Evening star., 1917-10-14
|ALSACE-LORRAINE NOT GERMAN
EITHER RACIALLY OR BY WISH
Coal. Iron and Other Minerals Constitute
the Booty of 1871 Which Teutons
Are Striving to Hold

INorddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung rela-
tive to provinces torn in the midst OF
peace from the land to which they pc
long. The document from Wilheim-
strasse states that the Alsatians and
the Lorrains wish to remain German.
In the mouth OF Hohenzollern the
term has a peculiar accent. During the
reign Of Louis XIV, to which present
day Germans refer, the same opinion
did not prevail in Berlin. In letters ad-
dressed Prince Eugene and to the
Duke of Marlborough the Prussian Min
lister Schmettau wrote in 1909:
"It Is well known that the ASA
tfans are more French than the Pari-
sians' When, on August 4. 1919. the
German chancellor Hardenberg asked
that Alsace, the fortresses of the Meth
erlands, the Meuse, the Moselle and the
Sarre be taken from the French he
based his claims on the necessity of
insurinE military security for the
neighboring states. He supported the
opinion of the Wurttemburger minis
ter. Count Wintzingerode, who said:
We must have Alsace and Lorraine as
pledge of German security. On Sep
tember Is. 1870, when Jules Fabre in
sisted on the attachment of the inhab-
itants Of Alsace-Lorraine for France
Bismarck replied: That these people
do not like us I am fully aware.
And that was the viewpoint of Maxi
milien Hardmen.
Germans Claim Alsatians.
THE A1satians belong to the German
race: they speak German. and they
should remain with u.s." is what the
majority of the Germans say to-day
This question of race is contestable II
seems as If one can no longer disttn-
guish pure race anywhere in Europe.
This is the case with the Alsatians;
Celts, Romans, Gauls and Alemanni
have intermingled in the northern part
of the country of the Franks. In the
Sundgau the round head Of the Celt Is
in the great majority. but in other re-
gions it is the elongated German era
mum which predominates: But what
matters the country to which one at
taches ones self? If one were to annex
to Germany all the peoples in whose
veins flows German blood. one would
have to begin with the German Swiss
and add thereto the Germans of Aus
tria, the Dutch and many more. And
other powers might follow the same
principle. The Prussians. descendants
of the Slavs, would thus become Rus
sian.
writer Finot said, is nothing but
prejudice. The peoples of today are
the result of a mixture in which one
race or another has succeeded in pre-
serving its preponderance by imposing
it's language. 1t is thus that the
Franks have disappeared from France.
the Celts. the Gauls and the Romans
from Alsace.
Speak Strange German Dialect.
Let US consider the question of
tongue. 1t is true that the Alsatian
people of today speak a German dialect.
This dialect is SO German that the in
habitants of the regions where "hoch
deutsch" is the habitual tongue do not
understand a single word when they
come to A1sace. And the Alsatian goes
H. .Hx 40. erhf
foreign language. Taking his own dia-
lect as basis, he understands Dutch
much more quickly than, for instance,
a Hanoverian would understand Asa
tian,
The leaders in the German empire
also assert that the Alsatians and the
Lorrains are deeply attached to Ger
many and have no wish to be sepa-
rated from it. Speeches to this effect.
Rieklin and Hoefrel of both houses of
parliament in Alsace- Lorraine, are
widely exploited by the Germans, who
profess to see therein the triumph of
their thesis. The Norddeutsche Allge-
meine Zeitung affirmed, on the occasion,
that it was no longer possible to claim
that Alsace-Lorrafne wished to return
to France. An Alsatian correspondent
Of the German-Swtss paper, the Basler
Nachrichten, has published certain rev.
elations which en1ighten US on this
question. He distinctly denounces the
maneuver of the German government.
In reality. II he Is to be believed.
the chancellor Of the empire went to
Strasburg on June 4. the eve of the
opening of parliament. to bring pres
sure to bear on the landtag and obtain
therefrom a vote in favor of Germany.
But he found only the presidents of
both houses to obey his orders. The
newspapers claimed that their declara-
tions were greeted with loud and re-
peated braves. AS a matter of fact one
gould have counted on ones fingers
the number of deputies who applauded.
The majority left the hall by way of
protest and neither of the two assem-
blies consented to vote in the sense de-
sired.
first house. The bishop Of Metz and the