The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-08-01
FRENCH CLING
TO OLD WAYS
PrejudiCes Hamper Work of Re-
building Area Devastated
by War.
DON'T TAKE TO NEW IDEAS
Hard to Convince Inhabitants That
What Was Good Enough for Their
Grandfathers Is Not Good
Enough for Them.

new Ofk.-MO uel cities and vii
lagos will soon be springing up in the
war districts of France provided the
inhabitants can be convinced that
what was good enough for their grand
fathers is not good enough for them.
There is the rub. The civic idealists,
many of them Americans, who set
out with vision of model towns
rising from old ruins are running
up against the same quirks of
human nature encountered by Sir
Christopher Wren, when he tried to
rebuild London beautiful after the
great fire Of 1866, remarks the Liter
airy Digest.
If left to themselves Jean and
Jeanne would rebuild their homes and
shops exactly as they were before
German artillery reduced them to
dust and tender memories A shop
keeper fears that his customers will
not find his shop unless it is the replica
of its predecessor And madam would
like to have her spinning wheel set
as 1t was when she stopped spinning
in the summer of 1914.
Habits are Strong.
The habits of centuries are strong
among the poilus. Nevertheless, the re-
constructionists are hopeful Outlines
Of plans for model towns to replace
those destroyed have been appearing
off and on in French and other
periodicals for some time, and one of
the latest projects will be tried out
as an experiment, with the financial
backing of an American committee
This plan was prepared under the
auspices of the French organization
known as La Renaissance des Cites,
which is seeking to have spring up on
the ruins of northern France communi-
ties which shall combine modernity
with the charm that is 50 striking a
Of French towns many
centuries old.
La Renaissance des Cites has al |
ready helped over 200 towns in north
crn France to prepare reconstruction
plans. In addition, it is doing educa-
tional work of various kinds in the
rest of the communities in the devas-
tated lands-aggregating about 2,4OO.
In order to further the work of re-
La Renaissance des |
Cites decided to create a model vii |
age. After studying more than 1900
towns and villages throughout the |
devastated areas, it finally selected the
village of Pinon, on account Of its hav-
ng a population typical of northern
France, both from the farming and
Industrial points Of view, and also
IN account of its being near Paris |
IN direct rail- and road routes, which
will make 1t easy of access both to
'renchmen and foreign visitors.
Natives Grumbe
PinoA was completely destroyed in
he war. At least one member of
practically every family that lived
here before the war has returned,
o live in some sort of hastily built
hack, waiting for the old homes to
e rebuilt. At first most of the ma
ives did not favor the idea of having
'inon used as model village, but
fter long discussions they decided
let Id INtldlSSdutc utS NJilcS Cltdlt |
ne for them. The general plans were
rawn up by Charles Abella, a winner
the much coveted Prix de Rome in z
An American committee
as been formed to get funds from the
nited States to be expended in the
Of Pinon. This COM
ittee has representatives in many :
rge American cities. The committee
ans to turn over to the French or q
lnization an amount sufficient not
lly to rebuild one devastated town, 5
ut to provide number of homeless 2
ar victims with permanent shelter.
The planners continue with their
ork, but some of the old natives are z
luctant to take up these "newfangled
dS"