The sun., 1919-07-06

day for which Germany by one method
or another can maintain pressure on the
throat Of Poland by keeping her hold
on Danzig weakens this countrys
strength and makes her period of con-
valescence longer.
Rolling stock Lack Grave.
It Is only fair to say that the difficult.
ties In forwarding cargoes landed at
Danzlg cannot be laid exclusively at
the Germans door much must be put
down to the lack of rolling stock on rail-
ways In Poland. This is q great factor
in the transport problem. There were In
use in Russian Poland before the war
something like 1900 engines and more
than $4,000 railway trucks, There are
now about 500 engines and 1880 trucks.
and half OF the former are under repair.
The statistics for Galicia and Posnanla
are not quite on the same scale In fact,
the majority of the rolling stock now In
use In the republic Is Austrian or Ger.
man, but It is with only q fraction OF
pre-war resources in railway material
that Poland has to meet the demands OF
vital urgency now made on her railway
system. How do these two factors in
the situation at Danzig and shortage OF
the means of transport AFFECT life Of the
country? 49,.
In the first plnce they hinder. II they
do not absolutely prevent, imports and
exports. The question Of import alone Is
a matter OF sufficient Importance, for
there is hardly an article OF first neces-
sity Of which Poland can at present
produce more than she wants When
her factories are restored and her re-
sources exploited as they were before
the war she will be able to export tex
tiles. sugar. iron, steel and coal In large
quantities., but at present she vans to
import as much as she can get She
must at the same time export as much
as she possibly can in order to maintain
and improve her credit, t..'..
Export sim Impossible.
Export on any scale as has been
shown, is impossible for the moment, but
oven II It were possible the present con-
ditions of transport are such as 10 make
it difflculto get any considerable quantity
of the chief article which she has avail
able for export, timber, out of the coun-
try Enormous RATS could be floated
down the Vistula to the Baltic, but there
are too few draught horses to haul tim
Der when II Is to be sent by rail and
too few trucks to carry It over rail &c
the river. There are at present som,
| $4,000 work people unemployed in Pc
| land. The mills of LODI are at a stand
still for want OF raw cotton, large con
signments Of which are on the wharve:
at Danzig LodZ too Is badly hit by
tho shortage OF rolling stock, and in tn,
matter Of coal, OF which there will b,
| barely enough to work the mills wheI
cotton Is available. The iron and stee
| works of Chestochowa ere not working
| for want of ferromanganese, which ais
is held up at Danzig. In Warsaw. II
Lodz and in all manufacturing town
works are closed for want of materials
which are not procurable. So long a
this condition lasts there will be n
| goods in the country repre- senting valu
for export, and Polish merchants vii
get small credit for what they want t
buy in any of the markets of the world
Just one moro instance may be give
to illustrate the transport difficulty
Last winter. when the food problem wa
at It's Gravest in Russian Poland an
| in Galicia, there was a large surplu
OF potatoes available in Posnania. Ow
ing to lack OF freight cars the poAtoe
could not be brought from Posen t.
Warsaw and quantities of them ar
still rotting at Posen. Fortunatel.
There is every likelihood that these tw,
stumbling blocks will be removed II
solving the problem of railway trans
port
British Mission Helping.
The British mission. to which Frencl
and American officers are attached. |