Bulgasia is in an equally bad position in re gard to transportation facilities. The natural outlets for its overseas conunerce are the ports of Salonica apd C,onstantinople, neither of which lies whim its borders. A trunk railway to Varna on the Black Sea affords considerable relief but the fact of its being located in the extreme eaatern end of the oountry and on the Black instead of the lEgean Sea makes it in convenient and expensive to use.
Salonic.a is the port of export for the new Greek territories acquired as a result of the Ballcan Wars. It is not the logical port for most of the trade of Old Greece, in fact, it is only since 1914 that it has had rail connection with Athens. There is a railway line from Salonica to Monastir through Ostrovo and it has been proposed to run a branch line from the last-named city to Avlona via Argyrokastro and Kastoria.
Railroad and road building have progressed further in Rumaaia than in the other Balkan states (if we may classify Rumania as a Balkan state), and does not present the same difficulties. During the war, the great bridge near Tcher navoda, the only one on the lower Danube, was partially destroyed and for many winter months most of the country was cut off from the one port, Constanze (Kustendje), which is open the year round. During the war Rumanian arid Serbian territory being the scene ot actual cam paigns, a large proportion of the bridges were destroyed. These were repaired temporarily but the transportation for a long time was greatly handicapped; floods and storms often carried down the temporary wooden structures and tied up traffic for days at a time. Further more, about three-fourths of the rolling stock was either destroyed, worn out or carried away. The coming of peace did not secure the replace ment of this stock from Gertnany and Austria Hungary.
Cotnmerce Problem.— So much for the transportation problem; it now behooves us to inquire with whom are the Balkan countries to trade? These states cannot be expected to trade much with each other, since they produce for the most part similar commodities and their requirements are also somewhat shnilar. For the same reason there is no prospect of their developing a large volume of trade with Russia. Before the World War Germany and Austria Huruicary furnished the bulk of the imports, especially the manufactured goods, but they took no such proportionate part of the exports. Balkan merchants had become accustomed to the flexibility of the German credit system through their having transacted busioess with German wholesalers for generations. Conse
quently at the end of the war they were unpre pared to buy for cash in Allied countries, and at the same time mutant the burdens cif an un favorable exchange rate, shipping costs, risks and delays incident to comtnerce in countries prostrated by years of war. The Germans are beginning nt recapture this business. Their oppoetunity was rendered an the more easy because of the stiff and antiquated. credit systems and foreign trade methods of the principal Allied countries and also because of the existing trade routes and a network of rail roads to central Europe over which trade merely had to be resumed. In 1919 whatever part of the Balkan trade was gcing to the Allies through the port of Fiume was suddenly with drawn and thrown open to central Europe over the old trade routes, when Italian sokiiers occupied Fitune.
We tnight characterize as qncluetrial para sitism) the condition which already existed in the Balkans and was merely aggravated and brought into sharp relief by the war. The. pop 'dation had been rapidly increasing and life, ex ternally at least, assinned a certain modernity tbrough the use and on the basis of imported goods. Whole cities look in searly all tospecta like those of western Europe—similar public buildings, hotels, streets, electric cars, lights, etc. This is of an ephemeral character because it is not a natural growth and these countries are unabk to produce the goods on which it is based. Stop foreign trade for a convider abje period and the raiheay cars and locomo tives wear out and get out of repair. Not only is replacement, even of parts, impossible but the mechanics themselves who do the woke in normal times are very largely foreigners and their shop tools entirely so. The few shipyards get their engines and other machined parts from abroad. Dock machinery, cranes, all sorts of steel bridge materials, even railroad iron, must be iinportedt and these are only Mustrative items out of myriads. This industrial depend ency upon foreign !rations causes the ruling classes in the Balkans to entertain peretmial fears for the national exietence and predisposes toward diplomatic intrigue and militarism. =over, because of their lack of any consid erable industrial development, these states also hick the steadying and democratizing influence of a large, intelligent middle class.