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), the chief city of Croatia, Agram, in Slovenia, and Serajevo, the capital of Bosnia, have long been known as education centers, possessing a culture and educational facilities of which far larger cities would have reason to be proud.  But Belgrade, having been, as it were, on the frontier of European civilization, has been compelled to concentrate its energies and its resources on commerce and the national defense.  The attitude of the people of Agram toward the less sophisticated and cultured Serbs might be compared to that of an educated Bostonian toward an Arizona ranchman—­a worthy, industrious fellow, no doubt, but rather lacking in culture and refinement.  The truth of the matter is that the Croats and the Slovenes, though only too glad to escape the Allies’ wrath by claiming kinship with the Serbs and taking refuge under the banner of Jugoslavia, at heart consider themselves immeasurably superior to their southern kinsmen, whose political dictation, now that the storm has passed, they are beginning to resent.

The first impression which the Serb makes upon a stranger is rarely a favorable one.  As an American diplomat, who is a sincere friend of Serbia, remarked to me, “The Serb has neither manner nor manners.  The visitor always sees his worst side while his best side remains hidden.  He never puts his best foot forward.”

A certain sullen defiance of public opinion is, it has sometimes seemed to me, a characteristic of the Serb.  He gives one the impression of constantly carrying a chip on his shoulder and daring any one to knock it off.  He is always eager for an argument, but, like so many argumentative persons, it is almost impossible to convince him that he is in the wrong.  The slightest opposition often drives him into an almost childlike rage and if things go against him he is apt to charge his opponent with insincerity or prejudice.  He can see things only one way, his way and he resents criticism so violently that it is seldom wise to argue with him.