The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11

system Of France, with its millions of
small proprietors, reared against Ger
many an impossible barrier. 1t was
the French peasant who did the
fighting Of his country. and he fought
for that which truthfully is his own.
The Industrial workers of France pro-
duced her munitions. The small land
owners contributed the greater pro-
portion OF her actual fighting men.
The French peasant fights for his
country with grim determination. for
his country means to him the little
strip OF land which has come down
to him from his ancestors.
THE reason why the French never
have emigrated to America In consid-
cradle numbers is that widespread
peasant ownership. The same cause
will tend to prevent great emigration
in the future. but the war may have
produced some impulse toward unrest
among even these firmly anchored
folk. especially through the influence
Of their acquaintanceship with Amer
lean soldiers. whom they very quickly
learned to like and whose extraordi-
nary prosperity dazzled them. Our
men were so mentally resourceful. so
CHEEKY. so self-reliant. they carried
such suggestion OF an economic pros
perity wholly new TO the French con-
ception Of a soldiers reasonable ex-
pectations that probably they have
fired some French imaginations with
| desire to try their luck in the great
country which produced these men.
when I was in France I heard II
said that some 'poilus' were being
/ 'lured to a desire to cross the sea to
! the United States by their contact
with the Yanks.
| And of course 100000 homes in
France have been destroyed. The dew
| astated region seems beyond repair.
Out of the population to which it once
, afforded homes one reasonably might
expect some emigration.
But that will not be the big force
which probably will be most powerful
in turning emigration, from France or
elsewhere, toward US in future. That
restlessness which ever is born of war
service will be a driving power for
many years to come.
Let us consider France again
There. for instance, practically all
males between IS and As, and many
Of an older age, forcibly were dislodged
from home and previous employments
and either sent to the front or mobil-
lied for industry.
War woke Up French Peasant.
Men free from home restraints and
industrial discipline. free from the old
1 q ND oil oil h.
time in their lives had new and thrill
ing experiences; privates found them
selves as efficient as and perhaps
rather more resourceful and competent
than those who before entering the
service of the war had been of favored
social or financial state and at the be-
ginning formed the greater portion of
the officer class. Thousands Of pri-
vate soldiers rose to rank and won
distinction IN emergencies.
| Among all the armies the war had
a great influence toward democratiza-
ton; In France the development of
peasants to the highest ability was no
unusual thing. This introduced into
the minds OF the French peasantry
new imagination, that great quality
which heretofore had been absent
from them to an astonishing degree.
Similar phenomena occurred among
the British the Italians-indeed such
an experience was common to all SOL
diers in this war. The imaginations
Of our men, probably more active at
Tho start than those OF any others
among the fighting armies. undoubt-
eddy were quickened into new scope
and accuracy ny the great adventure.
The restlessness OF people in all
pats OF Europe probably may be
traced in some degree TO this great in
fuence. But setting that aside en-
tirely one still finds 1t far from rea-
sonably astonishing that unusual
things are happening everywhere in
Europe when $4,000, 900 people there
have been disorganized for four long
years. 1t Is not surprising that many
Of these millions have not been will
ing or have not been able to so TO work
again in the old calm and methodlcal