The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-05-28
BELC GUM RAPIDLY
RECOVERING FROM
CRIPPLED CONDITION
Factories, Railroads., Metal
Industries and Quarries. :.
Resuming Operation.

Belgium is making great strides to-
ward resuming her place in the fore
rank of producing and commercial
nations, as the latest official figures
reveal. She has been able to do this
through the sheer ability of her peo-
pie, capitalists and laborers alike, to
work hard. The handicaps under
which the Belgian people struggled
were enormously heavy. One-tn1rd
of their factories were destroyed; g.
600 kilometers of their railroads, IL
500 bridges, 500 kilometers OF their
canals, as we'll as their telephones
and their telegraph system were
rendered useless; $4,000 railroad cars
and $500 locomotives had been taken
The public administration had been
disorganized, and the State Treasury
was empty.
And now
Belgian factories are operating In
percentages of pre-war production
ranging from 40 per cent In the steel
mills to 80 per cent in textile and
totally IN WOOL.
Belgian railroads in the first quar-
ter of 1920 were hauling 80 per cent
of the normal pre-war freight trains
and 60 per cent of the normal pre-war
passenger. trains. The output Of coal
in 1919 was 100000 tons, as COM
pared with 22,000,000 in 1913. The
coal output for the first three months
in 1920 was 103 per cent of the pro-
duction for same period in 1913.
Her exports to Holland exceeded by
4O,OOO,OO0 francs her imports; the
exports to France are 20,000,000 in
excess Of the imports; her trade with
Germany shows favorable balance;
and progress is being made towards
Equalization of trade between England
and Italy. 1t is only with countries
such as the United States, Canada and
the Argentine, where the Belgians
are purchasing food, that the COM
mercial balance is the heaviest
against them. For the first two
months of 1920 the exports equalled
AZ per cent of the total exports for
1919, and a continuation of exports
on this level would indicate that by
the end of this year, when the exports
exceed the total imports, Belgium will
no longer be obliged to appeal to the
foreign financial markets for assist
ance.
The recovery of Belgian industry
is indicated by the number of people
employed in mining, metal industries,
and quarries. In December, 1919,
2O1,648 workmen were employed, as
compared with 230,538 in December,
1913. A list of 1892 other enter
prises showed 289,172 workmen en-
ployed in December, 1919, as compar-
ed with 412,462 in December, 1918.
It is estimated that 76 per cent as
many people were employed in De-
cember, 1919, as in December, 1913.
One Of the greatest factors in the
steady progress of Belgian industries
is the attitude of the native laborers,
who have been extraordinily loyal in
the face of trying circumstances. At
the time of Armistice hundreds Of
thousands were out of work, but with
few exceptions, they refused tempting
offers from other countries, prefer
ring to remain, some in starvation
condition, in their native land until
their old factories had been restored.
Since these factories have resumed
operation the laborers have been hard
at work. There have been some
strikes, but these were based solely
on wage complaints and were not the
result of radical or bolshevistic
movements.