Americus times-recorder., 1915-05-25

WASHINGTON, D. c., May 25.-The
importance of the five per cent Of
French territory held by the Germans
is strikingly set forth in statement
given to the press today by the Nation
al Geographic Society, 1t shows that
while it is comparatively small in area
it is very large indeed in industrial
and agricultural Importance. 1t says:
Holding only about 10000 square
miles of French territory, or less thai
one-twentieth of continental France,
the Germans have behind their advanc-
ed lines nearly one-half of her indus
trial population. Pas-de-Celais, Nord,
France and the homes of one-tenth of
Aisne, Ardennes, Meuse and Meurthe-
et-Moselle, of which the Germans hold
all of the larger and most important
parts, are the banner departments Of
France. Here are the mines, the foun
dres and factories, and the dairies and
farms, which are the pride, the wealth,
and the strength of modern France. In
this narrow strip under German occu-
patton, THERE is produced 70 per cent
of all coal mined in France, 80 per
cent of all of the native-mined iron,
and nearly half of the republics out
put of manufactured articles.
THE iron and steel industry of the
great republic lies almost entirely
back of the German trenches. France
stood fourth among the nations of the
world as a producer of iron and steel,
with an annual production of 100000
tons of pig iron and of 100000 tons
of steel. This industry was centered
and contained in Northern France, for
here were the raw materials. The
Flemish coal basin, extending into the
Nord and Pas-de-Calais where 100000
miners were employed, produced 60
per cent of the coal mined in France,
and, practically, the country's entire
supply of fossil COAL The iron mines
of the Meurthe-et-Moselle furnished "a
per cent of the total French output of
iron, and this region was reckoned as
one Of the principal iron-producing
regions of the world.
with the French and Belgian iron
and coal fields in their possession, the
Germans would have almost monop-
oily Of the iron and steel industries of
Europe. Germany is now second only
to the United States in the production
of iron and steel. Before war condi-
tions set in, the United States pro-
duced annually 24,5OO,OOO tons of steel,
Germany 12,9OO,0OO, Great Britain g.
O40,OOO, France 100000 and Belgium
100000. Germany is third among the
great industrial nations of the world
in the production of coal, and with the
French and Belgian mines behind her
lines might easily equal the output of
Great Britain, second upon the list
Thus, unusual interest attaches to the
small strips of foreign lands back to
the German lines.
"The Nord department, all but a
few square miles of whose coast lands
is in the possession of the enemy, is in
agricultural and industrial Importance
the first department of France. In this
department, and the department of the
Pas-de-Calais, Meuse and Meurthe-et-
Moselle are the great metal working
plants of the French, the huge Pitts
burg and Cleveland mills, boundaries,
and machine works of that country.
In these departments, further, is a
great part of the lands textile indus
try, the cotton, wollen and linen weay.
ing, the working of lace and embroid-
cry, the weaving of carpets, and dye
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