South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-12-23
DANZIG, FREE CITY,
now TRADE CENTER
Industrial Revival Has Started
IN Part German-POlish
Municipality.

pANZTG. Dec %. - Following .
more than two years Of commercial
ietba-r--. Dauzie az a free city now
SHOWS signs OF an industrial revival I
The population OF the city !s mostly +
C,eruan. a--houeh the Poles are in .
the majority .n the city.5 suburbs. /
The two ratioraIlries as Darz.sers
now have common interest, and .
racial prefudices have been largely I.
forgotten iu working for the munl- .
Cipal prosperity
IRE port is governed by harbor 4
board. OF which I'VE members are
poles. five Germans. while the CHAIR [
man is "A swiss. should any point
of disagreement arise which the
e,6sf- cannot ssttle g. is referred 10
Gen. HakInK. the British commls-
ftoacr for the League Of Nations,
whose decisions are usually accepted .
~ ro.r sides without question. The
uarbo- board IS concerned with TIC
rar1lla.t51 of the shippiuE the
dredrlua o. the port and with such
efeps as may lead 20 the extension
~ trade. Before the war Dauz.g
WIS great center f3r the gram
and sugar trade, gauut warenous-S
tower up 20 the ssy. once filled with
sacks OF grain. and barrels OF
sugar. now all TOO empty. Already
fowevcr. one feels the stir OF re-
,riving prosDerlty; civic spirit
moves the panz-gers German ana
Poe alike. n mutual foroearanc.
and understanding have changed
the atmosphe.e Of the ci,v
Seeks TO Rival Hamburg.
The customs 90 DanHg are under
tco control C. the Polish -ia'e.
which also 70 responsible .Of the
railways rum Le through 20 Eas
Pruqstan corridor. This arrange
rnent. the result Of prolonged nego-
tistions between Poland and Ger
many. has but lately been completed
and. II is thought. Will ma -ria"y
benefit Polish trade. The fmt So
OF the city is 10 rival Hamburg AS
4 commercial port: already a '.ton
exchange is IN being, and were lt
rossible 10 Guild a Dauzig IN cream
tile marine the port would surely
revive the prestige and the wealLh
IL carried in the Middle Ages.
But Danzig. Ike industrial Poland
suffers heavily from the deprecia-
ton OF the mark. Within tee last
month the exchange has deprecl-
ated and the fluctuations arc so
rapid that Il is impossible for the
business man to quote fO- tie dis
patch OF goods, as what may be a
reasonable figure on Monday may
be a bankrupt price on Iuesday 1t
70 this terrible uncertainty when
hampers development Of trad"
The reasons fer the fluctuations
are many. but the chief cause IS
that millions Of marks ars n the
hands of spectators outside 20
land. Quits recently certain Ger
man banks sold Polish marks az e
hsure far below Warsaw rates OF
exchange. with the result that the
nerk fen two or three thousand.
Economists insist that there is too
large an Issue Of paper money. ON
this count, however, there is some
thing TO be said for the Pole.
Camp For Immigrants.
The check system is not in use
and Il IS necessary TO carry q large
vad OF notes for the ordinary eN-
penses OF daily life. The notes are
made OF such fimsy paper that after
two or three weeks of circulation
they literally fall in pieces. disinte-
grating in the hand. This means
that so many millions Of marks an
nually disappear. which reduces the
government responsibility
one or the most interesting fea-
lures of the port is the camp for
Polish immigrants returning from
America. During the last sever
months az many as 10000 have
come back 90 their native land. The
correspondent had long talk WIFI
n Polish engineers filter employed
IN Pittsburg. He had come home
10 settle his wife and family ON
farm. When ne had bought th'
land ne proposed 20 leave IL in the
care OF his two sons. youths Of IL
and L.
They would look after the fam
uv. while ne went back 20 the state
10 accumulate furthc- savings
which ne would eventually invest u
Polish soil A typical American
workman i'm manner ana speech. on
realized the strength OF the lecliu.
that brought HIM hack TO the coun
try no had left as a boy Ameri
eae a great place he said simply
.'but this - my native land