The Cordova daily times., 1919-08-12
BELGIUM SEEKS TOSAFECUARD
 ANTWERP CITY

WASHINGTON, July 25 (by mail- A commission representing seven powers will meet in Paris on Tues day, July 29, to consider the demands of Belgium for reconsideration of the treaty of 1889, by which Holland an nexed the territory on the south bank of the Scheldt river and the southern part of Dutch Limburg, an elongated strip of land between Belgium and Germany, says a Belgian official an nouncement issued here.
 | In view of this meeting, the Belgian official information service has made public a statement by Dr. A. IFebbe- 1 lynck, rector emeritus of the Univer sity of Louvain, reviewin gthe treaties under which Holland obtained posses sion of the disputed territory and set ting forth arguments in favor of Bel | gium's claims.
 Dr. Hebbelynck, who is now in New York, declares that "the contention of Belgium is that, both for the safe guard of it's military security in the north and for it's economical develop ment, it must have absolute control of 1 the southern half of the River Scheldt, which implies possession of the left bank" This left bank from the North sea nearly to the Belgian port of Ant werp now is controlled by Holland
 Belgium, says Dr. Hebbelynck, was compelled by the treaty of 1889 to rec ognize Hollands sovereignty over this territory, now known as Dutch Elan ders. In return Belgium was protect ed by treaties of neutralities the futil- ity of which, he says, was demon strated in 1914, when Germany called them mere scraps of paper" and in vaded Belgium
 "The experiences of 1914" contin- Ues Dr. Hebbelynck have made clear that unless Antwerp can even in time of war maintain it's free access to the sea, unhampered by the bubbles of a neutral neighbOr, the position of Ant Werp is rendered indefensible for any length of time. The peril is made all the more acute by the fact that Ant Werp is the only seaport available in Belgium for big ships such as army and ammunition transports.
 From the commercial point of view it is an absolute necessity that Bel gium obtained right to manage with out hindrance, as a sovereign and in dependent power, the whole water sys- tenn, not only of the Scheldt river from Antwerp to the sea, but also of the loW-lying lands of northern Flanders and of the ship canal from Ghent to the Scheldt river at Terneuzen.
 "The keys of Antwerp are at pres ent in foreign hands. Belgium claims them back on the strength of princi- ples of international law, today uni versally proclaimed
 He asserts that endless trouble arises from the manner in which the Dutch government officials carry out the agreement over the use of the small harbor of Terneuzen, an outlet of the ship canal from Ghent to the sea through Dutch territory.
 Expounding Belgium's claims to the southern part of Limburg, Dr. Heb belynck asserts that Hollands posses sion of this territory lays the north eastern frontier of Belgium open to all. attacks, because the Dutch gov ernment recognizes the impossibility of defending Limburg against an in vader coming from the east"
 This fact, he adds, compelled Hol- land to let a whole Germany army escape through Limburg into Ger many with it's plunder carried from Belgium in November, 1918. The rec tor of Louvain also points out that Bel gium needs a ship canal across Dutch Limburg in order to tap the enormous coal fields of Westphalia.
 Belgium" he concludes, "does not want to grab territory from Holland. It only craves reconsideration of the iniquitous arrangements of 1648 to 1889 in the light of modern principles"
 He points out that Holland should be compensated by obtaining from Germany the provinces of Ostfries- land and Cleef, which, he says, are largely inhabited by Dutch-speaking l people,