and Strumitsa. 4. To Seres. 5. To Pazarkia, Lake Beshik, and Chai Aghizi, along the base of the Khalkidike peninsula. Lateral communications in Greek Macedonia are generally poor. There is an important road leaving the Monastir-Salonika road 21 miles from the former town and running to Kozani, Servia (Serfije), and Elassona. There are also two notable cross-roads in the Struma valley—namely, the road from Doiran to Seres, which joins the Salonika-Seres road 10 miles from the latter place, and the road from Chai Aghizi to Seres, Demir Hisar, and Juma’-i-Bala in Bulgarian Macedonia. Farther east a road leads from Kavalla, via Drama, to Nevrokop, in Bulgarian Macedonia. In Serbian Macedonia there is no one outstanding centre of communications, but there are several important points where a number of roads meet. The chief of these are Monastir, Skoplye (Uskiib), and Ishtib. From Monastir roads run in all directions. Those to Salonika and Elassona have already been mentioned. To the north-west there is a road to Okhrida and Struga, which is part of the historic route from Durazzo to the East ; in Albania before the war the road was42 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [so.22 - indifferent, and though it has probably been improved by the Austrians, this cannot be taken as certain. The through road made by the Allies during the war runs from Florina south of the Lakes to Santi Quaranta and Valona. Northwards from Monastir an important, road leads to Krehova, Gostivar (Kostovo), and Tetovo (Kalkandelen), whence, turning east, it runs to Skoplye. To the north-east is the road to Prilip, whence there is a road to Veles and another to Krivolak and Ishtib. Skoplye is strategically the most important point in Macedonia and perhaps in the whole Balkan peninsula. From it radiate several main arteries of communica- tion. To the west runs the road to Tetovo, Gostivar, and Monastir; from Gostivar a road leads to Dibra on the Albanian frontier. To the north-west there is an important road to Prishtina, Mitrovitsa, Novibazar, and Bosnia. Of still greater importance is the road running north-east to Kumanovo, where it forks, one branch following the Morava valley and leading to Nish and northern Serbia, the other going east through Egri Palanka to Gyushevo on the Bulgarian frontier, whence it is continued to Kustendil and Sofia. There is also a road from Skoplye to Veles and Ishtib. Ishtib (Shtip), the third great centre of communications in Serbian Macedonia, is connected by road not only with Skoplye and Monastir, but also with Kochana, Tsarevo, and Juma’-i-Bala in Bulgaria, and with Strumitsa, whence there are roads to Doiran and the south and along the Strumitsa valley to the Struma. In Bulgarian Macedonia communications are poor. The principal roads connecting this region with Greek and Serbian territory have been mentioned above. From Juma’-i-Bala a road leading northwards gives access to the old territories of Bulgaria, passing through Dupnitsa to Sofia.Macedonia | ROADS; RIVERS (b) Rivers The only rivers of importance in Macedonia are the Vardar, the Struma, the Vistritsa, and the Mesta. The Vardar, though a wide stream as far north as Skoplye, has numerous rapids and shallows, and as it is liable to heavy floods, systematic canalization, although advocated by some experts, would appear to present great difficulties, Its drainage area is, for the Balkan peninsula, immense; from Monastir, Krushevo, and Tetovo, on the west, to the Bulgarian frontier on the east, the mountains pour down their rain or melted snow into the Vardar valley. None of the tributaries is navigable, but some of the largest might be used for generating electric power. The Vardar emerges among swamps near Salonika, between constantly shift~ ing banks of mud and silt ; and the question of con- taining it within bounds and diverting its mouth away from the town will have to be considered. It may be found feasible to dike the river for a considerable distance and to develop its carrying trade to some extent, Flat-bottomed barges can be floated down from Veles to Salonika, a distance of 120 miles; but as they cannot return against the stream, they have hitherto been broken up after discharging their cargo. The Struma, though very rapid after rain, would be easier to deal with. It is smaller than the Vardar, and for long stretches could be controlled without much difficulty. Keeping the stream within bounds would in itself serve to deepen the river and prevent the formation of sandbanks. Lake Tahinos, however, would have to be drained, or at any rate dredged in parts, before the river could become really useful as a means of communication. The Vistritsa is not navigable, but might be used for developing power. The same may be said of the44 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [3x0 23 Mesta, which in its passage across the eastern corner of Greek Macedonia has a rapid course through a rocky and tortuous valley. (c) Railways The railway system radiates from Salonika, which has direct communication with Larissa and Athens; Monastir; Nish, Belgrade, and Central Europe; and Constantinople. After the Balkan Wars the question of the future control of the railways in Macedonia was submitted to the Financial Commission in Paris, pend- ing whose decision they were to be conducted on the same conditions as under Turkish rule. Nothing had been finally settled when the European War broke out. Salonika—Papapouli-Larissa Railway.— This line, which was opened for, traffic in 1916, branches from the railway to Monastir at Plati, 21 miles from Salonika. It runs southward for 50 miles along the coast on comparatively flat land as far as Papapouli, a little north of the vale of Tempe, where it crosses the former frontier between Turkey and Greece, and enters Thessaly. Though the line is an extension of the Athens— Larissa railway, which belongs to the Hellenic Rail- way Co., it was built to the order of the Greek Govern- ment, and is entirely under official control. Salonika—Monastir Railway. This line runs over easy country in a general westerly direction to Karaferia, a distance of 42 miles. Thence'it goes northward to Vertekop (60 miles from Salonika), whence, turning westward again, it traverses very difficult country, with tunnels, viaducts, sharp curves, and long and heavy gradients. Passing Vertekop and Vodena, it eventually emerges on the easier ground about the lake of Ostrovo, whose northern and western shores it closely follows. After leaving the lake at Pateli, it runs south-west overMacedonia | RAILWAYS 45 open country to Ekshisu. There it turns north, climbs the steep pass of Tserovo, and then runs westward to Florina (118 miles). The remaining 20 miles to Monastir present no particular difficulties. The line, which was completed in 1894, was built by the Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman Salonique— Monastir, a company registered in 1891, with its head office at Constantinople. The concession was to last for 99 years. The Ottoman Government granted a kilometric guarantee of £572, secured on the tithes of the Salonika and Monastir districts. The share capital is £800,000, and 120,000 3 per cent. debentures of £20 each have been issued. The railway has not been financially successful, and up to 1908 the Ottoman Government was annually called upon to make good the difference between the receipts and the sum guaranteed. The last distribution on the ordinary shares, which amount to half the share capital, was made as long ago as 1896, and at the rate of only 1 per cent., though the preference shares have received regular interest at 6,5, or 4 per cent. Though the French were principally interested in the construction of the line, it afterwards passed under German control through purchases of its shares by the Banque des Chemins de fer Orientaux. Salonika—Zibevche-Nish Railway.—Of this railway, 48 miles, from Salonika to a point just south of Gevgeli, are in Greek territory. From Gevgeli to Zibevche on the old Turco-Serbian frontier, a distance of 157 miles, the line runs through Serbian Macedonia. Its terminus at Salonika, which it shares with the Salonika—Monastir railway, is connected by sidings with the harbour and docks. The line runs north-west over level country for 16 miles until it strikes the valley of the Vardar, which it then follows as far as Skoplye, keeping close to the river nearly all the way. There are no heavy gradients,46 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [30.92 but curves and bridges are numerous, and on several stretches the construction of the line was attended by formidable engineering difficulties. After reaching the Vardar, the line at first follows the left bank, and, skirting the western shores of Lake Amatovo, reaches Karasuli Junction, which is connected with Kilindir, on the Salonika—Constantinople Railway, by a branch built for strategical reasons. About two miles farther, just south of Giimenje, the line crosses to the right bank of the Vardar. After running through the Chingane gorge, it reaches the Serbian frontier, and immediately afterwards Gevgeli. It then continues up the valley, crossing to the left bank between Mirovcha and Strumitsa, but regaining the right bank 6} miles farther on. Hereabouts the valley is narrow and tributary streams are numerous, but after the deep and narrow Demir Kapu defile, the country becomes more open and cultivated, and remains so to Veles, 122 miles from Salonika. For 16 miles beyond Veles the line continues to follow the windings of the Vardar, keeping to the right bank except for a stretch of a few hundred yards near Novoselo; but on entering the level plain of Skoplye, it runs straight across country to the town. From Skoplye, 151 miles from Salonika, there is a branch line to Mitrovitsa, 80 miles to the north-west. At Skoplye the line crosses the Vardar, which it now leaves altogether, going first east and then north to Zibevche. The country traversed is open and undulat- ing, but between Hadzarlar and Preshovo, a distance of 25 miles, there are a number of severe gradients, the worst—a rise and descent of 1 in 66—being south of Kumanovyo. Before the war the rolling stock was inadequate, but if this deficiency were made good, the line would be capable, in times of peace, of meeting any demands likely to be made on it for many years to come. TheMacedonia | RAILWAYS 47 chief difficulty will be the running of fast trains to Central Europe. The line from Salonika to Zibevche was worked by the Compagnie (exploitation des Chemins de fer Orientaux, founded by Baron Hirsch, and later under Austrian and German control. The company’s rights over its lines were to run till 1958. It has no kilometric guarantee, and its annual receipts, after the deduction of a sum of £280 per kilometre for working expenses and interest on capital, are shared with the Government in pro- portions laid down in its original contract. The com- pany has a capital of £2,000,000 in shares of £20 each, of which £16 is paidup. The dividends have averaged about 5 per cent. of the paid-up capital. The principal shareholder is the Banque des Chemins de fer Orientaux. Salonika—-Okjilar—Dedeagach-Constantinople Railway. —From Salonika to Dedeagach this is primarily a strategic line—a fact which explains the adoption of a very devious and in parts difficult route, the object being to keep the line at some distance from the coast. If the railway had been built for commercial reasons, it would certainly have run across the neck of the Khalkidike peninsula and round the south end of Lake Tahinos, instead of making the long détour through Doiran and Demir Hisar. The railway has its own terminus at Salonika, but two miles out there is a short line connecting it with the railway to Skoplye and Nish. After leaving Salonika the line runs north-west to the valley of the Galiko, which it ascends for some 18 miles. It then crosses the watershed between the Galiko and the Ayak, reaching the latter river at Kilindir (39 miles), where it is joined by the branch from Karasuli on the Salonika—Nish railway. The course of the Ayak-is fol- lowed as far as Doiran (444 miles). Thence the line runs north-east, follows the valley of the Koja Su for some distance, climbs the col of Dova Tepe, descends. the48 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [>¥0. 21 valley of the Butkovo for a few miles, and then goes eastwards along the foot of the Belashitsa Range across marshy country until, having crossed the Struma, it reaches Demir Hisar (84 miles). From there it runs south-east for 36 miles, traversing a district for the most part level and low-lying, and passing the town of Seres (103 miles). At Chepelje Dere the line turns to the north-east, passes through difficult country, where gradients are steep and tunnels are frequent, crosses the Nevrokop river, and then runs over easy ground to Drama (145 miles). After Drama a very hilly region is entered. The line gradually ascends to a height of 1,056 ft., and then falls rapidly to the Mesta river, which it follows to Okjilar, running for the last 10 miles through a narrow gorge, where there are several tunnels and where very skilful engineering was required. At Okjilar the line enters Bulgaria. Before the European War the permanent way was in good condition. The rolling stock suffered greatly during the Balkan Wars and was said to be deficient ; two-thirds of it belonged to the Greek section of the line. The railway belongs to the Compagnie du Chemin de fer Jonction Salonique-Constantinople, a Franco-Belgian enterprise, founded in 1892. The term of its conces- sion was 99 years, and its line was completed in 1896. It was guaranteed an annual gross revenue of £620 per kilometre by the Ottoman Government, which was called upon every year for a portion of this sum. The share capital of the company is £600,000 ; and deben- tures to the nominal value of £6,000,000 have been issued at 3 per cent. No interest on the share capital was paid till 1899, when a dividend of 2 per cent. was distributed. This was maintained each year until the Balkan Wars. Lines built during the European War.—Since the beginning of the campaign in Macedonia, the militaryMacedonia] RATLWAYS 49, authorities of both sides have completed several pro- jected lines and constructed a number of new ones. Most of these are light railways with a gauge of 60 centimetres (1 ft. 11-:6in,). All were, of course, intended primarily to serve military interests, but many will, no doubt, be of economic value after the war. In the following list, compiled in August, 1918, they are arranged according to the main lines with which they are connected, Approzi- mate Authority length in con- Main line. Route of newline. miles. Gauge. Larissa-Plati Katerini-Dranista 15 60 om. Salonika-Monastir Yertekop-Kosturjan 14 i zs Near Sakuleva (be. 10 2 tweon Florina and Ke- nali) ~ Brod and along ‘Tsmna river Salonika-Skoplye Oreovitsa (near Kara- suli)-Spanchovo (on Greco-Serbian frontier) Miletkovo-Negortsi Miletkovo-Kojnski valley Strumitsa~Marino- polye Hudovo-Chestovo Gradsko-Prilip-Topol- chani—Dobrushovo Topolchani-Beranche Topolchani-Kazani Veles-Ishtib Veles-Stepantsi (Ba- buna Pass) Skoplye-Tetovo (Kal. kandelen) — Gostivar (Kostovo) - Krchova and 10 m. beyond Dudular-Lembet é 4 ft. 8hin. Allies Salamanli-Guvezne- 1 = Sarachli Sarachli - Pazarkia 60 cm, Stavros-Chai Aghizi Sarigél - Gramatna - Snevehe Gramatna—Rayanovo Yanesh-Chugunt Karasuli - branch) Demirhisar - Dupnitsa- Enemy Radomir = E50 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [p0. a2 There is also a short isolated line, of 60 em. gauge, from Likovan, on the Salonika—Seres road, to Mirova, a distance of 5 miles. (2) ExTERNAL Ports and Shipping The only Macedonian ports with any considerable trade are Salonika and Kavalla. The other harbours and skalas, or landing-places, serve as collecting stations for produce which is to be shipped to Salonika. They may derive importance in future from local industries, butat present nearly all the sea-borne trade of Macedonia must pass through the large port of Salonika or the potentially large one of Kavalla. Salonika.—Ships anchoring off Salonika, unless they actually enter the harbour, are exposed to the south- west wind, which in winter is at times very incon- venient, and even in summer may interfere with the work of the lighters used for loading or discharging merchandise. Ships can anchor in 7-9 fathoms close to the sea front on a muddy bottom. Changes in depth are reported to be frequent, owing to the great amount of mud brought down by the rivers. There are several piers outside the harbour. One, a little west of the quay; is connected by railway with the terminus of the lines to Monastir and Nish. The har- bour is protected by a breakwater 617 yds. long, with an opening at each end. The quay is 437 yds. long, and at either end has a mole 218 yds. long projecting at right angles. There are no docks, but the warehouses cover a very large area. Railway lines connected with the two stations run along both quay and moles.’ Salonika is the principal port, not only for Macedonia, but also for the Morava valley of Serbia. Further par- ticulars of its commercial relations with these regions areMacedonia | PORTS AND SHIPPING 51 given below (p. 89). The number and tonnage of British and other steamships entering the port of Salonika in the years 1909-12 are shown in the following table: Year. Total No. of ships. Total tonnage. British ships. Tonnage. 1909 1,191 1,003,052 62 111,529 1910 1,167 1,113,733 100 145,636 1911 925 1,020,648 186 181,035 1912 720 845,640 100 196,852 The future development of Salonika depends on: (1) The possibility of increasing the accommodation of the port and enlarging the commercial quarter of the town. (2) The policy of the states in possession of the regions served by the port. (3) The prosperity of these regions. The commercial quarter of Salonika lies immediately behind the sea-front. Its expansion inland has been blocked by the Turkish quarter in the Upper Town, while along the coast to the south-east the ground is occupied by residential suburbs. In consequence, convenient sites for business premises have become very dear. There are no serious obstacles, however, to the erection of warehouses and offices near the railway stations and farther to the north-west. Nor must it be overlooked that the recent destruction by fire of two-thirds of Salonika has given a unique oppor- tunity of improving the town’s commercial facilities. Tn normal circumstances, the situation of Salonika would preclude any doubt as to its future prosperity. It is the most convenient port for the trade between Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean and the Far East, and it is situated on the great trade- route between Italy and Turkey. Further, it lies within a short’ distance of regions rich in natural resources which will be actively developed in the near n252 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [0.21 future. The competition of Kavalla is not much to be feared. This port might in future attract to itself trade from hitherto undeveloped districts, which would other- wise have availed themselves of Salonika, but the position of Salonika in relation to the regions it serves at present is so advantageous that Kavalla would stand no chance of capturing their commerce. The following shipping lines called regularly at Salonika before the war :— BririsH. Johnston Line: three times a month. Ellerman Line: every six weeks. Bell’s Orient Line: once a month. FRENCH. Messageries Maritimes : twice a month. Fraissinet & Cie.: three times a month. BELcran. A. Deppe: once a month. Duron. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Mij. (Royal Dutch Steamship Co.) : twice a month. GERMAN. Deutsche Levante Linie: three times a month. A. de Freitas : once a month. Dantsu. Forenede Dampskibs Selskab (United Steamship Co.) once a week. Iranran. Societa Nazionale di Servizi Marittimi : twice a month. Compagnia Marittima Italiana : twice a month. AUSTRIAN. Austrian Lloyd : once a week. Russian. Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Co.: twice a month. Swepisn. Axel Brostrém & Son: once every two months.Macedonia | PORTS AND SHIPPING 53 Besides these, several Greek lines called frequently, and the port was also visited at irregular intervals by ships of the Société Commerciale Bulgare de Navigation a Vapeur. Salonika has adequate telegraphic communication with the rest of Europe and cable connection with Tenedos and Constantinople. Before the war, there was no wireless station at or near the town, Kavalla.—The port of Kavalla is one mile wide and half a mile deep ; it is exposed to southerly winds, but sheltered from others. The anchorage is fairly good, the best being in black mud at 11 fathoms. The depth of the water decreases gradually from 13 fathoms as the shore is approached. Close to the shore the bottom is sandy. If the port is to be developed, a breakwater will have to be built—an undertaking of some difficulty owing to the depth of the water, The bay of Kavalla is protected from the south-east by the island of Thasos, which also gives protection to Kalamiti Bay on the mainland to the north, where there is very good anchorage for large ships. This bay and Limena harbour, on the island, may play an important part in the development of the trade of Kavalla. Thasos is treated at length in Islands of the Northern and Eastern Aegean, No. 64 in this series. The trade of Kavalla consists mostly in the export of the celebrated tobacco grown in the district of which Xanthi is the centre. The imports, which are miscel- laneous, are comparatively insignificant ; in 1912 their value was £446,000, whereas the exports were valued at £2,400,000. The balance, however, as regards Mace- donia in general, is redressed by Salonika, where the imports greatly exceed the exports. The following table shows the numbers and tonnage of British and other ships that entered the port of Kavalla in the years 1909-12.54 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [30.21 Total No, of ships. Tonnage. British ships. Tonnage. 1909 352 266,806 8 9,327 1910 310 295,329 ll 4,409 1911 317 344,188 65 26,333 1912 “301 321,905 28 19,397 Kavalla is the natural outlet for the produce of south-west Bulgaria and of the part of Macedonia east of the Struma. Any attempt to develop its trade, however, will be faced by serious difficulties. The accommodation of the port is unsatisfactory, and could only be improved at considerable expense. On the land side, moreover, Kavalla is enclosed by hills, which impede communication with the interior and would constitute an obstacle to its expansion in this direction. Nevertheless, the prospects of the tobacco industry of the adjacent regions are so good that some financial risk might justifiably be run in an effort to increase the facilities of the port. 2 The Austrian Lloyd steamers called once a week at Kavyalla on their voyages between Trieste and Con- stantinople. Greek and British vessels visited the port at irregular intervals. Kavalla is a telegraph station, and is connected with Thasos by cable. Minor Ports.—Skala Katerinis is the port of Katerini, which is on the Salonika—Larissa railway, about 25 miles north of Papapouli, There is anchorage for a number of ships and ample space for landing, but the shelter is inadequate, and in a rough sea little work can be done. Katerini derives a certain importance from the timber trade of the forests of Mt. Olympus. Skala Kitrou is about 10 miles north of Katerini, and is sheltered from both south and west. Until the Salonika—Lar railway was made, Kitros, which lies on no good road, was too inaccessible to be com- mercially important, but now, in view of the need ofMacedonia | PORTS; LABOUR 55 ports on the western shores of the Gulf of Salonika, it may perhaps develop considerably. Six miles farther north is Skala Lefterokhori, off which there is good anchorage. * In the Longos peninsula, the central prong of Khal- kidike, there are three natural harbours, Kufos Bay, Sikia Bay, and Dimitrios Bay. In the Gulf of Erisos, on the east coast of Khalkidike, Plati harbour affords good shelter, and the skala of Stratoniki serves as a port for the mines of Izvor, Chai Aghizi is an open roadstead just west of the mouth of the Struma. There is good anchorage in 16 fathoms, but landing has to be accomplished on ‘asandy beach. At present only sailing vessels engaged in the coasting trade call at the roadstead, but it has been considered as a possible site for a large port. Skala Stavrou, which has a sheltered anchorage and good piers, served as a base of supply for this region during the war. Leftera Bay, about nine miles south-west of Kayalla, is a small but well-sheltered inlet with room for several ships. The 5-fathom line runs close to the shore, and the sandy beach affords a good landing- place. (B) INDUSTRY (1) LaBour The various elements in the population of Macedonia differ greatly in their industrial and commercial eapa- bilities. The Slavs, who are most numerous, are in general peasants—frugal, hard-working, ignorant, but not unintelligent. Under Turkish rule they had little chance of bettering their lot; but that they were not naturally unenterprising is shown by the fact that Slavs who had learnt a trade sometimes went to56 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [10.21 Salonika, or even to Athens and Constantinople, where they would work for some years, afterwards returning home with their savings. With their industry, endur- ance, and simple wants, the Macedonian Slavs should make most useful workmen under peaceful con- ditions. What has been said about the Slavs will apply generally to the Greeks of the peasant class. They are perhaps rather quicker and cleverer, but not quite so industrious. Both races, however, show wonderful skill in certain branches of agriculture, such as the raising of tobacco and silk-worms. As for the Greek of the towns, he is of the type familiar throughout the Near East—intelligent, enterprising, not always reli- able, a keen business man and politician, proud of his nation and eager to further its aspirations. In Mace- donia the professional classes, and, except in Salonika, most of the merchants, tradesmen, and skilled artisans are Greek. The Greeks of the sea-board are excellent sailors. There is a Greek colony in every town. The Vlachs, though less numerous, play an important part in the economic life of the country. They are most thickly settled in the south-west, but are to be found everywhere. They are the shepherds, innkeepers, and carriers of the community, and many of them engage in trade, though seldom on a large seale. The shepherd Vlachs have their homes in upland villages, but their life is largely nomadic, as they have often to wander far afield in search of pasture, sometimes even visiting the Thessalian plain in winter. They are said to be but indifferently honest. On the other hand, the Vlach tradesmen and carriers have a reputation for both ability and integrity. The Turks who remained in Macedonia after the Balkan Wars were mostly peasants. They were trust- worthy and industrious, but not intelligent enough forMacedonia | LABOUR 57 skilled work. In future, however, the Turkish element, if it exists at all, will probably be quite insignificant. The Albanians settled in Macedonia have abandoned their national clan-system, with its accompaniments of blood feuds and brigandage, but have retained their racial virtues of courage, dignity, honesty, and truth- fulness. They are consequently often employed as bank-messengers, couriers, and superior servants, or in other positions of trust. They have overcome the Albanian contempt for manual labour, and may be found working as masons or even as nayvies. Diffi- culties, however, may arise if they are employed ih large undertakings, as they are inclined to keep to . themselves and to despise the other races of the country. Jews are numerous, especially at Salonika, where they constitute the majority of the ‘population. The commerce of the town, both wholesale and retail, and its foreign trade are largely in their hands. The poorer Jews make excellent workmen, and are in great demand as dock-hands at the port. Under the rule of Abdul Hamid, emigration from the Turkish Empire was, as far as possible, prevented by the Government. Very few Mussulmans were able to go abroad, and the Christians who succeeded in doing so were generally actuated by political rather than economic motives. In the decade preceding the Balkan Wars large numbers of Slavs with Bulgarian sympathies left Macedonia, driven to it mainly by the persecutions inflicted on them by their fellow Christians of Greek race or Serbian leanings. Some went to Bulgaria itself, others to Anierica. The latter class left their families behind, and many are said to have returned when the First Balkan War broke out. The Treaty of Bucarest, however, led to a further emigration to Bulgarian territory of Slavs from the parts of {Mace-58 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [2¥0. 22 donia annexed by Serbia and Greece. Many Turks and Mussulman Albanians also left the country, the Turks going for the most part to Asia Minor. For many years there was virtually no immigra- tion into Macedonia. After the Balkan Wars, however, a number of Greek refugees from Thrace and Asia Minor arrived in the country. The Greek Government encouraged them to settle there, but its schemes were cut short by the European War. Though the demand for labour in Macedonia has not hitherto been great, there were not wanting signs, even before 1912, that the supply was becoming seriously short. Dock-hands at Salonika were sometimes able to obtain seven or eight shillings a day, while in the neighbourhood a daily wage of 3s. 6d.—an enormous rate for the Balkans—failed to attract sufficient labour to get in the harvest. The population was small in relation to the size of the country ; it must have been materially reduced in the recent troublous years; and it is evident that any settlement of the Macedonian question will lead to a considerable displacement of the inhabitants. While the places of those who leave may be gradually filled by immigrants from the states which benefit by the new arrangements, it is probable that for some time to come the population will remain smaller than it was before the Balkan Wars. The economic progress of the country is therefore likely to be slow. The labour problem, moreover, will be com- plicated by the growth of Socialism and Syndicalism, which were influential at Salonika even before 1912, and have probably become still more widespread of late owing to the intimate connexion between Mace- donia and Western Europe.Macedonia] AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 59 (2) AaricuLTuRE While much of Macedonia is mountainous and unfit for cultivation, the soil in the plains and on some of the plateaux is very fertile. The regions best suited for agriculture are the large plains of Salonika, Seres, and Skoplye, and the smaller ones of Elassona, Monastir, and Drama. There is no doubt that the agricultural produce of Macedonia might be greatly increased, for the methods of cultivation employed have generally been most unscientific, and much good land has been left untilled. (a) Products of Commercial Value Cereals.—Most of the cultivated land is under cereals. The principal corn-growing regions are the plains of Salonika, Monastir,andSkoplye Inthe ten years before the war, owing to bad seasons and the disturbed state of the country, the grain-crops of Macedonia had greatly decreased: whereas at one time the districts named produced over 500,000 tons of cereals, they have lately yielded only 100,000. In consequence, the country, which ought to have a valuable export trade in grain, has been compelled to import wheat in large quantities. The chief crops raised are wheat, maize, barley, oats, and rice. Wheat is the crop most largely grown around Salonika and Monastir, but it is not much cultivated in the Skoplye district. Maize is grown throughout Macedonia wherever the soil is suitable, and is the crop most favoured in the district of Skoplye. A large area is under barley, especially around Skoplye and Salonika. Oats, though less popular than the three crops mentioned, receive much attention, particularly in the plain of Skoplye. Rice is raised in various places where the soil is damp; large quantities are produced60 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [30,22 in the irrigated country round Kochana, north-east of Ishtib, and in the Strumitsa valley in Bulgarian Mace- donia. Tobacco—This is the most valuable product of Macedonia. Under Turkish rule all tobacco was under the control of the Régie Ottomane des Tabacs, and the Greek Government, under whose rule most of the tobacco-growing districts passed, has hitherto regulated the industry on much the same principles as were previously followed. The ground for tobacco-growing must be chosen with care; it must not be too damp, but there must be enough moisture to counteract the heat of the sun, or the quality of the leaf suffers. Many parts of Macedonia have a climate and soil particularly suited to tobacco. The most favourable region is the country behind Kavalla, which produces some of the best tobacco in the world; but leaf of good though less famous quality is raised in large quantities elsewhere—especially in Khalkidike; around Langaza (near Salonika), Kukush, Gevgeli, and Kochana; in the western part of the plain of Salonika; in the neighbourhood of Florina ; and in the valleys and small plains of Bulgarian Macedonia. At Kavyalla 15,000 men and at Salonika 2,000 are kept at work for several months each year selecting the leaf. Before the ustria and Germany took more than half the tobacco produced in Ma donia; the United States ranked next in importance as a buyer, followed by Egypt and Italy Opiwm.—The cultivation of the poppy is of consider- able importance ; Macedonian opium is of good quality, and ranks higher than that of Smyrna. In 1910 the opium exported from Salonika was valued at £165,000 ; most of it went to the United States, Germany, or the Far East. Seres, Kukush, and Langaza are the chief opium-growing districts of Greek Macedonia, where theMacedonia] AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 61 old Turkish tithe on this product has been replaced by an export duty of about [Link], In Serbian Macedonia the poppy is cultivated at Kumanovo, Ishtib, and Veles, in the Tikvesh region, and in the plain of Monastir. There is an important opium market at Skoplye. The lot of the cultivators, who used to be at the mercy of speculators from Salonika, was latterly improved through advances made to them by the Agricultural Bank of Serbia and the Franco-Serbian Bank. The industry, in both Greek and Serbian Macedonia, is capable of great expansion. Cotton.—The suceess of experiments in the cultiva- tion of Egyptian cotton in Thessaly suggests that this crop might become a source of great wealth to Mace- donia. In the past, cotton was largely cultivated there; and towards the end of the nineteenth cen- tury the average annual yield was 20,000 tons, of which nearly two-thirds was exported. The fall in the price of cotton, however, led many of the peasants to abandon its cultivation and to grow tobacco instead. Ttis, nevertheless, still an important crop around Drama and Seres, in the Salonika plain, and in the hilly region west of Gevgeli. The neighbourhood of Seres seems particularly suited to it, and used to produce more than half the cotton grown in the country. Red Pepper (paprika).—This is widely cultivated, the soil and climate being particularly favourable to it. Fruits.—Vines are grown in almost every part of Macedonia, the climate and soil being v suitable. Little, however, is known about scientific viticulture ; and, considering the favourable conditions, the yield is poor in both quality and quantity. The best wine is made in the neighbourhood of Niaousta, on the western edge of the plain of Salonika, and in the Tikvesh district’of Serbian Macedonia. 1 Many other fruits flourish. Apples, pears, plums,62 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [8.22 apricots, melons, and other familiar orchard and garden fruits are abundant. In many parts of southern Macedonia figs and almonds grow well. Olives, on the contrary, are surprisingly rare, the only region where they are common being the sea-board of Khalkidike. Fruit-growing should become as large and valuable an industry in Macedonia as it has long been in Serbia. Hitherto it has hardly ever been practised according to scientific methods, and the small quantity of fruit exported gives no indication of what the country is capable of producing. The native cultivator has relied almost entirely on the favourable natural conditions, which he has supplemented, if at all, by only the most: elementary artificial measures ; but with the removal — of Turkish rule, he may be expected to show more fore- sight and enterprise. Live-stock.—There are extensive pastures in Mace- donia, and although they are not as a rule of very good quality, they might support far more cattle and sheep than have hitherto been kept. The best grazing- grounds are in Serbian Macedonia, especially in the west, towards the Albanian frontier. On the plains the grass becomes very dry in summer, but in winter, when many of the upland pastures do not yield suffi- cient nourishment for sheep, the low-lying districts are visited by large flocks, which have often travelled great distances. The prevention of the wanton destruction of the forests would indirectly bring about. an improvement, in much of the pasture-land, but even more vital to the future of stock-raising in Macedonia is the intro- duction of new breeds and of improved methods of feeding and housing. Up to the present little discrimina- tion has been displayed in the selection of animals for breeding; and in the care of both cattle and sheep great ignorance and indeed indifference are shown. The hornedMacedonia] AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 63 cattle are very small, thin, and weak ; and a whole team is needed to pull the wooden plough which is in general use. Cows are commonly used as draught-animals, and naturally yield very little milk, and that of poor quality. In the plain of Monastir, however, the cattle are rather better than elsewhere. Sheep are far more numerous than cattle. They too are small, though hardy, and their wool is generally scanty and coarse. Several breeds are known in the country, but the yield and quality of the wool depend less on the breed than on the conditions under which the animals live. Sheep that are taken to the plains in winter do best ; those that remain on the mountains, usually without adequate shelter, grow wool which, though plentiful, is exceed- ingly coarse. As Macedonia was till lately under Mohammedan rule, pigs are not numerous, and those that are kept are seldom of good breed. Pig-breeding, however, is a source of much profit to the peasants in the old territories of Serbia, and it should be equally successful in Macedonia. Goats are found everywhere, and call for no special remark except that they do great harm to the forests. Horse-breeding receives comparatively little attention. Donkeys and mules are commonly employed for pack transport, and camels have been tried in the plain of Monastir and the dry region of Ovche Polye near Ishtib. In the south the buffalo is frequently used as a draught animal. Silk. —Sericulture is a very promising industry, the climate being suited to the mulberry-tree. The tree grows best in the districts of Gevgeli and Vodena, but is successfully cultivated in many other parts of both Greek and Serbian Macedonia, The cocoons are bought by itinerant Salonika merchants, who export them to France and Italy. Before the Balkan Wars64 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [pt0. a2 the industry was growing rapidly. In 1910 the value of the cocoons exported from Salonika was £213,000, about a third of which was accounted for by Serbian Macedonia. (6) Methods of Cultivation The methods employed by Macedonian cultivators are in general primitive. The implements used are erude, the antiquated and inefficient wooden plough being still in common use. Little attempt is made to increase or conserve the natural fertility of the soil, whether by manure or by a scientific rotation of crops. It must, however, be remembered that owing to the general insecurity of life and property in recent years and to the unsatisfactory conditions on which land was usually held, the Macedonian peasant had little in- centive to improve his holding. With the establish- ment of an efficient and congenial government, he would probably show much more zeal; in fact, it is reported that at the outbreak of the European War he was beginning to buy agricultural machinery and was showing himself anxious to learn modern methods of cultivation. He was of course hampered by his poverty, but in Serbian Macedonia this obstacle would have been largely removed by the Agricultural Bank of Serbia, which the Government established in its newly-acquired territories, and which, but for the conquest of Serbia, would have given the peasants an opportunity of obtaining credit on favourable terms. (c) Forestry The climate and soil of Macedonia are in general favourable to the growth of forest trees, and it is known that in former times the mountains were mostly covered with valuable timber. Up to the Balkan Wars,macedonia] CULTIVATION ; FORESTRY indeed, the area reckoned as forest by the Turkish authorities was very large. In Greek Macedonia the official computation had some support in facts: the Pindus Range and its branches are largely clothed with forests; the Kara Tash Mountains, which bound the plain of Salonica on the west, abound in good timber ; and, except in the peninsula of Kassandra, the Khal- kidike region is well wooded. There are, too, extensive forests on the mountains in the Bulgarian part of the country. But in Serbian Macedonia most of the high- land districts have been denuded of forest trees, and only on the western and eastern frontiers are extensive woods to be found. Dwarf oak is plentiful, and many of the hills are covered with young trees, but these seldom reach maturity, as they are cut down for making charcoal, or destroyed by cattle and goats. After the Balkan Wars the Serbian Government at once took measures to reclaim waste land suitable for timber-growing and to check the depredations of the peasants in the forests that still existed; but little effect could be produced in the short interval of peace that was granted them, On the lower slopes of the mountains the most abundant trees are oak and chestnut, which, as the ground rises, give way to beech, pine, and fir. When the European War broke out, the only forest in Mace- donia which was being commercially exploited was one near Niaousta, the property of a British subject. The future of forestry in Macedonia depends mainly on the improvement of the means of transport and communica- tion. Unless this is vigorously taken in hand it will be impossible to establish a successful lumber industry, as the best forests are mostly in remote regions, and it will still cost more to convey timber from them to the towns than to import it from overseas,ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (d) Land Tenure Under Turkish rule landed property in Macedonia fell into three main classes. There were a number of free peasant holdings, many of which belonged to Mussulmans, whether Turks, Albanians, or immigrants from Bosnia and other provinces formerly included in the Ottoman Empire. There were also a few large estates, owned by Christian landlords, where farming on a large scale was attempted, as a rule without much success, owing to lack of labour. Far more numerous and important were the estates of the Mussulman begs and agas, both Turk and Albanian, to whom most of the land belonged. Such property, which had often been acquired, even in recent times, by force or fraud, was very rarely cultivated by the owner, but was let in small parcels to peasants, generally Christians, who as a rule held their farms on a pre- carious tenure of the métayer type. While it is true that the leases were usually renewed when they fell in, and that a farm sometimes remained for centuries in the occupation of the same family, the conditions were unfavourable to enterprise and energy. More- over, whatever his tenure, the Macedonian peasant was continually exposed to the exactions of corrupt officials and the ravages of marauding bands. The peasants farming a large estate generally formed a village community, which was recognized by the State and enjoyed certain small rights of self-govern- ment. This organization stimulated a feeling of solidarity in the peasant class, which gave rise, es- pecially after the Revolution of 1908, to an agitation for the expropriation of the landlords and the con- version of the farms into independent holdings. Some of the peasants achieved their object by purchase, but the policy favoured by most was to seize every pretextMacedonia | LAND TENURE 67 for evading their obligations, in the hope of convincing both landlords and Government that the existing system was unprofitable and unworkable. So dangerous was the temper shown that some landlords were afraid to visit their own estates. During the Balkan Wars economic discontent, in- tensified by racial and political animosity, made full use of its opportunity. Not only were the Mussulman landlords deprived of their revenues and exposed to great personal danger, but the Mussulman peasants also suffered terribly, many being killed, while those who escaped this fate generally had their houses destroyed and their lands ravaged. Not a few Turks and Albanians fled, and after the war, faced with the prospect -of Christian rule, many of those who re mained were eager to dispose of their property and to settle elsewhere, To complicate the agrarian situation, a great number of Slavs with Bulgarian sympathies also left the country, while Greeks in districts allotted to Serbia, and Serbians in districts allotted to Greece, were often anxious to emigrate to the territories of their compatriots The land question was consequently one of the most perplexing of the many difficulties which the Greek and Serbian Governments were called upon to face in their new territories. The ambitions of the peasants, the complaints of the landlords, the danger of a rapid depreciation of land owing to the offer of numerous estates for sale, the possibility of expropriating big landlords who did not wish to sell, the threatened decrease in the area under tillage, the provision of land for the numerous Greek refugees arriving from Thrace and Asia Minor, all constituted problems which de- manded cautious yet prompt treatment. Both the Greek and the Serbian authorities set about their task without delay. The Greek Government began the F268 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [so. 21 registration of all titles to land and the reform of the Turkish system of land taxes, and busied itself with schemes for the relief of Greek exiles from Turkey. The Serbian Government appointed a commission to investigate the whole agrarian question in its new territories. But neither state had time to formulate a definite policy before the Balkans were again involved in war. It appears, however, that both Governments are in favour of placing the land in the hands of small peasant proprietors. (3) FIsHERies The lakes and maritime waters of Macedonia abound in fish. The lake of Okhrida, in particular, is famous for its salmon trout, which furnish one of the staple foods of the district. Pazarkia, on the south shore of Lake Beshik, has a fleet of 80 fishing boats: the catch is sent to Salonika on mules. The lagoons at the mouth of the Vasilika river yield good fish. Sea-fishing is also carried on from many villages on the coast, among which Erisos deserves special mention. In 1912 Salonika exported to Turkey and Serbia about 70 metric tons of live eel and carp, valued at £5,600; this was double the amount exported’ in 1911, notwithstanding the war. In 1913, according to the British Consular Report, ‘ fish-products’ to the value of £42,700 were exported, but neither the character nor the origin of the commodities included under this head is indicated. Until recently the development of the fishing industry was hindered by the licence-fees, royalties, and taxes imposed by the Turkish Govern- ment. After the Balkan Wars these charges were considerably reduced by the Greek Government, but until the facilities for the transport and storage of fish are greatly improved, it is not likely that the industry will attain much importance.Macedonia | FISHERIES; MINERALS (4) Minnrars The mineral resources of Macedonia are undoubtedly large, but the output is very small. In the days of the Roman Empire and during the Middle Ages, there was a prosperous mining industry, but ‘after the Turkish conquest it steadily declined. During the last hundred years the mineral wealth of Macedonia has attracted the attention of foreign capitalists ; and in recent times many mining concessions were granted by the Turkish Government. Few of these, however, have produced material results. The chronic unrest of the country, the lack of means of communication and transport, and the heavy taxes and dues imposed by the authorities made prospects uncertain and initial expenses heavy ; and the capital raised for the working of a concession was seldom sufficient to give much chance of success. It was thought, however, that after the transference of Macedonia to Greece and Serbia, the chief obstacles to mining enterprise would soon be removed. (a) Natural Resources Among the minerals known to exist in Macedonia the following are the most important :— Antimony.—Antimony ores are worked at the Allchar Mines, which lie near Rozhden, just north of the Greco-Serbian frontier. Antimony is also found in Greek Macedonia at several places in Khalkidike and near Giimenje, and in Serbian Macedonia near Krivo- lak, Skoplye, and Kratovo. Arsenic.—The arsenical ores, orpiment and realgar, are mined at Allchar. A sbestos.—Asbestos is found, but not worked, at Gevgeli, Salonika, Vasilika, and Galatista. Chrome.—Chrome is the most widely distributed of all Macedonian minerals. It is worked at several places70 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [pvo. 22 in Khalkidike, and it is stated that during the war mines have been opened at Karaferia and Niaousta. Unworked deposits exist in many parts of both Greek and Serbian Macedonia. Coal.—There are few traces of coal. Lignite is mined near Ishtib, and during the war workings have been opened at Dranista, between Karaferia and Katerini. Small deposits are also known to exist near Veles and Khalkidike. Copper.—Copper ore is mined at Dugi Hrid in Serbian Macedonia and at Yardimli, at the foot of the Rhodope mountains, on the railway from Salonika to Dedeagach. Copper also occurs near Gevgeli and Gradsko, and in one or two other localities. Gold.—Gold-washing is carried on by primitive methods on the lower reaches of the Vardar, the Butkovo, and the Mesta. The total output is said to amount to about 120 kgs. a year. It seems to be generally recognized that the Kru sha Balkan moun- tains are rich in gold, which might be profitably worked. Its existence in the valleys of the Struma and Galiko also been noticed. A concession was granted for ploitation of gold deposits at Avret Hisar, on the road from Salonika to Doiran, but the results cannot be ascertained. Auriferous pyrites has been found in some of the mines of Khalkidike. In Serbian Macedonia, the Kara Dagh region, north of Skoplye, is said to contain much gold, but little of it lies near the surface. Tron.—Ivon occurs frequently and in various forms, but has not been much worked. The most important mines are at Chichevo near Negotin. It is also mined at Dugi Hrid. Iron ores are found near Kumanovo and Veles, east of Egri Palanka on the Bulgarian border, and in the Osogov Mountains, where in times past they were smelted. In Greek Macedonia ironMacedonia] MINERALS 71 occurs in the Rhodope Mountains and the Khalkidike mining area, and near Karaferia, Vodena, Ostrovo, and Resna. On the whole the prospects of remunerative exploitation are not good, Iron pyrites.—Iron pyrites is one of the products of the celebrated mines of Khalkidike. The principal sources of this mineral are the Izvor mines in the Madenochoria district, and those of Polygyros and Yerakino in the Khassia region at the head of the Gulf of Kassandra. Lead.—Lead occurs with silver (7.v.). It is found in conjunction with other metals at various places, such as Izvor in the Giimenje Mountains (to be distinguished from Izvor in Khalkidike), and around Kumanovo, Veles, and Kratovo. In the last-named region it is particularly abundant near Zletovo. Near the village of Blezenska is the Emir Musa mine, which contains lead, and not far distant is the Kala Rupa mine, in the neighbourhood of which there are thirteen parallel veins in close proximity. Rich lead glance used to be worked in the same locality by the Turkish Govern- ment, but the exact spot is now unknown. Magnesite—Considerable quantities of magnesite have been mined at Izvor, Polygyros, and Yerakino, in Khalkidike. There is also a rich mine at Kayachali, 11 kilometres east of Salonika. Near Pisciona, mag- nesite is found in such large quantities that it can be quarried, and it is estimated that 100,000 tons might be obtained from this district. Concessions for mag- nesite at Vasilika and Vavsos, where it is abundant, have been granted. At Majarlik, east of Sloplye, there are wide veins of pure magnesite. A concession for working these was obtained. It is doubtful, how- ever, whether much mining has been done anywhere except at Izvor, Polygyros, and Yerakino. Manganese.—Manganese is found in many parts, andECONOMIC CONDITIONS [10.22 is worked in the mining area of Khalkidike. It is also present in considerable quantities with lead and silver at Lipsasa and Varvara, near the shores of the Gulf of Orfano, and at Horoda, on the northern edge of the Beshik Dagh. In Serbian Macedonia, important de- posits are said to exist near Gradsko, Veles, and Kumanovo. Marble.—Marble of fine quality is worked in the Olympus region and near Gevgeli. Marble-quarrying should become an important industry in southern Macedonia. Silver.—Silver is comparatively rare, and occurs chiefly in admixture with lead. Lead glance containing silver ore is found in the Osogov Mountains. In con- junction with lead and antimony silver has been noticed at Horoda, Varvara, and Lipsasa ; and silver- lead ore has been worked, though not with much energy, in the district bordering on the Gulf of Kassandra. Silver is also found with lead at Gherechik, in the Drama district. Slate——There are slate quarries at Papadiya near Gradsko. These were idle in 1913, but it was expected that work would shortly be resumed. Petroleum.—In 1914 a concession for the exploita- tion of petroleum deposits near Salonika was trans- ferred from the control of the Turkish Civil List to that of the Greek State, but no details are available. (b) Output The only mines with a large output are those at Allchar and in the Madenochoria and Khassia regions of Khalkidike. Since 1890 the Allchar mines have been worked by the firm of Allatini Bros. At first the principal product was antimony, and in 1900, 72,723 tons of ore were treated. Of late, however, the arsenical ores, orpiment and realgar, have’ become the chiefMacedonia | MINERALS 73 product. Lorandite and other earths containing the newly-discovered element thallium have been found in the mines, which are also said to contain sulphur, iron pyrites, and gypsum ; but it has not been possible to ascertain whether any minerals besides antimony and arsenic are worked. The mines of the Khalkidike peninsula are worked by the Société Ottomane des Mines de Kassandra, which is controlled by the Allatini-Misrachi-Salem group of Salonika Jews (cf. p. 80). The centre of the Madeno- choria field is Izvor, in the neighbourhood of which iron pyrites and magnesite are worked, and also, though to a lesser extent, antimony, silver lead, and brown coal. In the Khassia districts the principal centres are Polygyros, Ormilia, Yerakino, and Molivo- pyrgos. The chief minerals produced here are antimony, chrome, iron pyrites, magnesite, manganese, and silver lead. The Kassandra Company has also worked chrome, and, it is stated, iron pyrites and manganese in the district of Paliouri, near the end of the Kassandra peninsula. It is extremely difficult to obtain satisfactory in- formation as to the working of the mines of Macedonia. In the first. place, many concessions lead to nothing. Further, the output of the several minerals, especially chrome and manganese, varies greatly from year to year. This is due partly to the fluctuations of the European market and partly to the presence of a number of different minerals in certain small areas such as Allchar and Khalkidike, which makes it easy for exploiting companies to transfer their attention from a mineral which has ceased to be readily accessible to another which can be obtained at less expense. In consequence, statements as to what minerals are being worked in a particular area often hold good for only a few months.74 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [xo.21 | Certain statistics are available respecting the export of minerals from Salonika. These are given below, but it must be remembered that part of the total output is consumed locally or exported by rail. Chrome i Year. Tons. Value. Destination. & 1907 4,900 1908 2,100 4,600 1909 895 2} France, Italy, Austria. 1910 380 800 1911 175 France, Austria. 1913 80. Tealy. Tron Pyrites Year. Tons. Value. Destination. £ 1908 54,500 Germany, France. 1909 120,789 41,600 a $9 1910 96,000 Various. 1911 106,500 68,000 a) 1913 130,000 80,000 yermany, France, Austria, Italy, Russia. The output of the Izvor mines is shipped direct from the adjacent port of Stratoniki, but as the papers relating to the shipments go through Salonika, the figures are included in those for the latter port. Magnesite Year. Tons. Value. Destination. 5 1908 24,000 Holland, Italy. 1909 18,400 Austria, Germany. 1910 22,800 France. 1911 8,000 22,000 calcined, 1,500 raw 9,200 25,800 Holland, Austria, Germany. calcined, 230 rawMacedonia] MINERALS; MANUFACTURES Manganese Year. Tons. Value. Destination S 1908 12,160 1909 4,500 France. 1910 12,320 1911 No export 1913 300 Italy. (inferior quality) (c) Methods of Extraction Modern machinery has been installed both at Allchar and at the mines of the Kassandra Company. The plant of the latter is worked by foreign engineers. At Stratoniki there are dynamos driven by steam-engines of 500 horse power; the power is used for working plant which dresses ore from the Izvor mines and for haulage on the railway connecting the mines and the port. It may be mentioned here that under the Greek mining laws, gold, silver, salt, and emery mines belong to the State, and on other mines a royalty of 1 drachma per hectare and 6 per cent. of the value of the produce is imposed. Five per cent. of the annual net profit must be paid to the owner of the land on which the mines are situated. (5) MANUFACTURES Tt must be borne in mind that the ‘ factories’ referred to below are in many cases very small concerns, which would hardly be dignified by the name in western Europe. Flour.—The chief flour-milling centre is Karaferia, which has 26 mills. Salonika and Skoplye also have steam flour-mills. Beer.—Salonika has two breweries, one old-estab- lished, the other new. In 1913 the first produced76 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [20.22 upwards of 50,000 hectolitres, the second about 10,000. They supply a wide district. Wines and Spirit These are made in many parts. Kavalla has spirit-stills; Karaferia has 11 wine and brandy factories; Niaousta, Vodena, Kavadar (Tik- vesh), and Skoplye make wine, and Salonika and Skoplye make raki, a native spirit. Textiles.—The textile industry in Macedonia is but little developed. For the manufacture of cotton goods, raw cotton from Asia Minor is preferred to the home- grown product, and in 1910 about 2,000 tons of raw cotton were imported. There is no good reason, however, why cotton suitable for manufacture should not be widely grown in the country (see p. 61), and the abundance of water-power would facilitate a rapid expansion of the industry. Before the war there were 11 cotton mills. Of one, at Drama, no particulars can be given, but the following figures throw some light on the character of the rest: No. Employees. hp. Output in tons. Salonika d 380 900 1,518 Vodena . pe 8 280 900 870 Niaousta ate 310 750 803 Karaferia aes 200 420 446 The Vodena mills have 16,000 and 8,000 spindles respectively. It is worthy of note that all the cotton factories together do not employ as many men as are engaged in picking tobacco leaf at Kavalla. Woollen goods are made of the better quality native wools. There are modern mills at Salonika and Niaousta. Cloth, much of it rough, is made at Karaferia, Giimenje, and Seres, and there appears to be some woollen manu- facture at Vodena and Veles, but details of this are not available. Goat’s hair goods are made at Veles. Silk goods are manufactured only at Veles andMacedonia | MANUFACTURES; POWER at Gevgeli, where before the European War there was ® prosperous silk-winding mill with modern plant. Leather.—Tanning is an important industry in Mace- donia. In Salonika there are 2 large and 15 small tanneries, which probably treat about 75,000 skins annually ; 80 per cent. of these are imported, as well as the extracts for treating them. The products are only sold locally. Kozani has 24 small tanneries, which treat about 60,000 skins a year; they specialize in calf from Moroceo, India, and Madagascar. Monastir, Vodena, Niaousta, Drama, and Skoplye also have tanneries, and Niaousta prepares extracts for tanning. Leather goods are made at Salonika, where a large number of men are employed in making saddlery, harness, boots, and shoes. Soap.—Soap-making is a rising industry in Mace- donia. Salonika has 8 or 10 soap factories, for which considerable quantities of material are imported. Kavalla has five soap factories, and Skoplye two. Hardware.—Two iron foundries exist at Salonika, and there is a horseshoe factory at Skoplye. The remaining industrial concerns are of little note. They include brick-kilns at Salonika and Karaferia, tea factories at Salonika and Karaferia, saw-mills at Kara- feria and Drama, several sesame oil factories at Drama and Karaferia, a rubber factory at Monas pottery works at Veles, and tallow-refineries at Krushevo. Charcoal-burning is carried on extensively at Niaousta, Gevgeli, and in the peninsula of Longos. The production of fine silver filigree work is an important domestic industry which thrives especially at Skoplye. (6) Power Before the European War electrici y was little used in Macedonia. At Salonika the Société Ottomane78 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [20.22 d@Hlectricité de Salonique et Smyrne had a generating station which supplied power for the local tramways and for electric lighting, which was becoming very popular in the town. Electric light was also introduced at Skoplye in 1912, and it was thought that the River Treska, some five miles from the town, might supply power for certain industrial undertakings that were then projected. There is no doubt that many of the tivers and streams of Macedonia might be used for generating electric power. (C) COMMERCE (1) Domustio (a) Principal Branches of Trade The domestic trade of Macedonia is simple. The peasant sells his surplus produce to the agents of Salonika merchants, and buys manufactured goods or imported food-stuffs such as coffee, rice, sugar, and flour. The small tradesmen who supply his wants get most of their stock-in-trade from Salonika. Though some of the goods at present imported might be grown in the country or manufactured by local industries using native products, most of them could not be cultivated or made in Macedonia. The country, how- ever, should be able to supply its own demand for flour, which is imported in large quantities (see p. 59). (6) Towns, Markets, and Fairs The disturbed condition of Macedonia in recent years has led to the abandonment of numerous markets and fairs that used to be regularly held. The principal fairs were those of Seres, Kozani, and Prilip ; the last is still of some importance, but of late the others have only been held at irregular intervals. The revival ofMacedonia | COMMERCE ; TOWNS 79 the fairs after the restoration of peace and order would provide an excellent way of bringing the agents of foreign firms into closer relations with native pro- ducers, The chief towns have already been mentioned in various connexions, and call for little further remark. Their trade is generally conegned with the products of the adjacent regions. A few, however, have wider commercial interests. Among these, apart from the ports, are Monastir and Skoplye, which are favoured by their position on several important routes. For a similar reason Kozani, in the south-west, although a small and mean town, is the centre of the trade of a wide district. The fair at Prilip also attracts traders from a considerable distance, some even coming from northern Albania. (c) Organizations to promote Trade and Commerce When Salonika was under Turkish rule, there was a local Chamber of Commerce, but after the Greek occupation of the town it was dissolved. Nothing appears to be known of any new commercial associa- tions that may have been formed during the short period of peace. Mention, however, should be made of two organizations established at Salonika since the beginning of the Macedonian campaign. These are the Bureau Commercial, founded by the French, and the Direction Economique Militaire Serbe. The former, under the superintendence of Intendant Bonnier, seeks to collect information for the benefit of the French merchant, to discover suitable openings for the invest- ment of French capital, and generally to further French economic interests. The object of the other organization is to safeguard the future of Serbian trade, and, in particular, to prevent any one Power from securing a dangerous predominance in Macedonian80 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [3x0 22, industry and commerce. The existence of these two bodies—at any rate in their present form—has only been rendered possible by the abnormal conditions that have prevailed since 1915, but their influence on the future of Macedonia is likely to be great and permanent. (d) Foreign Interests Most of the important industrial and commercial enterprises in Macedonia are controlled by a group of Salonika Jews, in which the families of Allatini and Misrachi play a conspicuous part, though the greatest influence is probably exerted by E, Salem, who is held in extraordinary and deserved respect by the Jewish community. While it is true that most of the members of the group enjoy the protection of some foreign Power, neither they nor their undertakings can be regarded as foreign; and in considering the economic prospects of Macedonia, it is necessary to bear in mind the power and activity of these native financiers and merchants. There are, however, several notable concerns in which foreign interests predominate. Conspicuous among these are the railways from Salonika to Monastir, Zibevche,and Constantinople. As was mentioned above, the first two are controlled by the Banque des Chemins de fer Orientaux, and may therefore be regarded as German enterprises. The bank also attempted to secure control of the Compagnie du Chemin de fer Jonction Salonique—Constantinople ; in this, however, it failed, and French interests remained predominant in the direction of the railway. Several important conces- sions for public works or services were also granted to companies whose capital was mostly foreign. The French Bartissol-Robert group founded the Société Ottomane de Construction et d’Exploitation du Port. de Salonique, and the Société Ottomane d’Electricité deMacedonia] COMMERCE; FOREIGN INTERESTS 81 Salonique et Smyrne. The latter company, however, has fallen into the grip of the Union Ottomane de Ziirich, a German syndicate interested in electrical undertakings, among whose directors are A. von Gwinner and Julius Frey. Another concern of public importance, the Compagnie Ottomane des Eaux de Salonique, appears to be chiefly under Belgian control. Among mercantile houses, the firm of Orosdi-Back, which has a thriving import business, is mainly French in character, though German capital is also invested in it. Turkish capital plays little part in Macedonia. In the middle of the nineteenth century a good deal of British money was invested in Macedonian mines, but the ill-success of the mining industry led to its with- drawal, and of late years there has been very little British capital in the country. It should be noted that the influence of France in the commercial life of Mace- donia, though often exaggerated, is greater than would be inferred from a list of the companies with French capital or from the statistics of exports and imports. For many years the only shipping companies with regular services to Salonika were French; and a large proportion of the foreign trade of the country has always been carried in French bottoms. Moreover, many of the leading Jews of Salonika have been educated in France, and are disposed to sympathize with French ambitions in the East. The extent and nature of foreign influence in future will depend largely on the character of the Balkan settlement at the end of the war. It is known that in 1914 the Austrians and Germans, particularly the former, had ambitious schemes on foot. An attempt by Austrian and German fish importers to organize the fish trade of Salonika had made some progress. It appears, too, from Austrian Consular Reports that an @82 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [xo a1 effort was being made to turn the political division of Macedonia to the advantage of Austria by detaching Skoplye from its commercial dependence on Salonika, with a view to securing new markets for Austrian goods. The military situation from 1915 to 1918 of course gave Austria a free hand to carry out this policy. (2) Forrien The following section contains a short review of the foreign trade of Macedonia in the years 1910 and 1911, when, notwithstanding the outbreak of war between Turkey and Italy, it was comparatively little affected. by domestic or international strife. References to 1909 and 1912 are occasionally made, but the figures for these years are not in general valuable for illustra- tion, as in the former Macedonia was still much disturbed by revolutionary excitement, while in the latter the Balkan War broke out and the country became the field of large military operations. The period of peace which followed the Treaty of Bucarest was too short to afford sa actory evidence regarding the effect of the partition of Macedonia on its trade. [t must of course be borne in mind that before 1912 the trade of Macedonia was carried on under conditions which no longer exist, and ia all probability will never be restored. For example, Macedonia then formed part of one sovereign state, the commerce of the country was subject to a single authority, and the same customs * tariff was in force on all its frontiers. Further, there was a very close commercial connexion between Mace- donia and Constantinople, and many goods from western Europe were sent to Salonika via the Ottoman capital—a system which will certainly be largely, if not altogether, abandoned. In view of such facts, it is evident that the nature of Macedonian trade before theMacedonia] FOREIGN COMMERCE; EXPORTS 83 Balkan Wars affords a very imperfect indication of its probable development after the conclusion of peace. The value of am account of the trade of Macedonia during the period in question is also impaired by the defects of the available statistics. For the most part, the figures quoted below are taken from British Consular Reports; but, while these are of great service, the Turkish Customs Returns for 1910-11, which were very carefully compiled, show that they stand in need of revision. The usefulness of the Turkish returns, on the other hand, is restricted by their omission of statis- ties of the important tobacco trade and of the con- siderable commerce between Macedonia and other parts of the Turkish Empire. On the whole, therefore, the British Consular Reports give a better impression of the character of Macedonian trade. But whatever statistics be taken, an account of the foreign trade of Macedonia inevitably resolves itself into an account of the foreign trade of Salonika and Kavalla. There is a certain amount of traffic across the land frontiers of Macedonia, but there seems to be no means of ascertaining its volume with any approach to exactness. Lists of the exports and imports of Skoplye and Monastir, which appear in Consular reports, British and other, invariably comprise many goods which pass through Salonika, and are also included in the returns for that town. An examination of figures from various sources leads to the conclusion that in 1910 well over 80 per cent. of the exports and about 90 per cent. of the imports of Macedonia passed through Salonika or Kavalla. (a) Exports Quantities and Values.—In 1910, so far as can be gathered from imperfect statistics, the goods exported from Macedonia as a whole were valued at about a284 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS [10.22 £3,700,000.5 Of this total, exports from Salonika accounted for about £1,500,000, those from Kavalla for about £1,700,000, and those from the rest of Macedonia for the balance of over £500,000. For 1911 the statistics are still less satisfactory, but as it appears that the export: of tobacco increased greatly, and that trade in other goods was on the whole rather better than in 1910, the total exports of the country were probably worth upwards of £4,500,000. Particulars regarding the chief branches of the export trade are given in the Appendix, Tables 1 and IT. As agriculture is the chief industry of the country, the quantities of the several commodities exported varied greatly from year to year according to the state of the . The exports of tobacco were of course by far the greatest; the value of the tobacco shipped from Salonika and Kavalla was in 1910 almost £2,000,000, in 1911, £2,800,000, and in 1912 over £3,000,000. Next in importance came silk-worm cocoons, opium, and skins, but in comparison with tobacco these were of small account, though the trade in each should be capable of great expansion. When there was a good harvest the following winter generally saw a con- siderable export of flour and grain, principally maize, barley, and oats. Among minerals, iron pyrites stood first, but, as was explained above (p. 73), the mineral output of the country was very variable. Countries of Destination scise figures as to the destinations of the exports cannot be given. It appears, however, that in 1911 Austria-Hungary took about half the tobacco, the United States rather more than a quarter, and Italy about a twelfth. The opium went to the United States, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Far East. Italy was by far the most considerable purchaser of silk-cocoons. The United States used to buy most of the goat-skins, but otherMacedonia | EXPORTS AND IMPORTS 85 skins went mainly to Germany and Austria-Hungary. Flour and bran were sent almost exclusively to Turkey. Germany was apparently the chief purchaser of Mace- donian grain, but a good deal also came to the United Kingdom. The destinations of the minerals exported were shown on p. 74. As a purchaser of Macedonian products Great Britain has hitherto cut a poor figure. The following table shows the values of the principal exports from Salonika to the United Kingdom in 1910 and 1911 : 1910 1911 E £ Grain. ‘ 30,720 39,000 Opium . é 142,900 80,000 Tobacco é 5 1,800 1,820 As the opium was nea all in transit for the United States, the shipments from Salonika to a British destination were quite insignificant. As regards Kavalla, out of a total of 12,000,000 kg. of tobacco shipped in 1911, only 475,000 kg. were destined for the United Kingdom. (b) Imports Quantities and Values.—In 1910, according to the British Consular Report, the imports of Salonika were valued at about £4,641,000, and those of Kavalla at about £499,000, a total of £5,140,000. The goods imported across the land frontiers of Macedonia were, at a rough computation, of the value of rather more than £500,000. In 1911 the figures for the two ports were respectively £4,663,000 and £463,000. The import trade of Salonika fell off considerably in 1912, if the Austrian Consular Report is justified in estimating its value at £3,600,000, but the decline would be amply explained by the Balkan War.