Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-18
BY CHARLES M. PEPPER.

By CHARLES M. PEFEEh.
~ AL and iron at the outset OF the
m great war were its economic
IL background. Now they are
~ coming to be the foreground This
appears through the discussion of the
Alsace-Lorraine question
For the great mass of the French peo-
MIA. and for the French government.
which interprets. their feelings. the res
toration Of the lost provinces" Of Alsace-
Lorraine II a profound national sentiment
which arouses the deepest patriotism
For the kaisers government. with It's
economic autocracy. Alsace-Lorraine is
an Industrial question
Among the German people no deep
sentiment clusters around these prov
inceA Nearly half century OF Ger
man administration has failed to Ger
rnanize them Nor has the original
Teutonic element among the fnhabi-
tants of the province manifested any
feeling OF gratitude at becoming part
Of the German nationality. Years back.
Il was the claim of French writer's that
sven the German-speaking population
were French in sentiment Since the
majority Of them spoke French as well as
German. this was not improbable
So little actual German sentiment has
been developed during the German oc-
cupation that it is not unfair to assume
that the majority of the German people
agreed with Bismarck that the annexa-
ton of Alsace-Lorraine was mistake.
Perhaps the kaiser's autocratic govern
meut also would agree to this, except
that the industrial class of capitalists
on whom 1t has depended for support
equally with the junkers would never
aeouiesce in such q feeling. To them
Alsace-Lorraine means iron and steel.
Their influence may be counted on to
sustain the pan-Germanists In oppos-
ting any recession Of the territory an
nsxsd BY Germany after Sedan when
France was helpless
Exaxgerated and ill-informed state
rnsnts have been made which would lead
to the belief that the entire iron and
steel industry of Germany rests on Al
sace-Lorraine. This IS not correct. The
lost provinces. as the French people al
ways will call them. have considerable
mineral wealth, but they are far from
being the principal source of Germany's
industries. They are simply an impor-
tant contributory resource. and have
bean an element in enabling Germany
to distance Great Britain in producing
pig iron so that at the outbreak of the
war Germany was second to the United
States in its production.
The mineral resources OF Alsace-Lor-
faine are iron ore. coal. potash, petro-
leum and rock salt. This rock salt is
useful to the chemical industries. The
oh
tant in peace times as compared with
the great potash fields in Prussia. The
same is true Of the petroleum products.
Normal production of potash in the
metric tons annually. That Of petroleum
- about 10000 tons.
The petroleum fields and part Of the
potash and the rock salt deposits are in
AisAce. Tho coal and iron ore fields are
in Lorraine. In its economic aspect
Lorraine, which IL about the size Of the
state Of Delaware, might be entirely
divorced from Alsace- Mining authori-
6ee in describing the Iron ore fields OF
Europe, always refer to the Lorraine
and not to the Alsace-Lorraine fields.
The Lorraine iron ore beds are part OF
the great basin which includes Luxem.
burg and the Longwy-Briey and Nancy
basins in French territory.
Lorraine and Luxembourg ore is Of low
grade. The French ores. particularly
those discovered during the last ten Oh
fifteen years. are Of high grade.
The total iron ore production of Ger
many In 1913. which Is the latest year
for which statistics are available. was
a little under 100000 metric tons
More than 21.0ooo0O tons were the
product Of the Lorraine mines. The
balance came from Luxembourg. from
the Bonn district along the Rhine and
from Silesia, In eastern Prussia. Lux
emburg, nominally. Is an Independent
duchy enjoying the protection of the
European powers. Actually. 1t is 9
member Of the German customs union
and, in the economic and industrial
sense. is . part of Germany. Con
fusion, however. sometimes arises II
analysine the Industrial statistics o,
Germany through the failure to specif,
ttha& Lpxemburg is included.
xeuHatne uses from 70 to % psPoen