Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-01-21
FRANCE SUFFERS WAR DAMAGE 0F
 MANY BILLIONS
Estimates Place Total Pub lie and Private Property
 at l5 Billion Francs.


 Correspondence Associated Press) Paris, Jan. 2.-Fftccn billion francs is the estimate most generally ac- ceptcd as the total of war damages to public and hrivate property in France, according to Georges Desplas, of the war damages committee of the chamber of deputies, who has charge of the legislation for the settlement of those damages. Although prior to this war such damages were c1assed as catastrophies over which neither men nor governments had any con trol. the general principle of indem- nifty for such damages whether by the invaders or by the home army was accepted by the chamber of deputies last year and provisional sum of 30000o,Oo0 francs has already been appropriated for immediate dstri- button. Over two million claims are antici- pated, number so vast that it would take the 30 courts of the invaded de- partments of France about IFS years to settle them at their normal rate of procedure, says M. Desplas, in eX-' plainiNg to the Associated Press the
 bill now under discussion in parlia- 1 ment Tt proposes" he says, "the creation Of temporary war indemnity | tribunals somewhat similar to the
 courts of claims in the United States
 after the civil war. Each canton and
 each department in the invaded re-
 zion will have commissions which
 will appraise damages. The tempo
 rary war tribunals in each depart
 ment will pass upon these claims, and
 in cases of contest, appeals will be
 made to body called the higher com
 mission, composed of members of parliament, justices of the supreme
 court, representatives of the different
 agricultural societies and various de-
 partments of the government, as al-
 ready provided for by the law of .July 20, 1915.
 'The bill admits all property hold
 CTS, corporations, deeartments anl
 municipalities as well as individua's
 to the right to indemnities. It does not specifically accord the right to foreign property holders because such general principle would establish
 precedent from which other nations
 would at once benefit without any
 prospect of reciprocal advantage
 for France. As to neutrals and sub jects of countries allied to France, 1t will be question of treaties to be negotiated, in the main, since the only existing treaties that might be inter-
 ested as entitled subjects of another
 country to the same rights as French citizens are with Switzerland, Spain
 and Denmark"
 | The nropOsed law declares to oe
 "war damages: Immediate damage
 caused by military operations of the
 German or allied troops by fire, theft,
 pillage of as the result of enforced fight or captivity of the population or
 removal of their chattles by the
 enemy. The basis of the apprisal will
 be the value of the property before the war.
 The unemployment of the sums paid
 as indemnities in the reconstruction
 of the property destroyed or damaged is one of the much debated articles of the measure. The objedt of it is II to assure the reconstruction If Frances economic machinery and dis
 courage any tendency of claimants to abandon industries or occupations
 upon which the prosperity of the
 country depends.
 "Prompt reparation If damage after the liberation of the invaded territory and immediate reconstruction of in ? dustries and homes so as to restore at the earliest possible moment the economic life of the devastated pro- vince; that is what we are seeking to