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For general security and prosperity it was necessary to settle
the question of the land. Under the Turks the peasants had been
tenants paying a large portion of the fruits of their labor to
Turkish or Albanian landlords. The government determined to
introduce the Serbian system of peasant proprietorship and to
facilitate the division of the large estates into small farms.
As Macedonia was very thinly populated there was much
available land which was not under cultivation. In Turkish
times it had not been worth while to Slough it. By opening a
prospect of agricultural property in the new territories the
government attracted immigrants who would otherwise have
flocked to America. But the rights of the original inhabitants
were carefully guarded. To them in the first instance was
accorded the right to take up land; after them to Serbs of
Serbia, and thirdly to Serbs or Slavs from other countries. No
estate of less than five hectares was granted, and two further
hectares were added for every male member of the family over
sixteen years of age. Immigrants could have themselves, their
animals and their implements, transported free of charge. For
the first three years they were also to be free of all taxes,
except an education rate. They could not alienate their
property for the first fifteen years; after which period they
were to enter into full ownership. By these means Serbia
offered a home to many of her children who would otherwise
have been absorbed in foreign lands, and set herself towards
the reconciliation of her pro-Bulgarian subjects.
Lastly, there was the question of communication. Serbia had
had the beginnings of an adequate railway system before 1912,
but the new territories were very poorly provided. Besides the
central Vardar railway from Skoplje to Salonika,
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there were
only the branch line to Mitrovitza and the Monastir line which
leaves Serbian soil after a distance of twelve miles. A whole
network of new railways was now planned, radiating in every
direction, to assist the development of every corner whose
fertility promised adequate results. The cost was estimated at
300,000,000 francs, while five more millions were devoted to
an object with which any traveller in the Balkans will
sympathize; I mean the construction of roads in Serbian
Macedonia.
Despite the heavy financial burdens with which Serbia was
loading herself, we can readily understand the general feeling
of well-being, made up of martial triumph and economic
enterprise, with which the Serbs now set themselves to the
various tasks that were to make their country prosperous and
strong. But over their heads hung the menace of new troubles.
All who knew South-Eastern Europe were very dubious about
the stability of the Treaty of Bucharest. Austria-Hungary had
twice seen her Balkan plans upset by the unexpected chance of
war. She was determined that Serbia should not for ever stand
between her and the Aegean Sea. And behind her was the far
more sinister and powerful figure of the German Empire.
To understand the relation of Serbia to German policy we must
stop a moment and consider the map of the world. Germany,
disunited till 1871 and absorbed in European affairs till 1882,
had entered very late into the competition of the Powers for
colonies. But for the last thirty years she had grown
continuously more eager for the addition to her Empire of new
countries. She was determined to be a world-power, with a
decisive voice in international questions and the control of
remote continents. Her writers made no secret of the national
ambition. An admirable and everincreasing
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