The Washington herald., 1915-01-24
EA2D AVCLO 92LVZ az
mS AHTZZE az Co6Cr 1915

? change their language and thetr namEs
with their allegiance
But the visitor eds to know that Al
SAGE is hardly mu".. ,nch than Berlin
in blood and Tongue. Although French
is affected in the polite" circles. German
l. said to b. the nJth"r tongue OF eight
tCuths Of the less than 2,000,O0 people
in the two provinces. Even most of those
who are not tiCTman-SpFa aktnE are not
Fr"nCh-Spca king. but employ 4 local
patoS. and when Partisan. fresh from
the mourning monument in the Place de
la ConCorde. comes to weep with the Al
satians, ne is likely TO find them lament
inC the old mOth"Tland in words unintelli-
EibIe to him.
Roth racially. Geographically and his
tOriCally. AlSaC" belongs to Germany. The
very mountains marked her apart from
France. She had been in the German en-
. piTe for six centuries when. 2OD and more
years ago. she was SnatchCd from tho
/ fatherland by Louis XIV. And for lo
| years she remained as unreCOnCiled to
! French rule as she is now to 'iermany-
. II was not until the revolution came that
: she ceased to cherish the old ties and
found in the brotherhood of democracy
new ties that ever since have bound her
to France stronger even than the ShaCkleS
of steel in which Germany has held her
now for fOrty-lOur years.
IrreeonciIabIe Patriots.
Rather than pass under the German
! flag when it was first hOisted 5000 to
5nOO0 of the people of the two provinces
loft their native soil forever. Thousands
D have followed them in exile in the course
of the years and many who stay pride
themselves on never having permitted a
son to TUt on the hated II form of the
Kaiser. In such instances. as the boys
appro lch-d the age for compulsory mill
: itary service, the parents have sent them
away, never to return.
! The Alsatians whom the stranger is
most like to meet are @stCnishingly out
SPOKEN against GcTTa an rue, their sedi-
tiCus ICldnCSS E'C.ITS hin. to wonder even
more at the leEiarCs or laXty of the
, GeSpOtism Cn6er which they so audibly
EroGn than at their ~ rsistent loyalty
to France. But at the least sign of their
gathering for a demonstration the mailed
fist falls upon them swiftly enough.
The Kaiser simply cannot please them.
When the government erected an impos-
Ing railway station in StrassburG the
people Were so offended ny some OF its
tory of Germany. that the official de-
tcctives had their hands full for a while
carving the critics off TO prison.
Tho Kaiser has planted in the midst of
the city one Of his nifty or more palaC CeS,
sign Of his disposition to be neigh
berry, and imperial architects have been
most industrious in GermaniZing the
town. They had gaps enough to fill after
the bombardment of 1870 when the Ii
brary. with its O0.COD hooks: the museum.
with its treasured art. the old Palace of
Justice and thu rheat"r were destroyed
. along with hundreds OF other structures.
The buildings that have succeeded them
only Keep alive the bitter regret for their
ancient predecessors, and A citizen may
not look at the tower OF the famous
StrassburG Cathedral without being
minded of the German cannon ball that
left il some what awry.
While many Germans have moved into
AISaCC, there are towns without any
other patriotic subjects of the Kaiser
than the little Coterie of official strangers.
who live as II on an island in the midst
OF a trea>Onab bic population. The people
= rnlE tF Vk,..fw r.1W 4
many priests refrain from praying for
our emperor" as the German custom
is. and offer the prescribed supplication
merely for the Emperor"
The LOyaIIst Minority.
Yet there is n loyalist party, having a
more or less ftful existence. and there
was, before the outbreak Of this war. an
UnderCurrent of resignation and even of
friendlineSs toward the empire. Frances
eStrangement from Rome had cooled the
ardOr Of many of the people. the province
being almost unanimously Catholic. And
not few have found their chains are
golden.
Unsentimental persons. who have shared
In the proSpt rity of Germany. have seen
their hearts StrayinE to where their treas
ure is. For saCe-I-Orraine has waXed in
W alth, as well as gained in general edu-
cation. since the union with the empire
As a whole it is the most fruitful soil in
all Germany, and il produces more iron
than any other part OF the imperial fed
Grafton.
hut / doubt il any Alsatian conscripts
are trusted on the firing line that faces
France. They are more likely told off
to shoot Russians only.
The Human MncIstrom.
Although Alsacc-Lorraine has had her
painful Vicissltudes, she has suffered less
from the wars than any other part of
the present wide-drawn battle line which
stretches across Northern France. Her
mountains have served a $ dixie against
much uf the strife that has so long and
so often ravaEed the low lands wing be
tween her border and the shore of the
North Sea.
The tide OF humanity, ever flowing
from the east to the west strikes in its
course two great barriers that rise out
Of the European plain and plunge into
angry whirlpOols at the bases of the
Carpathian Mountains and of the Alps
Poland always has been caught in the
first of these violent eddies. while the
plains and valleys between the Vosges !
and the sea have been caught in the sec
ond vortex. There is the human maeI- /
strOm.
When the first rays OF history fell upon
that immemOrial scene of struggle per !
haps 700 years before Christ. the Celts |
were pouring over the Belgian fields
and dashing themselves upon the
AhdSAhtCT htSAlbN ms VI dbSuIDAnE lnem ]
all. save for the little remnant that
found refuge in the foothills Of the Pyr- |
enees, where they continue to keep alive |
the memory. of a once numerous race.
Even While the conquering CeIts were |
settling themselves in the pleasant val =.
leys within the bounds of modern Bel |
Eium and France. the Teuton emerged
from his haunted forest in the chill
north TO find "a place in the sun" And |
on his heels the Slav was treading then |
as he is today.