Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-01-06
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
ALIAS WARSAW, POLAND

WudL IS Lie Cdp1Ldl VI IeAONA
pospolita, Polska? Answer, WaG-
! szawa.
Probably that leaves you cold.
But III someone wanted to know the
name of Poland's capital you could
! doubtless snap out Warsaw" with
the best Of them.
(which merely goes to show that
there is sometimes justification for
our habit of clubbing other u
tries place names by our own pseu-
donyms," says a bulletin from the
Washington, d: c., headquarters Of
the National Geographic Society In
regard to the city which IS the scene
of Poland's seething politics.
Compared to Paris
Warsaw is forever being compar-
ed to Paris" continues the bulle-
| tin, land rightly. The comberness
| and heaviness and matter-of-fact-
| ness often found in the great cities
of Germany and Russia and Eng
land have always been lacking IN
Warsaw. Even a century of oppres-
sion could not entirely break the
Polish spirit of gaiety and optim-
ism nor alter greatly the results
this spirit had wrought in fashion
ing the Polish capital.
ITO carry the comparison further,
the Parisians are lovers of beauty
and so are the people of Warsaw.
1t is significant that the Polish
president was attacked at an art eX-
hibition. The presence of the Po-
lish chief executive on such an oc-
casion makes as true a picture as a
French president at a new theatre,
a British king at a board Of trade
or a financial congress, or a Presi-
| dent Of the United States dedicat-
| inc a praaf anQinnnrip0 work.
Finally Warsaw may be COM
pared to Paris in some ways upon
the score of physical arrangement
and appearance. The city is filled
with impressive old cathedrals,
| churches and palaces, and has num-
erous stately public buildings. Wide,
tree-llned ~boulevards radiate from
the center of the city, some leading
to beautiful and most elaborateiy
developed parks. But Warsaw IS
not wholly city of wide and
open spaces. 1t has its ancient
portion of narrow, tortuous streets
| whose darkness and quaintness tak
one back to the middle ages.
Importance Inevitable
"Warsaw's history is both long
and turbulent. 1t had its begin
nings in the ninth century n its
start. like that of so many other
great cities of Europe. was around
the castle of a feudal lord. In l5o0
it became the capital OF the then
powerful Polish Kingdom, and has
since played a role of Importance IN
European history. Inevitably It
| grew to be a great city and inevita-
bly, it felt the hand of numerous
conquerors. For geographical posi-
ton marked it as one of the great
est of European centerS.
"One feels that, like the lines OF
force about a magnet, WarsaWs
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 a great
wheel, off toward Petrograd, Mos
cow, Odessa, Vienna, Berlin and
Danzig. In a Europe at peace 1t
would occupy much the position ct
st Louis in the United States. lying
in a strategic position between the
raw materials and food stuffs OF the
west and the factories and COLI
lsumers of the east; and at the same
time helping to exchange productS
between the north and the south.
In addition Warsaw is itself an I'M
| portant manufacturing center. lts
| trade and industry and politics TO-
| gether have built up a population
| close to the million mark, making 1t
one of the half dozen greatest cl-
ties OF the European mainland.
1.-The country of which Warsaw Is
| the capital must no be looked up
on as one of the little lands n a
sprang into existence after the
World War. 1t is more than a DIS
large as Texas and has a popula-
ton six times as great. To put "
more emphatically, Poland's popu-
lation is practically a quarter that
OF the United States.
Far North as Hudson Bay
Situated half way between Petro-
grad, which may be taken as rep
| r~esenting the north and Venice on
the warm Mediterranean. Warsaw
is probably thought of usually as
in temperate ATTITUDES. 1t Is In
reality as far north of the southern
| shore of Hudson Bay or the north
ern coast of Newfoundland. It's
| winter however is not so severe as
the location might suggest, but is
more nearly comparable to that or
New England.
"He who wanders about the
streets of Warsaw cannot remain
in ignorance of the glorious past
of Poland nor of the parts her sons
have played in the world drama
He will encounter palace after pal
ace-a large enough number to en-
title Warsaw to dispute with Genoa
the nickname. city of palaces
They were built mostly during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centu-
ries when Warsaw was without a
peer in Europe save Paris.
Among the worlds famous Poles
to whom monuments exist in War
saw are >Sobieski who saved Chris
tian civilization from the Turks;
Copernicus who gave the first ade-
quate conception of the universe,
and Chopin who brought into the
world and left for its inspiration
rnIsin nf tha rarnst haal1tu In