s such as iron-works, tanneries,
cloth factories, etc. The Yugoslavs did not borrow from abroad, as they
might have done, in the form of raw materials. The agricultural products
which were exported should have been sold for the needful manufacturers'
material and not for articles of luxury and not for depreciated foreign,
especially Austrian, currency.[53] The Yugoslav public is slow to learn
economy, that it should restrict the importation of luxuries. What makes
it particularly unhappy, in which frame of mind it listens to the voices
prophesying woe for Yugoslavia, is the knowledge that for increased
production and for many other necessary aims more capital is wanted,
whereas under present conditions it has been difficult to borrow. But
happily in this respect the corner has been turned, and in the spring of
1922 a considerable loan was negotiated with an American syndicate.

THE NADIR OF DEVINE AND NIKITA

However, the principal disintegrating force in Yugoslavia, we were often
told in England, was Montenegro, where, it seems, the natives were
yearning to cast off their yoke. The British devotees of the former king
told us of the ghastly state of Montenegro, and our Foreign Office was
bombarded with reports which ascribed these evils to the wretched
Government of Yugoslavia. "There is nothing anywhere," says a memorandum
from the ineffable Devine. "The shops are empty, the town markets are
deserted. The peasants, who may not travel from one village to another
without a Serbian 'permit' ... etc. etc." Well, I visited Cetinje market
on a non-market day, and passing through the crowd of people I admired
the produce of various parts of the country--melons, tomatoes, dried
fish, onions, peaches, nuts and cheese, lemons from Antivari and so
forth. I happened to ask a comely woman called Petrie[vc]evi['c] from
near Podgorica whether she had a permit; she looked surprised at such a
question. It is very true that the more mountainous parts of Montenegro
are far from prosperous, but to insinuate that this is the fault of the
Government is childish. Hampered by the lack of transport--practically
everything has to be brought on ox-carts up by the tremendous road from
Kotor--they have recently given away 38,000 kilos of wheat and many
mountain horses at Cetinje. I suppose it was all in the game for Devine
and his assistants to throw mud at the Yugoslav Government if they
believed that they would--for the happiness of the Monten