Evening star., 1922-11-12


mi for every family In Wash
" ington. $4,000 for every one
in Los Angeles, $55,uvu for
every one in Cleveland or Boston
that is what each city would nave
could it divide up the sum France has
spent in rebuilding since the war
closed.
The amount is more than $4,000. .O0o,-
900. 1t equals $4,000 for every soul In
chicago or Paris. $4,000 for every one
In Philadelphia. $4,000 for every man.
woman and child in Buffalo, and more
than that for every citizen OF San
Francisco or Pittsburgh.
Nine billion dollars means also an
,nor,nous amount of hard work. Had
Adam had that sum when the started
20 earn his living by the sweat of his
face. and there had been 1000 add
tional men outside of the Garaen Oh
Eden. all endowed with perpetual life,
he could have kept that gang WORK
ing at s5 day from then until no"
and still have enough over to pay
himself good wages as boss. Hao
1Jsthusellh had $4,000. 100000 when
he was sixty-nine years of age he
could have kept busy 10000 men at
$1,000 a year for nine centuries re-
forming the world and perhaps pre-
venting the flood In which. at the age
Of 96s, he was drowned.
The money so far expended equals
$4,000 per acre for ali OF the o,ooo
souare miles of the devastated terri
tory and so far, / believe, almost
avery dollar has been honestly spent.
Ono can see the results of the work
IN the new farms, buildings. factories
and roads, which are so substantial
they will last for ages to come.
France has mixed her money with
brains and good business. and she IS
building for the far future. rake tne
matter of forests, OF which ooo'ooo
acres have to be replanted or repaired
while $4,000 acres more were mall
etously destroyed or wastefully cut
,n It will require half century to
bring them back to normal. France
has begun this work on q gigantic
.cala She has set out tens OF thou
sands Of trees, and she recently got
10000, 900 Douglas fir seeds from the
ores,dent Of the American Forestry
Association. which will straightway
be planted. These seeds are enough
10 reforest 10000 acres. She will set
c,t 10000 acres of trees in the somme
alone.
AM writing this letter at Lens, In
/ tho center Of the coal mining re-
e,on. Tho town had $4,000 people be-
fore II was almost entirely destroyed
nv tho Germans. II IS rapidly coming
hack. and brick houses for the miners
are being constructed for half their
nrico In tho states. Tho foundations
arc Of Stone and the bricks are bet
tar than any We have had in Wash
inrtou since 1914. Tho roofs are OF
red tile. At for q millionaire's homo,
and 4 two-story two-family house Is
costinr $4,000 francs, which at the
present exchange equals less than
ss.<oo, It would surely cost $1,000 In
any American city.
Tho Same sort Of work 10 going on
everywhere, and that with eaciency
methods and standardized workman
shin. Every town has to be laid out
eooordine to tho general plan. and
the houses are built with due regard
to advanced sanitation. Tho bedrooms
must be eight feet eight inches high
and have eAch fifteen square feet OF
wtndovA Every room must have
rineey square feet Of floor space
which would equal . room ten feet
long and nine feet wide. Tho window
openings nust be one-sfxth the size
Of the floor.
No collar can be more than four
feet below tho street level. and tho
kitchens must be we'll lighted and as
far a. possible ny-proof. These are
new things in France, as Is also tho
wiping out of the mosquitoes, which
spread malaria over the devastated
-egion at tho time Of the war and Just
after. This region Is 100 times as
1arre a. heCanal Zone Of Panama,
and Il was covered with ponds and
she'll holes. each Of which bred mos
quitoss. All these holes have been
filled and the mosquitoes wiped out by
means OF kerosene.
Tho new Lens has been planned
with parks and Fairgrounds, and the
sites Of the monuments and public
buildings are already located. This
is 80 In all Of tho new towns. and in
cities Of 10000 people or moro no
building can be put up without the
approval Of the mayor. Every town
works out its own plan, but 1t must
follow the new laws, Of construction.
This 10 going to result In north
France being even moro beautiful