Arizona republican., 1918-03-26
BELGIAN COAST IS
 BIG PRIZE IN WAR
(NatI. Geo. Society Bnlletin.l

NNdll. Geo. society Bulletin.)
 Perhaps in no other war in modern history have few miles counted for as much in the scales of victory as in the present contest in West Flanders. The distance which separates the al lied forces from full control of the coast of Belgium is only thirty miles. Possession of these thirty miles of coast line would not only wipe out the Gefmans submarine bases in Belgium. put It would also give the allies a new front upon which to attack in an effort to dflVe the enemy out of Belgium and northern France. Possession of this coast. therefore, would be a double vic tory to the allies. sorely hampering the ehemys submarine operations, and at the same time affording an opportlln- ltv to roll up his right flank on land.
 NoWhere else may be found a more strlklng contract between peace and war than that afforded by the Belgium coast Tn 1913 and in 1917. Practically the entire coast line in normal times is gwen up to the pleasures of seaside cltles and rest resorts. La Panne. CoXyde-Plage. -Duinkerke. Nieu- port Bains Westende. Middlekerke. Le- | Coz sur Mer, Wenduyne sur Mer. Blankenberghe, Heyst-sur Mer, and hhocke-sur- -Mer, and all places which rehllnd one of the seaside cities of New jersey. Of these, Ostend Nieuport- Rains and Blankenberghe are the most pretentious.
 In these Atlantic cities. Cape Mays. and Asbury Parks of Belgium. laughter and happiness reigned with a free abandon that only European resorts could know, while today war on land. under sea. and in the air, harries the souls of the few brave people who still remain there.
 Between La Panne and Oost-Duin- kerke is the Hooge- -Blikker, 105 feet high, the highest point of the Belgian dunes, and also the widest point. Just outside of Nieuport- Rains, in the vil- lage of Lombartzyde. there is a cele- : brated figure of the Madonna. held in high Veneration by Flemish fishermen from time immemorial and to which , the Flemings are today addressing their appeal that their land shall be liberated from the iron heel of the in- vader.
 "Ostend is famous not only as a sea side resort but for it's great fishine trade in normal times and for it's ovs- ter parks. Oysters in large numbers are brought here and kept in clarified sea water. The visitor may order hi. plate of shell fish right out of tn, . water.
 Should the allies get control of tn, coast of Belgium so far inland al Bruges. they would come into posses sion of a splendid system of canals ex. tending from France to Furnes, ant thence by way of Nieuport, to OstenC and Bruges. There is also a canal iron Bruges to the coast near. Blanken. berghe. another to Ghent, and a thirt to the waterway connecting Heyst witt Ghent. A railroad parallels the coast all the way from the French border t, the Dutch frontier.
 West Flanders, where the big Eng fish smash is now on, is generally fla and low, and in parts marshy Unde |. a system of intensive agriculture. tn , province was one of the most produc i've in Belgium in the years before tn
 war and 40 per cent of the population was engaged in manufacturing. tn principal industry being linen weaving and lace making.