Evening star., 1929-06-29
RUMAN|A 3 TIMES
LARGER SINCE WAR
BIoodIess Revolution Gives
Peasants 8,402,240
Acres of Land.

Two nun0reO UnOuSdnQ humdnldnS
who met at Alba Julia to celebrate the
tenth birthday of greater Rumania also
celebrated a bloodless revolution.
Ten years have seen the distribu-
ton of 8,4o2,240 acres of land to
1,475.75l peasants.
Before the war Rumania was a coun-
try Of the landed rich and the landless
poor. Today the maximum holding per-
mitted to one individual is 1895 acres
King and mobiles gave up their estates
to fulfill the demands of the agrarian
reform.
Not a Shot Fired.
Ten years of transition in Rumania
are traced in bulletin of the National
Geographic Society from Its headquar.
ters here.
What Russia. Mexico and other
countries have done in the matter of
land distribution at the cost of many
lives and much money Rumania ac-
complished without Shot" continues
the bulletin.
But reform was not without cost.
Uncertainties, lack of organization to
meet new conditions and lack of trans
portation facilities increased the cost of
borrowed money to IL and IA per cent.
Credit is tight In a country where all
the money in circulation must pass
through the national treasury as taxes
three times per year.
Greater Rumania is nearly three
times as large as pre-war Rumania.
The new nation took in Transatlantic,
the Banat, Bucovina and Bessarabia
and has yet to digest them. Old Ru-
mania was the size of England Greater
Rumanla Is larger than England adding
to itself Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Like the units of Great Britain each is
dlnerent; BesSarabia is an extension of
the Russian black earth prairie; Bu-
coVina, forested region; Transylvania
an upland notable for industries as well
as agriculture; the Banat lowland.
Alter the war Rumania saw visions
OF an industrial future. The country
mas ample resources; oil, water power.
WOOD ore, and good labor supply. Ten
years have dimmed the vision but have
not wiped 1t out. Eight out of ten Ru-
man1ans still are farmers, so the nation
mas decided to make good job of farm
ing before turning to industry Cooper
atives have been organized. Groups of
peasants find they can afford to buy
American farm machinery. A grain
grading law was passed in 1928. sfk
culture starting from nothing has in
creased to an enterprise enlisting 1000
workers and 100000 capital.
AuSH anu SuuHOWeFS.
Since the World War Rumanians
have turned definitely from wheat to
American corn. Greater acreage is
planted in corn than wheat. Corn mush
dlsplaceS bread as a national food Bes-
sarabia looks like Kansas. But last
year second drought hit the country.
The corn crop was failure and Ruma-
MIA, country which has exported
cereals for years, had to import corn.
The government acted to forestall
famine in some regions.
The similarity of parts Of Rumania
to Kansas extends to sunfiowers, for
which both regions are famous In
Rumania Sunfiowers are a standard
crop; 394,35 lcres were planted in
sunftowers last year. Oil pressed from
sunfiower seeds serves as a constituent
of butter substitutes.
-Four foundation stones support life
IN Rumania: cereals oil, lumber and
livestock. Production of oil and lumber
mas progressed vigorously, not enough,
however, to offset losses in cereals and
livestock
Companies of many nations, includ-
ing the United States, are working Ru-
manian oil wells near Ploesti north
west of Bucharest. They have in
creased production until the 4,265, ,l94
metric tons Of oil produced last season
made 1928 the biggest year. Rumania
STANDS sixth, supplying "a of the world
production, although Rumanian oil
represents l3 per cent of the increase
In world production.
Rumanian oil is found mixed with
SAND san as fine as nour. powerful flow
VIII cut steel castings like so much
cheese: One new well bored a hole
through three-ton iron cap with the
ease OF a high-grade drill. Because
the sand ruins pumping machinery the
oil is lifted to the surface in long
buckets. Probably they are the worlds
longest buckets; some of them stand
nve stories high and bring up number
OF barrels each time. An American
company seems to have clinched a
$3,OOO,OO0 contract for a new pipeline
70 carry the oil from Ploesti to the
Danube. across the Cernavcda bridge,
and across Dobrudja to the seaport of
Constanza, 500 miles.
Buy American Goods.
Despite the depression, and lack of
roaos, sales Of automobiles, most of
them American, continue to increase.
Last year $4,000 were soda record.
Many OF them go to the oil fields where
tney permit the engineers in charge of
outlying wells to get to Ploesti occa-
slonally for the enjoymentAof compan-
ionship in the international Club.
Automobiles are the biggest item of
American imports. which include access
sories, films, oil field equipment, radios,
monographs and records, engines, in
secticides and electric refrigerators to
the amount of 10000, 900. Walnuts and
fur skins are Rumania's chief exports
to the United States.
DR.. MANU-, the new premier of Ru-
mania, has served under two povern-
ments. He was a member of the Hun
garlan Diet before the war. In the last
part OF 1928 he accepted the premier
ship of Rumania.
Among the improvements to which
Rumania looks forward is the reclama-
tlon OF vast areas Of swamp land. Seven
thousand square miles of marsh will
afford ample land for the remaining
landleSs peasants, numbering about
5000.
The nation has its own national
church, the Orthodox Eastern Church.
Other churches have numerous mem
bers, however, among them the Uni
tartan Church"