Evening star., 1919-04-18

France THE SOLE
GAMER FROM WAR
Gets AIsace and Lorraine,
Valuable Colonies, Coal
and Iron.
FREED FROM HUN PERIL

freed FROM HUN PERIL
RY HERBERT COREY.
NEW YORK, April 15.-If France
gets the coal of the Saar valley IN
perpetuity, France has entrenched
herself against fear of another war
to come.
Alone Of European nations. II may
be said that France has made deh-
mite gain True. she has lost nun
dreds Of thousands of her best men.
! and she is in debt to the point of
! bankruptcy. But
She has won back Alsace and Lor-
raine;
She has secured control of valuable
colonies;
She has freed herself from fear of
complications in Morocco. which con-
tinually threatened because or Ger
man arrogance. and
She has taken from Germany CON Z
troll of the coal and iron without
which modern war is Impossible.
Safety Of France Assured.
This is not TO say that another war
is impossible Conditions will chan e
in Europe, just as they have changed
at regular periods ever since SKIN
clothes went out of fashlon. bu' 80
far as can be foreseen on the oasls OF
today's conditions, France is free OF
danger.
One result the world may weu hope
for is a revival of the national spirit
of France. During the war sne 1ousnt
with magnificent courage, Dut IL
was the spirit of desperation. seven
F'renchmen out of ten believed at the
beginning that Germany would even
tually triumph During the war each
German victory added to this spirit
of pessimism. Yet France fought on.
Before the war observers comment
ed on a certain national apathy in
France, which many declared direct
jy due to the defeat of 1870. The
birth rate had decreased to a dan
gerous point. Investigators held tnat
F'renchwomen were refusing to pear
children to be sacrificed in another
futile war. France had little conf
dence in her administrators. There
was a feeling of what has since be-
come known as 'defeati in the
air. She had ceased to be enterprisins
commercially. All this will be re-
versed, it is to be hoped.
German a Chained Foe.
For with the saar valley in the
hands Of France Germany is chained
Germany has said that she fought
for her place in the sun" 1t seems
more likely that she fougnt Tor the
minerals Of the Briey and Longwy
districts She needed them. In 1917
a congress of German industrialists
pointed out that. although Germany
had plenty Of coal. her other MIN
erals would be exhausted In fifty
years.
Germany was only able to fight on
as she did because of her possession
of huge coal and iron nelds.
France could have driven her from
the fields of Lorraine at the begin
ming of the war Germany must have
been forced to ask for an earlier
peace. Realizing these conditions.
Germany's first effort was to seize
what part of the French minerals
she could. Her last blow was to
vicinity worthless 1t will be four
or five years before the French en-
gineers will be able to restore the
Lens mines to their former condition.
Luxemburg's Attitude.
In recently issued pamphlet, M.
H. Paulin of Paris points out that be-
fore the war the iron produced Dy
Germany amounted to 35.000,0O0 tons.
in round figures. From this 100000
tons plus may be subtracted rms
was the production of Luxembourg
and it may be assumed that here
after Luxemburg's relations will be
closer to France than to Germany'
Certainly Luxemburg Is more friend'
ly to France-and it is more easy to
be friendly to a winner than to a
loser
OF the 2s,0o0.o0O tons remaining.
three-ouarters were produced by the
Lorraine fields which France has re-
gained. The 100000 tons left to Ger
many will not be sufficient even for
her domestic needs. In order to pro-
duce enough iron to sell in the worlds
as a client. Here she will meet with
immediate difficulty. The allied coun-
tries are not yet ready to produce. in
quantities. Being entirely human, it
may be assumed that the allies will
favor their own iron users first.
Greater Demand in Spain.
Before the war Germany bought
| $500, 900 tons of iron annually from
| imported 100000 from other ma
| tions, chiefly Spain, and Sweden Not
| only are the Spanish beds becoming
| exhausted. but the Spanish indus
| tTleS are ueU1dHQlHS HoIc HUI tHdA
| ever before.
| Swedens iron trade has grown so
enormously during the war that it
Is probable restrictions will be placed
on the export. 0nce Germany could
have bullied Sweden into lifting such
bars. just as she pulled Switzerland
| during the war Nowadays the Ger
man bully would be told the wire is
busy.
Coal is as much of a war need as
! n
nation cannot make iron. and without
/ France Will Have Coal.
Frances possession of the all-im-
portant iron supply has been demon
strated. but until she was given the
Saar valley she was in great need Of
coal. She formerly imported $4,000, 900
tons a year. The -Saar valley prod
uct of 17,O00,0 900 tons annually will
cut that annual deficit down to 5,00O,-
900 tons. For the next few years, it is
true, the Lens coal fields will not be
producing, but they will eventually
be put at work again. There is no
possibility that France can rival Ger
many in the production of coal, but
she will not be so hopelessly handi-
capped as before the war.
If to this catalogue of advantages
is added the freeing of the left bank
of the Rhine from fortresses and can
tonments of German soldiers-thereby
increasing the distance German army
must travel before invading French
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