Show OUR YEARS OF WAR CHANGES WHOLE CHARACTER OF FRANCE AS A NATION has new ideals deals undreamed of in 1914 future of the country turned from agriculture to industrialism while distant future Is bright problems to be solved are mighty by LLOYD ALLEN western cidern newspaper union staff cor respondent t 1019 2012 sir by western newspaper pt anlon paris four years of war absolutely changed the character of 0 france as ai a nation changed her economic situation altered her outlook on the world and turned the whole future ot of the country toward industrialism rather than agriculture the france of 0 today has new ideals that wore were undreamed of in 1014 only pue big characteristic of the prewar pre war var days remains end and that iv 1 the unalterable and deep rooted fear of germany it a fear bred by generations of worry that started long before 1870 and that has imprinted itself on french character as aa a mark that will endure tor for decades defendes to come dread of the german will not prevent the french from embarking on a national career of prosperity and will not prevent france from trading with germany they must trade with their old enemy it Is a vital feces sity ity it cannot be arranged otherwise for the simple reason that germany still holds her supremacy as the bis big coal producing nation of europe while france has some coal she must still depend on germany for something like tons a year even after the supposedly rich coal fields of alsace lorraine go to france branc e as they undoubtedly will in the peace tl ti eaty its going to be a rather strange situation between the french and germans france will lack coal and the germans will lack iron france NOR nill sell iron to the germans and get coal in return immediate problems mighty while the somewhat distant future Is very bright for france the immediate problems she roust must solve are mighty she has the beginning of her now new industrial system in the form of a series of factories that made munitions notions during the war iter her former industries are smashed at the first german invasion france lost ost SO 80 per cent of her woolen industry 00 per cent of he her sugar mills four fifths of her coal production four fifths of her iron and steel output and kour four fifths of her coke the germans struck france right through the heart of her industrial region today this faction is tor for the most part a waste with the beginning of the peace conference france was out of essential raw materials she was in a situation altogether dif different terent from england and america she had bad no chance of starting out to build up foreign trade rand for that reason was anxious to have the alies maintain their blockade against the neutrals and the central powers as long as possible america and england on the other hand knew that the peace of the world must depend ns as much on tile the resumption of cormal trade as upon any strictly political action germany needs raw materials unless raw materials are arc pushed into germany the german factories cannot run and ger germany many cannot pay the indemnity the peace conference will place on her shoulders unless the factories of germany are permitted to operate the german civilians will not have hate work and if a large problem of un unemployment employment develops the revolutionary elements that Is tile the very radical I 1 c al revolutionists will ove overthrow arthrow whatever government the germans now have set up and the german alg signature on the pence peace treaty will be null and void out of these conditions the french governments policies were naturally ve vamped along entirely different lines from the american and british pol idea it was impossible tor for france to plan tor for the future as america and england would wound As a consequence there was a great divergence of ideas during the early days of the peace curi conference ference that was more or less misunderstood by americans in france lind caused an undue amount of criticism to be launched against F rench french methods and french statesmen the french tor for instance passed a governmental resolution about the middle of january that practically fc topped the importation of american rm english glish and other foreign manufactured articles into we country this at a time when the average american was thinking and talking of tho the closer trade relations that would spring vp u p between france arid and america as a result sult of the two nations having foug fought hi tide side by side in the war american firm hit one of the first brt american firms hit by the resolution was tile the inabu manufacturer fa ct ur of a well known automobile tills this firm had several thou thousand band cl cars in france ordered tor for war purposes by the french government it was impossible to sell the cars to civil civilians ians kince such a move would be the ibe cause of french money leaving the country tf if money left the country the french lic ancial situation suffered according to the amount spent abroad the rate of f exchange was already against the arc nab it ws WIP thought desirable to kep k kt ep the lie exchange rate from mounting higher against france acro fluctuation of e exchange chang ge was not the primary reason for barring out the american automobiles As it happened a well known french concern operated by andre citroen Cl whose name Is as well known in france as the name ot of the leading manufacturer ot of cheap automobiles la Is known in america Amerl Za had bad turned his factory over to production during the war aly while the pence peace conference was starting citroen was converting his works into a plant for manufacturing a small and fairly cheap car which would take its place as the cheapest car in france as soon as production could be gotten under way la ii the meantime citroen was protected the lot of american cars was not to be on to a market that the french considered to be legitimately Cit close to industrial paralysis americans tn in parts paris did not ate the french situation as revealed in cold figures of the statisticians namely that france was on tile the very verge 0 of absolute industrial paralysis that the country with only one or two false moves might easily go into that vicious circle of industrial misfortune that had already nl ready lilt hit austria where the whole economic fabric had degenerated to a point that brought rank ruin to the greater per portion tion of the population while france was enacting laws that prohibited the Import importation atlon of 0 american manufactured articles and thereby hoped to protect her own disrupted factories while they got back from a war basis to a peace footing america as she had every right to do shut out one of the principal commodities the french have to sell abroad wines brandies anti and liquors our national prohibition amendment cut oft off at one stroke one of the leading products the french had hoped to sell in the united states there was of course no spirit of retaliation on the part of america in this it was simply the working out of a strictly national problem american officials here in paris who were watching the strained relations rel atlon s between the americans and certain cliques of the french used to point out that america must make due allowances low ances for the critical problems of reconstruction days in france and remember that any unjust commercial discrimination ordered by the french government would right itself quickly enough because of the inequalities such rulings made in france itself in other words it was regarded as only a matter of time before pressure brought to bear by the french business houses who were unfavorably affected by the embargo against american factory stuff would cause the government to let down the bars in many instances and permit the now flow of trade to resume french industries ruined to illustrate the tha country around lille in the north of france was wag a great spinning center before the war it was also the center of some of the worst fighting and the spinning mills were destroyed by shell shelf fire and by willful robbery by the germans of the bobbins spinning linen thread before the war were destroyed and stolen in the wool spinning business in this section bobbins bobbin sout out of were destroyed or stolen according to the french minister of reconstruction something like live five hundred cotton bobbins were put out of business to complete the job of paralyzing the french textile industry the Ger germans maws when they did not steal the machinery broke some of the vital parts oni and took away all electrical fittings anil and every scrap of copper what happened then after the war had ceased the french government made it impossible tor for the lille factory owners to replace the stolen and destroyed spindles by buying them in america find and england gland and france could not replace them it was pointed out to the men of lille who wished to buy and who had the money to buy that it was illegal to send money out of france it if the i buyer happened to have a fund handy in england or america with which to pay for his stuff there was a slim chance of being able to put through the deal hut but it was by no means a certainty certainly kack back of this seemingly suicidal policy ley was the french government plan to make france as pearly nearly self sustain ing as possible to keep french money tit nt home had to keep the rate of exchange as favorable favo as possible to france franc it did not occur to the french officials that reconstruction problems could be solved more easily if the lille people and others in the same predicament were permitted to buy factory machinery abroad and thereby hasten the lay day when the textile milli would resume production would help he lp labor with production started even with factory reconstruction started the french economic system would be benefited because such an outcome would give employment to french workmen and exportation of textiles which have to be manufactured before they are shipped would automatically mati cally push the french exchange rate ante into a position favoring france yet the whole chain of reconstruction was blocked by the prohibition on importing foreign spindles and the french textile people themselves were obliged to oppose a government policy that hurt their business american business men in france franca during the pence conference shook their heads when they were asked about the possibility of immediate trade between france and america and the optimistic ones took the view vie that tight government control of trade as put into effect by the french in january as a reconstruction measure could not last long what happened to the textile industry during the war was only a repetition of the sad fate of the brewing business and the mining industry as well mell as the sugar business all of this wreckage cost the french something like the first official estimate dream of prosperity in the midst of this despoliation france has a dream of future industrial prosperity to be realized only by protecting all national industry against foreign competition never before has she thought seriously of taking the germans place in europe and now she believes that with only a comparatively small amount of favoritism she can compete for many ol of the german markets from the despairing days of july 1918 when it seemed certain the germans would take paris and that french public opinion would not stand behind a continuation of the war to the exaltation france feels today in the joy of victory Is a tar far cry to say the least the tables are completely turned politically and economically the french have made tremendous gains gain and they can only be expected to make the most of their bettered position tion in the world if they happened to work at cross purposes to england and america we can expect some compromise measures men and some heated headlines perhaps in case the censor gets oil oft the jut job some ome s time in 1919 1910 hut but scarcely anything more serious |