Ruth Kedzie Wood

“ The Rise of Belgian Industry
Belgium’s story, as complex in pattern as the tapestry of Flemish looms, is interwoven with the bright threads of genius, and, no less, with the gold of commerce and the crimson threads of war. Proud mistress of the arts as Belgium can claim to be, she has held her own for centuries past as a vigorous industrial nation. Tribes that came across the Rhine after Caesar’s conquest of the Gauls, 57-52 before Christ, were permitted by the Romans to settle upon the lands that extended from the basin of the Meuse River to the sea. ”

“ BELGIUM
Town Life FIVE
It is befitting that a city more than fourteen hundred years of age should present many dignified aspects—that its buildings should be wreathed in the mists of antiquity, and that its traditions should be hallowed. Brussels—“a manor near the marsh”—is shrined in a niche of the ages, its pre-medieval garments clothe it richly. Yet the manners of the Belgian capital are modern, and the life there, while based on Flemish custom, is compared, with reservations, to the life of Paris. ”

“ No city has a more affluent history, nor one that contains gloomier chronicles of siege and warfare. Its wharves and its narrow streets, bulked by the over-watching citadel and the flamboyant tower of one of the finest churches in Belgium, are teeming with wharfmongers and brokers, dealers in diamonds and ivory, lace-makers, flower vendors, factory-workers. ”

“ In West Flanders
With the names of many places in the province of West Flanders, the despatches of war have acquainted us. Battered Audenarde; proud Ypres, held first by the Germans and then so long and so stubbornly by Haig’s men; Dixmude; the Yser Canal that flowed crimson to the sea; Nieuport, Westende, Middelkerke, leveled like wheat before the mower; Ostend, whose leisurely crowds were scattered before the gray tidal wave that swept across these lowlands, leaving a swath 70,000 acres broad of ruined farms and villages. ”

“ The face of Belgium shows us many moods. Fisher villages and attractive seaside resorts give color to the long ribbon of sand that reaches for forty miles from the French to the Dutch border. To the east is the low-lying country from which Flanders—“the low land”—has its name. Beyond this expanse resembling the dike-protected regions of Holland is a naturally sterile sandy plain that Flemish farmers have by centuries of toil brought to a high state of productivity. ”

“ The dwellings of warrior tribes and the castles of the mighty Dukes of Brabant are supplanted by the substantial buildings of a center of present-day life. For the well-kept beauty of its streets and open spaces, for its air of solid content and well-contained vivacity, for its handsome store-houses of ancient and modern art, its massive but harmonious architecture, its tempting shops and markets, and the alluring grace of its medieval roofs and towers, Brussels exacts universal admiration. ”

“ Before daybreak, the roads of the Belgian countryside resound with the rumble of wheels and the clack of wooden shoes. All through the sunlit hours until nightfall the stooping figures of men and women are seen in the fields. In Walloon districts the farmers live in settlements that adjoin the tilled acres. Flemish landowners are wont to build their homes apart from each other, with perhaps the chateau of a rich merchant as the pivotal center of the scattered dwellings. ”

“ With the acquisition of a colony eighty times as large as the kingdom itself, Belgium became the dazzled possessor of a treasure land of mines, arable acres and profitable forests. Rail and water transportation were promoted by Belgian and foreign companies, eager to enjoy the rich opportunities of the African colony, and hundreds of trading-houses sprang up to handle the Congo’s yield of palm oils, copal, rubber, cocoa, copper, gold, diamonds and ivory. ”

“ The kirmess, which at some time during the summer occupies the principal square of every town in Belgium, is especially dear to the hearts of the natives. Fakirs, magicians, circus performers, freaks, caged animals, merry-go-rounds and their wheezy calliopes are the lure for heavy-footed squires, matrons that resemble the rollicking models of the painters, Jordaens and the younger Teniers, and delighted apple-cheeked children. ”

“ The most vital interest in the estimate of Belgians of all classes is their home life. Certainly there are no people more industrious in the preservation of family traditions. Strangers are often surprised to learn that the old-time phrase, “East, West, Home’s Best,” originated, not with the Anglo-Saxons, but with the Flemish.
In Antwerp, quays are brisk with sailors, many of them in picturesquely uncouth costumes. At the Flemish Theater, subsidized by the Government, and at the Opera, the city’s rich betray the fondness of their race for jewels and brocaded dress stuffs. ”

“ One hears much in Belgium of the “Flemish Movement,” whose motto, adopted not long after the establishment of national independence, in 1830, is the Flemish sentence, “De taal is gansch het volk” (“The language is the whole people”) . This organized effort to foster Flemish traditions and literature had from the first the support of public men and writers, including Henri Conscience, Ledeganck, and Van Beers, who lent their voices and their pens to extol the heroic deeds of Flanders and to advance in every way possible the influence of the language in the kingdom. ”

“ A large proportion of idle workmen have found occupation at wages higher than they received before the War. Nearly all of the one hundred steamship services leaving Antwerp for world ports have resumed sailings. The thousand miles of railway lines destroyed by the invaders are now relaid, and traffic is approaching normal. All this, some of it with the financial aid of America, has been achieved within a few months after the cessation of the most destructive warfare in history. Belgium’s withered acres and ravaged towns are rising like the phoenix, reborn through fire. ”

“ To the good citizen, as well as to the statesman, the story of Belgium presents innumerable problems, and teaches the sternest of lessons. Many of the difficulties remain to be solved. Centuries will not exhaust the retribution which must be exacted for the martyrdom of this heroic kingdom. A country may be devastated, but its history cannot be wiped from the chronicles. ”

“ South of Flanders and Brabant, wide sea-freshened vistas give way to murky landscapes and cities that bristle with the spires of industry. Here, settlements of coal miners, steel workers, glass makers, cotton spinners, fill the foreground of the scene. Most of the factory people belong to the robust and spirited race of the Walloons, who live near the eastern and southern frontiers. ”

“ Sometimes, as one gazes at a gorgeously appareled lady of Antwerp, one of Van Dyck’s paintings seems to have come to life. The most favored resort is the Zoological Garden where music and a sprightly restaurant attract the pleasure-loving Antwerpers, and tourists who wish to see the vivid city at its gayest. ”

“ Maurice Maeterlinck its poet-son has written, “It is the soul of Flanders, at once venerable and young. In its streets the past and present elbow each other.” The citizenry of Ghent, from remote times, have been reputed for their independence and impetuous resource to arms. Many of the branching canals which connected it with Bruges, Courtrai, Tournai, Antwerp and Brussels have now silted up, but a comparatively modern ship canal leading to the Scheldt and the sea gives the bustling old city communication with the ports of the world. ”

“ Of all places one goes to see, none has a greater appeal to the imagination than that rare old square in Brussels called the Grand’ Place. It has been the scene of barbarous deeds of the Middle Ages; martyrs and heroes have met their death here ”

“ The political affiliations of the Belgian people very intimately affect their daily lives. As an English writer observes, “Politics enter into almost every phase of social activity and philanthropic effort. Thus in one town there will be a Catholic, a Liberal, and a Socialist trade union, a Catholic, a Liberal, and a Socialist co-operative bakery, a Catholic, a Liberal, and a Socialist thrift society, each catering for similar people, but each confining its attention to members of its own political party. ”

“ Most attractive are the communities of white-coiffed, blue-garbed nuns who live in spotless little houses, and devote their lives to the making of fine lace and embroidery. And greatly revered by native Ghenters is the soaring belfry tower from which Freedom’s alarms have so often rung out across the Flemish Plain. ”

“ Among the hills of eastern Belgium there lives a race of men—vivacious and hardy, immensely proud of their ancient origin, who are descended from one of the Gallic tribes conquered by the Romans twenty centuries ago. These interesting people—they are called Walloons—inherited from their conquerors a Romanic dialect which they made their own. Though more like French than any other language, it can scarcely be understood by natives of France. ”

“ At noon all Brussels dines, heavily and well; food prices, in peace times, are never excessive. After supper those that seek diversion outside their homes visit the Flemish and French theaters, or the Opera, or they go to a café where, over a convivial cup or glass, they listen to a well-chosen program of orchestral and organ music. Sometimes a member of the Opera company appears, or an instrumentalist in popular favor. ”

“ For many years French was the language of the Belgian Government and press, of universities and men of learning. Walloons employed only French, while few of the north Belgium peasants would use any language but that of Flanders.
This lingual barrier between a people having the same national ideals is an ever-present cause of contention and misunderstanding. Suppose half the inhabitants of Ohio refused to learn the language of the other half, and each section was constantly on the alert to exalt its own tongue. ”

“ The chief political parties are the Catholic, the Liberal, the Socialist, and the Catholic-Democrat.
Originally, only those men of the monarchy that owned a certain amount of property had the vote. Since 1894, every male citizen twenty-five years of age has been permitted to vote if he has lived at least a year in the same commune. As a result, the number of the enfranchised has increased ten-fold. By the “plural-voting system,” extra votes are allowed to heads of families, to tax-payers who receive a stipulated sum from Belgian sources, and to certain men of learning. ”

“ The Minister of Instruction regularly receives reports from inspectors who make a tour of all the schools in each province, and, in the grammar schools, the Government has the right to name the teaching staff. State universities are maintained at Ghent and Liège; at Brussels and Louvain there are institutions that afford free instruction in advanced subjects and in law and medicine. There are also many schools that are maintained by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of compulsory education laws, about ninety per cent. of the population are able to read and write. ”

“ The presence of the Court at the Royal Palace near the center of the city, and at Laeken, the favorite residence of the King and Queen, distant a few miles in the country, has its effect upon the conduct of Brussels society. However, the city is largely given over to middle-class habits and its chief pleasures are centered in the home.
It is the custom for nearly everyone in the city to rise soon after daybreak. Housekeepers, even those highly placed in the Brussels world, go early to market. ”

“ The pay of a lace-worker averages a franc a day, or twenty cents for eight to ten hours of skilled labor. The lace made in these peasant homes is contracted for by buyers from Brussels or Bruges, who supply the thread. An expert worker, who has perhaps been trained in a convent school and is familiar with the delicate patterns of Princess, Cluny, Mechlin, Valenciennes, and Brussels lace, rarely receives more than fifty cents a day. ”

“ Over seven million people inhabited a country comprising about eleven thousand square miles. If all the people of the New England States were crowded within the bounds of the State of Vermont, conditions of life would be comparable with those of the little kingdom of Belgium. ”