The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-06-26
FRENCH REBUILD
WAR.TORN LAND
TOTAL OF 250,OOO ACRES SEEDED
AND THOUSANDS OF DESTI-
TUTE CIVILIANS FED.
100 HAMLETS RUINED
In One District a Total of $4,000 Old
Men, Women and Small Children
Were Left Without Shelter by Re
treating Incendiary Enemy.

French Front, June 11.@tCorrespond-
ence Of the Associated Press)-Ameri.
can, French and British civilians are
working in closest cooperation vita the
French military and civil authorities in
restoring lands devastated by Germans
when they hulriedly quit the lines they
had held two years. from Noyon to the
Somme. The Associated Press cores.
pondent after visiting Noyon, the adopt.
ed daughter of Washington. went
through the entire district and observ-
ed what was being done.
Others have followed the example Of
the federal capital and have devoted
energies to succor of particular local
tiles. For instance, the American fund
for French wounded has stepped aside
from its original idea and taken full
charge of the hamlet of Behericourt,
with its 125 remaining inhabitants, all
OF whom were in greatest distress Am
orican women have seen to 1t that all
these poor people are provided with
| their most necessary requirements in
the way Of food and clothing.
The Comtesse de Chabrannes Ia Pal.
lice has taken TO herself the hamlet
Of. Maucourt OF which only heaps Of
bricks and stones remain, and will re-
build it.
Doctor Baron Henri de Rothschild
has opened a food and clothing depot
az Noyon, and sends everything nee
essary to any applicant in any part Of
the afflicted district.
Only Drop in Ocean.
All this, however, is but a drop in
the ocean when it is realized that there
are 243 villages and hamlets spread
over the country which the Germans
before their retreat tried to make into
desert. One hundred Of these small
communities are now just heaps Of
stones and bricks without one habitable
room or cellar among them while of
the remainder one-third were partly de.
molished and the rest only slightly.
In this region $4,000 old men and wo-
men and young children under fifteen
years were left without shelter or food
by the Germans. Some 10000 Of these
migrated to the interior Of France.
where a portion of them Joined rela-
tives
The military authorities have crap
pied in a mastery way the vast prob
lem which confronts them OF providing
for large destitute community imme.
diately behind the lines where a shield
Of French soldier flesh and steel was
holding back the Germans from posi-.
ble return. They set to organize the
country and its people. This first step
was to provide food and this was done
through the military commissariat as
there was no means OF civilian trans
port Of supplies from other parts OF
France.
Put 100000 Acres 10 Cultivation.
Then came the question OF putting
In cultivation again the 100000 acres
OF agricultural land comprised in the
zone. II was late in the season, but a
practicable scheme was at once formu.
lated and put into effect. The devas.
iated country was divided into seven
sections and composed Of 25 oommunes.
each in charge Of an officer with skill.
ed aides. Horses were lent by the ar
my broken plows and harrows were
repaired by motor mechanics OF the ar.
my. seeds Of all kinds were procured
and work on the land was begun. Much
manual labor was necessary and this
was found among the many peasants
ami small farmers I'm the ranks.
Thirty American tractors We're found
lying idle IN depot not far from the
| stricken district and these were trans.
ported 10 the places where they could
be most useful and put TO work. The la
bor was dangerous owing TO the pres
once OF unexpioded shells under the
surface OF the fields. but only one in
cident has occurred from this cause.
In this way about 1000 acres have
been plowed and sown with grain and
grass and another $500 more plowed
and cleared Of weeds.