New-York tribune., 1917-07-20

Copyright 1917. BY The Tribune Association
THE rebuilding of France after the
Il war will offer a great business
opportunity 10 the country quick
enough to seize IT, The losses suffered
by the French have been so great that
the wisest statistician hesitates 70 at
tempt to compute them. In the autumn
OF 1915 the French Government set
aside 30,OO0,O00 francs TO make a start
on rebuilding in the part of the devas-
tated regions that could then be safely
reached. A year later, with no greater
an extent Of territory to be considered,
the estimate was increased to 100000
600 francs, and it was recognized that
this was only a preliminary sum.
This gives no idea Of the extent OF
the destruction in France. It merely
serves TO show the impossibiity Of at
tempting computation Of the needs.
Eight whole departments, comprising
the most valuable of all the territory
of France, have to be rebuilt from the
ground up-and underground as WELL
This leaves out of consideration the
remainder of the country, all Of which,
having been taken for the war, will
have to be reorganized once more for
commercial purposes, the rebuilding Of
the railroads, etc, etc. The task is too
great for any country that has been
through such war as this has been in
France TO undertake from within itself.
The problems of after the war are
the problems of to-day. We cannot
wait until after the war 20 begin TO
cope with them or we will find our
selves once more in the same position
we were in on April .. when with two
years and eight months of warning we
went into war absolutely unprepared
in any way. The opportunities of after
the war must be seized to-day, or when
the time comes we will find that some
other country has been ahead of US
England, being country with inter-
national vision, long ago saw COM
ing this great opportunity in France
after the war. and beside her cam
paign on the battlefield she has been
waging another campaign to take first
place as Frances friend, for she real
ICES that friendship will count for
much more in business after the war
than it did in pre-war days. She wants
to be Frances friend so that France
will turn TO her after the war.
1t has been a difficult and uphill job
for her. for despite the entente so la
boriously established by King Edward
VII the French are naturally suspi-
cious of the English. Nor has the fact
that they are fighting side by side
killed that suspicion. The necessity
for great English armies in France has
not been a welcome necessity to the
French.
Two years ago / went TO the Channel
coast, passing through Boulogne and
Calais to Dunkirk. Huge English
camps of thousands of soldiers were all
along the route of the train from
Amiens 10 beyond Calais. The French
men on the train examined the camps
closely as we passed them.
"Now the English are here" they
said. will we ever be able TO get them
out again?
The theory was held at the begin
ming of the war that the peace terms
would be written by the country hav-
ing the most men under arms, and
Frenchmen used 10 say that they not
only had to have an army TO fight Ger
many. but 10 keep England from max
ing the peace an English peace. And
they used 10 say that they had 10 keep
a second army back TO drive the Eng
lish out of France at the end Of the
war.
Not only was there this old jealousy,
but there was a new jealousy and dis
satisfaction because for nearly two
years. while England was getting ready
for the great work she is doing now,
the French armies bore the brunt of
the fighting, and for month after month
England held only hfty-four miles of
the Western front. There was a time
when the English uniform was very
unpopular in Paris. The French peo-
pie thought the English army was not
doing enough.
One OF the times when the English
army was the most unpopular was dur
ing the great German assault on Yer
dun in February, March and April,
1915. The French wanted 10 know
why the English did not launch an Of
fensive and take the pressure Off the
French at Verdun. They complained
bitterly. 1t was said that three de-
mands had been made on the English
TO attack and each time they had re.