New-York tribune., 1918-07-28


~ people of Alsace-Lorraine has
reached total of 5000 years, ac-
cording to the Gazette de Lausanne"
This paper speaks of the four years of
state of siege in Alsace-L Lorraine as
"brutalizing rule of old rancor, of terror,
Of suppression of all free manifestations
Of the mind or of the heart"
This hard indictment Of German mill
tary rule in Alsace-Lorraine was con-
frmed by debate that took place in the
Reichstag June Z, which also brought out
striking testimony to the great efficiency
of the German army officers in winning
the hatred OF people whom they DOM
mate. The debate in question was
on bill for moderating the pro-.
visions of the law for so-called pro-
tective arrest. and it turned into a
debate upon conditions in Alsace-Lor-
raine. This protective arrest" is a
peculiarly German conception and prac-
tice. Under it the military authorities
in times of war, may decide that any
man is likely to commit some crime
against his country, and they "protect"
him against himself by arresting him
and throwing him into prison.
During the first year or two of the
war many such arrests We're made all
over Germany, and the Reichstag more
than once discussed the matter, and
finally, in 1916, passed a law to restrict
them to reasonable limits. In old Ger
many conditions did improve, but in AL
sace-Lorraine, apparently, there has
been no Improvement, as was evident
from this debate a month ago.
Whatever sympathy with the Ger
mans may have remained in Alsace-Lor-
raine at the beginning of the war seems,
according to, Herr Wendell, a Socialist
born in Alsace, to have been largely dis
sipated by German conduct since the
war began. "The military dictator
ship" declared Wendell, "has brought it
to Tass thai now large majority
would vote for France" How this
was wrought he also showed: "In
Alsace-Lorraine a system of inform
ers has been developed, and the most
stupid stories of these informers lead to
harsh measures"
The military authorities, said Wendell
further, in many cases disregard the law
requiring that a so-called protective ar
rest can be ordered and undertaken onlv
when there are specific facts to proceed
upon, and they arrest and imprison men
without any apparent cause. He brought
up the case of man who was kept in
protective arrest for three months and
then sent off to North Germany and kept
in detention camp for ten months, al
though absolutely nothing could be
proved against him. In another case a
clergyman at Saarburg was accused of
utterlng some anti-German sentiment
but when he was tried before court he
was acquitted for lack of proof, never
theess the military authorities refused
to permit him to return to Saarburg.
Wendell intimated that the military
authorities in Alsace-L Lorraine are so
fixed in their belief that the people there
are anti-German that they see disoyalty
IN things that mean nothing. A military
Judge punished a woman who wore red
stockings, white ribbon around her hat
and hatpin with a blue head--the ma
tional coors of France.
These views of the Socialists were con-
firmed by DR.. Waldstein, Progressive,
who nevertheless hoped that the change
had not been so great that majority
would now vote for France He went on
as follows:
But one thing can say with certainty,
that the feeling in favor of Germany as it
existed in Alsace- Lorraine at the beginning
of the war is no longer to be found in the
same measure, although the course of the
war should have increased the wish of the
Alsace-Lorraine people to remain with their
German Fatherland still remem-
Der how Secretary of State Delbrueck on
August 3, 1914, read to us with beaming
lace dispatch announcing that the mobili-
zatlon In Alsace was proceeding regularly
and with great enthusiasm One of the
chIet causes why things have changed since
then has undoubtedly been the course
adopted by the military in Alsace. | could
add great number to the cases brought
forward by the previous speaker"
Dr. Waldstein denied the correctness
OF statement made in the debate by
one of the ministers, that all the cases of
protective arrest had already been dis
posed of except one or two. He pro-
ceeded as follows:
"Of course, in all these cases the pro-
'ectlve arrest may have been revoked and
yet, IN spite of that, the man dares not re-
turn to Alsace-Lorraine. There are still
hundreds of i'm
ers who dare not return to their homes
although nothing can be brought against
them, and their innocence has been estab-
ished before the courts. They cannot re-
turn because the military commander will
not allow them"