The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1903-01-18

stations is excellent. There are plenty
Of porters, dressed in blue Jeans and
black cloth caps with numbers on them,
who take your baggage weigh your
trunks and carry your small truck into
the trains for 10 cents, or even less, per
person. / have BEEN riding second class
and / find 1t comfortable. The cars are
divided up into compartments. with seats
facing each other. 30 that each compare
ment win accommodates six. The seats are
cushioned with felt or leather. and their
backs are upholstered to high above your
heads. The fares are remarkably low.
Postoface and the Savings Bank.
The Belgian Postof1cs Department man
ages also the telephones and tslsgraphs,
as wen as the savings banks. The tele-
graph rates are much lower than ours.
and the service Ii quite as good. You
can send fifteen words for 10 cents. nifty
words for "a cents, paying only cents
for every ten words thereafter. There
are now about 1000 miles OF Lines in the
country, with enough wire to reach around
the world. There are $1,000 miles OF tele-
phone wire and 1900 stations. The con-
versations last year were almost 4oOoO,-
900.
The national savings banks are patron
lied by all classes. The books number
more than o million and . nalfs ana the
deposits approximate sl2o.000ooo. In addi-
ton to this there is fund Of Govern
ment annuities amounting 70 SO, 000, 900,
SO that the Beigians have In their own
savings banks about $150.00O.0O0. The
most OF such accounts are small and the
savings come from the poor. More than
60 per cent. OF the books have a total OF
less than so. and fully three-fourths OF
them are under 500. Taking the whole
population into consideration there IL one
savings bank account for every four I'M
habitants or on the average above one
per family. The accounts are steadily In
creasing and the people deposit more and
more every year.. The system enables
deposits to be made in the smallest viii
lagos, and every laborer has a safe place
to put his savings If he wishes It. It
is q pity that some similar arrangement
cannot be made for the United States.
The Belgian Capital.
I like Brussels. 1t IL one Of the best
built and best managed cities OF Europe.
1t has only about 100000 people in the
town proper but with its suburbs Its In
habitants are more than half million.
It Is in the heart Of Belgium, and as
such Is within a couple OF hours or so OF
the whole population Of moro than s.
900. 900.
The town IL divided into two sections,
one OF which Ii high above the other. 1t
is in the upper part that the kings pal
ace and all the Government buildings are
located. It - here that most OF the for
eigners live, including about 1000 English
residents Our Minister has fine home
not far from the palace OF the King, and
the Consul General Is about equally dist
ant from the palace In an opposite diree-
\ ton.
The Government buildings are especially
nne. Take the Palais de Justice, which
stands upon a high hill above tho busi-
ness part Of the city. II IL said to be the
grandest structure Of the world. II Is
bigger than the Capitol at Washingtea
and covers one acre more than the enor-
nous church Of st. Pete= At Rome II
IL built Of marble and IL rises high over
Brussels with 8 dome 100 feet higher thaF
] that OF our capitol The structure in geE~
erai Is pyramldai each successive section
diminishing Ia bulk. i Is beautifully
deooransd, the rotunda being onbelilshed