The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

centuries, although Roman Catholics, they never suffered the Mass to be read in Latin, but insisted on having it read in the old Slav language, the so-called Glagolitza. And the Popes, meeting the wishes of the inhabitants by special bulls, authorised the use of the Glagolitza in the Roman Catholic parishes on the islands of the Dalmatian Archipelago. Those islands have contributed many popular names among the SerboCroatian writers, and played a prominent part in the national reawakening. The Italian occupation, besides hurting the national feeling of the inhabitants, would produce disagreeable economic changes for them. They are sailors and olive and vine growers, and their agriculture would be quickly ruined by the competition with the cheap products of Italy. What the economic conditions in Dalmatia are can be seen clearly from the following consular report.

** Dalmatia is a narrow strip of rocky, treeless, mountainous country. For the last fifty years the emigration from Dalmatia has been very considerable, and some country districts have lost a large portion of their population. It was estimated that over 6000 persons left the province annually previous to the last crisis in the United States, and although there was some falling off in the numbers after the event, it is probable that the present annual number of emigrants does not fall short of that total.

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