EUROPE-WHITHER BOUND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 89, 15 April 1922, Page 17

EUROPE-WHITHER BOUND.

A NOTABLE PILGRIMAGE. CONSTANTINOPLE UNDER BRITISH CONTROL. RUSSIAN ARISTOCRATS AS WAITREiSSES. The Treaty of Versailles created a new map of Europe, and the character and delimitations of the various countries which have been launched on a precarious national existence are very hazily apprehended by the average man. Mr. Stephen Graham's book, "Europe— Whither Bound?" supplies a good deal of information on this subject, and it also shews the enormous difficulties that beset the people upon whom the duties of self-government have been suddenly thrust.

Mx. Graham, m 1921, went on a rapid tour from capital to capital in order to obtain "an idea of Europe as a whole," "for no part can thrive nowadays independently of all the rest." Starting at Athens, he went on to Constantinople, to Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Monte Carlo, London, and ended his pilgrimage at Paris. In his own vivid fashion he relates what he saw and heard in each of these places; what he could see for himself of the influences for good and evil—mostly for evil—the war has had on these cities, and what he could gather in general talk with leading politicians and the man in the street of the attitude of their peoples toward the catastrophe of the near past, the changed conditions tbat have come upon them, and the doubtful future that lies ahead.

From these wide and varied experiences he builds up a detailed impressive picture of Europe as it Is to-day—less of a unity than when, of old, it was an "armed camp"; new entanglements, "multiplying upon us faster than we can clear the old ones away." He shows clearly the disasters which threaten from the new-ly freed nations; from France's determination that Germany shall not rise again; from the chaos in Russia; from the distrust, fear, jealousy, greed, hatred, and confusion of passions the war has left in its wake, but shows also how by a sane realisation of the truth these may 'be allayed and the universal peril averted. ATHENS AND THE GREEKS. Athens is described as "a most picasent city, with acacia avenues and white houses and full-bosomed abundant orange trees hanging their golden fruits. Thus happily bowered, merchants and bankers pursue their avocations, and shopkeepers display their wares in a pleasant array of modern shops. On the streets walk an indolent and elegant people; the dark women are especially chic, and, it must be said, refined and restrained, and not so seductive as the South would suggest. . . . You do not hear a good word said for the Greek by any race in Europe. Despite all this, however, the Greeks are a slowly but steadily rising and prospering people. The Greeks are by far the cleverest people in the Balkans, and are perhaps the cleverest of tbe Mediterranean nations as well." One of Sir. Graham's first experiences in Athens was to have a Russian note worth ten thousand roubles given him for a value equivalent to sixpence.

RUSSIAN REFUGEES IN 7 t'ONiSTAXTdNORLE.

"Constantinople lias five times as many people as it can house, a city now of appalling unhappiness and of concomitant luxury and waste." There arc a hundred thousand Russians there, the best blood of Russia, and the most charming and delightful people in Kurope iv themselves, though now almost destitute of means. The waitresses at most of the Russian restaurants are often women of society, and some of them very beautiful in the simplicity oi uniform. "There is a fascinating added pleasure in being waited upon by such, gracious women, but the heart aches for the fate of some of them. . . The saddest shops are those where 'valuables' are exposed, the miscellaneous collections of the things Russians have sold or wish to sell. The refugees must sell all they have, and some have sold all. I met the wife of a Colonel of Life Guards—once she never stepped out of her house but in a car. Now in weatherbeaten, thin old boots, she must tramp from place to place over the cobbles, lives in one room with her family, washes the clothes herself, scrubs the floor, has no money. Hundreds of cases have been discovered in which the women are confined to their rooms, having sold all their wearing apparel, and having nothing in which to appear on the streets. ... A beautiful young countess is employed in a bakery to sell bread, and is lucky. An erstwhile lion and ex-general has a job in a laundry. Pride intervenes only to stop them begging. How few are the beggars! But you see the nicest of girls with pinched, white faces, trying to sell ioukoum."

Mr. Graham paints a ghastly picture of the underworld of the. Levant into which some of these unfortunates, driven to desperation, finally sink. "In the cabarets and night-halls of low amusement there is nude dancing and drink, lascivious Greeks, drunken American sailors capable of enormities of behaviour, British Tommies with the rolling eye, 'seeing the world and being paid for it.' A part of old Russia has come to Constantinople—to die."

In charge of this imbroglio is a. British General. Tlie city is under Allied control, and is patrolled by the troops o_ four nations, but the British is the main authority. SOME BALKAN PROBLEM*.. Mr.. Graham, in giving his personal experiences at Sofia and Belgrade, outlines the difficulties -which confront the development of Jugo-Slavia, which combines under one government people of different race, religion and culture. The Croats are Roman Catholics and the Serbs Orthodox Greek Church. What is lacking in the new State is goodwill and the spirit of co-operation. It is menaced by Hungary on the north and by Bulgaria and Greece towards the south.

Budapest is described as having a prosperous appearance, and the Hungarian people have sterling qualities which make for the recuperation of the new State. The exchange is very low—five crowns to a penny. An ordinary dinner, with a glass of beer, costs a hundred crowns. But exchange is still lower in Austria, where the pound sterling represents a value of 2800 crowns; in Poland 4000 marks go to the pound. The depreciation in Austria has been largely produced by the unlimited employment of the printing press in the production of paper money. Ten thousand crown notes are not uncommon among the working classes. The working population is better off than the middle classes. the Government halves the value

of the crown over-night by printing double the number in circulation, it robs first of all the educated class and pcn J sioners.

The records of Mr. Graham's visits to Warsaw and to Munich and Berlin are specially interesting. They sketch the social and industrial conditions of Poland and Germany, and describe the feelings of the people towards Prance and England. His book is realistic and anecdotal, and contains many thoughtful reflections upon the problems which will occupy the attention of the International Conference at Ge»_a.

The publishers are Thornton, Butterworth, Ltd., 15, Bedford Street, London. Our copy from Dymock's Book Arcade, Sydney.