Jackson County journal., 1919-05-16
BY LLOYD ALLEN.
western Newspaper Union Staff Cor.
RESPONDENT

/ ~
y changed the character of France as
. n"'ioii' changed her economic situa-
tioli' altered her outlook on the world
ana turned the whole future of the
country toward industrialisln rather
IMAM agriculture.
Lie france of today has new ideals
that were undreamed of in 1914 Only
one big characteristic of the nre-wa-
nayS remains, and that is the un;lter-
aoie ana deep-rooted fear of Germany
il rear bred by generations of worry
til;'t started long before 1870 and that
mas imprinted itself on French char
aclef as Il mark that will endure for
decades to come.
Dread of the German will nat nra-
! vent the French from emhorkino IN
ht'ioilai career ct prosperity and
| VIII not prevent France from trading
! WIN 'iermany-they must trade with
'helr old enemy. it is a vital neces-
| Sly II cannot be arranged otherwise
ior the simple reason that Germany
| SUI holds her supremacy as the big
c"al producing nation of Europe.
! While France has some coal she mu:;t
stlh depend on Germany for some
thlhs like 23,OOO,000 tons i, year even
after the supposedly rich coal fields
/ or AlSace-LOrraine go to France. as
/ they undoubtedly will in the peace
/ treaty.
/ It's going to be ii rather stronge
situation between the French and Ger
/ ln,
! Germans will lack iron.
! France will sell iron to the Germans
! Gnd get coal in return
immediate Problems Mighty.
lille The somewhat distant futlre
/ Is very bright for France the imme-
uiate 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 50 per cent of her wooden indus-
try. so per cent of her sugar mills. four
Nuns or her coal production. four
nlthS of her iron and steel outpu. and
four-ffths of her coke. The Germans
struck France right through the heart
OF her industrial region. Today this
section is for the most part ii 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 mad no chance of
starting out to build up foreign trade
and for that reason was anxious to
nave 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 DO
litical action.
Germany Needs Raw Materials.
Unless raw materials are pushed in
to Germany the German factories cam
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
have work and If large problem Of
unemployment develops, the revolu-
tiOnary elements-that is the very rad
ical revOlutiOnists-wil 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
vamped along entirely different lines
from the American and tish pol
icies. 1t was impossible .or France
to plan for the future as America and
England would. AS a consequence
there was a great divergence of ideas
during the early days of the peace
conference that was more or less mis-
understood by Americans in France
and caused an undue amount Of crit
icism to be launched against French
methods and French statesmen.
The French for instance passed a
governmental resolution about the
middle of January that practically
stopped the importation of American,
English, and other foreign manufac-
tured articles into the country, this at
q time W hen the average American was
thinking and talking of the closer
trade relations that would spring up
between France and America as a re-
suit of the two nations having fought
side by side in the war.
American Firm Hit.
One of the first American firms hit
by the resolution was the manufacture
er of a well-knOwn automobile This
firm had several thousand cars in
France ordered for war purposes by
the French government. 1t was i'm
possible to sell the cars to civilians,
since such n move would be the cause
of French money leaving the country.
If money left the country the French
financial situation suffered according