Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-05
cRATEFUL NOYON READY
n SHARE GOOD FORTUNE
rrsnch Town That Washingto-
r;ans Are Reconstructing Now
Center of Relief
p,vALRY IN GOOD DEEDS
,..or de Rothschild and American
woman Competitors in Carrying
Aid to War Sufferers
vovoN. France, July 90 By maiD

NoyoN. France, July 20 By maiD.
..,.or which has been adopted by the
80. NJ washington, who will under
~. 1,s reconstruction, is not In the least
~, ~ .siAsh about its good luck, and has
p..s,,uted y. itself into center for all of
~. yarious activities looking toward the
ue ue,.satlon of the 243 villages destroyed
49, Immediate vicinity. This does not
" ~ that the inhabitants of Noyon itself
ns hslning the outside villages, as that
n,,,,s ~ impossible. While Noyon as city
pSssrsd less from the German destruction
.s.r any Of the surrounding towns and
e.sarss una the inhabitants suffered all the
,.,ortIon. cruelty and privatons that the
c.rmans were able to infict.
Nav that their immediate and future
ats have been guaranteed, they are quite
nanny 10 allow all of the various charities
has w ali over the world, that originally
soctsd TO the help of Noyon, to extend
.ss,r help to the more devastated towns
"a dstricts for score of miles around.
n, one side Of the principal street OF
,,oyor Baron de Rothschild has opened
= warehouse and stocked it at his own
.o.nse with all the articles the war
, s,s,cken inhabitants are likely to need.
~ the opposite side of the same street.
100 American ladies have opened a ware
house and stocked it with almost the
h.,ween the two establishments is the keen
IN N any kind that exists at Noyon-even
vssner than the proverbial competition be-
tween the military and the civil authorities
The American ladies have their own
r,o,ortruck and personally carry their sup
niles into the little homes to which they
sre destined Baron de Rothschild does not
nossess a motortruck and his distribution
las 10 be made by the military automobiles
4, ,g,,erN al al
viii undertake its reconstruction, other
,ouns and villages are having the good
Iuck to find godmothers and godfathers.
The town of Maucourt, near Ham, which
suffered to an extreme degree. has been
sdon,ed by Countess de Chabannes la
palice She has erected temporary bar
racks in which the inhabitants will live until
their homes can be rebuilt. Then she will
rafrnish the homes with all the furniture
and utensils that the Germans either car
ried away or destroyed.
lust at present one of the most interest
ing questions is Who's going to adopt
chauny?" Chauny was an unusually large
and prosperous city, the center of the ia
nous ST. Gobain glass industry. The degree
of destructveness inflicted here by the Ger
mans exceeds that of any other town or
cty. In fact It is so great that American
cities less than the size of New York, Chi.
cago Philadelphia, st. Louis or Cleveland
are advised TO keep off It as a godson. Any
one Of these cities, however, could find
IN the restoration of Chauny a task worthy
Of itself.
The English Quakers, who ever since the
first invasion of France have made a
speciality Of the reconstruction of destroyed
homes, are also now working out of Noyon
One of the interesting problems involved
IN the recultivation of the soil Is that OF
the unexploded grenades and shells which
now lie everywhere beneath the surface. A
single hand grenade struck by a plow OF
harrow is sufficient to kill the horses and
farmer as we'll as to destroy the machinery
One which exploded recently underneath q
steam plow in the vicinity of Noyon com
petely destroyed, the machine.
Army officers who are studying the prob.
lem frankly confess their hope that Ameri
can inventive genius will find some
mechanical way of discovering these un
exploded projecties in the soil. Otherwise
thousands and thousands of acres of French
soil will not be cuitivatable.