The Alamance gleaner 1 =======^ VOL. I<><><><>o<><><>o<><>o<><>oS . Washington. D. C.) POLAND'S Importance among the nations of Europe lias been rec ognized by the United States by the raising of the United Stages legation at Warsaw to the status of ?n embassy. There has been a marked friendliness since the World war be ween the great republic of the West ern hemisphere and the new republic >f Central Europe, and a loan of many millions has gone from the for mer to help place the latter on a itrong financial foundation. American business methods bare -aptured the imagination and admira :lon of the Poles, and scarcely a work >n scientific management is published n America today that Is not trans nte-J into Polish. Poland has indus :rles that were begun before the dis covery of America, but some of them ire being rejuvenated by American methods under the guidance of Amer can engineers. Oldest of Poland's industries to be iffected by new methods are her salt mines which were adding to the savor ?f Central European - foods as early ts the Tenth century. The first Iron 'orge began operations In 1333 and mny be looked upon as the beginning >f the iron founding industry which now contributes millions of dollars worth of values each year to Polish manufacture. An Important lumber Industry, based od timber lands cov ?ring 52,000 seres, was begun In the Eighteenth century. A tree must be ninety years old before it is cue The entire forest area of the country Is more than 22,000,000 acres. One of Poland's most Interesting In dustries is a plant for building rail way equipment that was started to Napoleonic times as a wagon factory. The textile Industry keeps more than 1.000,000 spindles busy, and there are numerous factories for the manufac ture of paper, chemicals, and metal articles. Germany, which Is Poland's learest western neighbor, exports more goods to the couDtry than does the United States, in a recent year he United Slates furnished approxl mately 18 per cent of all Polish mports. Old Poland Resurrected. The Poland of today Is not an en tirely new entity. She Is rather a resurrection of the old Poland which once was one of the greatest nations of Christendom. Id size she out ranked nearly every nation of the con tinent. iiussla slone of the European nations Is larger than Poland was at her greatest In population she stood st the forefront of Europe: only Rus sia and Germany had greater popu lations before the war than are to be found In the lands that once were Poland; for unpnrtitloned Poland bad an area of 282,000 square miles, and the lands that once lay within her boundaries support a population of approximately 50.000.0u0. Poland was three times partitioned, and these partitlonlngs were read justed between the partltloners by the congress of Vienna In 1815. Where the original partitions had given Rus sia 181,000 square miles. Prussia 54. 000 square miles, and Austria 45,000 square miles, the reapportionment of the Vienna congress gave Russia 220, 500, Prussia 2G.000. and Austria 35, 000 square miles. Much of the land which Prussia secured, and particu larly Kiev, had been Identified with Russia generations before. Poland, In the days of ber greatest area, extended from a point within 50 miles of Berlin, od the west, to the mertdlaD of the sea of Axor on the east; on the north It reached Dearly to the Gulf of Finland and on the south down to the Khanate of Crimea. Former Russian Poland. What was knowD before the World war as Russian Poland Is that neck of territory stretching westward between the Prussian and Gallda. This terri tory has an area almost exactly equal to that of New Tork state, yet. In spite of the fact that Its extreme southern boundary lies north of the latitude of Winnipeg, its population Is as great as those of New Tork and New Jersey combined. Former Russian Poland. In this lim ited sense, consists of a treat plain, somewhat undulating, with an ittt age elevation of about *?> feet, slop ing upward toward the highlands of Galicla on the south and toward the swelling ground paralleling the Baltic on the north. It Joins the low lands of western Germany with the great plain , of western Russia. Its titers are alas* and sluggish. with their months often but a few dozen feet below their sources and seldom more than a few hundred feet below. Russian Poland usually has a winter somewhat similar to that of .lew Eng land. There Is an even cold, with not a great deal of snow, but often with razoredged winds from the northwardl The rivers of this region usually freeze over about the middle of Dp cember, and tbe Vistula is under Ice for approximately 80 days during the average winter. In the Eighteenth century, when the city of Warsaw, nevt to Paris, was the most brilliant citg in Europe, this flat plain was unusually rich in kentn and geese flocks, though almost bare at manufactures. Poland's history has been a tragic one through the ages. Xert to the Itussians. they are numerically the most Important of the Stars. They first appeared In Great, or North, and Little, or South. Poland In the Teeth ceDtury. where they found other Slavic tribes in possession. The wise policy of their kings early Induced the whole nation to profess Christianity. People Have Changed Little. Of medium size, with round heads and healthfnl faces, the blood more common than the brnnet. their physi cal appearance has apparently changed little. The working classes, who con stitute nine-tenths of the nation, hare always been laborious, frugal, endsr ing. temperate rather than abstemious, and intensely patriotic. Their niacin, or nobles, hare shown tiiemseivjj im petuous. brave to rashness, chivalrous. Insubordinate, emotional, artistic During the formative period Poland was consolidated by the dynasty ?f the great Lithuanian. Jageiion. the Polish Wadislaus II?a succession of princes unsurpassed In constructive ability. Union with the Lithuanians doubled the population and the na tional resources. Together they crushed the Teutonic knights at Tan nenberg In 1410 and half a century later at the peace of Thorn pushed them east of the Vistula. The Polish lands oo the Baltic, together with Danzig and Marienberg. were recov ered. The Duchy of Uazorta. of which Warsaw was the center. Ive centuries Independent. voluntarily joined the kingdom which a few years later spanned Europe from the Baltic to the Black sea. The Reformation, regarded with a suspicion as having a German origin, only for a time dis turbed the country. The advantageous situation of the kingdom, the admirable qualities of Its common people, and the development already attained, seemed to assure the greatness am] permanence of the Polish state. Tet In Poland's history there is disappointment on every page. The brilliant passages are episodes without connection or result. No where else is so mnch valor wasted. The chasm waa always widening be tween the nobles and the common people. The people paid all the taxes. The nobles, all equal, pos sessed all the wealth and power, bat had no sense of obligation or respon sibility. Intrepid in battle, they were ready to fight for the country only when so inclined. The system of government waa oligarchic In the extreme. Succession to the powerless throne waa elective, native or foreigner alike ellgiblw Each election was an orgy of tur bulence and bribery. Twice the throne was put np at auction. The liberuaa veto, established In 1652, whereby the negative vote of a single member of the diet nullified any act or all the acta of all the rest, culminated In anarchy and eventually brought about the destruction at Poland.