Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-20

The remarkable resumption of Bel giums coal mining, the complete re- organization or her transportation system, the determined progress of her wrecked steel industry, the res urreetion of the great port of Ant Werp, the recovery of $500, 100000 worth of machinery stolen by Ger many, the firm and orderly adjust nient of her labor problems the re- her reentry into world finance as one of the great trdong nations--these are some of the belder outlines in a sketch of New Belgium, entitled Bel
 gums Recovery" just written by D.
 l.. Blount, an American who until re-
 gently directed the central informa-
 tion office of the Belgian ministry of
 economic affairs. This booklet. issu-
 ed in connection with the placing of $25, ,000,0 loan in this country by | the Belgian government. tells a story para1leled only by the, historic recoy- cry of France after the war of 1870. l The degree of Belgium's recovery must be measured by the purpose
 ful and scientific destruction Ger
 many inflicted on her. Her factories
 were not merely wrecked. The Ger
 mans destroyed them in such a way as l to make their rebuilding peculiarly l difficult, and to eliminate their com petition entirely after the war. This i Is the key to MT. Blount's interpre-
 tation of the new Belgium. (. | The most striking figures" says l MT. Blount, "of the actual resump | tion of Belgian industry for the first ! ten months of 1919 as compared with , those for the corresponding period oi
 1918 are the following: Coal mines !
 cent. cotton Spnlu4vs Ill operation, 75 per cent; cotton looms, 60 per cent ! wool products 75 per cent; shoes 7( per cent; window glass, 34 ped cent plate glass, 36 per cent. Even tht | steel mills, wnIcn suffered most, have
 resumed 30 per cent
 3i First, fuel, and then Gransporta
 ton; these are the dominant irf1u
 ences in Belgiums recovery. Of tn
 Belgian coal situation, MT. B4ount wIites:
 ,ar cent: of normal figures for oc
 tober i.,s, .ong tons . During. the ifs, nine. months o
 19r9 Belgium exported 2,97O,S71 loni
 tons. These exports have been mad
 on a basis of reciprocity,
 < With a total of 5,400 miles, Bel
 gium had the greatest railway mileag q of any country in proportion to ter
 ritory. Of this, 1866 miles of. stan dard gauge track had been destroy
 ed at the time of the armistice, an more than 1.400 bridges. Yet say
 MT. Blount, "all but 35 miles of tracl
 rendered useless by the devastation c ! the adjacent area has been recon structed. So rapid has been the wor of repair that there is practically n
 vestige of the war on the roadbed } of Be. .gium and, furthermore. grea extension work has been carried Gl i There has been a steady reclaimin [ of rolling stock from Germany, al } though much of 1t was in very ba L. condition, and together with whs 3 was left of the former Belgian rollin 3 stock, requires constant repairin Notwithstanding these difficn1ties, , September last, 40 per, cent. of u 6 passenger service and 50 per cent. t the pre-war freight traffic had bee e resumed.
 S No less important in Mir. B1ount y analysis is the Belgian steel sftus l tion. of which he says: "The effo 5 which Belgium is making to rega t, her position as a large exporter t steel products (she exported befo s the war 79 per cent. of her produ' II tion) is shown by the fact that h the first nine months Of 1919 92,0l t long tons, the exports for Septemb ), along being 4S,OOO long tons. Con l. parison of certain figures for Octob V last with those for cast iron, Is ? : cent; iron and steel wire and roc # 35 per cent. nails, 55 per cent.
 l. Belgium, So frequently called t :? ''kitchen garden of northern Europ if is once more in a strong position a n ricultura1ly. Belgium's soil used a yield on an average about SlO0 : acre, greater than any other countr
 Three-fifths of her total area was u