The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-12-09

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, d. c.
No country injured by the World
war set about more earnestly to
achieve reconstruction than Belgium,
the one which suffered most cruelty
and dramatically from the conflict.
Though the damage done to the cOunr
try through property destroyed, pill
lage n financial eXactiOnS by the
Germans reached the tremendous sum
of 30 billions Of francs according to
the estimate of the Belgium COmite
Central Industriel, the people, with
characteristic industry and thrift, took
up the heavy task of resuscitating their
country's industrial life as soon as the
armistice had been signed. BY the
beginning of 1920 they had made such
great strides that, with the exception
of the steel and glass industries, pro
ductiOn averaged th~ree-quarterS or
more of pre-war production the coal
output had even reached 81 per cent
and the refined sugar output 100 per
cent.
But the postwar reaction which
struck the United States and other
countries in 1920 affected Belgium,
too; and since the spring Of that year
Belgium has had its share Of depreS-
sion, closed and part-time factories
and unemployment. The drought
which affected many parts Of the
northern hemisphere has peer felt in
Belgium, with the result that harry
ests are less and food prices higher.
Where the price index Of living costs
was 100 in 1914 1t was AT In OctO-
Der, 1920, and had reached only to
1884 In August, 1921. But the adverse
economic forces in operation since
early in 1920 have caused suffering
even in countries not involved in the
World war; and to understand that
Belgium, in spite Of present trials, Is
in a fair way to outstrip the other
w~ar-torn countries in the return to
normal, it is only necessary to consid-
er conditions in the little kingdom be-
fore the war broke In upon 1t.
Its Population Is Dense.
The Belgium OF today has an area
less thar O%ne-fOurth as great as Mis-
sisSippi, and yet 1t has four times
the population OF that state. Twenty
two and a half countries like Bel
GUM would be required to make a
state like Texas, and If Texas were
as densely populated as Belgium it
would have as many people as the
United States and Germany together
now possess. If the entire United
States had as many people to the
square mile as Belgium-that is, con-
tinental United States, exclusive OF
Alaska-we would have more people
here than there are in the entire world
today. You could concentrate all the
people Of the seven seas and or all
the continents here and still have room
for enough more to repopulate the
continent of Europe as 1t now stands.
1t must follow from this that such
a vast population, living within such
narrow cOnfines-7.579,OOO souls with
in an area of 1873 square miles
must be a frugal people, accustomed
10 SSIl-'ltllitl, III III ~ 80
economical living, and masters of the
science of intensive industry yet with
all this density IF population, with
all the eXactiOns of forced economy,
they are a people who had so ordered
their relations with one another and
with their government that happiness
and contentment seemed to dwell with
them as with but few other peoples,
and this in spite Of diverse descent
and diverse tongues.
Two Distinct Peoples.
Within Belgium's small territory
smaller in area than Massachusetts
and COnnecticut-there are nearly
three million Flemings who cannot
talk with their compatriot WalloOns,
and about as many Walloons who can
not hold converse with their country
men Flemings. In their habits of mind
md their methods of gaining a live
lihood the two peoples differ as widely
as the English and the French, and
in their speech they are as different
as the Germans and the Scandinavia
ans: and yet there Is a tie that has
hound them together for generations,
with never a fratricidal war In their
modern history. That tie Is the bond
of religion, for they all subscribe to
the doctrines of the Church of Rome
with a heartiness that makes them n
Of the bestowed peoples of the Holy
See.
Tteir tongues are Flemish and