Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1919 — BELGIUM’S RAIL DAMAGE BILLION [ARTICLE]

BELGIUM’S RAIL DAMAGE BILLION

Commission Puts This Estimate on Destruction of Lines and Bridges. FOE DESTROYED 690 MILES Seventy Per Cent of Damage Wa* Done in 1918—French Coal Region Loss Fifteen Billions and Repairs to Take Ten Years. parts The Belgian commission which is Investigating the damage done by the Germans to railroads in occupied territory, while it has not yet finished its work, is in a position to give interesting figures relative to destruction caused by the Germans. The figures show that nearly 690 miles of railroad tracks were destroyed completely and nearly 260 miles virtually destroyed and rendered useless out of a total mileage of approximately 2,600 In Belgium. Done Mostly in 1918. These destructions mostly were in the Mons coal- valley, in the region of Tournal and around Ghent, Bruges, Jlstend and Courtral nnd 70 per cent of the destruction was carried out during the period from the start of the Belgian offensive on September 2S, 1918, and the signing of the armistice. The Germans appropriated 2,614 locomotives out of a total of 4,934, or about 57 per cent; 9,062 passenger cars out of a total of 10,812, or 93 per cent, and 80,568 freight cars out of a total of 94,737, or 86 per cent. Ihe block signal system in Belgium was destroyed nnd replaced by a German system, with which the Belgian K.co"TfiolTve "engineers are not acquainted It will have to be removed and the Belgian system again installed- The commission is not able to make public yet the numbej of bridges or tions destroyed. All the bridges leading in and out of Ostend and Bruges have been destroyed and virtually all In West Flanders, as well as those over the Meuse at'Liege, Namur. Huy, Dinant and Anseremme'. Eight bridges oyer the Ghent-Terneuzeu canal were blown up. Two of these bridges at Balzaete, near the Dutch frontier, weighed 3.000,000 pounds each. It is estimated by the commission that than 109,000,000 pounds of steel will be required to rebuiW the bridges in Flanders alone. ’ ■ * The commission estimates the damage to railroad material, tracks, bridges and other equipment at than $1000,000,000. France is faced with a most formid-

able task in reconstructing the important coal and industrial districts of the department of the Nord and the Pas de Calais, and it will cost 75,000,000,000 francs ($15,000,000,000), according to a statement made to the French senate by Louis Loucheur, minister of Industrial reconstruction. The Germans completely destroyed 101 coal pits, and Mr. Loucheur said he hoped that if the French had luck and worked very hard they might be able to produce 34,000 tons dally by the end of 1919,' Instead of 75,000 tons, the output before the war. The repair of the mines will cost more than 2,000.000.000 francs ($400,000,000) and cannot be accomplished in less than ten years. * The factories In the district have no raw material and the machinery has been destroyed or carried away. Mr. Loucheur said it would take several years and 40,000 freight cars ,to bring baeji the machinery taken to Germany.