New Britain herald., 1920-06-28
AMERICA MUST HELP
 FRANCE TO REBUILD
French Have Accomplished Much
 But Need Outside Assistance

sage brought back from France by 1 William Sloano Coffin. who has been | surveying tho relief and reconstruc- ton work of tho federal councils commission on relations with France and Belgium
 MT. Coffin presented his report to the meeting of the commission at the federal council headqua rters in the United Charities building, strongly {, emphasizing the urgency and value | of tho work undertaken by the or ganization.
 II have never seen anybody at | work as hard and as courageousIy as l tho French people arc doing" said l Mir. Coffin. ''I cannot express the ad- 1 miration I feel for the work being ! done on the battlefieIds, especially at Lens and Lille. About so per cent. of the farm land over which the bat ties ragged is now under cultivation and will produce grain this year. One | farmer told me he had struck 14 bodies in his small field. Under thls united effort France. in a years time, will be back on her feet agricultur- ally.
 Living conditions in these areas are appalling. The Frenchman re- turns to his home, no matter whether
 
 which was almost totally destroyed, now has S0.000 people living there. Arras, which was largely destroyed by bombardment, formerly had 2s,- 900 inhabitants; it now has 50,0c0. Vimy, at the foot of the famous vimy Ridge, had not a house left standing. About 1,S00 of the former population of 5000 have returned and are living there. Where do they live? In eel lars. with the former first floor for a roof, in cement dusouts and in one and two-room shacks. There are often six. eight or even ten persons in a two-room shack. Under such conditions children are born When there is sickness and disease in the family, the awfulness of the situation can be imagined.
 ''Laborers from Belgium. Portugal and other neighboring countries have flocked in, attracted by the good wages. These men are in much the same circumstances as were the American soldiers-away from home, no place to go after work and apt to come down to a basis of pure ma terialism unless there is some way to maintain their morale. The church and the Y. M. c. A. must do this. There are still 175 v. M. c. A. huts 
 and for civilians ia the devastated area. But they must he supplement- ed by the church. I did not find in France any particular contest be- tween Catholics and ProtestaIits but rather between Christianity and sth- ism.
 There is a prevalent opinion here that Americans are not liked in France. I must admit that our presi- dent is not held in very high admira- ton there now-indeed, there is talk of changing the name of the Avenue Wilson to Avenue des Americains. But Americans are not disliked. The French do not understand the atti- tude of our senate There is sort of revulsion of feeling against every one who had d hand in the peace. It is not true that Americans are not welcomed or that they are stung' by French merchants. They really get more appreciation than they actually deserve.
 "I told the French committee that there was only a limited amount of money to be got from America and we settled on definite program to be accomplished. The first thing to be done is to reconstruct churches in important towns that have been de- stroyed. I talked with a wealthy citizen of Rheims and asked whether, if we raised one million francs in America, he would Lnderwrite the re- maining half million. to be raised among the citizens of the city. and he has agreed.
 ."rhe amount of s20o,O0O allowed in the budget for this work of recon struction is a minimum. All these churches are needed absolutely at once.
 'The children of the war area are a serious problem. The experiences they have been through the past five years will have a detrim ental effect on their characters With no fathers or elder brothers at hand and for their self-preservation they were taught to lie and steal while the Boche were around (this was necessary but un- fortunately. Something must be done for these boys for the future of France rests upon them. There is an immense work to be done by Sunday schools and such institutions.
 Then there is the question of the French colonies. Americans must share in the benefit of their sacrifice. ing thousands of black and yellow men from the French colonies to Eu- rope. where they learned all the vices of civilization We bring these men up, teach them all that is rotten in civilization, then send them back to spread what they have learned among their people. The black troops were the shock troops. When there was particularly bad job to be done, as in the Chemin des Danes, the black troops were sent up. We Americans share in tho henet of their sacrifice.