Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-07-26
NEW FRANCE is SHOWING ITS
GRATITUDE TO AMERICANS:
ARISING FROM WAR RUINS
BewiIdered People Gratefully
Accept Aid of Pioneers in
RehabiIitating Homes in
Devastated Area
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Especial Gable TO The Journal
(COnyri0bt 1909

Copyright 1929
PARIS, July 24.-For five years
the voice of Europe has been calling
to America to help. Cynical recip:'
ents of that message have said the
call was for American dolla:s,
While governments and ambitious
politicians have been seeking to ef-
feet economic gements with
material aid from the United States,
the peoples of Europe, notably
France, have been Selling every OPP
portunity to absorb American ideas
and experiences. They have been
imbibing the spirit of America with
all the eagerness and enthusiasm of
converts to new religion.
Go anywhere in France today,
especially to the towns, villages and
farms, and the gratitude of a people
who appreciate what America did n
the war. rises to greet you. TIE
years since the war have not been
too brief to enable even a casual Oh
server to note the profound impress
sion which Americanism has left on
French life. 1t is not merely a re-
markable example of the unself1Sh-
ness which a nation three thousand
miles away gave to another nation,
it is not simply that thousands of
American troops lie in heroic slum-
Der on French soil. 1t is that ener-
getic America, efficient America,
successful America has challenged
the unbounded curiosity as well as
the admiration of the French people.
One of the most extraordinary
manifestations of the spirit of Amer
lean helpfulness on the one hand
and the spirit of French receptive
ness on the other especially in this
epoch of extreme nationalism. has
been the work of the American COM
mittee for devastated France, head
ed by Miss Annie Morgan and Mrs.
A. M. Dyke, of New York city.
Health aid and the introduction Of
public hygiene child welfare work.
the establishment of adult clinics
and dispensaries, the organization
of morning schools, the supervision
Of sanitation. the creation of a
popular library system, the teach!:ls;
Of manual training. and the de-
velopment Of the cooperative idea
in agriculture-all this has been
America S contribution to the recon
struCtion of France.
Workers Fame Spreads
# mas not cost much money rela-
tiveiy to date, considerably less than
three million dollars in all-kut it
has been the principal stimulant to
the morale Of a distressed if not
disheartened people. What the
American committee did has affect
ed directly about 100000 people in
the AiSne region, and the name and
fame of the committee has spread
throughout France so that it's ideas
and programs are being solicited
everywhere. Hundreds Of letters
have been received from all parts
of France appealing to the commit
tee to duplicate the various phases
Of its work in areas not touched by
the war. The writer has visited the
Aisne, and has observed to what ex-
tent the work of the committee has
permeated Frances civil life-it is
a worthy sequel to the chapters of
military achievements. Indeed, it
means ultimately the re-birth Of
France.
This does not imply that the Amer
lean committee is to continue for.
ever or that it has already reached
all of France, because the fact is the
committee has used the Aisne as a
laboratory to demonstrate to the
French that they themselves could
apply the same methods of action in
the whole country and realize the
same results. Never did the commit
tee undertake a specific experiment
without first eXacting the promise
that if it succeeded the French were
to carry it on. There could not be
any resentment over such tactics,
for 1t was not an effort arbitrarily
TO impose conceptions of community
life on the French, but to offer the
best of American experience for
adoption to the problems of the
hour in France.
Confidence i'm America
Only Americans could nave done
this job which today has won the
undying thanks of the French peo-
pie. For only Americans are be-
yond the suspicion of seeking ulte-
rior political ends in Europe Incl
dentally one canont help wondering
what great STRIDES the Mexican peO-
pie would have made by this time
If they had been given such disinter-
ested assistance by similar commit
tees from the United States in the
last ten years.
To the tact of the American WON
EN-, who refused to be diverted by
red tape or setbacks of political in
trigues here, must be given the cred
it for an achievement that perhaps
only women could have accomplish
ed. They disarmed suspicion. They
quickly proved by their first aid hos
pitfalls and personal sacrifices in the
devastated regions what earnestness
of purpose and sincerity was theirs.
Throughout it all has been the
spirit of the American pioneer,
knowing no discoura cement and
seeking only to help the bewildered
people at their feet. The France of
the battlefield areas is today not a
reproduction of per-war life or even
of pre-war appearance. The Ameri-
can idea has taken root in improved
farm manag cement. 1t is to be seen
in the arrangement of rooms in new
houses, in the installation CT modern
plumbing and heating systems. In
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