The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1919-06-20

that Deaut1fy MS community.
TELLS OF RUIN WROUGHT BY
/. HUNS
United States Mining Expert In
vestigates Coal and Iron Mines i'm
France.
Frank H. Probert, consulting en-
gineer Of the bureau of mines, depart
ment Of the interior, and dean OF the
College of Mining, University OF Cal
ifornia, member of special commits
sion to investigate the damage done
by the Germans during the war to
the coal and ircn mines and the steel
orks Of France and Belgium, after a
personal investigation, has just re-
turned 70 Washington with first
hand story Of the almost unbelievable
life of France and Belgium. So
atrocities of the Huns In the destruc-
ton and wreckage of the industrial
life of France and Belgium. so
systematic and diabolical has been
this destruction i'm one great coal
mining region, Mr.. PrObert says,
that it will take at least five years
to rehabilitate this district and it
will be twevc to fifteen years before
it gets back to normal, pre-war out
put. He predicts that with the in
dOmitable spirit of France, in spite
of the fearful destruction to her steel
works, with the return of Alsace and
Lorraine to the mother land, France
will eventually become the dominant
factor in the future steel industry Of
Europe
In a preliminary report to Van Fl.
Manning, director of the bureau Of
mines, Mr. Prcbert says in part:
Early in they the German hordes
swept southwark through the iron
basins Of French Alsace and Lor-
raine, and for nearly four years this
renowned mining area was held and
exploited by the invaders. Many OF
the employees were made captives
and compelled to work in the mines
under German direction. The inter
national boundary between France
and Germany was drawn in 1871, to
give the victor of the Franco-Prus-
sian war control of the iron fields,
but since that time scientific develop
ment, guided by better under
standing of rhe local geology, ex-
posed for France a greater ore re-
serve at lower horizons than that OF
the Lorraine anneXee.
1.-The actual physical damage to
the iron mines is comparatively
small when compared to the destruc-
ton of the coal fields of northern
France, which is as reprehensfble as
it is complete. Only i'm few cases,
where pillars have been robbed in
the mines, is there any collapse OF
underground workings, but the equip
ment, both surface and underground,
has been misused, and where ore has
been mined, The lack of development
will defer realization on capital I'M
til the exploratory work is s.lffi-
GENTLY advanced to admit Of daily
output approXimating pre-war con-
ditions The mines are not seriously
crippled, but what Of the steel plants
in which the iron ores are smelted?
In my opinion no such atrocity was
ever perpetrated against the indus
trial life Of any country. Magnifi-
cent plants, comparing favorably
with anything we have in the United
States, are now but tangled, twist
broken stone The wi1lful den1ul1-
ton was scientifically planned and
ed mass of structural steel and
Systematically carried out. This af-
ter the removal of all such mechanical
and electrical power units as could
be used by Germany. The ma
liciousness and efficiency with which
this crime against French industry
was carried out is almost unbeliev-
able.
I'm the coal districts of Pas de
Calais and NOrd, sector fought ever
from the beginning to the end OF the
war, changing hands frequently,
bombarded all the time, all surface
structures whether of town, village
or mining enterprise have been
razed- Arras, Douai, Bethune, Ba-
paume, Lens, Loos, -Courriere, CEN
tiers Of coal-mining activity but few
years ago and the mainsprings Of
French industrial life are gone, but
the indomitaEle spirit of France sur
wives and already plans are laid for
the future. Rruay, at the western
J edge Of the known coal field, was not
il the fighting zone and its output
| has been steadily maintained, but
going eastward the frightfulness Is
more and more appalling, for the hate
Of the Hun left its mark on the mines
| during his forced retreat. The coal
measures are overlain by water,
bearing strata, necessitating special
methods of shaft sinking and sup
port to keep the mines dry. The
steel lining of the shafts was dyna-
mited, letting i'm the auicksands and
flooding the undergrt hnd workings
| for miles around Irf the entire Pas
de Calais region tits estimated that
12O, 100000 cubic meters of water
must be pumred before mining OPP
erations are resumed. Having food
i ed the, mines, the head frames and
surface Equipment were systema-
tically dFnamited, the twisted debris
i'm NAM cases filling up the demolish-
led shafts.