The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-07

mucn gram per acre as our Amerlc
it had one factory that produced on
the average quarter of a million
pieces of glass every day. This factory
began working again on the day of
the Armistice, and within one year
it had thirteen furnaces going. II
exported $4,000 tons of glass in 1920.
In 1918 Belgium exported window
glass which weighed more than 200,-
coo tons. Two years after the arm
istice it had regained seven eighths
of this business. The annual out
put of plate glass before the German
invasion was several million square
yards, and in this Belgium was far
ahead of any other European country.
Most Of the glass was bought by
England. Holland. and the United
States. In 1920 the whole of this
glass business had come back and the
exports of polished plate glass ex-
ceeded those of before the war.
These are but few straws which
show how the winds of prosperity are
blowing in Belgium. Just now the in
dustries are somewhat affected by
the hard times and bad money condi-
lions prevailing throughout the world,
but nearly every industry Is i'm
proving its plants, and there are
combinations of capital and move
.nlents to develop foreign trade, which
make the outlook better than ever.
Railways Rack TO Normal
Both in France and Belgium the
railways have been reconstructed,
the roadways improved; and trans
portation generally is equal to or
better than before the war. Belgium
was the first country on continental
Europe to build railway. That was
in 1884 and ever since then she has
been noted for her excellent railway
construction. In 1914 she had a
greater length of railways to the
square mile than any other country,
with a total length of track as long
as the distance between New York
and San Francisco. In addition there
were narrow gauge railways which
formed a net work covering the
kingdom There were 2.400 miles of
them running from village to village,
and acting as feeders to the standard
gauge railroads. During the war
the Germans completely destroyed
more than 700 miles of railroad and
damaed so much more that alto
gether more than 1900 miles were
put out of operation. They destroyed
in the neighborhood of 1900 bridges,
and when they retreated. the country
had less than 400 locomotives and
1900 cars in good working order.
After the armistice orders were
placed in America and Great Britain
for new rolling stock and some were
given out here. The only ones
promptly delivered were those from
ll,. a
have come back, and although they
are operating at greatly increased
fares and at a loss to the govern
ment, the service in many respects is
equal to any we have at home.
This is true also in France In my
railway rides there | frequently had
express trains which made more than
co miles an hour. / went from Paris
to Rheims over an excellent roadbed
in two hours, distance of 100 miles,
and came from Lille to Paris. dis
tance of 800 kilometers. or 1SS
miles, in four hours or at AZ miles per
hour including three stops. Our best
trains from New York to Washington
make the 227 miles in fiva hours,
which is only little more than As
miles per hour, and they have the
same proportionate number of stops.
The French train was brand new
the first-class cars were exceedingly
comfortable and the fare was much
lower. being only about 21s cents a
mile The trip cost me $4.2S, where
as, if I remember correctly, the trip
on the Congressional Limited is a lit
tie over 800 or more than twice as
much, although the distance is only
35 miles longer.
My dinner in the French dining
car, at the present rate of exchange,
cost SIS cents, and it was better than
the meals on our. trains at home.
Everything was red hot. We began
with an excellent soup served in
large cups. after which came fish
with potatoes, followed by course
of roast beef with green beans. The
meal ended with a dessert of cheese
and ripe grapes. We were each
charged 10 cents extra for coffee, and
I could have had q bottle Of excel
lent wine for rs cents. Tho dining