Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-01-15
RELIEF WORKERS
FIND A new LAND
little Country Only Mile Square Dis
covered by Members OF Amer
lean Commission.
IS CALLED A0RESNET NEUTRE
known as Country of Perpetual Neu-
trality-Its People Are BeIgians,
Germans and Neutres.
Is CALLED MORESNET NEUTRI

London, Jan .-AIOrreSpOndenCe
NJ the Associated Press. In an effort
N penetrate TO every portion Of Bel
ginm in their relief work the dele
yates of the American commission for
the relief OF Belgium have discovered
in the remOtest corner of that country
q no mans land. which since 1915 has
enioved absolute independence under
guarantee Of perpetual neutrality.
which even in the present struggle has
never been violated This little coun-
trv OF one square mile in size is called
Noresnet Neutre and has Holland TO
the north. Belgium 10 the west and Ger
many everywhere else. But Moresnet
Neutre is neither Belgium. German nor
Dutch. 1t used to be part of Belgium
and was until 1915 like the rest of that
country province of France. BY the
treaty Of Vienna. Belgium 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 difficulty was solved by
making it neutral territory.
The mine Of zinc has long since been
exhausted in NOresnet, but, digging in
10 deeper strata the vein was contin-
ned into Belgium and German territory.
Consequently the country has lost its
L. &c F4r, of iy1ir &c inH
ence. but by keeping the mine smelter
in its territory it has continued TO re-
ceive the same consideration from its
powerful neighbors as in the past.
Country Owned by Company.
The whole country is owned by the
Vieille Montague company, which, with
the exhaustion OF the zinc deposits,
sought other fields until it has become
so internationalized that it is as neutral
in its impartial activities as the coun-
Try where it got its start. The presi-
dent of the company is Baron Roth
schild Of Frankfort, who sells prod
ucts from the cOmpanys mines in Ger
many TO that country. They also have
mines in France, and their general
manager a loyal Frenchman, is SELL
ing zinc to the French government.
Their manager in Great Britain where
they have zinc mine in Scotland is 2
Belgian and he is selling the product
10 the British government. The COM
pany has mines in Africa and other
remote places, and under its interna-
tiOnal management is prospecting.
Everything Fifty-Fifty.
The country is governed by two
burgomasters. one named by the Ger
man the other by the Belgian govern
ments. There are 1000 Germans, 2,00G
Belgians and 400 Neutres in the coun-
try. 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 under theirs. while the Neu-
tres have the privilege of choosing be-
tween the two In criminal cases the
burgomaster can choose either German
or Belgian judges. But whatever
Judge is selected must use the Code
Napoleon and make his decision in ac-
cOrdanCe with its principles.
The taxes are also equally divided
between Germany and Belgium as are
the two postoffices.
When the little country began to
suffer for a lack OF food the problem
Of relief became acute The country
was not German, therefore the Ger
mans refused 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 family and many speaking the
same tongue, that any separation was
impossible. II was found that all or
none must be fed. And moreover in
the original dispute the Neutres seem
to have been forgotten Finally a
rough compromise was made whereby
the commission supplied the people OF
the whole country with bread while
Germany furnished them with meat
potatoes 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 its agree
mems with the various belligerents il
must ii possible only import good from
neutral countries, but the frontier OF
Moresnet with Holland is the apex OF
triangle without roads and for OBJ
vious reasons Germany does not desire
any communication to be established
from that direction.
Difficult to Get Into.
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 commission
made to the country.
In order TO reach Moresnet we Jour-