Bisbee daily review., 1916-01-11
M0RESNET NEUTRE IS HARD PROBLEM FACING
 RELIEF COMMISSION
Belgium Commissioners En- counter Considerable Dim- culty in Aiding Residents of Fractional Independent Dis trict.

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 their relief work the delegates of the
 American Commission for the Relief ! of Belgium have discovered in the re-
 motest corner of that country no
 mans land which, since 1915, has en- joyed absolute independence under a
 guarantee of perpetual neutrality,
 which, even in the present struggle.
 has never been violated This little counry of one square mile in size is called Moresnet Neutre and has Hol- land to the north, Belgium to the west and Germany everywhere else, But
 Moresnet Neutre is neither Belgian.
 German or Dutch. It used to be a port of Belgium and was, until 1915, like the rest of that country, a province of
 France. By the treaty of Vienna, Bel gium and Holland became independent countries, but Moresnet, which at that time held the greatest zinc mine of Europe, became a bone of contention between Prussia and the Netherlands. Finally, neither got it and the difficul- ty was solved by making it neutral ter ritory.
 The mine of zinc has long since been exhausted in Moresnet, but, digging into deeper strata the vein was con tinued into Belgium and German ter ritory. Consequently the country has lost it's chief reason for retaining it's independence, but by keeping the mine smelter in it's territory it has contin- ued to receive the same consideration from it's powerful neighbors as in the past.
 The whole country is owned by the Vieille Montague Company which with the exhaustion of the zinc mine, sought other fields until it has become so in ternationalized that it is as neutral in its impartial activities as the couLcry where it got its start. The presiden, of the company is Baron Rothschild of Frankfort, who sells products from the company's mines in Germany to that country. They also have mines in France and their general manager, a loyal Frenchman, is selling zinc to the French government. Their mana a zinc mine in Scotland, is a Belgian and he is selling the product to the British government The company has mines in Africa and other remote places, and under its international is prospering.
 The country is governed by two bur gomaSters, one named by the German the ether by the Belgium governments There are 2.0OO Germans. 1000 Bel gians and 400 Neutres in the country. To become a Neutre it must be proven that ones family has resided in Nor csnet 100 years. The Belgians are un- der their own burgomaster, the Ger mans under theirs, While the Neutres have the privilege of choosing between the two. In criminal cases the burgo master can choose either German or Belgian judges. But whatever judge is selected must use the Code Napo- leon and make his decision in accord ance with it's principles.
 The taxes are also equally divided between Germany and Belgium as are the two post offices.
 When the little country began to suffer for lack of food. the problem Of relief became acute. The country was not German, therefore the Germans re fused to feed the Belgians while the latter refused to admit food for the feeding of the Germans. An effort was made to separate the two but they were found so mixed, living in the same house, members of the same fam fly and many speaking the same ton gue, that any separation was impossf ble. It was found that all or none must be fed. And moreover, in the original dispute, the Neutres seem to have been forgotten. Finally rough compromise was made whereby the Commission supplied the people of the whole country with bread while Ger many furnished them with meat, pota- toes and butter.
 In attempting to feed the Moresnet people the Commission faces some problems out of all proportion to the size of the country. Under it's agree ment with the various belligerents Il must. if possible, only import food from neutral countries, but the iron tier of Moresnet with Holland is the apex of a triangle without roads and for obvious reasons Germany does mol desire any communication to be estab lished from that direction.
 Some idea of the difficulty of getting into Moresnet may be gained from the following description of the trip which two of the delegates of the Commis sion made to the country.
 'In order to reach Moresnet we Jour ncved by automobile from Liege for about two hours to some of the most beautiful districts in the Ardennes' mounting gradually higher until at last on the opposite side of little stream, the black and white striped bars a. oross tba hridge announced that we