Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-01-17
ARMIES RESPECT
NEUTRALITY Of
NO MAN $ LAND
Little Corner Of Belgium En-
Joys immunity Even in
Present Bitter Struggle I'M
der Treaty a Century Old,

(AssOfiHteu IFfss NtfftkpOuutnce.l
London. Dec. 3l.--In an effort to
penetrate to every portion Of Bel
rum in their relief work the dele
pates of the American commission
for the relief Of Belgium have dis
covered in the remotest Corner of
that country a no mans land which
since 1915 has enjoyed absolute in
dependence under a guarantee of,pe
petual neutrality, which even in the
present struggle has never been Vio-
lated. This little country of one
square mile in size is called Moresnet
Neutre and has Holland to the north
Belgium to the west and Germany
everywhere else But Moresnet Neu-
ire is neither Belgium. German nor
Dutch 1t used to be part of Bell
GUM and was until 1916 like the rest
of that country a province of France.
Rv the treaty of Vienna, Belgium and
Holland became independent coun-
tries but Moresnet, which at that
time held the greatest zine mine of
Europe became q bone of contention
UtlNttll uNclei anu tiiN .N'thNi 10 nus
Finally neither got it and the diff
Guilty was solved by making it neu-
trail territory.
The mine of zinc has long since
been exhausted in Moresnet, but, Dig
ging into deeper strata the vein was
continued into Belgium and German
territory. Consequently the country
has lost its chief reason for retaining
its independence, but by keeping the
mine smelter in its territory it has
continued to receive the same consid-
Grafton from its powerful neighbors
as in the past.
Country Privately Owned.
The whole country is owned by the
Nieille Montague company, which,
with the exhaustion of the zinc de-
posts, sought other fields until it has
become so internationalized that it is
as neutral in its impartial activities
as the country where it got its start.
The president 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 loyal
Frenchman, is selling zinc to the
French government. Their manager
in Great Britain where they have 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
management is prospecting.
The country is governed by two
burgomasters, one named by the Ger
man the other by the Belgian gov
ernments There are 1000 Ger
mans, 1000 Belgans and 400 Neu-
tres in the country To become a
Neutre it must be proven that ones
family has resided in Moresnet 100
years The Belgians are under their
own burgomaster the Germans I'M
der 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
Napoleon and make his decision in
accordance with its principles
Taxes Are Divided.
The taxes are also equally divided
between Germany and Belgium as are
the two postoffices.
When the little country began to
suffer for lack of food the problem
of relief became acute. The coun-
try was not German, therefore the
Germans refused to feed the Belgians
while the latter refused to admit food
for the feeding Of the Germans. Al
effort was made TO separate the TWO
but they were found so mixed, living
in the same house, members OF the
same family and many speaking the
same tongue. that any separation was
impossible. 1t was found that all or
none must be fed. And moreover In
the original dispute the Neutres seem
TO have been forgotten. Finally q
rough compromise was made where
pie of the whole country with bread
while Germany furnished them with
meat, potatoes and butter.
In attempting to feed the Moresne'
people the commission faces some
problems out of all proportion to the
size of the country. Under its agree
ments with the various belllgerehts II
must if possible only import food Tor
neutral countries. but the frontier OF
Moresnet with Holland is the apex ol
a triangle without roads and for OBJ
vious reasons Germany does not de-
sire any communication to be estao-
lished from that direction.
Difficult to Reach.
Some idea of the difficulty of get
ting into Moresnet may be gaineu
from the following description OF the
trip which two of the delegates OF
the commission made to the country
In order to reach Moresnet We
1ourneyed by automobile from Lest
for about two hours to some OF the
most beautiful districts in the Ardeh'
hes. mounting gradually higher dnti
at last on the opposite side OF a mute
stream, the black and white striped
bars across the bridge announced
that we had reached the border. The
stripe also told us that this Wa'
Prussian territory. We stopped am
showed our passports. The Enslish
speaking German officer objected ina
they were not vised for Prussian ter
fitory. ON telling him that we wer'
On a tour of inspection and dld no
desire to enter Prussian territory, M
explained that TO reach Mofeshe
Neutre We would have TO cross abou
twelve feet Of Prussian soil We fin