"Yes, but that has nothing to do," some people will say, "with Rieka's
economical position. We admit that Croatia has the historical right to
the town, but we wish to be satisfied that the Croats are not moved by
reasons that would cause Rieka's ruin. It may be nowadays, owing to the
unholy alliance between Magyars and Italians, that the town, with
respect to its trade, is more in the Italian sphere than in that of
Yugoslavia." The answer to this is that Italy's share of the value of
the imports into Rieka in 1911 was 7.5 per cent. of the total, while her
share of the value of the exports amounted to 13 per cent., which proves
that Italy depends commercially more on Rieka's hinterland than does
that hinterland upon Italy. It seems to be of less significance that the
millionaires of Rieka are mostly Croats, for they might conceivably have
enriched themselves by trade with Italy. But of the nine banks, previous
to the War the Italianists were in exclusive possession of none, while
the Croats had four; of the eight shipping companies three were Croat,
three were Magyar, one British, one German--not one Italian. It is true
that some Italian writers lay it down that Rieka's progress should be
co-ordinated with that of Venice, to say nothing of Triest, and should
not be exploited by other States to the injury of the Italian Adriatic
ports. Their point of view is not at all obscure. And all disguise is
thrown to the winds in a book which has had a great success among the
Italian imperialists: _L'Adriatico et il Mediterraneo_, by Mario Alberti
(Milan, 1915--third edition). The author says that Italy, having annexed
Triest and Rieka, will be "assured for ever"; her "economic penetration"
of the Balkans "will no longer be threatened" by the projected
Galatz-Scutari (Danube-Adriatic) railway; Italian agriculture which, he
says, is already in peril, "will be rescued"; the Italian fisherman will
no longer have the ports of Triest and Rieka closed (for exportation to
Germany and Austria); the national wealth will be augmented by "several
milliards"; new fields will be open to Italian industry; her economic
(and military) domination over the Adriatic will be absolute. There
will, he continues, be no more "disturbing" competition on the part of
any foreign mercantile marine; the Adriatic will be the sole property of
Italy, and so on. It would be worth while, as a study of expressions, to
photograph a few Rieka Italianists in the act of reading these rapturous
pages.... But lest it be imagined that I have searched for the most
feeble pro-Italian arguments in order to have no difficulty in knocking
them down, I will add that their strongest argument, taken as it is from
the official report of the French Consul in 1909, appears to be that the
commerce of Croatia amounted then to only 7 per cent. of the total trade
of the port of Rieka. I am told by those who ought to know that wood
alone, which comes almost exclusively from Croatia, Slavonia, etc.,
represents 16 per cent. If other products, such as flour, wine, etc.,
are considered, 50 per cent. of the total trade must be ascribed to
Croatia, Slavonia, etc. And that does not take into account the western
Banat and other Yugoslav territories. Serbia, too, would now take her
part, so that there is no need to fear for the position of a Yugoslav
Rieka based solely--omitting Hungary and the Ukraine altogether--on her
Yugoslav hinterland. Rieka without Yugoslavia would be ruined and would
degenerate into a fishing village, with a great past and a miserable
future. This could very well be seen during the spring of 1919 when the
communications were interrupted between Rieka and Yugoslavia. At Rieka
during April eggs were 80 centimes apiece, while at Bakar, a few miles
away, they cost 25 centimes; milk at Rieka was 6 crowns the litre and at
Bakar one crown; beef was 30 crowns a kilo and at Bakar 8 crowns. Italy
was calling Rieka her pearl--a pearl of great price; the Yugoslavs said
it was the lung of their country. It is within the knowledge of the
Italianists that the prosperity of Rieka would not be advanced by making
her the last of a chain of Italian ports, but rather by making her the
first port of Yugoslavia. What has Italy to offer in comparison with the
Slovenes and the Croats? The maritime outlet of the Save valley, as well
as of the plains of Hungary beyond it, is, as Sir Arthur Evans points
out, the port of Rieka. And, in view of the mountainous nature of the
country which lies for a great distance at the back of Split and of
Dubrovnik, it would seem that Rieka--and especially when the railway
line has been shortened--will be the natural port of Belgrade.