Evening star., 1928-03-25

n I moment In the experience
AN of the matchmaker when,
having at last assembled all
the parts and wound up the
main spring, he faces the question of
| whether the thing will tick and whether
it will keep time. Such, in all the va
rious phases, has been the experience
of the makers of modern Poland Only
today there Is proof that Poland as a
nation can now keep time.
For any one interested in the study
Of the creation and development of q
modern state, there could not possibly
be a more absorbing and stimulating
study than the history of Poland be-
tween 1919 and 1928 When the Paris
| conference was reshaping Europe,
| Poland was still something between {
memory and dream. II had existed !:
| Mr.. Wilson's declaration respecting
| Polish rights insured its rebirth That
was all. Six years later, when I came
| first to Warsaw. the dream had ex-
panded into an experiment. And in
the face of incredible obstacles, Poland
| had demonstrated that it could live.
Ravages of War.
| The marvel of this lies primarily in
| circumstance too little appreciated
abroad. During the war and postwar
years, all European peoples suffered
some of the evils incident to conflict
| invasion, devastation, imitation famine.
1t was the unique destiny of Poland
| to endure all Of these things within
its own territorial limits. to supply the
eastern battlefield, not merely for the
great conflict between the western and
! central powers between 1914 and 1918.
but also for the battle against boil
| shevism in 1920,
/ While some states emerged from the
struggle with great problems resulting
| from the acquisition Of large areas Of
/ territory, Poland had TO face the fact
that for more than century her terri
/ tory had been divided between Austria.
Russia and Prussia and three systems
of law. of administration. of organiza-
ton had been established PoSen.
Galicia and Congress Poland were
separated by the artificial barriers of a
century's making to an extent hardly
credible.
The task was TO create a modern
national state in that area which was
| bounded on one side by the bolshevist
revolution. on the other by a beaten
but unreconciled Germany. which re-
| peated its conviction that the new
| Poland was no more than q season
state, destined TO disappear
| In nine years what has Poland ac-
compliShed? I do not think il is an
exaggeration 10 say that the recreation
OF Poland, politically. economically and
financially. has been the greatest single
miracle Of postwar Europe More has
been done. with the resources avail
able, than in any region from the
devastated districts of northern France
to the confines Of bolShevist Russia.
State Employees Efficient.
Today the traveller from Berlin or
/ Vienna rides on trains which are clean,
I punctuai and indiStinguishable from
! British or French. At the frontiers he
/ Is dealt with by officials who are in
I telligent, we'll uniformed: he is watched
| by police who are equally well turned
/ out and unmistakablv efficient. More
over. the Polish railways which bring
/ him to the capital have been recon-
| structed TO the last bridge and they
constitute a part Of a whole new rail-
road system which Is not the least of
| the postwar achievements
| Poland has organized not only the
| administration OF customs and police.
Of railways. trained the thousands OF
men who had TO Be employed when the
German and Russian employees dis
appeared with the war and the revolu-
tion. but had made the system pay
| Today. thanks to railway efficiency,
the coal Of Upper Silesia comoeteS on
| the European markets with British and
with German Goals.
| Poland has all that could be required
/ to make going concern. complete
| and prosperous national business. II
/ has coal and iron, oil and zinc II
I has in IodE and BialyStock great tex
| tile industries, which entitle the former
/ city TO claim for itself the proud title
| Of Manchester Of the East" Like
| France, Poland has at the base Of its
| prosperity a vast agriculture which
abSorhs the efforts Of two-thirdS Of its
/ people And all these varied inStru-
ments of national production have been
! employed,
! What one sees here is only 4 begin
| ming, II will take years TO teach the
millions OF peasants the modern meth
DDS of agriculture, and 1t will take q
/ vast capital 10 provide the modern
/ machinery necessary TO progreSSive
farming. The important fact is that
the Polish government and people have
/ faced this problem.
Before there can be a modern state