2. Even the method of gradual colonization was not properly applied. Worse still, in a problem of such importance, there was no definite plan of such importance, there was no definite state plan which every government and regime would have to adhere to and implement. Work was intermittent, in first and starts, each new minister undid what his predecessors had done, while himself created nothing solid. The laws and regulations were amended, but even weak as they were, were not implemented. Some people, deputies especially from other regions, when they could not manage to secure the mandate in their own regions, would go to the south and butter-up non-national elements to gain the mandate, thus sacrificing the major national and state interests. The colonization apparatus was extremely costly and inflated loaded with people were not only incompetent but also frequently without scruple, so that their work truly constitutes a separate problem. Finally one need only total up the huge sums this state has invested in colonization and divide them by the number of families settled, to prove how costly every new household established since the war has been, regardless of whether or not this expenditure was met by the settlers themselves or by the state. Likewise, it would be interesting to compare the amounts paid out by personal expenditure and those for the materials used for our colonization. Serbia went about this question quiet differently in the past. Karageorge during his first uprising, as well as Milos, Mihajlo and Jovan Ristic had no special ministry of land reform, general land inspectors, or costly apparatus, and stil purged Serbia of the foreign elements, populating it with its own people, who felled the endless forests of Sumadia, which was transformed from its rough state into the fertile Sumadia of today.
3. Even those few thousand families that were settled after the war did not establish themselves where they were placed, There was more success in Kosovo, especially in the Lab Valley, where the Toplicans penetratedof their own accord, from north to south. Our oldest and most stable settlements, with elements from our different regions, were established there. In Drenica and Metohija we had no success. Colonization should never be done with Montenegrins alone. We do not think that they are unsuitable as colonists, because of their pastoral indolence. This applies only to the first generation. The second generation is quite different, more active and practical. Petrovo village in Miroc, above the Danube, the most advanced village of Kraijina is inhabited exclusively by Montenegrins. In Serbia today there are thousands of advanced economies, especially in Toplica and Kosanica which have been established by Montenegrins of the first generation, who have mixed with more advanced elements. This is especially valid for the old costumes managed to survive. A visit to the coffee-houses of Pec is sufficient to convince one of this. This is why our colonization has had so little success all over Metohija. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that these colonies have been poorly situated on unfertile scrub-covered land, and almost totally lacking in the most essential agricultural implements. But these should have been given more assistance than the others, because they are made up of the poorest Montenegrin elements.
