Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
BY FRANK H. SIMoNDs.
q Ew ceremonies in the postwar
4 era have been at once as inter-
esting historically and as signifi-

esting historically and as signifi-
Il cant contemporaneously as those
which are today going forward
al over French North Africa: His
torically, the anniversary which is being
observed MARKS the real beginning OF
the second greatest colonial empire, ex-
tending from the Mediterranean to the
Kongo. And In the days news the
collision between French and Italian
aspirations in the Middle Sea consti-
tutes the outstanding problem of peace
In Europe.
French fleet dropped anchor off the
point of Sidi Ferruch and, under the
guns of the ships, landed to seize the
city Of the corsairs, who for centuries
had held to tribute both the shores and
the ships of all Christian nations.
Moreover, the expedition was designed
not alone to avenge a minor insult to
the French Minister at Algiers, but also
to save the sinking fortunes OF the
Bourbon dynasty.
In this it failed, for, as the French
lilies were being decorated with their
last victory, the tricolor was appearing
Ia the streets of Paris and Charles x
was q fugitive. The next two gener-
atoms of Algerian history was the tale
Of long, costly and futile efforts at one
moment to found an Arabian empire,
at another to establish New France
In Africa.
Under the Third Empire q dozen
famous soldiers, beginning with Bu-
geaud, opened their careers in struggles
with the Arabs, Add ell Kader became
as famous figure In the world as Kos
sllth or Garibaldi. But 1t was not until
after 1871, following the disasters Of the
Franco-Prussian War and the loss OF
Alsace-Lorraine, that the French Re-
public began the real Algerian achieve
ment.
Transformation Is Rapid.
In the next 60 years the transforma-
tion was rapid. Railways and high
ways, harbors and public works were
constructed. Colonies were established
French, Spanish and Italian. Algiers.
Oran, Bona, became f1ourishing cities
with large European populations. In
1881 French rule extended to TuniS, In
1911 the adjustment with Germany LED
to the inclusion of Morocco in the
French sphere. Meantime, hardy ex-
plorers pushed up the Niger and the
Kongo and across the Sahara, spreading
the French color on the African map
until the area of the new empire ex-
ceeded that Of the United States.
And II in the earlier decades French
blood had been freely spent and French
treasure sunk recklessly In the African
experiment, in the War War hundreds
Of thousands of soldiers from all three
North African colonies and from Sene-
gal to the south recruited the thinning
ranks Of French armies. At last 1t
became clear that France had found a
reservoir of man-power- capable Of re-
storing, her position weakened by the
steady fail of her own birth rate.
After the World War there was q
new push Of energy like that which
followed the Franco-Prussian War. In
scarcely more than a decade Casablanca,
on the west coast Of Morocco. became q
Inhabitants, boasting skyscrapers and
possessing the finest harbor between
Cadiz and Cape Town. Railways con-
nected Marrakesh, In the south Of Mo-
rocco, with Oran. Between Casa
blanca and Tunis only one short gap In
the lines OF rails now remains to be
filled. Morocco, is years ago the prey
of anarchy and the scene of struggles
which had continued without interrupt
ton for centuries, has become the most
successful Of European colonies.
Airplane Raids Prominent.
In these postwar years the airplane
and the automobile have come to make
the now famous raids from Algiers to
Timbuktu, across the Sahara. And the
project Of q railway line extending from
Lake Tohad has again become q pend
ing possibility. Wheat from Morocco
cotton from the Niger, phosphate and
iron from Agiers, wealth Of tropical
production from the equatorial dis
tricts now to France, while for the home
country the colonial market steadily
gains In importance.
Moreover, In Algeria the oldest Of the
northern possessions, France has sue
cessfully avoided the problem of native
nationalism which is troubling Britain
political system is identical with that
OF the mother country. Algeria is adj
Enthusiastically little more than three
departments Of France. And since the
war long steps have been taken to be-
stow upon the native the right to share
In the political life of the country.
In French North Africa today there
are more than $4,000 900 people living
on an area twice as great as that of
France. OF this population more than
1,000,0 600 are European. From the in
termingling of French italian, Spanish,
new Mediterranean race Is taking
form. Beyond the Sahara two other
colonial spheres, each counting as many
Inhabitants as North Africa-those Of
the Niger and the Kongo-are rap
idly developing. French Africa already
counts 40,000,000 inhabitants, a popula-
ton equal to that Of the metropolitan
land.
African Frontier Regarded jealousy.
Moreover, with the passing of the last
half century the majority Of French
man have come to believe that the fu-
ture Of France as a great country lies
in Africa, depends upon the develop
ment and retention of this vast empire.
The dreams Of the Rhine frontier, the
conceptions of expansion into the Low
Countries which haunted Louis XIV
and both Napoleons has given way to
the African ambition. In Europe all
French purpose is confined to the
maintenance of the existing frontiers.
Ons considerable cloud there Is on
the French sky, and that is Italian
ambition. Seated at Carthage, Bona
and Cherchell, France occupies the
ruins of the ancient Roman imperial
structure. Nowhere in Europe, outside
Of Rome itself, are there more splendid
or impressive monuments of Roman
greatness than in North Africa. And
Mussolini has fired the hope of Fascist
italy with the program Of a restored
Roman empire.
Poor in money and in natural re-
sources, italy has men; her population
grows steadily, while that of France
remains stationary. In Eastern Algeria
the italian element Is formidable, In
Tunis it outnumbers the French. The
sole remedy for the French is to absorb
the italian element, to Gallicize it, by
,,s..x&A and naturalization laws to trans
s5fm It. And here French and italian
policy come squarely into collision.
Caused Farley Differences.
All the bitter and sustained differ