Evening star., 1925-06-14

f1Nt3 Is one OF q Settles OF QTVtCleS
by Mr.. Monrer on business, poHts-
cal and social conditions in the
Sddr baSin.)
BY EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER.
Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Daily News.
SAARBRUECKEN, Territory of the
Saar, May This is a beautiful coun-
try. Rows of wooded hills stretch
across the horizon. Forests of pine
and deciduous trees alternate. White
roads climb the precipitous slopes and
plunge down steep descents into val
leys. Yet 400 miles of railroad and
switching link these hills and valleys.
through which the River Saar' flows
calmly, into a huge industrial organ
ism. 1t is the only highly Industrial
lied country l have ever seen that is
not an eyesore.
expected to find scar on the land
scape, something like the 'black coun-
try" in England or the horror of the
Pennsylvania coal fields. The Saar is
different-thanks to the forests, the
agricultural ambitions of the inhabit-
ants, the general prosperity. Rarely
does one get beyond sight of dwellings,.
The principal roads from one end of
the territory to the other are lined
with buildings that string together 20
fairly large towns.
There are exceptions. Meff1ach, in
the northwest corner, site of the great
pottery works Of Villeroy and Boch,
is the center Of a small agricultural
region. But the country produces
enough food to feed it's population
only A days in the year. Industry
dominates-mines, factories, mills.
But for the most part one does not
see them.
Many Agreeable Towns.
Automobiles move swiftly along
CLASSY wood roads. Green birch
boughs meet overhead. Suddenly, at
turn, three tall chimneys emerge
above the tree tops, belching SCOT. 1t
is a coal mine. Across the road, 20
feet above the ground, stretches
great black pipe, mounted on iron
stilts. But one sees neither mine nor
mill until actually beside them.
Around the factory or the cookery
stand the cottages of the miners and
other workmen, decent and well built
and each with it's little plot of ground
Children tend the cows back in the
woods, goats eat the lowest branches
of the birches, chickens scoot across
the roads. and all the pleasures of
country life are at hand. Yet there
are the strange reservoirs and domes
and chimneys of the steel mills. 1t
Is confusing and, SO far as l know,
unique.
Even the towns are less ugly than
similar centers elsewhere There is a
lack of squalor and a decency about
them that redeems the necessary
CRIME. The shopwindows are filled to
overfiowing, the inhabitants seem
prosperous and contented, business is
moving. The streets are filled with
automobiles, many of them driven by
Workmen oWners-a sight unusual in
Europe.
Saarbruecken, the Capital" is
pleasant city Of over 100, 900, lying on
both banks of the Saar River, here
crossed by five bridges. Illingen, Neun
kirchen, st. Ingbert, Volklingen, Saar-
louis, Dillingen. Merzig, Meffach-I
have visited them ALL There is no
real poverty in the Saar. or, If there
be, it is like the mines-hidden from
view.
People Thoroughly German.
The towns abound in banks, some of
them local. other branches of German
and French institutions. Everything
Is solid-like the great building by the
railroad station in Saarbruecken, the
administration center of the ruling
mines"
The people are German-thorough
ly, completely German. In speech, in
appearance, in customs, in sentiment
and prevailing characteristics
The local dialect is hard to under
stand, but it is German. Occasionally
In a hotel or an office or a shop one
hears a few words of French. But
the 10000 French inhabitants brought
in by the government and the mines
are lost among the 100000 Germans,
and the French tongue is even more
rarely noticed than the horizon blue of
the 1900 French soldiers scattered
about the territory. That is extremely
inconspicuous
The people are the dark-haired type
of German, rather squat in .appear-
ance even when tall in stature, and
inclined to be fat. Shopkeepers COM
plain that Saar women find the i'm
ported Paris models too small
The Inhabitants are well educated.
literate, affable, fairly alert and
docile. They work we'll and steadily,
but need more supervision and direc-
tion than French. English or Amer
ican workingmen. Two-thirds of them
are Catholics.
Big Families, All Prosperous.
IeTTdpS IL lS Oh InlS account tndI
their families are so numerous. No
where else have I seen so many chill
dren, not in southern Italy or Belgium
or the Balkans or Poland. They
swarm. Families with 10 to 16 sons
and daughters are common. And they
look decently clothed, well fed, and,
for an industrial population. healthy.
Politically. the people are passionate
Germans, but not blindly SO. Contact
with France has opened their eyes to
certain German defects and made them
critical Of the Berlin government. But
all, from the Social Democrats to the
Extreme Conservatives, are patriotic.
They intend to keep their German Gus
toms and remain Deutsch. Partly from
habit, partly from intention, they pre-
fer German to French goods. Articles
made in Paris hardly compete with
those made in Germany. Aside from
few 1uxuries and some motor cars, one
sees few French goods offered for sale.
So far as is compatible with league
government and French interests, the
old German laws have been preserved
by the new rulers This aids the in
habitants in the quiet, ceaseless strife
they have waged for five years against
the undoubted attempt by the French
to coerce and win them over in view
of the plebiscite 10 years from now.
The Saar was and remains German.
(Copyright. 1925. by Chicago Daily News Co..
EXPERTC CH00CE R00kC