The Coolidge examiner., 1933-10-20


nOLAND, youthful European
republic, with its famous Cor
ridor holding the limelight, has
been considered in the light of a
vanished past or a problematical
future rather than of vital and en-
crossing present.
Before world economic conditions
clouded the issue Poland made sub
stantial strides materializing the air
castles its people had cherished for
many centuries.
on war wasted territory stretch
ing over an ancient forest area
from marshland to mountains, Po-
land brought agriculture back be-
yOnd pre-war levels. Factories which
IL found destroyed or idle were re-
habilitated. Railway mileage was
increased and a uniform gauge
adopted, so that rails bound Poland
together instead of tearing it apart.
President Wilson champloned PO-
lands aspiration for independence,
and the United States government
loaned funds for the purchase of
food, clothing, and supplies which
were essential In the early stages of
national rehabilitation.
More densely populated than
Pennsylvania, Poland is still an az
ricultural nation. and the conse-
quent elasticity of its labor supply,
the economic independence of its
peasants, and the modesty of their
needs give 1t social stability in spite
of the rapid growth OF urban and
industrial life.
Without the sea and the seacoast
there Is no Poland" has proved n
potent slogan. During the summer
of 1892 ut Gdynia. city OF more
than 10000. so new as to be shown
only on most recent maps, Poland cell
ebrated its first "sea festival near
where General Haller, after fight
ing his way to the Baltic. dropped
a ring in its waters to celebrate the
union Of land and sea
Where few years ago one waded
in deep sand, lodging wind-shaken,
weblike nets and upended boathalves
converted into shelters. or watching
women bury potatoes in straw-lined
sand pits for the winter. there are
city streets and five-story buildings
Gdynia, with a port that can ac-
cOmmodate so vessels at a time, now
handles more than 100000 tons of
exports and Imports In a single
year.
Nearby Danzig, eight times as
pOpulous and once one of the great
ports of the Hanseatic league
which in its golden day virtually con-
trolled the trade routes of northern
Europe-far from being wiped out
through this new rivalry, now ham
dies 100000 tons, four times the
pre-war tonnage, and the largest
traffic in its history. Among Baltic
and North sea ports, Danzig's ton
mage is exceeded only by that of
Hamburg. Bremen, Copenhagen and
Stockholm. The Vistula river sys-
TEN drains most of Poland. and
Vistula-bound traffic passes to or
through Danzig before reaching the
sea.
Gdynia Its Naval Base.
But it is Gdynia which gives sig
nificance to the Polish Corridor
foreshadowed in the thirteenth of
President wilson's famous Fourteen
Points. And the new railway from
Upper Silesia to the Baltic. avoid
ing the free city of Danzig, assures
Poland's economic freedom.
France has co-operated in financ-
ing the railway, and Swiss finan-
ciers extended a loan of S2.500,0OO
to the city of Gydnia.
a Polish naval base on Polish soil
could have been foreseen, but poll
ticians fourteen years ago never
dreamed of Gdynia. Now there it is
one of the best-equipped ports on
the Baltic, and Polish emigrants To
North America embark there. di.
rect from Polish soil, instead of al
other European ports which their
predecessors once helped make pros
porous.
Five-eighths of all Polish trade
moving through the ports of Danzig
and Gdynia creates north and
south traffic in the Polish Corridor
seven times as heavy as the east ant
west commerce, although muct
trade between Germany and Soviet
Russia is diverted across the cor
ridOr and through East Prussia anC
Lithuania, away from the heart Oi
Poland.
Recently iron ore and cotton fol
Czecknslovakia entered through Gyd
MIA. thus providing return loads fol