The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-10-28
BREST- LITOvSK MAY
BE RECONSTRUCTED
American Funds. Offered to
Rebuild Polish City.


washington. -Americaa funds have
been offered for the restoration OF
another war-ravaged European city
Brest- Litovsk, Poland, according to a
news report from Warsaw.
Brest-Litovsk, which is famous for
the separate treaty which representa-
tives of Soviet Russia and Germany
signed there, today consists Of fine
railroad station and practically moth
ing more. Buildings which housed
$1,000 people were laid waste and the
large refugee population lives prin-
cipally 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 bulletin of
the National Geographic society from
its headquarters In Washington.
Center of. Communication Web.
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 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,
o4s An NJ
waterway arms reaching from the
north and south toward each other.
Thus the city Is served by we'll
nigh perfect system of communica-
ton, extending In all directions.
Brest-Litovsk lies 100 miles due
east of Warsaw Normally half its
population was of Jewish blood, and
it long has been 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 1t
dealt was f1oated 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 impor-
tant article of its trade.
''The familiar geographic reason for
the existence Of 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 1t 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 Ga
licia, Vlohynia, Lithuania, grand mas
ters of the Teutonic Knights, Tatar
chieftains and kings Of Poland held
and stormed the city in turns, and
going out from it gathered spoil from
the countryside.
Climax Of Russian Tragedy
sAlI of Brest- Litovsk history, how
ever, records no such high moment as
1t experienced late in 1917 Things
looked black for the allies. Russia,
which had been holding Germany on
the east, had collapsed internally I'M
der the pressure of war Kerensky,
who still espoused the allied cause,
was soon displaced by the Soviet
regime. Germany had driven deep
into Russian territory. With this set
ting the last act of the Russian trag-
edy took place in Brest-Litovsk, which
by that time had degenerated into
war camp and nothing more,
AT the headquarters Of Prince Leo
pold of Bavaria, Soviet representa-
tives signed a separate peace with
Germany which put the entire burden
Of carrying on the war on England,
France, the United States. Italy and