The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-13
CHAPTER v.
France.


that there was in the world a nation
Of such superb valor. but one signs
II he studies the present position OF
that gallant nation. France never
stopped to count the price In courage
and manhood that she must pay to de-
fend herself from the Hun. There
was never any reckoning as to what
the future had In store. All things
were possible to that patriotism which
Is unsurpassed. And no moro did
France count the financial cost. In
deed, think the French mind grows
bewildered when the unit of billion
IL REACHED. They call It a milliard,
and after you have annexed nine
ciphers to a figure the French mind
no longer follows. 1t got to be all the
same when the debt OF France piled
up to a hundred millards and then
two hundred, and when engagements
were made that will take It far be-
yond that figure. 1t got to be like
figures In astronomy, that are so great
that they are represented by conven-
tional symbols
With some capacity for adding two
and two. the first thing that struck
me in France was the disparity be-
| N"SVh cuubSt
thing that taxation has yet yielded.
talked with ministers, legislators
and bankers, but none OF them shared
my anxiety. All Of them in the month
OF February still felt confident that
the national financial position was to
be made right by the payment OF in
demnity. They were hazy on how that
indemnity was to be paid, In Just what
! firm Ia ha A.
But Of one thing they were very GER
tain: 1t would be a deadly danger to
France IL German industry were al
lowed to recover before French in
dustry was on It's feet, and France in
the future be flooded with German
goods.
A Dutch banker in talking with mo
one day threw up his hands in despair
over the French mind. They want
to milk the COW and cut its throat at
the same time" he said.
| Cutting a cows throat while you
milk her interferes with that maternal
| quietude of mind which is conducive
to a generous giving of milk.
Whatever the French mind is, it Is
usually logical. 1t can be forgiven in
this case. however, for utterly neg
Letting logic, for it must be remem-
bered that triumphant as France
stands she is still in abject terror of
the future II that future holds a mill
tary Germany.
The Pathos of Devastation.
Frances loss of man power Is ono
Of the obvious things. Six months
after the armistice there were women
conductors upon the street cars, wom-
en- working about the railroad yards,
women everywhere in the fields.
France had a visible aspect OF haV-
ing been bled white. Men far along
in the forties could be seen in soldier
uniform and everywhere there seemed
an actual shortage of human power.
1t is sad to remember that during the
war the population OF France, quite
aside from all military losses, showed
a decrease of S00,000-S00,000 more
deaths than births.
| l traversed the whole distance Of
the French front. The pathos of that
devastated territory is beyond words
,the all but homeless people camping
in wrecked buildings with windows
screened with paper. Patient peas
ants toiling northward with scanty
furnishings for the home they hoped
to return 10 were poignant sights
when one had come fresh from the
regions toward which they were going
and knew that no roof stood in all
the land.
| But in trying to get some estimate
OF the future Of France I wanted so
far as possible to get the awful pic
ture OF the battle front out OF my
mind and remember that south ~
that terrible scar still lies unharmed
one Of the most beautiful countries -
all the world The devastating hand
OF war has only blighted. after all. n
comparatively small area, even though
that area held an important proper
ton OF the total OF al French in
dustry. Still, facts must be looked
in the face. although perhaps less than
any other nation involved in the war
has France been disposed so TO look
facts in the face. It must he re-
membered that her pre-wsr debt was
about $3.50 per capita: that the bal
ancing OF her pre- war budget was
difficult, and that no recent Govern
ment had felt strong enough to carry
out the pressing and necessary fund
ing OF her floating debt. To-day her
| bonded debt Is about s26, 900 900 900,
----