The Washington herald., 1920-12-28
FRANCE RECOVERING
FROM DEVASTATION,


FROM DEVASTATION.
France is rapidly reconstructing
her devastated regions considering
the almost insurmountable difficult
ties, according to r. n. Watson, of
Chicago, just returned from France.
seen at the Washington yesterday
watson made an extensive tour Of
the devastated regions, spending the
greater part of the autumn in
l Northern Franco. and declared that
he was astounded at the progress
made.
In the entire devastated region, "
said Watson. extending fully 500
kilometers along the French front,
thousands of cities, villages, canals
and highways were absolutely OBJ
liberated. This district included at
least $4,000 miles of highways and
more than so0.0o0 houses.
DEVASTATED REGIONS
LIKE ARGENTINE PAMPAs.
The greatest task which con-
fronted the French government
after the arpistice was signed" he
continued. was clearing away the
debris. Picture a vast wilderness,
embracing endless stretches of alb
solutely desolate region. II re-
minded me of the pampas of South
America, especially because of the
curious yellow grass which has
sprung up since the war. Peasants
declared that never before had they
seen this species of grass in that
section of France. Picture the
ground riddled and torn up with
Ghal1 hnlna nil he
surface in many places one vast
tangle of thousands of yards of
barbed wire. One could we'll COM
pare this district to the crater of
an extinct volcano. Regarding 1t
my Imagination has often carried
me to what must be conditions on a
dead world such as the moon. for
surely the craters which astrono-
mers discern through their tele-
scopes could reach no greater
depths of desolation than these
regions of war torn France"
TRACT TO BE LEFT WASTE
AS MEMORY OF WAR
Official figures show 75,o00,ooo
acres of arabic land laid waste,
Watson said. Partly because some
sections seemed so hopelessly ruin
ed, partly for sentimental reasons
the French government has decided
to leave a certain district unre-
claimed. This will be c&lled the
zone rouge" Watson explained
and will perpetuate the memory of
the sufferings of the French people
in the world war, just as the
famous trench of bayonets" will
be an enduring memorial to the
company which perished standing
with bayonets at guard when they
were engulfed by the explosion of
a German mine.
Tractors were offered by Ameri-
cans at first" said Watson. but
the French found them practically
useless except in a few Of the less
devastated regions. For the great
er part the topography has been so
entirely changed and is so uneven
that the only sort of vehicle which
can get over the ground is the tank.
Sections which once were level
stretches of fertile farmland, are
now noisome swamps. sewn with
unexploded shells"
UNENPLODED SHELLS MAKE
LIFE DANGEROUS FOR PEASANT.
One of the greatest menaces to
the life of the French peasant is
the uneXploded shell. according to
Watson. Many peasants have been
killed since the armistice by these
shells which arc frequently plowed
up.
Then, after all the debris has been
cleared away and the ground titled
once more. it is necessary to refer
tilize the soil. Watson pointed out
all of which takes time and
patience.
Watson called attention to one of
the greatest obstacles in the way
of the reconstruction of villages.
the lack of roads over which to
transport materials. There is also
lack of necessary material for
clearing the ground: and labor, too.
he says, is very scarce. One of the
first problems which confronted the
Minister of the Liberated Regions
after the war was caring for labor.
But the French people. assisted
by their government and by Ameri
cans, have put their shoulders to
the wheel, Watson declares, and
have gone at the task of recon
Etruction with the same grit and
determination as they set out to
win the war.
"One factor which has made re-
construction in France slower than
it would be in thes United States,
had We suffered a parallel disaster
in this country" Watson explain
cd. lis the individualistic spirit of
the Frenchman. He is not used to
doing things on a large scale, he
is not accustomed to cooperative
methods. But he is setting about
it in His own hopeful, patriotic,
Gallo way
PEASANTS CLING TO LOVE
OF OLD RUINED HOMES.
THE French peasant clings te-
naciously to his own little plat of
land" said Watson. II remember
talking to an old French peasant
woman last July. She and her hus-
band had with great difficulty re-
built their former hut in the middle
of a vast wilderness of unreclaimed
land. They had started out bravely
with a COW, two chickens and four
pigs, and had toiled until their lit
tie acre resembled green oasis
in the desert of debris which sur
rounded them. When L asked the
old woman why they had not gone
instead to one of the reclaimed res
gions where they would have had
the Assistance and company of
neighbors, rather than strive to re-
habilitate their former home in this
'desolate section, the old woman de-
clared, 'Mais. je veux mourir dams
ma maison!' ('But I want to die in
my house!)-and there you have in
that short sentence the spirit of
ba Erarfcb