Evening star., 1922-05-21
S|LES|AN INDUSTRY.
RAPIDLY UP
Coal, Zinc, Stee! and Sui
phuric Acid Production
Nears Pre-War Mark.
BY A. r. DECKER.


special Correspondence Of The Star and Chi
eato Daily News.
WARSAW, Poland, May 5.-Events
In Upper Silesia call attention once
more to that hotbed Of trouble. Sew
.eral prominent Poles have been as
sassinated. French chasseurs were
killed in a BOBBY trap. a German
woman standing at window was
shot by French troops of occupation,
who thought that q snipsr had fired
at them from the window, and nu-
merous other deeds Of violence have
been committed, There are signs that
the Poles ars about to seek revenge
for the assassinations, and the Ger
man orgesch" or Organization
Escheresch" is moving men and arms
to the trouble area.
Poles see connection between
these events in Upper Silesia. the
Genoa conference and the red mobifi-
cation along the Lithuanian, Polish
and Rumanian frontiers The hope
and belief is that it will not come to
renewal of hostilities. But if Upper
Silesia explodes and the soviets at
tack I.ithuania or Rumania, the Poles
will not sit idly by. The result would
be the ruinatien of the resonstrue-
Eoi 'huS Lar TedliZeu III eastern
Europe. =.
The frontier line. as now estab-
lished. places the zine smelling fur
naces on the Polish side. and leaves
the zinc ore fields on the German
side; BY the division Of the coal
fields dsd Poland expects to have 1e.-
0e0.090 tons of coal yearly for ex-
port, while the Germans will be short
of coal for their industry until new
pits can be opened within the Ger.
man frontiers. Narrow-Guage roads,
a big factor in Upper Silesil. have
been separated from the plants. AS
regards population. Germany gets
more Poles than the Poles gets Ger
mans, but the cities and Industrial
areas contain large majorities of
Germans. This accentuates the
strife.
Moving From Deslin - kattoWia&.
Leaving out the social and political
side Of the question probably the Ger
man owners, who control rs per cent
of the industry, could and would find
modus vivendi. Already many Ger
man owners have removed their Of
fees from Berlin to kattowitZ. now
Polish. and hare established agencies
in Warsaw. The Germans are pro-
tected by the Geneva convention for
a period of fifteen years
One advantage of the division Is to
remove one customs barrier between
the region and the east and south.
But these markets are stagnant be-
cause of bolshevism and industrial
retrogreSSiOn.
The former, Prussian government
owned industries hate been coded to
a FrancOPolish company. The Polish
government will remain a sharehold-
ed and receive rentals and dividends.
Production in Upper Silestia is ap
preaching that of pre-war days. In
1920 Polish Upper Si1esis produced
24.600.000 tons of coal, as compared
with 32.S00,O00 tons in 1918: $4,000
tons or steel, compared with 100000
tons in 1919; $4,000 tons of zinc. COM
pared with 1fS.e0O tons in 1913. and
$4,000 tons of lead, compared with
$4,000 tons in 1913.
In 1890 German Upper Silesia pro-
duced 7,I80.008 tons of coal. compared
with 1O,400.o00 tons in 1913, and zd0,-
900 tons of steel, compared with $685.
900 tons in 1918. In 1920 Polish Upper
Siiesia produced $4,000 tons of sui
phuric acid, and in 1919. 256,0O0 toms.
Polish Tipped Silesia also produces
large Quantities Of artificial fsrth-
Upper Silesia produces mainly, hSB-
finished products-rails, steel ties,
wire. pipe and structural steel There
are no large car or locomotive works
in this region. a few finishing plants
operate on the German side. and one
large enameling plant on the Polish
side. For the industry on the Ger
man side the Germans will be COM
PEELED for long time to import coal
from the Polish side-perhaps 5,000,-.
900 tons yearly.
Severe Competition From Germany.
The coal production for 1922 is esti-
mated at ss.ooo.ooo tons. s1ieslan
cent of 1s13's production. Polish
coke production was equal to IS per
cent of the 1913 production, and
during the last part of 1921 rose to
50 per cent. This was due to coal !
shortage In Poland: Production IN
is expected to increase. So is the
pressed briquette production.
The iron and steel industry is hav-
ing severe competition with western
German iron. which is cheaper be-
coke. Production of iron in Upper
Silesia has gone down rapidly. and
it is believed that only a. tariff wall
can save this industry, unless east
ern demand increases.
Throagh the division all the lead
and ZINC fields come to Poland. but
the visible supply will soon be- ex-
hausted In 1913 Upper Siiesia pro-
dueed one-half of Germany's zinc and
one-seventh of the worlds supply.
There is a superf1uous number OF re-
QuCtl0u RtduIS, all "UFh1ue6. dI pET-
haps so per cent capacity. Poland
gets the n1lch-needed sulphuric acid
by-products the Thomas Stag and the
rich Chorzow pitrates. =
Poland will soon have a food sun
plus. which will improve the food
supply for the Upper Silesian i'm
dustriaI area.
Little has been said. about one Of
Cpper SiiasiR,s principal by-produets,
cocaine. This drug, manufactured
near Gleiwitz. Is being spread ALI
become. rich, dealing in tho cheap
German article. Russia. France and.
Italy ara 1ar1a consumers, for the,
war has caused many to become adj
dicte,i to- the use Of the, drug. The.
principal distaibutora are crews OIL
through trains and ufrfenpaife officers
mi h snacian facilifiea. fnz- traNalinR-