Show PO ada mrs CA ti d g A J A village street in rural poland mr prepared spared by the th national geographic bode society t y washington D C importance among the P POLANDS nations of europe has been recognized by the united states by the raising of the united states legation at ai warsaw to the ita status atis of an embassy there has been a marked friendliness since the th world war between the great republic of the western hemisphere and the new nev republic of central europe anda loan of many millions has gone from the for mer Z er to help place the latter on a strong financial foundation amer american business methods have capture eji il L ll 11 lit imagination and admira and band scarcely a work on scientific dana management gement Is published in america today that Is not translated into aish poland has industries that were begun before thedis the discovery of america but some of them are being rejuvenated by american methods under the guidance of american engineers oldest of polands bolands Po lands industries to be affected by new methods are her salt mines which were adding to the savor of central european foods as early as the tenth century the first iron forge began operations in 1333 and may be looked upon as the beginning of the iron founding industry which now contributes millions of dollars worth of values each year to polish manufacture an important lumber industry based on timber lands covering ering acres was begun in the eighteenth century A tree must be ninety years old before it Is cut the entire forest area of the country I 1 Is I 1 more than acres one of polands bolands Po lands most interesting industries dus tries Is a plant for building railway equipment that was started in napoleonic times as a wagon factory the textile industry keeps more more than spindles busy and there are numerous factor factories Jes for the manufacture of paper chemicals and metal articles ari leles only germany which Is Po lands nearest western net neighbor abor exports more goods to the country than does the united states in a recent year the united states furnished approximately 10 16 per cent of all polish imports old poland resurrected the poland of today Is not an entirely new entity she Is rather a resurrection of the old poland which once was one of the greatest nations of christendom in size else she out ranked nearly every nation of the continent russia alone odthe of the european nations Is larger than poland was at her greatest in ili population pop she stood a at the forefront of europe only russia and germany had greater populations before the war than are to be found in the lands that thai once wei 6 poland for poland had an area of 21 square miles and the lands that once lay within her ber boundaries support a population of approximately in area she was as large as the former german empire Switzer switzerland tand belgium holland and denmark together larger than grent great BrItti ln italy and greece gree combined larger than austria hun gary and servia in one within what were wera her boundaries there dwells a present population larger than the combined populations of great britain and belgium larger than those of france belgium belgia ra a and nd ealier and matching that of the old austria hungary 1 i 1 t poland aps chrep t times 1 thes partitioned and these painton 11 ll n gs were readjusted between the by the congress of vienna in 1815 where the original partitions had g given alven russia square miles prussia aa square miles and austria square miles the reapportionment of the vienna congress angress gave russia prussia 1 rod and austria square miles much of the land which prussia secured and particularly klev had been identified with russia generations before poland in the days of her greatest area extended from a point within rio fio miles of berlin on the west to the meridian odthe sea of adov on the east cast on anthe the north it reached nearly to the gulf auit of r inland finland and on the south down downed ta the of crimea former flussman flus sian poland what ans known before the world war ns as russian poland Is that neck of territory si stretching retching westward between the and galicia gallelo Gall clo this territory has baa an area almost exactly equal to that of new york I 1 state yet in of the fact that its extreme southern souther boundary lies north of the latitude of winnipeg its population it Is as great as those oi N and new jersey combined former russian poland in this limited sense consists of a great plain somewhat undulating with an average elevation of about feet slop lag ing upward toward the highlands of gal gallela 1 eta 0 on a the south and toward the swelling ground paralleling the battle baltic on the north it joins the lowlands of western germany with the great plain of western russia its rivers are slow and sluggish with their mouths often but a few dozen feet below their sources and seldom more than a few hundred feet below their bastos basins intricately tri interpenetrate one another and the frequent inundations of these basins have cover covered e d thew them with a very rich alluvial soll soil russian poland usually has a winter somewhat similar to that of new england there la Is an even cold with not a great deal of snow but often with razor edged winds from the northward the rivers of this region usually freeze over about the middle of december and the vistula Is under lee ice for approximately 80 days during the average winter in the eighteenth century when the city of warsaw next to paris was the most brilliant city in europe this flat A f plain was unusually rich in herds and geese flocks though almost bare of manufactures polands bolands Po lands history has been a tragic ons one through the ages next nest to the russians they are numerically the most important of the slavs they first appeared in great or north and little or south poland in the tenth century where they thay found other slavic tribes in possession slon the wise policy of their kings early induced the whole nation tu to profess christianity people have changed little of medium size with round heads beads and healthful faces the blond more common than the brunet bri inet theli their cal appearance has apparently changed little the working classes who an constitute nine tenths of the nation have hae always been laborious frugal enduring temperate rather than abstemious and ln intensely tensel patriotic their sz lacta or nobles have shown themselves impetuous brave brae to rashness chivalrous insubordinate emotional artistic during the formative period poland was consolidated by the dynasty of the great lithuanian magellon Jag ellon the polish wadislaus II 11 a succession of princes unsurpassed in constructive ability union with the lithuanians Lithuania ns doubled the population and the national resources together they crushed the teutonic knights lits at tannenberg in 1410 and half a century later at the peace of thorn pus pushed lieI them east of the vistula the polish lands on the baltic together with danzig and Mar carlenberg lenberg were recovered the duchy of mazonia Maz ovla ovia of oc which warsaw was ft as the center five fhe centuries independent voluntarily joined the kingdom which a few years later spanned europe from the baltic to the blaa iaea the reformation regarded with a 9 suspicion as having rt a german origin only tor for a time disturbed the country the advantageous situation of the kingdom the admirable qualities of its if common people and the development already attained seemed to assure the greatness and permanence of the polish state yet in polands bolands Po lands history there Is disappointment on every page the brilliant pass passages agea are episodes without connection or result nowhere else Is so much valor valo wasted the chasm was always widening between the nobles and the common people the people paid all the taxes the nobles all equal possessed all the wealth and power but had no sense of obligation or responsibility lity intrepid in battle they were ready to fight for the country only when so BO inclined downfall and partition the system of government was oligarchic in the extreme succession to the powerless throne was elect elective lve native or foreigner alike eligible kach each election was an 0 orgy gy of tur bul boulerice erice and bribery tw twice ice the throne was put apat auction the Ilbe veto established in 1652 whereby tho negative vote of a single member of the diet nullified any act or all the acts of all the rest cul culminated in anarchy and eventually brought about the destruction of poland yet the criminal follies of a privileged class in no do way excuse or palliate the iniquity of the three partitions of poland in 1773 1793 1703 and 1705 by prussia russia and austria poland lias has enriched world to in music art and literature the national dances the polon polonaise alse and the mazurka were always accompanied by singing copernicus Is polands bolands Po lands greatest name victim of the world war by many considered the roost moat brilliant writer of tb the day was a pole as is |