Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-19
Little Luxembourg Welcomes American Tr0o

have a republic modelled after these
"Ail you have to do is signify your
approval and we will establish req
public overnight" ..l
And then the Monroe doctrine spirst
die In European politics. A repubitcb
would be q good thing for the nation,
of course, but the revolution might pek
blamed on American troops. ETC.. ana,
fact, It would be much better II the
status quo were maintained duringl
our occupation.
And so there was no revolution.
Two or three days later there ap..t
peared on all the billboards andk
fences a notice from the right partyk
calling upon the people to stop talk
Ing revolution and to support thek
government. 1t said nothing abouts
the question OF a republic. put III
merely urged the people to remain
calm until the national referendum Is
held.
The lists are being prepared. ForI
the first time women viii be permit
ted to vote. The question VIII be the
future form of government and the
points to be voted on are: n
/. Shall the grand duchess be asked
to abdicate?
2; Shall one Of her sisters be chosen
ruler? n
d
4. Shall Luxembourg join Belgium
S. Shall Luxembourg join France2
s. Shall a republic be founded?
The contest Will be between the re-
which stands by the duchess. Both
sides declare that the majority for In
dependence will be large. Under no
circumstances will there be any more
relations with Germany.
This is a very important matter. be-
IN fh{c 1fft1a cnNntrvL
has been unable to have customs
house system Of it's own, and was a I
member of the German system, I
known as the zollverein. Economic
the German empire. From the GUS
toms duties 80 marks per head. equiv.
alent to 81 in peace time valuation,
was taken for the support OF thet
royal family This $1.75o.0oo year
means lot to the people and Is one
pecially as this family Is and has al
ways been very rich.
X
Luxembourg will join either the
union economique of France or Bel
GUM after this election. Its railroad
lines, which have been operated byl
Germans, will be turned over to one
Of these allied nations. At the mo-
ment the railroad lines are French, as
they were before the war. and II iss
most likely that tho French will be
asked to continue them in operation.
Incidentally the Germans did Luxem-
bourg a good turn by building new
line for the routing of their troops,
and this will remain an economic as
set.
These were some of the matters
about which they told us in Luxem-
bourg, and we left the country keenly
interested In this tiny country and it's
problems. Some of the political cross
currents were visible. The socialists
OF the extreme left will stand for no
compromise. Nothing but an fnde-
pendent republic will satisfy them. and
they say that 1t Is only with repub-
lican form of government that theyl
trtguing with such nations as royal
might at any time Quench the nal
tional flame of independence. They
are convincing many of the liberals,
and 1t would not surprise the Ameri-
can army OF occupation to find rel
public established any day
One thing Is most certain-we haveI
taken with us to Germany the MEM
DRY of ono Of the best weeks ipi
France. The little nation we never]
dreamed to see has become close
friend and there are some nine divi-
sons, some 100000 officers and men|
who will remain interested in Luxem-
bourg for many years.
Copyright, 1919 by Edward s1arshall Syndi-
cate, Inc.)