Politika
- Bulgarian Disarmament
- Forgotten Cetinje
- What Are People Saying?
Politika's page of 8 October 1926 carried an editorial on Bulgarian disarmament that weighed what Romania's new seat on the League of Nations Council meant for Belgrade. Its author argued that the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes would thereby lose its place on the Council's Investigating Commission, set up two years earlier to carry on supervising Bulgaria's disarmament under the Treaty of Neuilly once inter-Allied control ended. A descriptive piece portrayed Cetinje, which the writer called the 'second Serbian capital', as a small, unidyllic town whose first point of interest was its very lack of obvious sights. A short gossip item signed 'Ibis' worked out that a construction-section chief's 15,000-dinar advance implied total moving expenses of 22,500 dinars.
This edition covers three passages from the page. The editorial on Bulgarian disarmament starts mid-sentence and breaks off at the reference to the Treaty of Neuilly. The Cetinje piece is a short, low-confidence fragment with gaps at both ends. The right edge of the page is cropped, so some column endings are lost. The editorial's signature and the caption of the cartoon about the conventions awaiting ratification are only partly legible and are not translated.
Translation
Bulgarian Disarmament
[?] from now on also before the doors of the statesmen and experts of Romania. The price, not always merely a moral one, that they have so far paid for the intervention of Czechoslovakia, they will from now on pay for the intervention of Romania as well. In Romania's case, however, entry into the Council of the League of Nations also has other consequences, whose full reach for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes can hardly be assessed as yet. It can, however, be surmised. With Romania's entry into the Council, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes loses its membership in the Investigating Commission that the Council organized two years ago with the task of continuing, once inter-Allied control is abolished, the control over Bulgarian disarmament provided for by the Neuil-
Forgotten Cetinje
[?] beside it. The unidyllic second Serbian capital barely reaches the size of some district towns of prewar Serbia, or of somewhat larger villages of the European West. Cetinje has none of those points of interest that would be noticed at once, from the very first moment. And its first, though not its greatest, point of interest lies precisely in that. But if the boundaries of human affairs [?]
What Are People Saying?
What are people saying? A head of a construction section took 15,000 dinars as an advance on moving expenses. When one knows that an advance is given for two-thirds of the entire bill for moving expenses, it means that the moving expenses of this senior state official amount to 22,500 dinars. Ibis.
Context
Why Romania's Council seat mattered in 1926
The League of Nations reshaped its Council in 1926, and the editorial's worry comes out of that change. The Assembly, which elected the Council's non-permanent members, raised their number to nine that year, and an Assembly resolution of 8 September 1926 made Germany a permanent member. The editorial assumed that a Council seat carried a place on the Investigating Commission for Bulgaria, so that Romania's arrival would push the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes off that body. That link between a Council seat and the commission is the paper's own account. Without naming who was meant, the writer also said that a price, 'not always merely a moral one', already paid for Czechoslovakia's intervention would now be paid for Romania's as well.
Inter-Allied control of Bulgaria and its end
After the First World War the peace treaties with the defeated Central Powers, Bulgaria among them, put the enforcement of their demilitarisation in the hands of a Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. When Politika printed this editorial in October 1926, that inter-Allied body was still at work in Bulgaria, and the editorial describes the League's Investigating Commission as the body meant to carry on the control once inter-Allied control was abolished. The inter-Allied body's work ended the following year. The commission of control stopped functioning in Germany on 28 February 1927, in Hungary on 31 March and in Bulgaria on 1 June 1927. By the editorial's account, that was when the League's Investigating Commission was to take over, without Belgrade among its members.
A Yugoslav at the head of the League Assembly
Momčilo Ninčić, a politician of the People's Radical Party who had held several ministerial posts since 1912, was president of the League of Nations Assembly in 1926–27. The Assembly was the body that elected the Council's non-permanent members, so the reshuffle the editorial regretted took place during the period when a statesman of the same kingdom was presiding in Geneva. The excerpt does not mention Ninčić. Its complaint that Belgrade was losing a seat on the Bulgarian commission was written while Yugoslav diplomacy held one of the most prominent offices in the League.
Original
Бугарско разоружање
[?] од сад још и пред вратима државника и експерата Румуније. Цену, не увек само моралну, коју су до сад пла ћали за интервенцију Чехословачке, плаћаће од сад и за интервенцију Румуније. У случају Румуније пак улазак у Савет Лиге Народа има и друге последице чији се домашај по Краљевину Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца тешко даје у потпуној мери још сад оценити. Даје се пак наслутити. Уласком Румуније у Савет, Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца губи чланство у Истражној Комисији коју је Савет организовао пре две године са задатком да по укидању међусавезничке контроле продужи контролу над бугарским разоружањем, предвиђену Неј -
Заборављено Цетиње
[?] род њега. Неидилна друга српска престоница једва да достиже величину појединих окружних вароши предратне Србије или нешто већих села Европског Запада. Тих интересантности које би се одмах, од првог тренутка, запазиле, Цетиње нема. И његова прва, не и највећа занимљивост и јесте баш у томе. Али, ако границе људских посло - [?]
Шта се говори?
Шта се говори? Један шеф грађевинске секције узео је 15. 000 динара аконто селидбених трошкова. Кад се зна да се аконтација даје за две трећине од целокупног рачуна селидбених трошкова, онда значи да селидбени трошкови овога вишег државног чиновника износе 22. 500 динара. Ибис.