Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-05
Designed to Reach Americans.

| world and keep the whole issue alive
for a future time.
Designed to Reach Americans.
| More than all else. his propaganda
| is designed to reach Americans. For
| the German recognizes how little the
| mass of Americans know about the
| much downright and malicious critf-
cism Of France Is being circulated in
| the United States at the present hour
| by so-called liberal journals and
| spokesman.
! The truth of the situation is fairly
plain. At the moment when the Ger
| mans annexed the Rhine districts, in
1871, there was a population of
| 100000. absolutely unanimous in
their desire to remain French. Fol-
| lowing the annexation nearly 100000
inhabitants actually emigrated to
| France. and this emigra ton con-
| tinued over many years. So intensely
did some of the residents of Metz
| feel that they even exhumed the
| bodies of deceased members of their
| tered in French soil.
In the place of this considerable
| emigration there was a rapid influx
| of Germans. encouraged by their gov
| eminent, which treated tie new
J reichsland as a colony Of exploita-
grants all the positions in the gov
eminent service. These included the
| railway administration. the local po-
lice. post Office and schools. and some
| thing like an actual army of func-
tionaries was thus planted in the new
After almost half century Of Ger
man occupation, therefore. the situa-
| ton was this: The population had
| risen to nearly 100000 but the ma
tive population had not made good
! the losses of the emigration and num-
| bered little more than 100000; by its
| side lived $780, 900 German immigrants;
| the balance were aliens from Italy,
/ Belgium and Luxembourg, mainly. who
| were drawn thither by the industrial
were concentrated in the larger
| towns; they had dominated the stu
alton. and the return of the French
was to them a terrible calamity.
Developments in Metz.
| To take an illustration of this infil-
tration, Metz had in 1870 approx
mately $4,000 inhabitants, among
whom there was scarcely a single
German. for the city. in its modern
history and Roman tradition: was
purely French as Orleans or Tours
Half a century later its population
had only increased by some 10000;
but the FfenCn cleIntul Ldu uSSIihSu
from $4,000 to 10000 as result OF
emigration. On the contrary In all
the countryside, which was also pure,
ly French. the peasants had stayed
by their farms and the French eie-
ment was still overwhelming.
With the return Of the French last
December, some of the most conspicu-
Gus German agents were expelled, out
the French pursued toward the less
prominent that tolerant. easy-going
method which is characterize OF
French rule svery wv ere car anns are
now endeavoring to mobilize their re-
naming agents in Alsace Lorraine to
give the world the impression that
there Is strong pro-German sym
pathy in the two provinces. There IS.
but it is entirely limited to some Is
ner cent. which represents the colo
nists sent into the conquered prov
inces by the Germans after 1871 for
the express purpose of Germanizing
the territory.
of the population, the real native pop
ulation, is thoroughly French in its
sympathy In the world war it sup
piled France with several score OF
generals and more than $4,000 vol
unteers, who fed from A1sace-Lor-
raine during the war and at the risk
of their own lives and those of their
families enlisted in French armies.
More than this, other thousands who
could not escape were used by the
Germans on the Russian frontier be-
cause it was unsafe to put them be-
fore the French.
Reason for Plebiscite Demand.
The Germans annexed the two prov
inces in 1871 without any plebiscites
and against the unanimous protest Of
the first delegation of legislators
elected to the German reichstag, as
we'll as Of the last delegation which
fected in the French chamber. They
now demand a plebiscite merely be-
cause they know the French will not
grant 1t, not out of fear as to the re-
sult-there can be no doubt as to
that-but merely because such a
mans possess some legal claim in the
premises; with the French it is a
point Of honor, pure and simple.
In the forthcoming general cleo
tion in France twenty-eight members
Of the French chamber will he elect
ed in the districts until recently I'M
der German rule. This, as the French
point out, will constitute a real
plebiscite. Forty-eight years ago.
when Germany annexed the territory,
the first delegation which went to
Berlin unanimously protested against
the annexation. The test now will
be the course Of the delegation which
goes to Paris. under circumstances
which, If not similar. have something
in common with those of half a cen
fury before.
Pro-German sentiment in Alsace-
Lorraine Is exclusively limited to the
German colonists, sent to rule and
| administer conquered lands as the
Romans sent old soldiers to colonize
their later conquests. These colonists
| are concentrated in cities, nearly
0,0O0 in Metz and upward Of $4,000
in strasburg. Until recently they
| controlled all the machinery alike Of
| administration, of communications
and of industry. Unless they can re-
| store German rule they are ruined,
| for they can have no future in >the
territories they recently terrorfzed
| and administered with characteristic
German brutality; therefore they
quite naturally respond to every sue-
| gestion coming from Germany to ad.
| vocate German interests.
Material for Opposition.
Beyond all else the German is en-
deavoring to impress America: he
| fears the Anglo French American
] treaty OF insurance more than all