The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-03-05
BRUSSELS BEFORE
EUROPEAN WAR
Ii Was the Ono Indulgence Of the
People Of Belgium and in Nina
ture, Reflected the Gay
Life in Paris.
HALF MILLION PEOPLE
City Lies on the UnnavigabIe River
senne and is Fifty Miles From
the Sea-Existed in the
Seventh Century.
HALF MILLION PEOPLE

WASHINGTON, D. c., March s.
Drawing picture of Brussels as it
was before the present war, the Ma
tional Geographic society describes
the capital of the Belgians in the fol-
lowing terms:
1.-THE Brussels Of before the war
was the one indulgence that the. in
dustrious Belgian folk permitted it.
|self. Other Belgian cities were built
for practical purposes-for the Bel
gians are the hard-headed folk Of the
Icenturies-but Brussels was built to
please. Strategic sites near the raw
materials Of industry or upon the lines
lof trade, ports. and vantage points for
the distribution of agricultural produce
explain every Belgian city.N except
Brussels and Ostend-and Ostend was
built exclusively for the benefit of rich
foreigners with money to spend. Brus-
>els was the weakness, the luxurious
foible of the Understanding Of peo-
pies.
Brussels had the charms of a
miniature 1t reproduced, feature for
feature, the breathless pleasure or
Paris, the bright art and student
bohemia, the teeming night-life, and
all Of the bewildering pastimes of the
ultra in fashion and fortune. These
things were just as in Paris though
drawn to a much smaller scale. But
proportionately there were more Bel
gians in Brussels than Frenchmen in
Paris or Germans in Berlin or Eng
lishmen in London. Those three great
er war capitals have the peoples of
the world among them. Brussels was
primarily Belgian.
THE population of the city, togeth-
er with it's immediate suburbs, ex-
ceeded half million. Brussels was
considerably larger and livelier than
the American capital, Washington,
which, it might be noted, is. the small
est and most sedate of all tho i'm
portant capitals of the world. Never
theless, even Washington has more
solid, more extensive appearance
than the chief city of Belgium.
THE city lies on the unnavigable
river Senne, fifty miles from the sea.
Old Brussels is pentagonal, and mag
nificent boulevards mark the sites OF
the old Notifications. New Brussels
lies on higher land, it is dry and
healthful, and contains the finer resi-
dences and most of the beautiful pub
lie buildings. The lower town is de-
voted to business and to the canals
which reach to Client, Bruges, Ant
werp and Charleroi.
Brussels began somewhere in the
seventh century as congregation,
congregation which gathered to hear
ST. Gerry, bishop of Cambray, preach.
ST. Gerry was one of those rare old
heroes of young christianity, who
matched their teachings with their
lives and who were in command of an
Irresistible eloquence. The camp Of
religious enthusiasts grew rapidly into
a village, which early distinguished
itself in manufacture and trade. Brus-
sells has had changeful history BY
the early middle ages it had grown
wealthy, and it has always since re-
NAMED home OF wealth and splendor
1t has been twice destroyed by fire,
and has acknowledged many masters.
Belgium is land of the working
man. There was, probably, hardly a
drone to be found in all the little king
dom. Everybody was in business in
Belgium; everybody was bent upon
making money, and everybody was
proud of his business and his bent.
In short, the whole country was self
made, and therefore, democratic.
Brussels, on the other hand, the ma
tional luxury, has always been aristo-
cratic in tone and feeling The SYM
bols of labor and of practically were
not allowed to obtrude in Brussels.
which stands like an CASTS in the
desert with its savoir-vivre, its pure
taste in architecture, it's devotion to
art, music and the theatre, its light
gayety,- and its gracefully-worn lux
ury. The splendor of Brussels is not
the Grass splendor of the upstart: it 1,