The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-08
HELGOLAND
7 DISTINCTION. D. C., August |

land became under Germany as truly a synonym for fortified strength as Gibraltar. most person! probably think of the little island 1T the North sea as being as essentially Germany as Hamburg, the goosesteI or the Lorelei," says a bulletin from the Washington headquarters of th' National Geographic society. "Bu this bit of land was such a new conner in the German family circle when the World war began in 1914 continues the bulletin, that tho greater part of It's adult population had been born under an alien flae and was watched like spies by Ger man secret agents during the hostili ties.
 This rather tenuous relationship between Germany and Helgoland ii recalled in the light of recent dis patches stating that the people o the island have sent a petition tC the League of Nations asking fol | iiCht dliHdblOi PiONCNNlOn OL eit' league or for remuneration to Grea' Britain. For 1t was to Great Britain strangely enough, that Helgoland be. longed for nearly 100 years prior tc 1890, when 1t was ceded to Germany
 "Helgoland lies about 40 miles of shore from the mouth of the Elbt river, and geographically might be. long either to Holland to the south west, to Germany to the southeast, oi to Denmark to the northeast. As 2 matter of fact, the little island, al one time or another has belonged to each of those countries and to England besides. Its people were originally Frisians, as were the in habitants of the entire adjoining on the island, is closer to the old Anglo Saxon than any other existing tongue.
 The Frisians fought as stubbornly as any people in Europe against the encroachments of great Kingdoms and empires. opposing successively the Romans, Franks. Dutch. Spanish Germans and Danes. The people oi isolated Helgoland maintained theiI independence long after their broth CTS of the mainland had been sub jugated, and have kept alive ever today, in the fact of intensive efforts at Germanization. something of the Tristan spirit.
 ] "A republic, one of the tiniest 1T Europe, from 950 until the fourteenth century, Helgoland then came under the control of the dukes of Schleskig This was a semi-independent duchy under Danish influence. The island was taken over by Denmark at the and was In turn captured by Great Britain about century later during the Napolsonic wars. Germany came into possession of the island as the result of a political trade, not en- tirely pleasing to the inhabitants who were thus thrown under German control. The cession took place in 1890 in return for the recognition by Germany of British protectorate over Zanzibar, on the eastern coast 0, Africa.
 "No sooner had Germany come into possession of Helgoland than she be- gan fortifying the island on a gi- gantic scale. The Kaiser planned to make the crag the eye of the em- pire,' and it's guard. Turrets of powerful, long-range guns were placed on all sides, dominating the lines of approach to the mouths of the Ems, the Weser, the Elbe and the Kiel canal. Practically the entire surface of the island, about a fifth of a square mile in area, was made bomb proofN Underground passages ran in every direction through the solid rock and commodious under ground barracks and seaplane han gers were constructed beyond the reach of bombardment. It Is believed that more than $5O.000,Ooo was spent in this creation of the Gibraltar of the North sea
 By the treaty of Versailles it was required that Helgolapd be stripped of all this expensive military equip ment. For months allied experts have been supervising the tearing down of the concrete and. armor- plate fortifications and the cutting of the great guns by means of the oxy- -acetylene flame into sections like gargantuan metal doughnuts. But so well did the Germans build their North sea fortress that it is es- timated that another year and prob- ably two will pass before the last of the war machinery will be disman- tied.
 "The few thousand inhabitants of Helgoland are fishermen. Their only ambition. they say, is that militarism shall give them wide berth in the future, and that they shall be per mitted to resume the making of their living from the turbulent North sea" NEGRO SCHOOLS
 From the Vocational Survey.
 rrhara are 653 negro schools in the