The Denver Jewish news., 1921-02-09
LIFE IN POLAND FROM HAND TO
MOUTH.
Scarcity. II. c. L. and Cold-COncern-
ing Coal, Railroads and Other
Good Things-Life from Hand
to MOuth-A Contrast.
BY A SELNER.

the abyss of perdition--such Is enc
prevailing mood of our population in
all its phases. Not only mood, or
superficial imprcssion-such Is the
honest truth. We can plainly see that
if conditions continue as they are, u
catastrophal breakdown must result
yet nobody can see how it can be other
wise. 1t would almost seem ut times |
that the rotten and poisonous wound |
has eaten its way into the organism
too deeply for any remedy to be ef' |
fective.
Yes, in the social organism of res
urrected Poland there is an Illness
which no physician can heal. III
would appear that Poland was vic
toriOus country, for has she not endeu
so beautifully her recent war against
the bloOd-dripping and starved Rus-
sian bear? Nevertheless this victori-
Gus country is going down and down
every day. You, citizens of the free
America, have probably financiai!
scientific point of view hearing the
fact that the Polish exchange is drop |
ping in value. But forlus it means un-
certainty and chaos, instability and
impossibility to foretell what tomor
row will bring
Altho Poland has maintained AN in |
dependent national existence for bare
Iy two years, she has already learned
the art of printing paper for 300 biz
,l,n moi MOO
minister comes before the Diet askins
for permission to print new paper cur
rency, the deputies make sharp ad-
dresses and say that the Diet grants
permission to do so for the last time.
But the last time" never comes.
What can one do? The treasury OF
the state is empty. yet 1t is necessary
10 moyc the machinery of governments
and it is moved by means of paper,
money, which is printed day and night,
in all kinds and all colors. 1t even
went so far that when the City OF
Warsaw sought TO order the printing
of some municipal bonds in one of the
printeries of Warsaw, the government
interposed an objection on the ground
that ull printing establishments i'll the
country have been requisitioned to
print government notes.
The result of such profligate print
ing is obvious. Scarcity and high
prices grow tremendously. Today 1t
costs 30 marks to buy pound of
meat. tomorrow 20. For pair of or
binary shoes one has to pay now D.
900 marks and IL suit of clothes Gait
not be gotten for less than 10000
! marks. / can see your eagerness to
/ compute it in dollars. But if you
imagine that because at the present
rate of exchange 10000 marks is on
ly between 30 and 40 dollars, it will
do you no good. Your average work
man still earns his 40 to 30 dollars
pef week. while here he can get only
5000 marks and 1000 is a rare thing.
And it is not easy TO obtain raise
of ones wages There are days when
all trades go on strike. Workers keep
On striking and employers arrangins
: lockouts. Life becomes harder with
every day, particularly in the large
cities. In Warsaw, for instance. it
became custom to shut down the
gas plants every now and then for lack
of coal. The fact that in streets not
lighted by electricity, are as dark as
Egypt. and that ii is dangerous to pass
thru them. is insignificant. Homes on
such occasions, are lighted by candles
or kerosene, even tho it is very eX-
pensivc. But the greatest difficulty
is experienced in the want of cook IA
cilities on such occasions. Coal sells |
at 80 marks per pud, and is hard
to find Wood may be gotten at 20
to so marks per pud. Under such cir
cumstanccs for II poor man to eat |
cooked meals is u real luxury And
then the cold in the room How can
one work when his hands and feet
are Il lump of ice.
: Coal? Until the recent war. Poland
Used to supply with its own coal i'll
the district of Dombrowa both the
country itself and half of Russia. Not
so today 1t now looks as tho Pol.
and's black diamonds would soon be-
come as scarce as white diamonds.
Such situation applies not only to
coal. Galica boasts of very rich oil
fields and salt mines, and yet both
products are now hard to procure. The
products are distributed on cards and |
by rationing out the supplies.
Whose fault is all this? Who can
tell. Producers claim That it is the
fault of the bad railroad communica-
tions. the railroud administration
,Inims that workers do not produce