Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-02
POLAND'S RULERS WIPE OUT
NATIONS ECONOMIC CHAOS
President 'lgnaiz the Obcdient" and
THE Duke" Pilsudski Bring Order
After Years of Poverty.

! up the country. and there is Sood
, 7irplane service. A new port on the
Baltic is giving Danzig plenty Of COM
petition Warsaw is slowly rebuilding
| itself. and IN an excellent hotel
visitor may live AS comfortably as In
any eastern European capital The
! people are poor--there is no getting
around tnat-brt they are not as poor
/ as they we're five years ago.
The budget is balanced and 1t isn't
A paper balance either; and the zlotv
has been stabilized Poland borrowed
S72 100000. mostly from the United
States, last autumn. and an American
financial adviser. Charles S. Dewey of
Chicago. is in charge in an advisory
capacity of the ministry Of finance.
The gold reserve against the note cir
culation is over so per cent. At the
end of 1927 the public debt of Poland
was only S43s 100000, or approximately
SIS per capita, This is the lowest per
capita debt in Europe. The internal
debt is less than s. per capita.
Steady Trade Expansion.
The trade balance was unfavorable
last year, largely owing to important
purchases of American cotton; but this
year 1t is due TO co up again. There
IS a steady and encouraging expansion
N industrial production. Poland. one
must remember, is one Of the very few
countries in Europe which are so funua-
mentally rich that they have enough
coal. coke, timber and oil in normal
years. for export. Domestic conSump-
ton is going up. Poland is basically
an agricultural country, and in agri-
culture steady progress is being made.
One might summarize the major
~ {
follows:
First of all 1t is essential that this
economic recovery continue. What is
primarily necessary is more capital.
Wall Street thinks that Poland is
pretty sound and capital is coming
even now a group of American finan-
ciers are In Warsaw negotiating, it is
said, an SS0,000,00o additional loan
Next, as far as economies Is con-
cerned, Poland is faced with the i'm
peratiVe necessity of building up its in
dustry This is because Poland has a
population OF 100000 people--a big
country-and the population goes up
by 100000 every year.
The chief political problem is to get
some sort Of stability in the crazy
course of local Polish politics. That
is where Pilsudski's best work has
at all let there be at least some sort
of directive control, even II it has to be
dictatorship.
The chief domestic issue is TO
reconcile the Pilsudski supporters-who
stand roughly III the center-with |
either the nationalist right. who derive I,
from the Russian Poles. who formed !
a national committee in Paris in 1919 |
in opposition to Pilsudski and who hate |
him bitterly to this day. or with the !.
radical socialists who oppose Pilsudski /
because his avowed wish is to strength |
en- the executive on semi-American /
model. Whether the Pilsudski center |
will swing to permanent coalition with |
right or left is the problem. Or per
haps Pilsudski. like Cromwell, finally |
sick Of the souabblings of a dozen par
ties. will form rllmp parliament all
his own. That is freely predicted now
in Warsaw.
In all the political comings and GO
ings the figure of Ignatz the Obedient
is aloof His job is not to pay any
attention TO anybody.
Poland Merits Confidence.
These are some Of the political prob
lens facing Poland. In addition there
is the immense problem Of the minori-
ties, for while Poland has 80 900 900
people, only 100000 Of them are Poles.
Most of the minorities live in a sort |
Of periphery bordering Poland. and thus
are a problem not only for their own
sake but because they gravely embar-
rass Poland's relations with her neigh
bors. These relations are not too coed.
With Russia, with Germany. with /
Iithuania Poland has serious difficult
ties
But they are not so serious as they /
were two years ago Even in foreign |
affairs Poland is merittng more and /
more the confidence which the United |
States is giving IL.