The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-24
FRANCE RAPIDLY
 OVERCOMING THE
 EFFECTS OF WAR
Work Done Since Armistice Nothing Less Than
 Remarkable.

With reconstruction in France in full swing and with business and financial conditions growing more en- couraging daily, the entire country is experiencing an economic and phy- sEcal recovery from the drain of war more rapid than is generally realized, according to recent statistics and in- formation presented in the booklet Greater France just issued by the Guaranty Trust Company of New York. Following a detailed resume of the progress that has already been made toward the reconstruction of in dustry and commerce of France as a whole, the booklet treats separately the phenomenal growth in import ance of the three leading cities of Southern France - Bordeaux, Lyons and Marseilles.
 In part, the publication says: France, instead of idling, as some observers have reported after a cur sorry survey of the country. has ac- complished in the last year so stu i pendous a task that one marvels how the work has been done. Seventy l six thousand structures had been | erected or repaired by the end of August, 1919. and 6O,OO0 additional buildings were then under construc- l ton. About ,00O buildings were destroyed or damaged during the war.
 In the same period, S9 per cent of 1 the destroyed railroad trackage had l been rebuilt, an area of 1.500 square
 miles of shell-riddled, tillaible land
 cleared up, S0,0o0,O00 cubic yards ot trenches filled, 1000 refugees re,
 turned to their homes, 5000 schools
 reopened, and S,S72 civic communi-
 ties reorganized.
 ! ''The French people have made
 surprising progress in the period since
 the armistce in readjusting industry
 to a peace basis. As early as February
 1919, the Minister of Industrial Re
 construction reported that out of {
 total of 100000 employees occupied
 on November II, 1918. in a, group O.
 government and private plants, 1900,
 900 were already engaged in peace time pursuits.
 A later investigation conducted il
 1886 industrial plants in the occu
 pied area employing more than 2
 20 workmen each. shows that by Nov
 1,1919, a total of 1885 establishment
 had resumed operation. By Novem
 Der 15, 1919, the government ha
 made advances in excess of 5,000,000, 900 francs to the industrial interest . of this region for the reconstructio of their factories, and the budget fo 1920 provides for the expenditure q nearly 5000, 100000 francs during tn first quarter for the same purpose. During 1920 France will nee about s65o, 100000 worth of food stuffs and raw materials, as follows Foodstuffs, 100000; cottol S2OO, 100000; copper. $70,O00,000; oi . $75,00O,0O0; chemicals, tobacco, me i, tallurgic products fuel oil and coa S150, 100000. A great proportion ( s 1 these needs will be filled by Frenc s5 colonies, while the manufacturing e A pacity of France will require new ou sa lets, so that these colonial DO: a sessions will undoubtedly play s most important part in thu develoI E ment of French industry. %Notwit = standing the fact that the enormol
 resources of the French colonies al m only slightly developed, their foreig q trade in 1913 tota1led $60S, 900 S about one-fourth as much as that % France proper.
 # 'aThe south of France has been a great factor in the wealth of the e, |8 tire country, and particularly in s# successful industrial support of u T ~r and rapid recovery since the a l 5tice Before the war the riche E industrial sections of France were 8 the northeast and east. near the ri1 E coal deposits, but it is safe to say tn % pre-war conditions will no longer pr Ha vail. owing to the great developne aA during the last five years of the no 8 invaded regions of France. The te