The Pulaskian., 1919-04-04
By LLOYD ALLEN. Western Newspaper Union Staff Cor
 respondent.


 ,copyright, 1919, by Western Newspaper Union@
 Paris.-Four years of war absolute 1v changed the character of France as
 . nation, changed her economic situa-
 tion. altered her outlook on the world
 and turned the whole future of the
 country toward industrialism rather
 than agriculture.
 The France of today has new ideals that were undreamed of in 1914. Only
 one big characteristic of the pre-war
 dnys remains, and that is the unalter-
 able and deep-rooted fear of Germany,
 n fear bred by generations of worry
 that started long before 1870 and that
 has imprinted itself on French char
 acter as a mark that will endure for
 decades to come.
 Dread of the German will not pre-
 vent tine French from embarking on
 q national career of prosperity and
 will not prevent France from trading
 with Germany-they must trade with
 their old, enemy. it is q vital neees-
 sity; it cannot be arranged otherwise
 for the simple reason that Germany
 still holds her supremacy as the big
 ccal producing nation of Europe
 While France has some coal she must
 still depend on Germany for some
 thing like 23,000,000 tons q year even
 after the supposedly rich coal fields
 of Alsace-Lorraine go to France, as
 they undoubtedly will in the peace
 treaty.
 It's going to be q rather strange situation between the French and Ger
 mans France will lack coal and the Germans will lack iron.
 France will sell iron to the Germans and get coal i'll return.
 immediate Problems Mighty.
 While the somewhat distant future is very bright for France the imme- diate problems she must solve are
 mighty. She has the beginning of her
 new industrial system in the form of
 a series of factories that made mu- nitions during the war.
 Her former industries are smashed. At the first German invasion France lost 80 per cent of her woolen indus try, 90 per cent of her sugar mills. four flfths of her coal production, four ffths of her iron and steel output and f0ur-fifths of her coke The Germans struck France right through the heart of her industrial region. Today this section is for the most part a waste With the beginning of the peace con- ference France was out of essential raw materials. She was in a situa- ton altogether different from England and America. She had no chance of starting out to build up foreign trade and for that reason was anxious to have the allies maintain their blockade against the neutrals and the central powers as long as possible. America and England on the other hand knew that the peace of the world must de- pend as much on the resumption of normal trade as upon any strictly po- litical action
 Germany Needs Raw Materials. Unless raw materials are pushed n- to Germany the German factories can- not run and Germany cannot pay the Indemnity the peace conference will place on her shoulders. Unless the factories of Germany are permitted to operate the German civilians will not nave work and if large problem of unemployment develops, the revolu- \ nonary elements-that is the very rad z lcai revolutionists-wili overthrow Whatever government the Germans now have set up and the German sig nature on the peace treaty will be null and void.
 Out of these conditions the French governments policies were naturally YomDed along entirely different lines from the American and British pol lces. It was impossible for France lo plan for the future as America and hhgand would. As q consequence
 ulere was great divergence of ideas
 turing the early days of the peace eohlerence that was more or less mis- understood by Americans in France aha caused an undue amount of crit ieism to be launched against French methods and French statesmen. & Ipe French for instance passed a x governmental resolution about the liludie of January that practically stopped the importation of American, n'isilsh, and other foreign manufac-
 'oied articles into the country, this at tune when the average American was aAnAlng and talking of the closer
 haue relations that would spring up
 oe,Ween France and America as re- su,t or the two nations having fought sue by side in the war.
 American Firm Hit. ohe Of the first American firms hit
 " 'le resolution was the manufactur-
 VI well-known automobile This
 arm had several thousand cars in 'ance ordered for war purposes by
 a'e rfench government. It was i'm foSslDie to sell the corS Tn civilians