Show POLAND ab IS GROWING 4 41 aggressive NATION 7 4 taking its place in spot light of world affairs affair washington polands bolands Po lands strategic petition between soviet russia and militant germany brings this aggressive european nation more and more into the spotlight of world affairs twenty years ago the name of poland could not have been found on any map of europe says the national geographic society today it Is the sixth largest nation in europe with a steadily increasing population that will soon oon reach once before poland was a great power in the sixteenth and seven centuries its territory extended d from a point within efty fafty miles 0 of f berlin to the meridian of the sea of 0 f adov and from the banate 17 of crimea crime a nearly to the gulf of finland in those days warsaw next neit to paris was the most brilliant city in europe divided by powers then cane came weak rulers and internal dissension that paved the way for prussian russian and austrian ex pan slon in the three disastrous parti eions of 1772 1793 and 1795 1793 these powers divided poland between them then legalized the proceedings by the congress of vienna in 1815 the state had bad ceased to exist e ast but bat the people never lost their fierce nationalism after a century and a half of oppression came the proud day in november 1918 when marshal ski returned to warsaw to be acclaimed as chief of the new independent polish state the treaty of versailles established the western boundaries of the new nation and after ft a serious struggle with russia the eastern border was fixed by the riga treaty of 1921 under leadership poland has developed rapidly despite tremendous handicaps long years of fighting had devastated the land russia prussia and austria each lett left the stamp of its domination different systems of government education and law the versailles treaty lett left poland surrounded by nations jealous of land that had once been theirs today peaceful relations have been fr listed bed parti particularly particular cula aly with germany and russia it Is significant that last year these iwo two nations together with great britain provided the best markets for polish trade remains the arbiter and hero of his country economic progress Pro gc economic progress has kept top step with political growth devastated areas have been reconstructed from marshlands to mountains agriculture haa bas been brought back bach to prewar pre war lev els elg factories idle or destroyed have been rehabilitated the currency has ba been stabilized railway mileage has been increased and a uniform gauge adopted so that rails bind poland together instead of tearing it apart the pole whose horsemanship Is admired throughout the world has baa taken to the air with dash and spirit captain Orl inaki linked warsaw with tokyo colonel raysel circled europe in the air captain and lieutenant made the tour of africa in 1931 the polish air line lot covers the whole of eastern europe from tallinn tallian to Salon kalonika Sal lka and there la is a regular internal service between warsaw and all important cities in 1934 direct service was opened between london and warsaw and warsaw and moscow A new railway from upper silesia along the polish corridor to the new baltic port of gdynia assures polands bolands Po lands economic freedom in less than a decade j fishing village was turned into a modern city whose harbor can accommodate 60 50 vessels at a time more densely populated than pennsylvania syl vanla poland Is still an agricultural nation and the consequent elasticity of its labor supply the economic in lode e pen dence of its peasants and the me mod esty of their needs give it social sta ability in spite of the rapid growth of urban and industrial life monotony to Is the keynote of polish geography rolling plains that con hect the lowlands of germany with the russian plains form the main part of the country through the central portion flows the sluggish vistula yet in the south there are idyllic mountain retreats of rare beauty through the unusual krakow protocol poland and czechoslovakia agreed to turn ture the whole mountain region into one splendid international park a buffer park instead of a buffer state |