Evening star., 1929-06-09
ALSACE TIRES OF FRENCH
RULE AFTER TEN YEARS
Province Regained at Sacrifice of l,5OO,-
600 Men Now Demands Complete
independence.
1ans had striven to establish a Ger

mans had striven to establish Ger
man.
But the Alsation of 1870, who had
never been German in the PrussiAn
sense. had been separated from the old
Holy Roman Empire for two centuries.
While his language was German, he had
shared in the French revolution and
politically was far removed from the
Germany of Bismarck. In just the
same fashion, however, the Alsation of
1918 was separated by wide gulf from
the France of that moment. Deeply
Catholic, he had seen with diSapproval
the campaign against the Roman
Church in France and, under German
rule, partly from necessity, he had,
while accepting the German economic
system and methods developed o To-
cal political life of his own.
In resisting German assimilation
the AlSatians had developed something
pretty close to sense of nationality
They were profoundly anti-German.
they were eager to escape German rule
and they welcomed French troops as
liberators. But while they cheered the
French troops they quickly resented the
to be free of the old master. but they
had no desire to receive new.
French Officials Stupid.
moreover. the type OF omclal the
French sent was about as bad as the
German of the 1871 days, narrow, stu
pid and with not the smallest apprecia-
ton of the fact that Alsace was not the
lie de France or Picardy. If the old
German administration had been rigid
and even heavy handed, the new French
was at once inefficient and exasperatins.
Moreover, local feelings we're reused
when the radicals captured the French
Chamber and began TO take steps to ex-
tend to Alsace the French system,
which was based upon a disestablished
church. This proved the last straw.
From 1924 onward the Alsation situa-
ton has steadily worsened. If there
remains a considerable element still
loyal to the French tradition it has
been, so far, a minority.
For the French this Alsatian affair
is bitter disillusionment. They are
feeling now what the Germans felt half
century ago. Then the Germans ex-
pected to be welcomed as liberators of
German people from a French yoke.
Now the French come, at the cost of
1,500, 900 casualties, to undo the work
of 1870. But the Alsatian desires not
merely to be freed of German rule, but
of all rule, to be free in fact. His state
of mind is purely Irish. his objective
today is that of the Irish through the
AOHS SCAIu4Aeo oA ui4IUn WIN ElSlduQ.
Not Worth a War.
What will be the end of this new
occasion for European discord? It is
hard to say but one thing is clear; in
the main, the German people are little
interested in the Alsatian question
During the war the Alsatians were
frankly disloyal and many thousands
fled or deserted to the French armies.
After the arnistice they welcomed the
French troops with wild enthusiasm.
Thus the German Is fairly well "fed
up" with the Alsatian He has no de-
dire to wage a new war simply to re-
place France as the object of Alsatian
hatred. Economically, too. it Is not
Alsace but L0rraine which was the ex-
pensive loss. for it is about Metz that
the great iron fields lie
Two factors favor the French. Little
by little the population is learning
French, the boys serve in the army in
French garrisons, and the schools are
doing their work. In the second place,
Alsace has been steadily prosperous
through the period of French occu-
patton and Strasbourg is becoming one
of the great inland ports Of the con-
tinent. A separate existence for Alsace,
smaller than Connecticut, is econoni-
cally almost out of the question. Union
with Germany could only come again
as consequence of a bloody war,
fought largely on Alsatian soil Fifty
years of association with France will
accomplish much. Time will run with
the French.
But for the moment Alsace is one Of
the conspicuous examples Of the mis-
calculations of pre-war times. Mr..
Wilson included in his fourteen points
the demand that the wrong of 1870
should be righted. but righting it has
left Alsace a continued scene of do
meStic discord and the possible source
of new international strifes.
(Copyright, 1890