Hammond Times, Volume 8, Number 32, Hammond, Lake County, 13 September 1919 — Page 8

PAGE EIGHT

THE TIMES. September 13, 1919 the Industries, has l.t t abet a reversal of trade condi The dis covery of two new coal . .. .s, one ad jacent to the Netherlands border and the other in the souther prt ef'the kingdom, promises to relieve the secesslty for reliance upon imported coal in the near future. Along with the coal resources in the southern provinces are rich deposits of 411 Iron ore, but owing in part to legal restrictions governing the extraction of these deposits the production of ore li:t !-oen small for a long time. Never. i.s Belgium's fifty blast fornacea pro. .. .ed in 1912, chiefly from Luxem

vh n H ?3 r? rat! S Ear-' -' VSt : - ; i.V." . -..-Ml

TYPICAL "HEADQUARTERS OF A BtLClAN COMPANY IN THE CONGO

ONE OF MANY THAT ARE , DEVELOPING THIS COLONVS GREAT NATURAL RESOURCES

- By ALBERT BRETON, Vlco President Guaranty Trust Co. cf New York.

HE Belgians are undertaking their country's rehabilitation -with characteristic courage and hope.

In the beginning of Its great task Belgium's most urgent need Is for commercial and Industrial credits which ivill enable manufacturers promptly to restore and equip their devastated plants an purchase raw materials. It is to be expected that Government credit Tvill be utilized In the redevelopment of the country's business In addition to further borrowing to meet the extraordinary national expenses in the period of demobilization. Fortunately the financial condition of the Belgian Government is particularly favorable. The gross debt f Belgium Is 13,422.000,000 francs, equivalent to about $2,600,000,000, and consists of a pre-war debt of 4,957,000,000 francs and a war debt of 8,465,000,000 francs. Offsets to this debt are In part: Investments in railways, telegraphs and telephones approximately 3,000,000.000 francs, and deposits of Relchsbank notes 2,000,000.000 marks. In view of the relatively small national debt, Belgium is in a favorable

position in bidding 1.- credit abroad Moreover, the indemnities should ulti

U81

ENT&yOF BELXilAN KINO AHD QUTCN IKTO

Niti . p Mom ,xkVv.v. '.n- .s...,?:.i::..4 .

RUBBER GATHERERS ON A

CONGO RAILROAD -THIS INDUSTRY PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN BELGIUM S COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT.'

A VIEW ON THt'CONCO RlVtR,

3WOWINC ONE Of THE RICH PLANTATIONS OF BILGIUMSAFRICAN COLONY;

mately more than orfset the entire war debt Meanwhile, even though not immediately available in full, the indemnities, as enforcible claims against Germany, may be made to lend additional support to the credit of Belgium in its borrowings for Immediate needs. Besides, taxes have been light hitherto and for the mst part indirect, leaf

ing a wide ranjre of possible exTanirn

of the State revenues from taxation wiihout the imposition cf excessive rates. Belgium's record of superior financial and Industrial achievements In the past is her surest guarantee for the future. It Is the most densely populated country In the world. Having an area of 11,373 square mile? (somewhat larger thnn Vermont and a

BELGIUM IS RAPIDLY CONVERTING HER WAR INDUSTRlfS TO PEACE MANUFACTURING little smaller than Maryland), Belgium supported In well-diffused cocafort a population of more than 7.500,000 la 1914. An excess of Immigration over emigration in recent years Indicates that an average density of more than 6.V) Inhabitants per sqnare mile hmn

THE FAMOUS MOLE AT IEEBRUCCE, PARTILLV DESTROYED BY THE BRITISH IN THEIR DESTOUCTIve RAID AND SINCE BE3UILT BV JHEM-

not produced nndue pressure upon the

country's resources. The kingdom

stood e!(htn among the nations, ranked according t aggregate wealth, and sixth accordlag to total foreign trade and In commerce per capita wat aurpassed only by the Netherlands. Belgium's prosperity and its high rank among the Industrial nations before the war had an especially sound basis in the country's highly developed agriculture. About three-fifths of the total area was under cultivation. The

average value of the produce per acre

was approximately $100, a yield equaled by no other country. . Although Belgians sold considerable quantities of foodstuffs abroad, the country is not self-supporting as regards food. The imports of liquors and foodstuffs have regularly exceeded the total exports in 1912 by $132,000.000. Nevertheless a domestic production annually of $53 worth of foodgtuffs for every person In the kingdom contributed greatly to the strength and stability o the bases of Belgium's prosperity. Important as has been the unparalleled development of Belgium's agriculture, it is the manufacturing and related industries, diversified and Intensively developed, that have given the country so prominent a place among the commercial nations

An important key to a nation's in

dustrial progress and possibilities is

its coal suppsy. Hitherto Belgium's domestic coal has come from the southern fields, which, with a single

Interruption of about four miles, ex

tend across the kingdom. For some

years befere the war the output aver

aged about 23,000,000 tons, and until

1909 Belgium exported an excess of

coal. Since 1910, however, the Increased domestic consumption, due

primarily to the very rapid growth of

burg ores, 2,800,000 tons of pig Iron. In keeping with the development of the iron and steel Industry, there has been a significant expansion of various related lines of manufacturing, especially machine and engine werlu and the construction of railway eeiulpesent and automobiles. The sine, lead, chemical, glass and textile tadaatriea are among the other more laporUct a&tarprises. The total mileage et fa Be!g4a railways in 1912 waa f.Bt 2,828 miles of standard gauge roads and 2,471 miles of light, er-eter guage, roads. This was aa average of 4T.S miles ef line for each square mile of territory, the greatest railroad density as a whole in any country. The total foreign commerce, exttasive of transit trade, averaged for the four years immediately preceding the war more than $1,500,000,000, the average value of the exports being $702,000,000 and that of the Imports $SS,000.000. Of the imports, mere thaa one-half, as measured in value, jronsisted of raw materials or semi-manufactured goods, and of the exports approximately 40 per cent, was manufactured products. In the Belgian Corge there la an asset which will prove of Increasing importance in the future development

oof Belgium's industries. In area the

colony is eighty times as large as Belgium Itself. Although situated In equatorial Africa, Its climate Is on the whole much more salubrious than that of most tropical countries, because the greater part of the country is a comparatively high plateau. The population of the colony Is variously estimated at from 10,000.000 to 15,000,000. Since the annexation of the Congo by Belgium in 1903 industrial enterprise there has been concerned chiefiy with preparation for a comprehensive and well rounded development of the colony through the exploitation of Its resources agricultural, foreit andf mineral. In 1910 the Government began a comprehensive program of agricultural education and experimentation on which the Administration was to expend approximately $400,000 a year for a period of ten years. Five fully, equipped laboratories were provided and .various Government plantations were devoted to demonstration work, both In crop growing and In cattle raising. Particularly gratifying have been the successful experiments with cotton and rice growing, and the Colonial Minister recently expressed the belief that in a comparatively abort time the colony would be supplying the factories of Belgium with all their rawj cotton.

Oeaaeira

1 Limcleodeirf;

Rev

elation

CSESBXaSS

raiaey

'Defeat

SET.

in the great war, as disclosed in his forthcoming, book, will command world-wide interest. It will be published in the great newspapers , of Europe, beginning with the London Times. It will appear in the leading newspapers throughout America in Chicago exclusively in The Daily News. Such a vorld-wide simultaneous publication of a great historical work in the press of the world is unprecedented. Ludendorff gives the history of the war from the inside German point of view. Here we have the full story of Germany's titanic effort to dominate the world, of the inception of ruthless U-boat warfare, of the ups and downs of her mad struggle against an aroused world in arms, told by her greatest military authority. From the outset of the war. to Germany's final collapse the name of Ludendorff came more and more to the . front. He seemed to embody Germany's aggressiveness--her ruthless militarism. He was the incarnation of Prussia. More than

Tell your neighbor about the Ludendorff articles.

V any other he is pre-eminently qualified to tell the story of the war from the German point of view. The story is a revelation in German psychology, and an unconscious confirmation of the righteousness of Germany's defeat. Publication begins next Monday, and will continue in daily installments until completed. Place your order with your newsdealer to-day, so that he may have time to increase his usual supply of the paper. If you find it more convenient to receive the paper by mail, send a dollar bill, covering payment for a two-months subscription, addressing The Chicago Daily News, 15 North Wells Street, Chicago. Do you know The Chicago Daily News? The London Chronicle says: "The Chicago Daily News is by far the best evening newspaper in the world." It averages between 32 and 34 pages in size, anddias the largest circulation in Chicago of any newspaper it frequently sells over 400,000 papers a day.

( WITTER & FITZGERALD Place Your Order With Phone 401 567 Bulletin St. ( Hammond Indiana