BELGIUM: THE INNOCENT BYSTANDER 



248 



tended that the dog is not fitted by nature 

 for a draught animal, and that dog labor 

 ought to be abolished. But with the 

 masses a dog has no excuse for existence 

 if he cannot contribute his share to the 

 work of the family. The rich man may 

 have his hunting dogs or his watch dogs, 

 but in the economy of the working classes 

 a dog that did not work would be such 

 a heavy drain on the family food supply 

 as to preclude keeping it. The Belgians 

 cannot feed their dogs with scraps from 

 their tables, for, like the boy who said, 

 "There ain't goin' to be no core," there 

 are no scraps left from the poor man's 

 table in Belgium. That would be un- 

 speakable extravagance. 



If the Belgian women of the masses 

 are hard-working helpmeets, they are at 

 the same time fine examples of v/oman- 

 hood ; for, though their clothes and orna- 

 ments are simple, the pictures of Flemish 

 and Walloon women tell a tale of natural 

 beauty. 



The people of Belgium hold the world's 

 record as beer-drinkers, and their steins 

 of beer are their one extravagance. 

 Their per capita consumption of beer is 

 48.8 gallons a year, while that of Ger- 

 many is only 26.3 gallons. On the other 

 hand, they are rather small users of wines 

 and liquors, using only one gallon of wine 

 per capita, where the Frenchman uses 

 34 and the Italian 18.5 gallons. 



RAILWAY I^ARES 



The railroad arrangements of Belgium 

 have been most happy for the masses of 

 the people. A double daily journey of 

 20 miles costs 37/^ cents a week, a 

 double daily journey of 44 miles 50 

 cents a week, and one of 66 miles 623/2 

 cents a week. 



Under this arrangement the area of 

 the Liege labor market extends across 

 the country nearly to Ostend. Out of 

 5,380 laborers who were commuters 

 more than 1,000 traveled 30 miles or 

 more to and from their work. The 

 State railroads charge a penny for every 

 non-traveler who goes into a railroad 

 station, and the aggregate of these small 

 levies affords a revenue of $50,000 a 

 year. Belgium has a great many good 

 public highways, their aggregate length 



being about 6,000 miles. Those west of 

 the Meuse are generally paved, while 

 those east of it are macadamized. 



BE;r,GlAN JUDICIARY 



The Belgian people claim that they 

 have the best code and the best organized 

 judicial system in existence. The high- 

 est court in the land has but one justice, 

 and he does not wait for cases to reach 

 him through appeals from the decisions 

 of the lower courts. He himself takes 

 the initiative, examining every decision 

 to see if it is in strict accord with the 

 code. If he finds it is not, without any 

 motion from any one he simply annuls 

 the decision of the court below. He 

 never sits in a case except when a mem- 

 ber of the King's Cabinet is accused. 

 He has a staff of law experts under him 

 who aid him in his work. There are 

 three courts of appeal and 26 courts of 

 first instance. 



Although 32 per cent of the people of 

 Belgium are illiterate, education has been 

 made compulsory and free to those who 

 are unable to pay their way. There are 

 about 8,000 primary schools, with an en- 

 rollment of nearly 900,000. Primary 

 education stops at 12 for those who do 

 not intend to pass through the middle 

 schools. These latter schools are the 

 recruiting ground for the teachers of 

 the primary schools. All but about 

 50,000 out of 900,000 enrolled represent 

 themselves as unable to pay for their 

 education. 



FEW EMIGRANTS 



The Belgians, despite the crowded con- 

 dition of their country, are not much 

 given to emigration. The number who 

 annually leave their home land for other 

 countries in normal times reaches only 

 about 14,000 a year. There are today 

 about 50,000 native - born Belgians in 

 the United States, with a total Belgian 

 home population of 7,579,000, which 

 figures become significant of the home- 

 loving qualities of the Belgians when 

 compared with the tendency to migra- 

 tion elsewhere. For instance, Ireland, 

 with 4,400,000 people at home, has in the 

 United States 1,352,000; Norway, with 

 a population one-third that of Belgium, 



