Evening star., 1949-07-21
Poor Little Belgium
Has. Become Model ol
European Prosperity
By William H. Stonemon
Foreign Correspondent Of The Stor and
the Chicago Daily News

By William n. Stonemon
Foreign Correspondent Of The stor and
the Chicago Daily News
BRUSSELS, Belgium. July 81.
The Cinderella of Europe has
gone to town, wearing sables and
riding in a nice big Cadillac.
Poor little Belgium isn't poor
any more and she doesn't have to
be rescued from the Germans or
anybody else. except maybe her
self.
Lots of good luck and hard
work have turned this modest
land of 100000 plain and SIM
pie people into the most stable
and prosperous looking spot on
the western fringe of Europe.
Signs of prosperity are all over
the place.
The stores are full of local and
foreign goods including more
American items than you can find
anywhere else in Europe. The
streets here in Brussels and the
roads outside are full of new and
high-priced American cars. driven
at meteoric speeds by the worst
drivers west of Athens, Greece.
Tourists Relax.
Burghers attend cocktail par
ties and receptions dripping with
diamonds and decoration. There
are said to be more medals per
square yard Of Belgian chest than
you can find anywhere else in
Europe outside the Soviet Union.
Down along the Avenue Max,
baking under the summer sun,
the Belgians and the 1949 tourist
crop take their ease outside the
Hotel Metropole. It does your
heart good to see them at play.
It was all so different on that
other hot summer day In 1910
when the Germans were coming
down the road from Louvain.
Ofieial figures show the extent
of Belgium's current boom. Last
year she sold 100000. 900 worth
Of goods more to western Europe
than she bought. She spent
roughly 5000, 100000 of this to
cover her trading deficit with the
dollar bloc, leaving her a gain Of
about $200,000.000. Her gold re-
serve went up by more than $780,
900, 900 during the year.
This year she will also do we'll.
Although she has agreed to sell
some goods to other European
countries on long term credits,
she stands to make a net dollar
profit of between $4,000. 900 and
$152. 100000.
Hard Work Seen Cause.
Other Europeans say that it is
luck that Belgium has become the
rich man Of Western Europe in
1949. Belgians protest that hard
work lies behind 1t all.
The plain truth is that the Bel
gians have been lucky and have
done their best to make the most
OF their chances.
Belgium is lucky because:
She has the basic wherewithal
for successful foreign trade--coal.
iron, lead, zinc and copper, plus
a good efficient industry to turn
them into goods.
Her industry was less damaged
fduring the World War II than
the industry Of any other Western
Europe country.
Her colonial empire remained
intact. Britain, France and Italy
all lost control over vast areas
overseas. The lush Belgian Congo
remained an outright Belgian pos
session. It produce copper and
uranium. among other things.
Country Is Conservative.
Belgium has a conservative la
Dor setup. This Is a conservative
Catholic country and 1t is esti-
mated that only 100000 of the
2 200 900 registered workers belong
to Socialist trade unions. Belgium
has a minimum of labor trouble.
Between II and IL per cent Of
the registered workers are unem-
ployed and draw dole that runs up
to $3.50 a day. The rest draw
wages that are even low for West
ern Europe. There is a distinct
and potentially very dangerous
dividing line between the working
classes and the prosperous bourg-
eoisie.
Because Belgium is in the
black her political troubles as
sumo an academic nature.
It doesn't seem to make any
real difference that the kingdom
has no King. There is no sense
of urgency about the situation OF
Leopold III, who has been in exile
since the war. It also seems to
be a matter Of indifference that
the country hasn't had a Prime