The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1915-07-01
CAL|CIA SCENE OF
TITANIC STRUGGLE
It Is Poorest Of All the Prov
inCeS Of Austria.
MANY FAMOUS SALT MINES,

If Continental United States, Exclusive
Of Alaska, Were as DenseIy PopuIat-
ed as GaIicia We Would Boast of
Population Four r lines as Great as
That of Russia.
For months war dispatches from Ca
licia-Where vast armies have swayed
back and forth, locked In one Of the
outstanding titanic struggles of history
to decide the fate Of empires and Of
two mighty races-have gripped the
popular attention more than the news
from any other battle theater. On Ca
licia's fields during the past few months
have been done such feats at arms as
the modern world could not have
dreamed Of; the strength Of great Rus
STA swept over this Austrian crown
land, driving it's powerful armies over
the plain in the north, over the central
hills, up the southern slopes Of the rag
ged Carpathians, on to their lofty, icy
crests, beyond these crests and how
Hungary.
Here the wave spent it's irresistible
force, and upon the dreary mountain
rocks, above the clouds, amid the ice
and snow and chill cold Of early spring.
the flower Of Russian and Austro- Ger
man strength began rolling backward
toward the north, still locked in con-
tinuous, grinding battle, until the foot
hills were left behind and the Teutonic
forces recaptured Lemberg. The ma
ture of this war theater that has be-
held some Of earth's sternest, most Bit
ter scenes is intimately described by
William Joseph Showalter in state
graphic society. This writer says:
Austrian Poland Is practically en-
braced by the crown land of Galicia.
This crown land is almost exactly the
size Of the state Of South Carolina, but
it has population six times as great.
If continental United States, exclusive
Of Alaska, were as densely populated
as Galicia we would boast Of popula-
ton four times as great as that Of Rus
STA. And yet Galicia is the poorest of
all the provinces Of Austria. It lies
outside the ramparts of the Carpa-
thians, which rob it Of the warm winds
that otherwise would come to it from
the south and also turn back upon it
the cold winds of the north.
- Royal Palace In Cracow. =
'The glory Of Poland's past and the
hope Of her future are Cracow and
Lemberg, for it was the former that
was her capital in the yesterday Of his.
tory and the latter that is her capital
today and which would be her capital
tomorrow were Polish dreams to come
true. In Cracow, the great city Of Po-
lands past, the royal palace still stands.
but it is used as barracks and not as
the home of king. The cathedral is
now the Valhalla Of it's departed great
ness, for there sleep the kings and the
heroes from the Jagellons to Kosci-
uszko Not far away is the Kosciuszko-
berg, one of the most remarkable
memorials ever reared by the hand Of
man, huge mound of earth brought
by loyal Poles from every battlefield in
the world consecrated with Polish
blood
1.-THE country around Cracow Is fiat
and is devoted almost wholly to small
farming and trucking. The peasants
dress in white jackets and blue breech-
es and wear jackboots. Their women
folk, with large bright shawls and pic
turesque headdress, brighten and give
spirit to the countryside.
From Cracow to Lemberg the trav-
eler encounters good land. it is fairly
level and entirely innocent Of fences,
boundary stones marking party lines
and tethers or herdsmen keeping live
stock where it belongs. The same
methods Of agriculture that we used in
the United States before the days Of
the self binder and the grain drill are
still in force in that region.
1T is in Lemberg that the only Pol
ish dominated legislative assembly in
existence holds it's sessions, for Lem
berg is the capital of Galicia, and the
Poles, both because Of their political
ability and their numerical weight, con-
trol the Galician legislature in the face
Of their rivals, the Ruthenians Of East
Galicia. The city Of Lemberg is largely
modern, compact nucleus surrounded
by scattering suburbs.
World Famous Salt Mines.
while Galicia is almost wholly an
agricultural region and while a large
percentage Of that agriculture is car.
ried on in the oldtime way, there are
some few manufacturing neighbor-
hoods and Industrial districts. Distil-
leries occupy first place among the in
dustries, and there are many beet sugar
and tobacco factories. Petroleum
springs abound along the Carpathians,
and some Of the towns in this region
grow from small villages to modern
Beaumonts between New Year and
Christmas.
"Gal1cia has many of the worlds
most famous salt mines. Those at