The Washington herald., 1920-04-18


cept with the aid Of an intolerabie
subsidy by the state. II the price
be low. the peasant will not increase
the acreage. Poland has the choice.
like every other state in Europe.
of encouraging production at price
that no one can pay. or of limiting
the price and having. no supplies
to offer to the consumer. 1t is clear
that the cost Of foodstuffs Is greatly
in advance Of the increase in wage,
and while 1t Is entirely proper to
state, as a generic proposition. that
production will not occur unless 1t
be remunercted to the grower, 1t
is equally necessary to FIX the line
at which the consumer has the
power to pay. -t
The finances of the new Polish
State are in condition of lament
able confusion, circulating German
marks. Polish marks. Austrian
crowns, Romanoff roubles and Ke-
rensky roubles vying with each other
in depreciation The new Polish bud
get, introduced by Grabski. provides
for an ordinary budget during the
coming twelve months of some s.
900, 100000 marks and an extraordi-
nary budget of some 12,0Oo,000,o00
marks. The present income is stated
to be 1850, 100000 marks. 1t is pro-
posed to raise S.000,000,000 marks
as against the expenditures of some
10000, ,o60, 900 marks.
In order to secure this extraordi-
nary increase of income 1t is pro-
posed to tax imports and exports.
tnnnraa1 nrnAfa
and to levy excise and luxury taxes
on practically everything. This is
supposed to cover only the ordinary
budget. The extraordinary budget
is supposed to be covered by short
and long-term loans. Loans are to
be of two kinds: Voluntary. carry
ing s per cent. and forced loans,
carrying 3 per centrally a capital
tax. The items of the extraordinary
budget include such as deficit in
operation of railroads, 100000, 900
marks; new railway equipment,
900, ,000,000 marks: subsidy of food
stuffs. 500, 900, 900 marks; reconstruc-
ton, soc, 100000 marks, and a large
material budget to maintain the
Gordon Sanitaire.
During the past year the country
has imported on credit for national
purposes goods to the amount of
$500. 900, 900. 1t is the policy of the
present minister of finance to cease
future issue of the note circulation
and to expend all foreign loans in
the country OF origin. With all due
sympathy for the new Poland ma
tion. one wonders, when reading
these figures, whether one is read
ing the budget of a state or an
astronomical calendar.
Manufacturing Plants Idle.
The manufacturing of Poland has
been revived to but slight extent
during the past year. The spindles
of Lodz and Warsaw stand still: raw
material has not been imported to
any material extent. This is not
due merely to depreciation of the
mark or to disbelief in the soIvency
OF the new state. 1t is due, in part.
to the fact that payment for importa.
tion of raw materials must occur to
very great extent through expor-
, tation of the finished product and
the natural direction of such ex-
portation to the eastward into Rus
sia is closed. In other words, the
| military line that protects Poland
from Bolshevik Russia also isolates
her mills and factories.
An Importation of raw materials
OF such extent only as to cover do
mestic needs Is economically un-
feasible and impracticabIe except
through loans by a foreign govern
ment
The condition of the people has
undergone definite retrogression
during the past year. The standard
OF life has fallen; there is no more
or even less to eat: there Is less to
wear: thFre is less opportunity for
work. Life is harder and there is
less TO sustain aspiration outside OF
national ambition.
For more than 100 years the Poles
! have dreamed of reunion. They pos
sess 1t and they find that the mem
bers of the reunited family have
lost touch with each other. The
partition Of Poland succeeded in
making a divided Poland: the Rus.
slams Russianized Congress Poland
the Germans Prussianized Posen Po-
land, the Austrians Austrianized Po-
land Galicia. These influences find
their expression in an altered view
/ point toward economics, in diver
gence in the methods of doing bust
ness. Reunited now, Posen. Congress
Poland and Galicia do not think
alike in matters of finance and in
! trade.
, Not in Economic Harmony,
The policy of Galicia with respect
to her oil. her refusal to sell crude
oil in order that she may develop
her own refneries. is an injury to
Poland as a whole. Congress Poland
expected Posen to feed her. The
Poles in Posen would like to have
an autonomy under which they
could sell their excess products to
the Germans to the west or to their
brethren to the east in competition
In other words, the painful realiza-
| tion is gradually becoming patent
that while the three parts of reunit-
ed Poland had a traditional and po-
etic love of a reunited country dur
ing. the last 100 years, they have
grown apart in economic practice
and economic harmony is with diff
| Guilty to be attained.
1t must not be inferred that these
economic difficulties are of so seri-
Gus a nature as to make the differ
ent portions of the Polish nation re-
pent their reunion, but they are Sc
rious enough to make the recon-
struction of the country and the
problems of the government very
difficult indeed. ..
| The constituent assembly still
holds forth, instead of preparing
and adopting a constitution which
was its sole business, it acts as a
diet enacting laws the f1nality of
which lies cry questionably within
the scope Of natural authority. The
present diet is largely of peasant
representation. 1t has no eoncep-
ton of the. economic problems o;
the country It is, in part, anti