Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-12
AMERICA MAY AID
OLD POLISH CITY
Restoration of BreSt-LitovSk,
Scene of German.Soviet
Pact, May Result.

American funds have been offered
for the restoration Of another war
ravaged European city. Brest.Litovsk.
Poland. according to news report
from Warsaw.
Brest-L itovsk. which is famous for
the separate treaty which represen-
tatives Of Soviet Russia and Germany
signed there. today consists of fine
| railroad station and practically moth
ing more. Buildings which housed
| so 900 people were laid waste and the
large refugee population lives prlncl-
pally in caves and huts.
Before the war BreSt -Litovsk was
one of Russia's most important trad
ing centers and fortresses on her
eastern borders," says a bulletin of
the National Geographic Society from
| its headquarters here.
Center of Communications.
Complete restoration of Brest-
Litovsk would mean recreating a city
busy with buying. selling. carrying
and transferring the products of a
large agricultural region. Railways
from Odessa, kiev, Moscow, Warsaw.
Wilma and east Prussia intersect at
| the lonesome new railroad station.
But Brest-Litovsk Is more than q rail
center. 1t lies upon the inland water
| way from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
| A canal east Of the city connects the
| Mukhovets River and the Pripet
River, which are. respectively. finger
| tips Of waterway arms reaching from
| the north and south toward each
other. Thus the city is served by a
| well.nigh perfect system of commune
cation extending in all directions.
"Brest- Litovsk lies 100 miles due
east of Warsaw. Normally half its
population was of Jewish blood. and
1t long has been a Jewish stronghold.
It never developed an industry, but
depended instead upon commerce.
During the sixteenth century the
| synagogue Of the city was regarded
as the first in Europe.
GRAINS, hides, soap, wheat and
| timber were the staples Of its extern
sive trade. The lumber in which it
dealt was floated in great RATS down
| to Danzig. Flax, some of which went
to Ireland and Belgium to make Irish
and Flemish linen, was extensively
grown in the country surrounding the
town and formed another important
| article of its trade.
Forts Covered Four Miles.
1.-THE familiar geographic reason for
the existence Of a town-namely, two
rivers meeting-gives Brest-LitOvsk
it's excuse for being. The navigable
Bug and Mukhovets Rivers join. and
at the point of confluence once stood
| the city fortress. Older Notifications
were east of the city and covered
| four square miles. The defenses were
| the pride of Russia.
"But the World War showed what
history had been reporting for years
that Brest-Litovsk was far from in
| vulnerable. It was first mentioned in
ancient documents on the occasion of
| its capture by a Polish monarch in
| 1920. Next Casmir the Just of Poland
built a tight castle. Princes of Cali
cha. Vlohynia, Lithuania: grand mas
tiers of the Teutonic Knights, Tartar
'chieftains and kings of Poland held
and stormed the city in turns and.
going out from it. gathered spoil from
the countryside.
"All Of Brest -Litovsk history, how
ever, records no such high moment as
, it experienced in 1917. Things looked
black for the allies. Russia, which