The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29

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made OF a certain material
whether she will be able to get 1t.
Such IL the astonishing state Of affairs
in fashions capital city-a dearth of
goods. all because the finest Of the
beautiful dress fabrics of France are
shared in the var zone behind and
between trenches. Prices have
scared, too. on remaining stocks OF
the de luxe woollen, cotton and linen
materials, laces and hand embroideries,
that are webbed in the huge spiders
net of wire fencing that now fringes
Frances northeastern frontiers, which
have either fallen into the hands Of
the invading army or come within the
range OF its guns.
The German lines in France ar
roughly, some 500 miles long. thou,
their deepest wedge into French ter
ritory is only about seventy miles.
Eight departments are affected, but
only to the extent of 3 IL per cent.
Of the total area of France, the nor
NAL population of which region was
three million and n quarter. But the
French business man says with a sob
voice. True that our territory In the
hands of the invaders is hut a tiny
part OF the whole, but that fraction
contains the heart of industrial
France"
10 inexplicable Why a nation should
safely house its great munitions fac
tories in its centre. as France has
hidden its famous Creusot works. and
then not only put its choicest setting
Of eggs from which are Matched tn"
iation's most valuable and lucrative
manufactures for home and export
trade in one basket. but hung the bas-
ket defiantly on the division fence Of a
n~eighborly hereditary enemy. as much
as to say. Lets see you come and
take It," That most of these tempting
Industrial baits with which France
has edged so seductively her north
rnmos frontiers were established in
these same spots centuries ago is no
valid excuse for the fact that the
nation to-day Is bemoaning that she
had not distributed her nest, eggs
more widely throughout the land.
Here IL what tn German army fell
heir to as they romped down into
France from their triumph at Mons.
just a step over the Belgian frontier
their great capture was the chez
d'puvre OF the industrial collection.
that trilogy of the wealthiest ma 1ij-
featuring cities of France, Roubaix.
Tourcoing and Lille, which with their
satellite galaxy of working villages.
all lying within a radius Of some
nifty square miles, form the Industrial
capital OF France. a region whose
proud boast is that 20. 200. 900 franc
fortunes are so common as to pass un-
noticed. and this is a big private for
tune for France.
There Is a theory. and a German one
too, that the reason the invaders did
not win the fifteen day sprint to Paris
was because the German movements
were hampered by the shipping home
of the immense supplies stored up in
the warehouse of these three cities.
However this may he. the RoubaiX-
Tourcoing group was one of the big
gest prizes of this war. These twin
cities, only five miles apart. centred
in a conglomeration of humming in
dustrial villages. produce under their
control four-ffths of the woollen man.
ufactures Of France and enjoycd the
distinction of doing more business with
the Bank Of rance han any half n
dozen other cities Of France. About
800, 900 workers are engaged directly
or indirectly in the 60 varieties of
woollgn textiles manufactured here,
while one hundred and fifty million
pounds of goods with an average value
of 500, 000, 900 francs are turned out
yearly.
But its leading industry was the
production of the wonderfully fine
woollen dress fabrice, silky and lus-
trous. with which Paris has dazzled
the world. As a side issue there had
grown up n enormous trade in ready
made clothing. 80 per cent. of which
was exported. all of which now he
comes a German monopoly. while
France, suffering like all the world
from a lack f the convenient Teuton
dye "~colOrants,' sees them being sum
piled lavishly to her captured fac
tories while the French dyer is now
paying twenty francs for a dive prod
uct which once cost him three francs.
Army clothing is certainly AS inn
portant in the conduct of war as NUM-
tons, yet in this frontier basket of in
dustrial Eggs at Roubaix-Tourcoing
was manufactured the bulk Of uni
AaRYn1 hinaa