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Show 3,000,000 French Hold Two-Thirds of Western Front Louis Aubert, Member of High Commission, Tells New York Solons France Will Not Be Bled White. ALHANY, N. Y., 1-Vli. 7. "France is not to Meed white." This whs the keynote of a speech of M. Louis Aubert, liK-iiiher of the French hi;.'!) i-onimission lo the United States, made before the state iissembly here today. M. Aubert 's statement state-ment that France Mas not impotent, supported by fitrures eon-rcrniug eon-rcrniug her army, won a storm of applause from the assemblymen assembly-men and others who crowded the chamber. Referring to the loss of American troops by the sinking of the Tuscania, M. Aubert said: "France will weep for the loss of those heroes, but your country must be prepared to endure such burdens and Borrows until Germany has been defeated." In support of his statement that France is not bled white, M. Aubert said : "France has mobilized 4.700.000 men out of a population of 35,00(1,000 people, and 3,000,000 of these are holding two-thirds two-thirds of the western front. So many men have been needed for the army and for the vital war industries that the farms have been neglected. "Last year France harvested only 50 per cent of her normal crops. France needs foorl and ships, and appeals to the splendid splen-did cnersy aud resources of America for them." The French commissioner confirmed the report of concentration concen-tration of. masses of German troops behind the western front, but declared: "France will hold the western line until America comes." The French commissioner, referring to the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, said: "What moves us Frenchmen so deeply in the words of the president, is the fact that they prove that, if America is concerned with Alsace-Lorraine, it is neither out of gratitude nor out of interest. "It is not to give safety to France, who once gave liberty to America. And it is neither for France's interest nor for America's interest, although the fact is evident that without France there can be no saMy for the democracy of the world and without Alsace-Lorraine there can be no safety for France. "Your president has well defined the question: it is one of rich! and wrorcsr. The crime against Alsace-Lorraine has bepn a crime against the spirit of democracy. '"No words have done more to strengthen the morale of France than the words of the last address of President "Wilson, "Wil-son, when, in speaking of Alsace-Lorraine, he said: 'The wrong should be righted in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interests of all' " |