The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-30
WILL ALSACE AND LOR-
RAINE RETURN TO FRANCE?
BY ARTHUR BRISBANE.
Copyright, 1917, Star Company

The French chamber of deputies
has officially declared that France
will not make peace except upon the
return of Alsace and Lorraine to
France by Germany.
At the end of the Franco-P russian
war, in 1871, the Germans took from
France, as a cash indemnity, five
thousand millions of francs, and the
two beautiful and fertile border prov
inces, Alsace and Lorraine.
Ever since that day in the Place de
la Concorde, Paris, the great statue
representing the city of Strasburg, ia
ken from France by Germany, has
been once every year in mourning,
The French declare that this war is
to end the mourning, that Alsace and
Lorraine with Strasburg are coming
back to France.
The Germans say that this never
shall be.
Americans are interested, since we
are apparently to stay in the war I'M
til France and England shall be will
ing to make peace. 1t is important
for US to know what the peace terms
and the peace chances are.
The Germans say truly that while
Germany took Alsace and Lorraine
from France by force under Napoleon
the Third, + .- nee previously had ia
ken Alsace . d Lorraine by force
from Germany under Louis the Four
teenth The French again say, Yes;
but Alsace and Lorraine were part of
ancient Gaul and are French"
The French say, you took Alsace
and Lorraine from us and we won't
make peace until you give those
provinces back"
The Germans reply. You originally
took Alsace and Lorraine from us. we
do not intend to give them back"
To settle the question might take
five or ten years of fighting rather
hean-
tiful provinces.
The United States possibly may be
in the position to influence peace
terms considerGl ly.
And one day we may have to dis
cuss the justice in the Alsace-Lor-
raine matter, as also whether Eng
land should keep the German colon
les, and some other questions.
The United States, in it's fine role of
"unselfish friend of democracy and
little peoples" would ask: What do
the inhabitants of Alsace and Lor-
raine want?'
The French would say that Alsace
and Lorraine have never ceased to
mourn their annexation by Germany
This the Germans would deny, say
ing that the new generation of men
and women in Alsace and Lorraine,
born and grown up in the forty years
since the Franco-Prussian war, like
the German system of government,
are in favor of it, and want to remain
German.
On this subject some definite infor-
nation. based on official and presum-
ably reliable documents. was recently
supplied by Mr.. Lausanne, editor of
the Paris Matin.
| In 1874, Alsace and Lorraine elected
fifteen deputies to sit in the German
reichstag Some of these were Pro-
| some Catholics inClndiTg the
| Bishop of Strasburg.
Every one of them signed a declar-
alton read at the tribune of the reich
stag, This declaration, signed by rep
resentatives of all the people of AL
SAGE and Lorraine-part of the reichs-
| tag record-says among other things:
''In the names of the people of
Alsace and Lorraine we protest
against the abuse of force of which
our country is the victim. Citizens
| having a soul and intelligence are
not mere goods that may be sold OF
with which you can trade. The
conquest that annexed US to Ger
many is null and void"
Germans might say that what rep
resentatives of Alsace and Lorraine
said and felt in 1874 may not repre-
sent the feelings of Alsace and Lor-
raine now, forty years later.
NJ. Lausanne, however. calls atten-
ton to the fact that an authority not
| TO De put Oh IeCOIu III Is .
the fact that Alsace and Lorraine was
| "a foreign country as far as Ger
many was concerned.
1t was after the "Zabern" affair
which aroused most bitter feeling in
Alsace and Lorraine and thruout
France.
Won Jagow, one of the highest Of
ficials of the German empire. discuss
ing in the reichstag the Zabern incl
dent said: in Alsace and Lorraine
the Germans must behave as if they
were in enemies country"
Since every member of the reichs-
tag representing Alsace and Lorraine
denounced annexation in the first Of
fetal statement in the reichstag, an6
Won Jagow officially spoke of Alsace
and Lorraine as enemies country
only four years ago. it would appear
that the people of Alsace and Lor-
raine do object to the forcible annex
alton which Germany says they en-
Joy.
1t is an important question for this
country. The length of our fight, the
amount of our losses in money and
men will depend on the willingness
of the European nations to make
peace and upon our ability to see and
insist upon what is just