New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-08

people are provided with their most
necessary requirements in the way OF
food and clothing.
The Comtesse de Chabrannes la Pal
lice has taken to herself the hamlet OF
Maucourt, of which only heaps Of
bricks and stones remain, and will re-
build it.
Rothschild Opens Depot
DR.. Baron Henri de Rothschild has
opened a food and clothing depot at
( Novon. TO which he Sends everything
necessar yto keep life going in any
applicant in any part of the afflicted
district.
All this. however, is but drop in
the ocean when it is realized that there
are 243 villages and hamlets spread
over the French zone alone Of the coun-
try which the Germans before their
retreat tried to make into a desert.
One hundred Of these small communI-
ties are now just heaps Of stones and
bricks. without one habitable room or
cellar among them, while Of the re-
mainder one-third were partly demol-
ished and the rest only slightly dam
aged.
In this region $4,000 old men and
women and young children under if
teen wears were left without shelter or
food by the Germans. Some 1900 OF
these were evacuated Immediately TO
the interior of France, where pro-
portion Of them Joined their relatives.
The military authorities have Crap
MED in a mastery way with the vast
problem which confronts them OF pro-
viding for a large, destitute commu-
nifty Immediately behind the lnes,
where a shield Of French fesh ana
steel is holding back the Germans
from possible return. They set 70
work to organize the country ana ~.
neople. The first step WAS 70 provide
food. and this was done through the
military commissariat, As there was no
means Of civilian transport Of supplies
from other parts Of France.
Cultivation Is Started
Then came the question Of putting IN
cuitivation again the 100000 acres of
ooricultural land comprised in the
french zone. II was late in the season.
but a practicable scheme was az once
formulated and put into effect. ON
Gers Of high rank were placed in charge:
/ The devastated country was divided
into seven sections. and composed or
twenty-five communes. and each IN
charge of an officer with skilled aids.
Horses were lent by the army, broken
rlouphs and harrows were repaired by
motor mechanics of the army, seeds OF
all kinds were procured and WORK on
/ the land was begun. For TINS manual
/ labor was necessary, and TINS was
found among the many peasants anu
small farmers in the ranks.
Thirty American tractors were found
living idle in a depot not FAR from the
stricken district, and these were trans
norted TO the places where they could
he most useful and put to work. The
labor was dangerous owing TO the pres
enra OF unexploded shells under the
surface of the fields, but only one &C
cjdent has occurred from this cause.
In this way about 1000 acres have
been ploughed and sown with gram
and grass and another $500 acres
plouehed and cleared OF weeds WINE,
with the help of American. English ana
Trench donors, every family has been
provided with seeds and roots TO form
truck garden, with the result that
sufficient produce is expected to make
the community self-supporting-.
Tire Germans had also cultivated a
considerable tract Of land and sown II
with rye. which they tried 70 destroy
before their hurried departure ou.
Win only partial success, for at least
. zoo acres will produce crops this
In the meantime houses are being
repaired where possible, and temporary
shacks erected where no haoitati =.
cxists. Schools have been opened, mill,
tarv doctors attend the sick, a postal
service has begun. and SO far as pos.
sible life is being made endurable for
the thousands who suffered so. SO mu SS
during the German occupation and
v;,.usllv lost everything they pos
.essed when the invaders departed.