The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-06-02

Changing Nationality.

Washington. d. c.. May 31.-Sup-
pose you had bsen born . French
man. suddenly and violently con-
verted into Q German. and then
turned into q Frenchman again.
How would you have felt about It!
That question could be answered
by many an elderly person In the
province Of Alsace-Lorraine. which
Germany took away from France in
1870, and which France has re-
gained. The French government II
now engaged In making the re-
gained provinces over into . paxt
of France
II the feeling of natIonalism
we're as strong as It is supposed to
be, and sometimes becomes under
the influence Of war propaganda,
this change ought to cause much re-
joicing on the part OF some OF the
inhabitants of the famous province
and much weeping and crashing OF
teeth on the part Of others.
According to American observers
recently returned from Europe.
there Is little Of either. The typical
inhabitant of Alsace-Lorraine IL a
placid peasant who cares little
whether his government Is French
or German. who only wants to be
left in peace to pillow and plant.
This great emotion Of nationalism
about which the diplomats and the
newspapers make such fuss does
not mean much to him. He cares
little whether to the world at large
he is a German or a Ffenchman.
But he is distinctly tired Of being
a world problem and hopes no more
wars will be fought about him.
The impressions Of an American
journalist who has just completed
walking trip through Alsace-
Lorraine throw an interesting i'm
partial light on these provinces. He
says Alsatians and L0rrainers did
not as a rule consider themselves
oppressed" under German rule nor
are they now completely satisfied
with French government
Changing Governments.
A person speaking both French
and German can soon discover for
himself that good administration
will in time smooth out the present
irritation against French rule. To
change the entire machinery of gov
eminent for a district Of such size
and population is in itself a big task
and one which was not made easier
by the constant comparison between
the settled pre-war administration
of Germany and the partly exper-
mental postwar administration OF
France. Temporarily, supreme
power Of government is vested in a
commissioner and his executive
committee, known as the commits
sariat general, which have their
headquarters in Strasbourg. The
commissioner is Frenchman, but
on the executive committee are
found both Aisatians and Lorrain-
ers. German laws have now been
largely replaced by French, al
though in some cases the old codes
are still in force. In the courts
some difficulty was experienced on
account Of the change of languages,
and until recently proceedings in
the courts and ia local government
were conducted in the two Ian
guages. Slowly this double Ian
guage arrangement is being elm
mated and now all the more import
ant functions are conducted in
French alone.
Language question has not pre-
scented as many difficulties as might
have been expected. The changing
Of street names caused a little con-
fusion, but both the French and
German name is generally to be
found on the corners. German Ian
guage papers are permitted and are
still more numerous than those In
French. In bookstores one sees
every kind of German book for sale
with the notable exception of those
on political or nationalistic themes
or any subject which might be con-
sidered propaganda. For the most
part the Inhabitants speak botlI
languages. AS German has been
used in the schools and for all civil
functions for half a century, it is
natural to find it SO common. But
neither French nor German is the
mother tongue of the native Al
satians and Lorrainers, who speak
a patois Of their own. It is a Ger
manic dialect, but cannot be said to
be pure German any more than can
Dutch or Danish.
In the elementary schools French
Is now taught and used exclusively
but in the higher grades German
may be studied. The French feel.
ing that it was advisable to change
most of the teaching staff and schol-
astic system in order to accomplish
this has been another cause for dis.
content. The French admit that the
salaries paid to teachers are not as
high as those paid by the Ger
mans.
In one institution the French are
making great efforts TO keep up the
good name ana reputation made by
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