New-York tribune., 1918-03-17

Belgium one kingdom. The great
French Revolution dragged their bodies
from their leaden coffins to put them
INTO the graveyard, but the Restoration
of 1914 gave them back their legitimate
place.
Spiritual Centre
OF Eastern France
The last forty years and the anneSa-
tlon of Alsace Lorraine by Germany
have bestowed upon Nancy, which was
left to us, great Importance 1t has
taken moreover literary cachet, as
we'll as one of elegance, and become
the intellectual brain and the centre of
spiritual influence of Eastern France
Its faculties, grouped in independent
bodies, deserve their honorary title
and are real universities, attracting
students from all parts of the world.
AS to the professors, their renown far
surpasses the narrow boundaries of
provincial town. la province, as we dis
dainfully call all that does not belong
to Paris.
Its industries also, until the Great
War, were in a most fourishing state
most of the manufacturers and work
men of Metz and Strasbourg took up
their abode here after 1871, proudly
styling themselves emigres, to show
that they had left their homes to avoid
German rule, bringing with their skill
and activity great prosperity to the
former capital of Lorraine. I remem-
Der as small child during the siege
of Strasbourg playing sometimes in
the sheltered garden of brewer at
Schiltigheim, and was much pleased to
find, twenty years or more later, that
he had installed brewery at Nancy on
a really gigantic scale. Cabbage picked
in salt, which is national dish of the
Alsatians, is fabricated here for the
whole of Alsace and is sent all over :
Europe
Noted for Many
Arts and Crafts
Embroidery and the making of boots
and straw hats keep thousands of
hands busy in Nancy, which central
ICES the work of the villages and ham
lets surrounding it. Before the war
the yearly export of boots and shoes
amounted to over S4,OO0,0OO, divided
among twenty-five manufacturers.
They were of common variety, sewn
by machine, generally with nailed
soles, and were almost solely destined
for export. But the chief industry of
Nancy is the making of straw hats,
which once flourshed all over Alsace.
and after our defeats migrated to
Nancy. In the town itself, as 1 saw
during my last visit, most home work
ers are employed at making hats,
while the large factories often en-
ployed as many as 5000 work people
and twothirds of which were wom-
en-. This trade, Of which Nancy has
the monopoly in France, has been a
great loss for Germany, especially for
the Rhine and Saar provinces, where,
strangely enough, most of the towns
continue to work for Nancy The
plaits, however, which serve to make
straw hats, are quite an industry by
themselves. In their raw state thew
come chiefly from China, and are sent
to Italy and Switzerland for the
bleaching process, whence they are i'm
ported into France. England, which is
the chief intermediary, yearly imported
half million tons of plaits. But even
here Nancy was making great progress
before the war, and with groups which
had formed in Lyons and Caussade
was trying to make herself indepen-
dent of both England and Switzerland
The Straw Hat
And Printing Press
The trade of straw hats gives rise to
many others, for Nancy, after having
received the raw material, turns out
every kind Of hat trimmed and ready
for export, and for this accessories of
all kinds are needed. What struck me
most when | walked through the large
workshops were thousands and thou
sands of bellshaped hats, put one into
the other, forming immense pyramids.
1t was the Panama hat, the light, white
head cover which is so great & favoritc
and almost endless in its wear These
hats in their primitive state are the
product of the Bourbon paIm or
latania, and are sent by the republic
Of Ecuador. The dressing of the Pan
anna hats is one of the great industries
of Nancy, and it is all the more impor-
tant' at the present time when our
women have been compelled to take
the place of men, for this is light in
dustry, we'll within their powers.
The printing works Of Berger Lev
rault form one of the most interesting
features of Nancy. They arc famed
not only all through France, but may
say the world. Here is the printing
done of almost all the branches Of the
French government, and the propric
tors arc the publishers for the minis
tries Of War, Finance, Police and many
other departments, for which they pro-
vide millions of copies.
The trades and industries have de-
scribed, as saw them, arc mostly neg
iected to-day. Our men have gone,
l.