Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-17
FRENCH EMPIRE in AFRICA
BLOW TO ITALIAN DREAMS
Man Power in Tunis Enables Nation TO
Meet Rival on Equal Terms
and Face Germany.

rival the Cape-to-Cairo It would also
enable France to move troops from Cen
trail and Western Africa to Algeria and
Morocco, and thus to constitute all her
African possessions a Self-contained
area, even If she lost control Of the sea.
Meantime both air and automobile lines
maintain communication over the
desert.
Since, too. almost half Of the French
army Is permanently stationed In Africa.
1t Is clear how important 1t Is that
France should be able to move them
swiftly in case Of European war, just as
1t is vital to keep these colonies, which
are the source of recruits. Long ago
the statement was made that the future
OF France was in Africa. but it Is only
since the World War that there has
been a wide realization of this fact,
due to the contribution in men and
material Africa made during the con-
flict.
Before 1914. or at least before the
great Moroccan quarrel in 1905. the
French colonial empire was pushed for
ward by a handful OF daring and i'm
aginative soldiers, fired with the desire
to win back for France in Africa the
rank OF a great power which had been
lost in Europe after Sedan. Thus ex-
plorers and expeditions painfully toiled
UP the Senegal, down the Niger and
across the Sahara from Algeria. In this
school were trained some Of the great
leaders Of the war.
Taken by JOffre.
Joffre, the victor Of the Marine, took
Timbuktu after a first disaster, and
later built the Senegal Railway Gal
Ieni, the defender of Paris. won fame
alike in West Africa and Madagascar
Mangn, the Sheridan of the French
army. was a colonial, who 10 years be-
fore the war argued for the use Of black
troops. In 1898 the occupation of
Fashoda. on the Upper Nile, by Mar
shand nearly brought France and Brit
ain to war. In 1905 the quarrel between
equally menace to European peace. To
establish her claim to Morocco with
German consent France had to cede
large regions in the Kongo. But all
these, together with most of German
Togo and Kamerun, came to France at
the end of the war.
Now French public opinion is at least
meaSurably awake to the importance Of
the colonial empire. Raw materials,
laborers, vast market still hardly
touched-all exist within the limits of
single tariff frontier. Last year, when
all the rest OF the world was buying
less from France, Algeria took more
For French steel manufacturers the
great railway development provides q
market, taking no small part Of the
production OF the new mines and plants
acquired in old German Lorraine. For
the engineers the opportunity is unmis-
taxable. For the adventurous the last
frontier Is the Atlas, where the army
year by year reduces the area Of the
wild tribes.
Last Of all, holding a real slice of
the East in her hands at the doors of
Europe, France has been able to extend
her tourist industry, and fine roads and
last automobiles permit the European
or American to see Fee and Marrakech,
stun unspoiled, as easily and as COM
fortably as to travel the chateau coun-
try of Provence. So here again the
thrifty French turn imperialism into
prof1t and the ancient land of the Bar
barry pirates is made safe for the pour
boire.
French Proud Of Empire.
The French want to celebrate the
fact that they have an empire, to invite
the world to admire its wealth and
beauty, and to serve notice upon all
and sundry, beginning with the Ital-
ianS, that France means to hold this
empire-the North African part before
all others. That is why Doumergue
went TO Tunis to finish his administra-
ton; that Is why there Is the colonial
exposition. and finally. that is why
France refuses to consider any question
Of naval parity with Italy or any re-
duction in the size Of her feet.
There are Frenchmen who believe
that 1t would be the policy of wisdom
TO cut loose from all the network of
alliances, military and otherwise. by
which France exercises a potent. II pre-
carious influence in Europe: TO come
10 terms with Germany, purchasing
French security on the Rhine at the
expense Of French allies on the Vistula
and the Danube, and relying upon the
British Locarno pledge to reinforce
french military strength at the borders
/ OF Lorraine and Alsace; in fact, to be-
come colonial rather than Continental.
Such change in historic policy Is
hardly likely to come soon Neverthe-
less, the colonial detail Is year by year
becoming more pronounced, and the
colonial exposition is certain to consti-
tute the high-water mark OF French
colonial enthusiasm. It also will indi-
cate why the French take their Italian
problem almost as seriously as their
German.
And, conversely Fascist italy, feeling
itself the heir Of Rome, resents to the
bone French presence In all the old
Roman lands from Carthage to Cesarea
Copyright. 1917