Norwich bulletin., 1921-03-31
THE PORTEOUS 6 MITCHELL co.

s1esis, and the lower part of it, taeadSx- icaily, Upper Silesia. But the prfAdox Is more apparent than real. for Upper Si- lesia obtains its name not becAuse of It's relative latitude but because of i.s mountainous character.
 Tn the scutheasternmost tlp of the old German Empire, tucked in between Ausrla-Hungary and Russia, waa he part of Upper Silesia which gives the country It's great value and makes 1t terriory worthy of the strenuous efforts that have been put forth to possess 1t coal fields covering 1000 square miles and constl- tuting the most extensive deposit of high grade coal in Europe. The total avail able supply is estimated at blliion tons, which is sliet4ly greater than that in the more familiar Ruhr valley held Of western Germany.
 The bare tonnaEes d6 not. ten the whole story, for While the Rahr coal it , partly of inferior quality that in Upper Silesia is practically all of high grade
 Germany. not unnAturally therefore looked uon the retention of Upper Silesia as necessity if she was to win her way back to world importance industrialiy
 It value had been amply demonstrated for | the possession of this district made it possible for Germany to carfy on the World war long as she did. even though most of the world was arrayed against her. Similarly Poland felt that an lhde. | pendent economic existence and a
 strength capable of withstandinS military aggression from both east and west could not be achieved By her without Up- | per Silesia's coal. Important deposits ol
 zine and lead ores increase the vAlde ti the region
 | The presence os great dusntitiss Sf eosl | has brought large number Of n1etailhrE- ical industries 10 Upper Silesla so that il is of great value as an industrial eoti- 1 munity as well as mining region. Some
 Iron ore Is mined in the district, and
 large quantities are brought iIi from tht
 mines to the vest and east to feed the seemlnEiy number of blast furnaces. ifoh and steel mills. machine shops, and 6ther metal working establishments that hAvi been developed there. Other industrles center about the fabrication of Sinc and
 lead. So highly developed In tiiis ihdus-
 trial region that the area about the town
 of Beuthen. KonlRshutte. Kattowit4 ant
 Gieiwitz is feputed 10 have the heaviest population per square mile in Buropk. "silesla vas early occupied by slAviI
 tribes but vas little heard Of until abou the year 1000 when 1t became cthneetel with Poland. More than | hundred year
 later 1t was a sAparste principality bu allied With Poland. It was then sehii-lh dependeht but under the ovefiofdship 6 Germah, Bohemian. Hungarizh, and Aus triAn rulers in turn. It was Battle ground during the thirty years war in tn seventeenth centtry. and as a result Q this scourge of war lost nearly three
 fourths of its population. In 17l1 old Sl lesia was divided, the southern portion re
 nainink in the possession of Austria, an,
 the Upper and Lo~er siiesia. of nisdsr1
 times going to Prussia me Frlstlai
 King, Frederick H. tsek the ttffit6fy g. ] force, from Empress Maria fhetesa, bas
 ing his claim 6n sf0ft-lIved Gerihal suzerainity dating frenl 11s3
 "A fiiovetiieht to eolonize silesla Rit ] Germans vas begun by German nscharch in the twelfth centuty AS q fesuit tn
 populstion of LSEsf siIesia has Been prs [ dotninahtly 6efhAn Tor hhhdreds a Iyears.
 ''1h the casa 5f Upper siiesia shS des . ntans We're not sc stcceiAful Ih mos } st the lArket cities tnefs ara nofk Ger