The Alaska daily empire., 1914-10-08
ALSACE-LORRAINE
By Gertrude E. Mallette

Nl by btIlIuut h' hdllelle
 Perhaps one of the meatiest bones of contention that will figure in the eventual consideration of peace terms at the termination of the war in Eur. ope is the district occupying the ex- treme southwest corner of Germany, bounded on the west by France, on the east by Baden, and on the south by Switzerland-the district known to the French as Alsace.Lorraine and to the Germans as Elsass-Lothrlngen. From the early part of the tenth cen tury this province of Alsace.Lorraine, as we read of it today. was German possession and remained part of the German Empire until in 164S part of it was ceded to France by the Peace of Westphalia, and few years later, in 1897 through the peace of Rhys- wick the entire territory was handed over to France.
 An intereting fact, however, is the continuance of the German language and of many German customs. During the entire period of the French pos. session the newspapers of AlsCaCe-Lo. rraine were printed in both languag- es.
 And again, in almost complete con trdadiction to this attitude, when AL sace and German Lorraine were incor- porated in the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 through the terms of the Treaty of Frankfort, the great mass of the pop ulation was against the change, 160,- 900 of them electing to be French and total of 500OO going into actual eX- ile in preference to being German sub jects. Since the era of the Revolution Alsace has been almost entirely French and to France she has given her bray est sons-"Kcllermann, Kleber, and many other heroes"
 "Whateyer intricacies there may be in connection with the present war the one point that any one who is in any way acquainted with modern European history will note is the fact that France now has an opportunity Co regain Alsace-Lorraine. "War eX- perts all over the world have been expecting, probably through the last rorty-three years, that war would be declared between Germany and France and that the possession of this same Nsace.Lorraine would be the point at issue, and although no definite men, ton of this territory has been made -at least as regards its situation-at the present time, the question will undoubtedly answer to roll call when the final terms of peace come to be settled.
 In 1871 all Germany felt that Al sace-Lorrainc, of all territories, was rightly due her, and she sent Bismark Co ask France to make the Cession. To this end Bismark issued a small pam phlet in which, over the name of a certain journalist named Men2eL un- der the title of "Unser Recht an Elsas- Lothringen" summarized the justifi- cation for Germany's demand for the territory in the following words: We, Germans, take by the right of posses ion of Alsace and Lorraine and retain it. By right of the strongest nation, by right of conquest, by right of re- talliation, by the natural right of ra- cial stock of one and the same nation, finally, by right of self preservation, by the right to protect ourselves bet ter than before against malicious neighbor."
 It must be admitted, however, that these reasons only were the popular reasons, the ones which were offered to explain a demand which had in real itv. a far more important aim and a much more deeply rooted source. Bis marks real reasan was concerned with the territorial advantages which would be afforded Germany if she could but gain possession of AlsaCe-Lorraine, and the territorial advantages which France would necessarily lose through it's transfer. A glance at the geograph- ical position of the territory and a brief investigation of it's economic i'm portance will clearly establish these facts.
 "Alsace-Lorraine is about one-half the size of the State of Massachu- setts,-56O5 square miles in all. It includes three districts, Upper As ace (which before 1870 had been the department of Hout.Rhin) a manufac- turing district, and by majority Cath ollie; Lower Alsace formerly the de- partment of Bas-Rhin) which is main ly an agricultural district and is very largely Protestant; and lastly Lorraine which before 1870 was known as the department of Moselle, whose indus