Evening star., 1923-09-25
Can Europe Hold Together?
XI-Belgium's Struggle for Life
NY JOHN #. sINCLASa

Mr.. Theunis. before you became
prime minister OF Belgium you were
a banker. Would you tell the people
of America just what Belgium will get
out OF the invasion of the Ruhr ex-
cept more expenses and a lot Of
trouble"
The prime minister of Belgium Is
a. small, dark-complexioned, middle
aged man. He was seated at his fiat
top desk in the office of the minister
of finanLe. which position he also
holds. Everything about gave one
the appearance of order and eff
cienoy. He spoke English, but did
not reply directly to my question.
Belgium is the most populous
country in the world" declared the
minister in low, pleasant tone. I'm
1919 she had SAT people to the square
mile. Like England, we live by in
ternational trade. The war brought
US mountains OF debts. These we
can never pay, even the interest
charges, unless Germany pays US.
Thats why we entered the Ruhr
with France"
He knew it was not a sufficient an
swer. SO did /. But Belgium is des-
! perate. She must get help from
somebody.
The problem of Belgium is to sup
port population of 7.500.o00 jammed
into an area one-tenth as large as
Arizona. In 1913 she was doing just
that. Like England and France and
Germany and Italy. she bought more
goods outside than she sold. In 1913
she bought 926 millions of dollars of
| goods outside Belgium and sold
726 millions outside. She needed
200 millions to square the account
And she did it with her invisible
| exports. From her investments
abroad she got approximately 150
millions, from her tourist trade. SO
millions; from her merchant marine
remittances from abroad, information
al insurance, an additional amount
1t was enough. Her machinery In in
ternational trade was well oiled and
running smoothly. She was in 1915
supporting a larger population ina
smaller space than any nation in Eu-
rope. Her per capita annual income
was s1!3, as against SIP for Italy
Then the Germans crashed through
Belgium. For four and one-half years
the war was on. She piled up ex-
! penses. She didn't count the cost
But the reckoning day has come
When the war broke on Belgium she
had a public debt of 722 millions OF
dollars. By April. 1919. she had In.
| creased this to 1888 millions of dol.
lars-just ga times as much.
X X II
That's one part of the story. Here's
another. She increased the amount
of her bank notes and deposits from,
s240 0.000.0 900 in 1914 to $1.3s5, ,o0o, ,oot
in 1920. while her gold reserve on
her outstanding obligations during
this time went down from 2s.4 pei
cent to less than cents on the dol
lar. What happened? It's an old
story now. As the ratio OF increase
of paper money over goods produced
rose. the cost Of living likewise rose
Purchasing power of money went
down. Real wages likewise de-
creased. Just as it did elsewhere and
everywhere under like conditions II
took S459 to buy IN 1920 what sf0t
thought in 1914. But money wages
| in Belgium had gone up from 1OC
| to $50. That Is to say, based on
purchasing power. the wage-worker
was getting in 1890 only SIS per cent
| of what he got in 1914. While the
state was feeding him business opium
! (called imitation in polite society
his real condition-physical and
| ifinancial-was getting worse.
In 1914 an American dollar would