Evening star., 1923-12-02
Willingness to Work Has Revived Belgium,
First of War Nations, Premier Theunis Says

tinued, ''but l think the secret OF
our prosperity, if you must call it
secret, as L said, is work. And If /
may boast little, 1 think we Bel
CLANS are-I do not know the Eng
lish word-but We are like the cat
always we land on four feet" He
illustrated with his four fingers upon
the top Of his desk.
Belgians Made Good.
Il saw it in England during the
war" on. Theunis had performed
a remarkable service for his coun-
try as chief buyer of all war sup
plies in England) There l saw my
people, exiled, in a strange land
at first, lost. But not for long. They
got jobs. They made good. Some
Of them established factories for
themselves. Some built up trading
positions. In the munition factories.
especially. they made good. And
here again 1 can illustrate the Bel
gian attitude toward work. When
they turned out too many shells, the
British workmen said Go slow: make
the job last; you're making 1t hard
for the rest of US You see, that's
the difference. When we work, we
work. We put all our energy into it.
AFTER the war, Belgium had lost
everything We had been occupied
by the enemy and in part destroyed.
Also we had lost our trade con-
facts. We are a commercial nation.
And our markets, our agents, our
old customers-all were gone. Our
country had been a prisoner-and
we emerged, at the armistice. like a
prisoner, character and health and
confidence broken. We were free,
but that was all.
"At first we biinked a little at this
new freedom. 1t was strange to us.
But he illustrated again with
his fingers-"we landed on all four
feet.
THE politicians, from Lloyd George
to Clemenceau, made grandiose prom
ises-we have since discovered that
they meant nothing-that Belgium
should be paid in full. Your coun-
try gave more than promises. You
gave food and credit.
But we did not wait for repara-
tions. We went to work.
They Like to Work.
I'VE like to work. And today the
result is--well, here are some fig
ures. Ninety-seven per cent of our
devastated farm land restored and
planted in crops; 1,419 railroad sta
tions or train sheds rebuilt; LOO
kilometers of railroad track relaid;
our coal production greater than
before the war; the railroads now
carrying IS per cent of their pre-
war traffic; most of the 100000
houses, destroyed or badly damaged,
repaired or replaced; blast furnaces
running at about two-thirds of their
pre-war capacity; trade on the whole
good; no unemployment. Above all.
the standard of living is much
higher. Taking it altogether, we
have not done badly.
81 hope / am not boasting-but by
labor, brains and courage, we have
built up this little country almost
to what it was before the war"
The prime minister had been
talking in the same manner that
he works-rapidly, enthusiastically.
throwing gesture. facial expression,
voice-tones into almost every word
1 could not have interrupted even
had 1 wished Now he paused and
gave me a chance to ask:
How do you manage to sell your
iron and steel to England when she
is one of the worlds great metal
lurgic countries?"
1T seems strange, doesn't it?' NJ
Theunis unused. England became
the workshop of the world during
the war. With her merchant marine
she kept up her trade contacts. We
lost ours. But today she has 1,000.-
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