The spectator., 1919-07-04
RESTORATION WORK
 IN RUINED FRANCE
AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MEN MAY FIND
 OPPORTUNITIES THERE.
DEVASTATION WAS APPALLING
varenne and Sermaize Cited as Exam pIes of the Way in Which the Ger mans WiIIfully Destroyed Thousands of Towns.
By EDWARD B. CLARK.

WaShington.-Scores of inquiries are being made in Washington by profess sional and business men as to future opportunities for American enterprise in France, and in the upbuilding of the devastated territories. It seems prob- able that if France cannot supply from her own population engineers enough and enough men of the professions and trades generally to do the work of re- construction, the United States may bear considerable part of the work.
 Many of the inquiries have come from discharged soldiers, officers and men, for the American ESpeditionary forces contained hotn ;.s t..ce oo,..4lls- sionedg and non-commissioned ranks many men of training which fits thep for the work which Is ahead.
 Thousands of reams of manuscript have been written about the deyasta- tion in France, but no one who has not seen 1t can, by any chance, have real izing sense of what this devastation Is. It is appalling. and large part Of 1t is devilish because 1t was caused by devilish intention without the slight est excuse of the necessities of war fare. When one has seen the terrible ravages In the fair lnnd of France he readily can understand why the French people today are so insistent that full reparation shall be made by Germany. varenne an Example ef Oevilishnsss.
 There are some interesting If com paratiyely small towns in France which the Germans destroyed without excuse. These towns have high places in history. They contained priceless monuments of the past which today are level with the dust. Monuments can be rebuilt but they are not the same monuments, nor have they in them the interest which centers on things sacredly ancient.
 Take the town of Varenne. for in- stance. It Is close to the Arsonne Forest Varenne five years ago was q thriving place with several beautiful public buildings, a compellingiy beau- tiful church, while all about the place was the nlmbus of history. Today the only thing left in yarenne is the shell of an apothecary shop. The sign still Is over the door. It is the only sign left in Varenne except the sign of Ger man desolation.
 Varenne is known to every reader of history as the place where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were arrested while on their flight from Paris to get out of the hands of the Revolutionists.
 passed through Varenue last fall in the wake of the advancing army. Even amidst desolation one occasionally can find something to arouse Il sense of Humor. l saw a number of men dis appearing down ladder which led to deep hole in the ground underneath the demolished apothecary shop. l wondered what they were doing down there. In few minutes found out. It seems that in the subterranean regions of this drug store the men had discov- cred something which occasionally ls found in drug stores In dry territory in the United States. Apparently the Germans had overlooked 1t. and If my eyes did not deceive me the boys had made some find.
 What the Huns Did to Sermaize.
 There is the town of Sermaize in France. The Germans did everything that they could to Sermaze and every. thing that they could means that they entirely demolished 1t. It was place of 5000 inhabitants. beautifully laid out and with one of the most wonder. full churches in all France.
 When war had done its worst to Sermaize there was nothing left Of 1t except the church tower. which was punctured with shell holes. It mny be that there were older churches in France. probably there arc. but when oqe reads as did the date 1O93 on the facade of a sanctuary he realizes that he Is in the presence of an ancient md honorable.
 Mention has been made of only TWO towns which today are In a state of desolation like unto that of the Cities of the Plain. There was no excuse for the destruction of these fair old towns of France. Only two have been named. Multiply the two by 1000 and the multiplicand will give you close to the number of villages the destruction of which France mourns today. and which Americans may help to rebuild.
 Army Plans Depend on League.
 In the hot wcaiher Il house commit tee has been holding hearings on hill for the support of the army as 1t ey- ists. and indirectly getting informa- ton which may he of service when the time comes to reor.nnize the regular army.
 How can men decide on regular army reorganization when they do not know definitely what the fate of the rovenan, of the League Of Nations is to bel
 u seems likely that if the league takes the field one day fully capari. Soncsl. the larger part of the proposed A Amoric.,n army may 0over ,ref iuto inc