The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-06-04
GERMANS TRYING TO
CHEAT FRENCH EXHES

Arriving by the steamship Tour
aine'' from Bordeaux on May "a, DR..
Ernest W. Bysshe of the American
Methodist Mission in France is full
of sympathy for that country. His
report of conditions there is in many
respects a sad one.
He has seen the stream of refu-
gees from the occupied sections of
France that Germany is distributing
through the country at the rate of
several thousand a week. These, for
the most part women, or old men, the
Germans cannot feed, and SO, retain
ing all boys above the age of four
| teen, they are shipping off the I'M
avafsables who would require more
food that they desire to give.
i, The Germans are trying to get the
exiles to give up their French money,
| but instead they obstinately bury or
\ hide it. They were permitted to car
ry with them 100 francs in bank notes
for each adult and SO francs for each
child, with as much Of the deprecia-
ted bills as thmey have. But even
then the prosecutors try to cheat the
refugees of this little amount. French
bank notes are worth at present one
third their face value. The Germans
! ask for the money in envelopes to
|
| they return the envelopes, after hav-
] ing exchanged the notes for depre-
| ciated paper. I'm this way they have
accumulated possibly million
francs, stolen from these widows
mites.
When the refugees reach France,
they are almost .penniless and have
neither trade nor friends. It is then
that so many women, who would die
otherwise, come to some such charity
as the Methodist work rooms and beg
for enough to keep body and soul to-
gether. This mission obtains mend
ing and Jbther sewing from the hospi-
tails. hires the refugees to do it, and
gives the completed work to the hos
pitals.
II DR.. Bysshe feels strongly about the
attempts of the Germans to ruiz
France completely. Where the inva.
der's horse has stepped the grass new.
er grows again. The crops of the
country are wholly inadequate in any
case this year, as the farmers have
all gone into the infantry; and the
French government is facing an en-
tire reorganization of it's agriculture,
system. The entrance of so many re
fugees from the north, moreover in
creased the demand for food. TIL
German army is also attempting
moral degradation Of the women o
France, making life much easier To-
the complement woman and essay
ing by insidious persecution the cor
ruptfon of the others. But, notwith
standing the general looseness O
morals in war time as well as tn
efforts Of the invaders, the moral sit
uation in France, reports DR.. Bysshe
is much better than one would ex
pect. But altogether the sad fact re
mains that France is being bIed whit
as the French phrase runs by tn
war, and the evident German plan s.
to weaken her that even after a vic
torious war she must fall into Ger
man hands within a decade of it
! close, is all too successful.
The hope of France, according t
DR.. Bysshe, lies in it's women. Tn
: French woman has advanced he
h cause by a whole generation. VIII
would have thought five years ag
that women physicians and civil of
ficials would be recognized and de
manded? Ere long women, beginnin
with the fiancees and widows Of tn
soldiers, will be given full admissio
on equal terms in all the profession
and the civil service. And of course
the vote; that will come earlier tina
some Of the social gains.
Then the French women mus
teach their men that they are nc
playthings, but competitors, and al
ter they have become competitor
they may be comrades Woman hs
her spurs to win, and will probabl
have some trouble doing it. But Gel
tainly thus far the French woma
has met the crisis splendidly.
u
I If the bathing skirt of yesterday