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CCORDING to the reports of the United States Trade Commissioner at Brussels, C. E. Herring, as well as statements made by the various departments of the Belgian Government, Belgium, all but about one-eleventh of whose territory of 11,373 square miles had been for four years occupied, pillaged, devastated, combed for its last strand of flax, squeezed for its last drop of wine, sifted for its last speck of gold by the Germans, with a seventh of its population toiling like slaves in Germany and the balance kept alive at home by food largely contributed by the United States, has been first to reach a normal state, and, after sixteen months of feverish activity, now leads all the European belligerents in rehabilition.

One year after the armistice Belgium was the first to cease rationing her people. She had reduced the cost of living from 1,110 per cent. above normal to 244 per cent. At the end of the war nearly 1,000,000 persons were out of work. By February, 1920, no one was out of work unless he wished to be. Eighty-seven per cent. of the coal mines, 100 per cent. of the railways, and 75 per cent. of the textile factories had recovered their pre-war average. The tax returns for the first six months of the fiscal year 1919-20 had been estimated at $60,000,000; the actual returns were nearly a third over that sum. In the year before the war the trade of Belgium, export, import, and transit, amounted to $1,725,000,000; in 1919 it amounted to $1,022,000,000. In 1913 imports worth $100,000,000 came from the United States; in the first ten months of 1919 imports from the same country were valued at $300,000,000.

Incidentally, Belgium has killed profiteering by co-operative buying and selling. She borrowed $250,000,000 at 5 per cent. from Great Britain and used $55,000,000 of it to purchase material from the departing American Army. The

ring, will be the iron and steel. He wrote:

At the time of the armistice, out of fifty-four blast furnaces in existence in Belgium in 1914, about thirty had been entirely destroyed or were so badly damaged as to necessitate extensive repairs. Of the 101 rolling mills operating in 1914 in the Province of Liége and Hainaut, twenty-nine were completely ruined in the former and a large number in the latter. It was in these two districts, which comprise the great majority of metallurgical plants, that systematic destruction was carried on most assiduously. Thus of the twenty-three blast furnaces in the Liége district in 1914, ten were completely destroyed and nine considerably damaged. The rolling mills of five large plants in the same district were entirely demolished; out of the fifty-three mills operating in 1914 twenty-nine were en

tirely destroyed and three seriously damaged.

One striking instance of German sabotage may be cited. At the important Ougrée-Marihaye steel works, which produced 50,000 tons monthly before the war, about 44,000 metric tons of machinery and tools were scrapped and sent to Germany, about 4,000 tons of equipment and rolling stock were taken away intact, and 36,000 tons of raw materials were appropriated. The value of the destroyed machinery and materials was estimated at 45,000,000 francs, but replacement at present prices will greatly exceed this figure. The work of recovering stolen chinery taken into Germany has proceeded satisfactorily, but the restoration of the ruined and damaged furnaces and mills will eventually necessitate, course, many new installations, which must be made at the present inflated prices. *

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In spite of the grave difficulties confronting the industry, there has been no weakness shown in the stocks of the various iron and steel plants. All those now in operation are booked far ahead with orders, and it is said that former customers in export markets are generally seeking to renew their pre-war arrangements.

When the production of coking coal in France and Germany can be increased and when the railways of France, Luxemburg and Belgium permit the prompt delivery of sufficient fuel and ore shipments, Belgian iron and steel products will again actively compete in the world's markets. The erection of new, thoroughly modern plants to replace those destroyed by the Germans will partially compensate for the present period of subnormal production and Belgium will resume its place as one of the leading steel-producing countries of the world.

Two things seems to make of Belgium's rapid revival a paradox. Labor Unionists are five times as numerous as they were in 1914, and in 1919 they called nearly 400 strikes. But the new laws have limited the power of the unions while increasing that of the State over both employer and employe, and of the 388 strikes 220 were settled by friendly arbitration and 50 by forced. The following data on wages and temperance are drawn from the reports of the Minister for Labor, M. Wauters, a Socialist member of the Government and one of the editors of Le Peuple:

Wages were formerly very low, but as a result of these strikes they are now, on an average, about three times their

pre-war level.

They are usually reckoned in francs per hour, and the hours have been fixed in most trades at eight per day, with six days per week.

The lowest wages are those of agricultural laborers, which are 1 franc per hour. General laborers and lower grades of artisans and mechanics receive from 1.50 to 2 francs per hour. More highly skilled men obtain from 2 to 2.50 francs per hour. Miners obtain 2.50 to 3 francs per hour. Postmen are paid 8 francs a day with a seven-day week; tram conductors 12 francs a day; printers 18 to 19 francs a day. Workers in glass mills where window glass is produced earn from 250 to 300 francs week; the diamond cutters of Antwerp get 400 francs a week.

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Social reformers regard the alcohol restriction laws as having had an important effect on the output of labor, which since the armistice has been satisfactory, in spite of the strikes. In Belgium an important distinction was drawn between the sale of alcohol in the form of spirits and liquors and the sale of wines and beer. Beer and wine do not come within the scope of the alcohol restriction laws.

No spirits may now be sold for consumption on the premises in any café. Bottles may be sold for consumption off the premises, but these are taxed 18 francs a litre, by a law of Sept. 10, 1919. At the present rate of exchange this is equivalent to a tax of about $2.25 a pint.

The total amount of pure alcohol which may be produced per month is now very greatly reduced by law. Out of the total quantity allowed-900,000 litres-only one-tenth is left to the distillers. Onetenth is sold to pre-war makers of liquors. All the rest goes to silk factories, chemists and photographers.

The result is that instead of drinking from 5 to 6 litres of pure alcohol per head per year, as before the war, the Belgians are now only drinking onethird of a litre.

It is believed that this reform has checked a growing tendency among the working classes to drink more spirits, and has encouraged more regular work and greater output. The restriction of the consumption of alcohol has been followed by a very large decrease in crimes committed under the influence of drink. Medical statistics show the almost complete disappearance of delirium tremens. Mental diseases have in general much decreased.

On March 3, 1920, the Belgian Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of woman suffrage, in communal elections, at and over 21 years of age. Several interesting features marked the debates: All the Catholics voted for the measure, and