The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30
ALSACE-LORRA|NE " REMAINS FRENCH Shown By Debates in Her
 renhaus WANT WHIPPING POST Lively Discussion Carried on by the Press-Turkish Government
 Problems Are Un-
 diminished
WANT WHIPPING POST

ner destroyed the impression Germany mas tried to convey to the world that the con quered provinces of Alsace-Lorraine have become German, or at least that they have ceased to be French.
 One of the speakers. a retired high or ficial, after mentioning that French is still the recognized language in POO towns and villages of the provinces, told of an eX- pericnce he had on one of his official tours.
 He arrived at a village in the Vosges mountains, where the gendarme was a German and asked some children where the latter lived. The children did not un- derstand him, so he put the question in French. Immediately came the reply, "Oh, that Is our father A little later he asked the gendarme how it happened that the children could speak no German. The man replied:
 "Why should they? My wife is an AL satian, who never spoke anything but French, and in the whole village you will hear nothing but French"
 Well, what do you speak yourself?' then asked the official.
 Why" said the German gendarme, 'I speak French, too.
 The fact is, as another speaker put it, 40 years has not proved long enough for the people to have acquired either the German language or the German national spirit. After the provinces were sepa- rated from the old German empire they became identified with France and shared in all the glories as well as reverses of that nations history. Since the annexa- tion the bonds of economic union with Germany have been multiplied and strengthened, but socially and politically the change has been slower than is us- ually believed. The German governments idea now is to encourage national feel ing by giving Alsace-Lorraine three seats in the federal council of the empire. The only result of this so far has been to alienate the conservatives in the reichstag while the center demands far more lib- eral concessions. The government is thus between two stools.
 An>-er fact which the debates in the herrenhaus have made clear is that the same war between church and state, which has been fought to an end in France and Portugal, and which is now threatening the peace of Spain, must soon come to a head in Germany too
 The victory of the Vatican compelling the Kaiser to stay away from the cele- bration of the fiiftieth anniversary of the free kingdom of Italy and send the crown prince in his place will be the last victory the Pope will win in Germany, wheEy the people are exceedingly bitter against the priests, whom they say have consistently fought against all progress.
 At present it certainly looks as if the Vatican. even if Prussia is in creasing in power, and the Prussian minister of cult and education Is exceedingly careful not to do anything to offend the clerical party, but an election Is coming this fall, which will see the end of the influence of the clerical party, which has long ago lost its grip on the masses of the Ger man people.
 The German authorities, who find them selves unable to make the Kaser's crim- inally inclined subjects reform and mend their evil ways, desire to see the whipping post re-introduced In Germany and a live ly discussion is going on in the press as to whether a German subject even when criminal, should be subjected to corporal punishment outside the army, where the non-commssioned officers are implanting patriotism and military disci- pline that way every day.
 What strikes a foreign newspaper man the most In this discussion is the fact that his German colleagues seem to be a cruel
 
 as the only exception they all agree that Germans who do not voluntarily choose to be good. law-abding citizens should be submitted to actual torture, and that the whipping post is really only to be classed with other means of gentle per- suasion.
 The well-known liberal paper, Berlner Boersenzeitung, says editorially:
 We do not recommend the whipping m xylaf fah fc vail a1I foe form of punishment but propose that re- fractory criminals should be sentenced to stand motionless at attention for con- siderable length of time. Everyone who has had to stand for any length of time knows what terrible torture this is. To stand at attention for A hours after some days detention in a darkened cell on a diet of black bread and water, is pun ishment which would surely make the most hardened criminal meek and gentle and if necessary the punishment might be heightened until the man faints."
 Should anybody find this punishment too humane the editor has another sug< gestion to make:
 "He who has once felt the effect of strong electric current knows how painful this sensation is. Whipping is as nothing compared to 1t and to sit in a darkened cell. chained to the wall waiting for the current to be turned of every morning at a certain hour is horrible. A punishment of this kind canot fail to bring good results"
 These suggestions by the editor of a very influential German paper are eloquent enough In themselves but they appear to still better advantage when one reads the comments to them made by the reactionary Deutsche Tag eszeitung. which, after thanking its colleague for the suggestions adds that the editorial stands as "an encouraging proof that dawn Is near even in liberal circles"
 The Turkish government is still struggling with problems and difficult ties of many kinds, political and fnan- cial, but Is energetically endeavoring to bring the country out of the fna- cial chaos in which it found it when Abdul Hamid was deposed.
 Djavid Bey, minister of finance, is in an embarrassing position in regard to the question of the tobacco revenue for the chamber has unanimously adopted the "banderole" system of tax- ation. while the minister is a declared partisan of the system of a state mon- opoly. Djavid Bey will introduce a bill in favor of a state monopoly without making 1t a question of confidence, but advising the chamber that he adoption of the "banderole' system may provok e objections on the part of the council of the public debt, and protests from the German Bagdad company. to which the excess revenue has been assigned as a guarantee for the railroad con- struction.
 An agreement with France for a railroad loan of 25,000,000 Turkish pounds has been concluded in prin- ciple. The construction will be car ried out by the group of the Reggie Gen . n v&I.- f..kx