Evening star., 1923-09-29

HumAn1a. mas King ana queen but
they,don't count The family to reck-
on with there L. not the royal family.
but the family of Bratfano.
Jon Bratiano is prime minister. His
father was prime minister for q. gen
Grafton before Jon. The brother of
Jon .is vintila Bratiano. minister of
finance. The third brother is the gov
ernment leader in the national as
sembiy. For thirty years the name
of Bratiano has been the first name in
Rumania - & -
The father was leader of the liberal
party, and he made it liberal. The
son Jon took over the liberal party.
and he has made It conservative. But
Jon has two weaknesses-he Is get
ting old and he. is lazy. so.g more and
more. Jon is relying on hts brother
vintiia, minister OF finance, for his
guidance. .
Today vintila Bratiano Is The real
power in Rumania. A man OF ordi-
nary ability, but with strong physical
vitality. he has risen to poHer. un-
like his brother, by bis treme ndous
capacity for hard work. + met him
o'clock in the morning.
X +
"Yes, we have a very difficult prob
lem. But we will work 1t out If we
are given chance" declared the
finance minister. speaking in French.
These last six words were said with
smile. evidently recalling the wild
scenes in the national assembly which
1 witnessed the preceding day. when
a general free-for-ali fist fight oc.
CURED between the members of his
party {lfberal) and those of the peas
ant party. -:
Our big task is to hold Rumania
together long enough to make gov
ernment expenditures, and receipts
balance. and exports, at least equal
imports. SO far We have not sue
ceeded. Until that time we are going
to have trouble, even worse than we
have had so far" he declared.
Rumania was first Roman colony.
Then Turkey captured 1T and held It
for 400 years. After the Russo Turk
ish war in 1871 she announced her
the same time to Russia. But It was
given back to her after the last war.
She was also given Transylvania from
Hungary; also some parts OF Austria.
Her population increased from g.
100000 before to 17,soo,000 after the
war. Her area was increased from
$4,000 square mfles-about the size
of Arkansas-to 122. GOO square miles.
thus adding an additional territory
equal to that OF Missouri
Today Rumania is q very fertile
peasant country, rich In lands. for
ests. oil and salt. Eighty per cent of
her people are peasants. and only one
in four can read and write.
= *~A
Now, why isn't Rumaria, progress
ing: First, the liberal party has
never had the confidence of the peas
ants, who charge the government
with grosy mismanagement and cor
ruption in high places. Unfortu-
nately, this seems to be true. Ru-
mania is stepped in corruption and
graft. -s. t4
Then the policy of. the present gov
ernment. in putting on very heavy
export duties on all grain and live
stock leaving Rumania is decreas-
ing the export trade and agricultural
production. instead of bringing in
revenue.
Mr.. Mihalache, the popular leader
of the peasant party. told me that
this government agricultural policy
was drying up agricultural produc-
tion. The acreage in wheat. rye
and barley is less this year than
in 1892. This means less produc-
tion, less exports to buy imports
with. 1t means slowing down pro-
duction. 1t means less national In
lache. DR.. Lupin and the other peas
ant leaders are demanding the with
drawaI of all export duties SO as. to
enable the farmers to receive the
world prices for articles of export.
In the meantime both the volume
of imports and exports Is growing
less instead OF more. 1t Is getting
harder to pay for imports In 1892,
for they were three times as large
as exports.
The money situation also il bad.
The circulation has increased thirty
five fold since 1913. The gold re-
serve now is about 8 per cent. as
against As per cent in 1914. Before
the war an American dollar would
buy five lei--today 200 lei.
Prices have increased thirty fold.
Paper wages have increased twenty
fold. Real wages are two-thirds of
1914 wages. The government re-
ceipts from taxes since the war are
60 per cent of government expendf-
lures. The balance-40 per CENTS