Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 234, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1912 — GREECE TO BUILD RAILROADS [ARTICLE]

GREECE TO BUILD RAILROADS

Country Has Awakened to the Needs of Modern Methode of Interior Communication.

The kingdom of Greece has an area of about 25,000 square miles, a population of 2,700,000, and is bordered by the sea on all sides except along its northern frontier. Its coasts are so indented by deep gulfs that some 40 years ago Mr. Manitakls, the minister of public works, said that Greece was so well provided with natural waterways that she had no need of any others.

As a matter of fact, railway development in Greece has been exceedingly slow. Except for the plain of Thessaly, the country is rolling and mountainous. The arable land is scarcely 18 per cent, of the total/ Greece does not raise enough wheat to meet their consumption. The other products are raisins (near Corinth,) olives and qil, tobacco and wine. There is a little grazing for sheep and goats. The mines produce lead and zinc. Finally, near Athens, there are some important marble quarries. The ■principal industries are silk weaving in Thessaly, tanneries and boat building. While the methods of land communication are not well developed, the commercial marine has a registration of 350,000 tons, and is of some importance. The exports from Greece amount to about 150,000,000 a year, nearly all to European countries (32 per cent, to England). With the exception of Trikala and Larissa, nearly all of the cities of Greece are situated either on the coast or near it. It has only been within the last years that the improvement in the financial situation of Greece has made it possible for her to take up the fnatter of inland communication and engage actively in railway construction. The railways in operation comprise about 950 miles.—Railway Age Gazette.