The New York herald., 1921-07-11
Little BeIgium's Big Example.

Little Belgium's Big Example.
Little Belgium, mere speck on
the western coast of Europe, looms
up big in these lean months of de-
preston and slack production as
national example of industry, cour-
age and will to work, to save and to
invest.
1t is on the score of saving and
investing, not only at home but in
every part of the globe, that America
can find in Belgium timely example
worth emulating. We have marvelled
at the speed Of Belgian recovery. 1t
would have been a strange recon
struction period indeed, stranger
than any that had gone before, If it
had not produced just such a model
Of industry and thrift as Belgium
for the rest Of the world to study.
But Belgium's recovery has not
been accidental. 1t has not been due
to providential forces, untried scheme
OF invention, nor yet to innovations
thought out by new found genius.
1t has been due to Belgium's unre-
served acceptance of the elemental
truth that no nation can be rebuilt
except by toll, by the putting to-
gether Of labor and raw materials,
and by tilling the soil. In the United
States, where both labor and raw
materials are plentiful, wealth can be
created with despatch limited only
by the scale Of organization. But in
Belgium there is the problem of go
ing into far off lands to purchase
raw materials and of finding ready
money to pay for them. How has
Belgium accomplished this?
Acting Commercial Attache Cross
tells the story in report to the
Department of Commerce at Wash
ington. He describes at length Bel
GUMS foreign investments, amount
ing to sol, 100000 francs capital.
Money this was which went into
railway and industrial shares in Ar
gentina, Brazil, Egypt, Canada, Mex
leo, China, Africa and America.
Money invested with such skill that
when the withering blast of depre-
citation hit Belgian currency and sent
it tumbling to quarter of its par
value the foreign holdings of thrifty
Belgian savers stood up like a rock.
These holdings formed bulwark on
which to begin Belgian reconstruc-
tion, bulwark as stanch as IL the
investments had consisted of re-
served gold francs locked safely away
in the Government vaults.
In more ways than one these for
eign investments gave Belgium some
thing to build upon. Attache CRoss
says that ito every young or unde-
veloped country Of which the rich
natural resources were judged capa-
BILE of ultimately returning the ini-
tial investment with profit Belgian
surplus capital has been sent to pro-
mote real estate improvements, agri-
N0ASaA oA OPCA AbiOno anu COLI
struction, or simply to participate
in local enterprise" And he adds:
THE zeal OF Belgian capitalists in
opening such fields has its origin in
the nations need for foreign pur-
chasers to sustain its home industries.
and foreign trade statistics amply
show that. aside from the adjacent
countries in Europe. the most active
markets for Belgian manufactured
products have been those sections In
which Belgian financial interests have
gained firm foothold. At the same
time Belgian financial interests in
countries producing raw materials
and foodstuffs insure not only fixed
supply for Belgian industry and con-
sumption but also share In the
profits from such purchases"
There In a nutshell Is the doctrine
of thrift and the science Of skilful in
vestment. Ours is a country vastly
larger, vastly richer than Belgium,
and our need is proportionate for an
outlet for surplus capital and surplus
production. Belgium points the way
to procure these outlets, and Attache
Cross transmits a document which
says in effect to American toilers. saw
ers and bankers, Go thou to the
ant; consider her ways"
French Horses and War Rations.
txytth tho u-...ft.ts xs.-.f~~ ~er A.