Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-30
.ALSAT|ANS DEMAND
REUNION WITH FRANCE
Childish to Talk to People, Oppressed
Fouy-Ei2ht Ycnrs, of
Plcbiscitc.
VICTIM or TERRIBLE WRONGS
Alsatian C0bblcr Forecfully Presents
Provinces Case Against Conquer
or, Who Has Done NauSht Since
1870 to AlIcviatc Situation.
ny .JOIIN SIMUNDS,

LSACE. Dccembcr Monsieur
W!ntcrer is the cohbler Of an A!s:t
ton. ana he has strong views on the
proposals put forward by certain see
lions in, Great britain and America
~ question he exclaimed flerccly:
"\h. they dc NOT know ANYTHING OF
:hlsacc t" make sncn Il suggestion
original .Alsatians ana the German i'm
migrants. have been forced 10 live to-
gcihcr for Iorty-cight years. We ha'!
IDEAS. and we have often come to blows.
IS when at Inhcrn another cobhler
like me had his head cracked lay :,
staggering bochc.
TO keep US in order $4,000 soldiers
We're planted IN our country. All our
young men. ii physically tit. were sent
10 France TO avoid this hut years later
they. could not return without pass
ports ami even when they were sum
noncd 4" attend their parents dca IN
beds these were refused
brutality. the German o,i%ia!s aud
their families apreared riditnlo"s -
us. and yet We had TO obey THEM as II
We We're slaves: Hairy. hadi" dressed
creatures the boche are! And thcl.
women folk with their vulgar dresses
those celluloid collars. all yellow with
being scrubbed with a tooth brush,
The houses they built against our
charming old mansions were nonstrnS-
tiles and the style OF pastry cook
You smile that | speak like thus. Eut
am OF French blood. an artist. q
lover Of bcbauty. not barbarian like
a hochc. That's the difference.
Yet now plebiscte is proposed.
Why, for forty-eiEht years while We
have been forced 10 endure :! most
have ceased expressing our opposition
10 the boche government. Why pie
hisci;c. now? 1t is as if the Germans:
after invading Belgium in 1914. and
then after sending away or numbering.
the native Bclg!ans. bringing in their
own officials. Suprressing every word
is"lating. the unhappy country hy
means of passports. We're in the yea;
laG2--fo"ty-four years hcncc--;o an
nouncc TO Europe that now the future
crondum.
no ne FAIR TO ALsATIANS
SHOULD BE RETURNED NOW
Gro he fair to the .\lsatians we
should TAG returned TO France low.
Throughout all her years of occura-
and has created close and secret in
dustridl and commercial relations.
From tho Secretary Of state to the
lowest grndarme. all the bochcs who
nave poured in TO pick up fat jobs N
our rich country would do their hest
10 filSify plebiScitc. Tie only iu@y
cause IS 10 lei us return to France.
u have read of tho way In rcd
Indian tribes : squaw used TO be
snatChed away from her husband by
force and compelled 10 live with am
other chief Hu; even this savage
method OF mating. although mitigated
by certain fierce wooing OF the wo-
man, is regarded by civilization as
harharic and unchristinn.
A!Sace is like the woman torn away
from her man. France WAS defeat eli
IN the Franco-Prussiau War. There
has been, however. little attcmn 10
WOO her. Shc has never been allowed
10 enjoy under the same conditions
as tho German states tho privileges
of belonging 10 the Gerinanic Conrei
Grafton. She mas always remained a
heichs land. and her people made to
feel that they We're a conquered race,
The abducted woman has been given
NO place in the new household She
Sun remains slave. and her longing
Tor her husband and her old home
remains HE same. Would /, H.. fair
or honorable TO ask such a woman
to state solcmniy her wishes when
she knows that her master will proh-
ably brain her with club if she sneak {
against him? Equally unfair would II
be TO ask Alsacc by "A referendum
carried out with bocnc spies in com
nand. To express her will Right In.
wrong Return the lost provinces ,c
the mother country. tina; is the oniy
moral and Just policy"
tCopyright. 1879