s composing the new state
of Jugoslavia will stick together. If there could be effected a
confederation, modeled on that of Switzerland or the United States, in
which the component states would have equal representation, with the
executive power vested in a Federal Council, as in Switzerland, then I
believe that Jugoslavia would develop into a stable and prosperous
nation. But I very much doubt if the Croats, the Slovenes, the Bosnians
and the Montenegrins will willingly consent to a permanent arrangement
whereby the new nation is placed under a Serbian dynasty, no matter how
complete are the safeguards afforded by the constitution or how
conscientious and fair-minded the sovereign himself may be. No one
questions the ability or the honesty of purpose of Prince Alexander, but
the non-Serb elements feel, and not wholly without justification, that a
Serbian prince on the throne means Serbian politicians in places of
authority, thereby giving Serbia a disproportionate share of authority
in the government of Jugoslavia, as Prussia had in the government of the
German Empire.

Already there have been manifestations of friction between the Serbs and
the Croats and between the Serbs and the Slovenes, to say nothing of the
open hostility which exists between the Serbs and certain Montenegrin
factions, to which I have alluded in a preceding chapter. It should be
remembered that the Croats and Slovenes, though members of the great
family of Southern Slavs, have by no means as much in common with their
Serb kinsmen as is generally believed. Croatia and Slovenia have both
educated and wealthy classes. Serbia, on the contrary, has a very small
educated class and practically no wealthy class, it being said that
there is not a millionaire in the country. Slovenia and Croatia each
have their aristocracies, with titles and estates and traditions;
Serbia's population is wholly composed of peasants, or of business and
professional men who come from peasant stock. As a result of the large
sums which were spent on public instruction in Croatia and Slovenia
under Austrian rule, only a comparatively small proportion of the
population is illiterate. But in Serbia public education is still in a
regrettably backward state, the latest figures available showing that
less than seventeen per cent. of the population can read and write, a
condition which, I doubt not, will rapidly improve with the
reestablishment of peace. Laibach (now known as Lubiana