Bisbee daily review., 1919-10-15
MILL|ONA|RES MADE BY WAR
 IN BRUSSELS
By PHILLIP GIBBS, New York Times Correspondent.


 many men of high standing have been irretrievably ruined and see all the work of their lives laid in dust and ashes around them, others, of small business formerly, have grown rich out of the profits that may be made in the massacre of men.
 There are now twenty-five new millionaires-they count their mil lions in francs over herein the dis trict of Huy. In Brussels there are many evidences of wealth among the middle class Belgians, who accept high prices-fantastic prices for things of luxury-with the easy con- scientiousness that lies in a pouch full of paper money. see this in the restaurants around the Place de la Monnaie into which I enter timidly, and with furrowed brow, knowing that soup will cost me 4.50 francs, and that the cheapest plate of meat is 75O francs, and that a little pear is 8 francs.
 I hate to spend so much on the needs of my stomach while elsewhere women and children are pinched by poverty of food next door to hunger, and while, as happened to me the other day, soldier of the Yser, with one leg, comes begging at the tables of an outdoor restaurant who're fat bourgeois are gorging themselves.
 For a Meal, 100 Francs.
 But in these eating houses-not very grand in aspect, hiding their cuisine behind modest fronts and dis erect window curtains-men and women of the middle class pick and choose the best on the menu, desire their sole to be fried in white wine (that is an item of ten francs), feel the silkiness of a peach at four francs, finger over wine which adds another twenty to their bill and pay one hun dred francs for a simple meal for two persons, without a murmur.
 In the Belgian parliament a few deputies are asking awkward ques- tions. They want to know how it is that the mutilated are still unpro- vided with adequate pensions; why war widows are living on charity; | whether another winter is to pass without any provision being made ! for people whose homes were smashed or burned or footed when the fury of the war passed their way. | Only doubtful answers are given by a government which seems helpless to formulate a general plan.
 Meanwhile, the workingmen con- tinue to demand higher wages to meet the higher cost of living. The value of the Belgian franc is dropping tol alarming depths in relation to Eng fish and American exchange. In Ant werp there has been strike of work men in the gas factories until the gas company enrolled non-union men and dismissed all union workers, who are now demanding the arbitration refused by the municipality.
 The nation itself is crippled with it's war debts. Out of an empty ex- chequer the Belgian government can not easily convert fine phrases about reconstruction into new cities, work for all at high wages, and pensions for invalid and poverty stricken sol diers.
 Business in a Bad Way.
 met an old gentleman yesterday ! who had something to say about 1t. He is an important old gentleman, once a prisoner of the Germans with Burgomaster Max of Brussels, be- cause of his high office as sheriff of Antwerp, and now back again in his town hall. Sheriff Strauss, who has directed the administration of the Antwerp municipality for many years, told me something about progress of trade in Antwerp after the war. The business of the port, he said, was about one-third of what it was before 1914.
 How can there be real progress he said, when the governments or Europe go from one stupidity to an other; they have no plan to deal with the wreckage that has followed the war. Their only concern is to save the semblance of their power. The little statesmen-these little politi- clans of ours-are acting in self 1n- terest to retain their office by false promises to the people, by bolstering up an artificial system of finance which is only a camouflage of bank ruptcy, and yielding through fear of the impossible demands of the work ing classes. Presently we shall see in Europe a system of national work shops-hordes of men employed by their governments at fancy rates to keep them quiet-and then the crash will come-a tremendous crisis such as the world has never seen.
 Comp etition Remedy.
 "Then. and not until then, will things reach their level according to the realities of life. Wages will come toppling down. Prices will fall as heavily. Let that crisis come quickly, so that we can get back to reality. You can't, make an omelet without brebking eggs! The one strike Il sbould like to see would be strike of the government. Let them take . holiday. for they are doing no good