The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1923-05-16


prepared by the National Geographic 3d.
| cisty. Washington. D. CO.
A Polish map or handbook would tell
you that the land Of the Poles Is
Rzeczpospolita Polska, and that Its
capital IL Warszawa-a fact which
goes to show that there Is sometimes
justification for our habit of clubbing
other countries place names by our
own pseudonyms.
Warsaw Is forever being compared
to Paris, and rightly. The somberness
and heaviness and matter-of-factness
often found in the great cities Of Ger
many and Russia and England have
always been lacking In Warsaw. Even
a century Of oppression could not en-
tirely break the Polish spirit Of gayety
and optimism nor alter greatly the re-
suits this spirit had wrought In fash
ioning the Polish capital.
To carry the comparison further, the
Parisians are lovers of beauty, and so
are the people of Warsaw. 1t is sig
nificant that the Polish President who
recently was assassinated was at
tackled at an art exhibition. The
presence of the Polish chief executive
on such an occasion makes as true
picture as French president at new
theater, a British king at a board of
trade or a financial congress, or
President of the United States dedicat-
ing a great engineering work.
Finally Warsaw may be compared
to Paris in some ways upon the score
Of physical arrangement and appear
ance The city Is filled with impress
sive old cathedrals, churches and pal
aces, and has numerous stately public
buildings. Wide, tree-lined boulevards
radiate from the old city center, some
leading to beautiful and most elabo-
rately developed parks. But Warsaw
is not wholly a city Of wide avenues
and open spaces. 1t has It's ancient
portion of narrow, tortuous streets,
whose darkness and quietness take
one back to the Middle ages.
Warsaw's history is both long and
turbulent. 1t had its beginnings in
the Ninth century; and its start, like
that of many other great cities Of
Europe, was around the castle Of
feudal lord. In 1850 it became the
capital Of the then powerful Polish
kingdom, and has since played role
Of Importance In European history. In
evitably 1t grew to be great city and
inevitably 1t felt the hand of numer-
GUS conQuerors. For geographical po-
= Of no r
est Of European centers.
Has Strategic Trade Position.
One feels that, like the lines of
force about a magnet, Warsaw's lines
of trade must have existed from the
first, though invisible. Now they
have taken shape in steel and wood;
railroads extending from the city like
spokes of great Wheel OF toward
Petrograd, Moscow, Odessa, Vienna,
Prague, Berlin and Danzig. In Eu-
rope at peace 1t would occupy much
the position Of st. Louis in the United
States, though reversed as to direc-
lions, lying in a strategic position be-
tween the raw materials and food
stufrs of the East and the factories and
consumers Of the West; and at the |
same time helping to exchange prod |
ucts between the North and the South. |
In addition Warsaw Is itself an impor- |
tant manufacturing center. Its trade |
and industry and politics together have
built up a population close to the MIL
lion mark, making 1t one Of the half
dozen greatest cities Of the European
mainland.
The country of which Warsaw is the
capital must not be looked upon as
one of the little lands" that sprang
into existence after the World war. 1t
is more than half as large as Texas,
and has a population six times as
great. To put 1t more emphatically,
Polands population is practically
quarter that Of the United States.
Situated halfway between Petro-
grad, which may be taken as represent
Ing the north, and Venice on the warm
Mediterranean, Warsaw Is probably
thought of usually as In temperate lat
ltudes. It is in reality as far north
as the southern shore Of Hudson bay
Or the northern coast of Newfound-
land. Its winter, however, Is not 80
severe as the location might sug-
zest, but It Is more nearly comparable
10 that of New England.
He who wanders about the streets
II Warsaw cannot remain n ignorance
4 the glorious past Of Poland or the