The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-11-15

: ,"S anu oHipS was maze mere TO
night by Andre Tardieu, general com
missioner for France-American at
] fairs.
/, Declaring that the war has re
duced by one-ffteenth the effectiv
population of the Republic; that $50,
ooo homes have been destroyed; tina
agriculture, commerce and industr,
IN the invaded regions virtually hav,
been wiped out, that French shipping
and foreign trade have been reduced
almost to nonexistence, M. Tardie,
said that approximately 1000 900 OO(
francs ($10,0O0,O00,006) will be re-
CURED to finance the process of res.
toration. While France, "for many
months the main battlefield of liberty
and right, will draw upon her every
resource and those of her colonies to
mobilize this vast sum, the commits.
sioner stated, she chiefly looks fol-
assistance from the allies.
From America, Tardieu continued
making public, as he said, representa-
tons which he had presented to the
administration at Washington, France
asks for contribution of labor by
American troops now on her soil; for
credits to the extent of so per cent
OF her reconstruction purchases in
this country, for raw materials, rail-
road rolling stock, and agricultural
and industrial tools and for diversion
for part of the emergency fleet to the
uses of French commerce. In ex-
planning these needs to the American
Government, the commissioner said
he was given welcome by which he
was deeply moved"
First Help Asked of U. S.
While France will exact restitution
for German depredations, Tardieu as
serted, speed in the reconstruction is
imperative and America, on account
of her immense capability for produc-
ton, ought to give us the first help"
The French COMMISSIONER appeal
to Americans was made in an address
before the Association of Foreign
Press Correspondents. introduced by
Frank Dilnot of London, president of
the organization, Tardieu attributed
the allied victory to "the work of our
soldiers and civilian populations" and
to the "loyal, wise and skilful policy
by means of which President Wilson
enabled the Allies and America, in
answer to the German request, to de-
termine in full liberty our conditions
of armistice."
He continued: "France has lost q
100000 men. Some are dead. some
are MANNED; some have returned sick
and incapacitated from German pris-
ons. Whether they be lost altogether,
or whether their working capacity be
permanently reduced, they will not
participate in this reconstruction.
The fifteenth part of our people is
missing at the very time we need all
our material and moral forces in or
der to build up our life again.
Flower of France Has Died
1.-The younger, stronger part of our
nation, the flower of France, has died
on the battlefelds. Our country has
been bereft Of its most precious re-
sources.
Our war expenses, $4,000, 100000
francs, are weighing heavily on our
shoulders. To pay off this debt there
are at hand only such limited re-
sources as invasion has left US. The
territories which have been under
German occupation for four years
were the wealthiest part of France.
Their area did not exceed per cent
of the whole country. They paid, how
ever, rs per cent of the sum total of
our taxes.
"The industrial disaster is complete.
The districts occupied by the Germans
and whose machinery has been meth
odically destroyed or taken away by
the enemy were, industrially speaking,
the very heart of France. They were
the very backbone of production.
"Plants, machinery, mines-nothing
is left. Everything has been carried
away or destroyed by the enemy. So
is the destruction that, in
the case of our great coal mines in
the north, two years of work will be
needed before single ton of coal can
be extracted and ten years before the
output is brought back to the figures
Of 1913
France will be equal to the effort.
But, resolute as she is to do by her.
self everything she herself can do,
France also deems it fair that, having
been for SO many months the main
of liberty and right, she
should now be helped in her effort,
and she prides herself in trusting full
" the spirit of solidarity of those of
ner allies who have not been invaded.
"To you, Americans, let me say that
we want, first, immediate assistance
n the matter of labor. We hope that,
Turing the preparation and the car
-ying on of the transportation of
your troops back to America, your i
technical as well as other units, with
heir equipment, will be able to CO.
operate in the effort.
eve soon will have to carry out a ,
colossal work of transportation in ,
yiew of the supplying of the regions
by the enemy, of the re-
of the railroads in North |
I'm and Eastern France and in Alsace- {
Iorraipe.
1--WE will have to clear the recon- |
Iuered ground of the ruins accumulat- {
ID by the German hordes. Your army [
will help US in this work, while our I
population will restore her cities and
'illages."
Regarding French shipping needs,