Evening star., 1934-12-30
BY HAROLD e. SCARBOROUGH,

L local population over compare
lively trivial matter of admins
tration. 1t is said that on this occa-
sion the Saarlanders, having exhaust
ed their reasoned arguments, finally
produced as their last word the plaint-
i've remonstrance:
But Napoleon never treated us like
this!"
To the average American this Incl
dent (Which is cited in Maj. B. T.
Reynolds book, The Saar and the
Franco o-German Problem'D would in
itself convey little What President
Madison said or did has not much
bearing upon the problems of the New
Deal. But to the burghers of Saar-
brucken the reference to Napoleon
came quite naturally. 1t was prob
ably only because they did not wish
to seem pedantic that they didn't base
their case on what Louis XIV did or
didn't do. Memories in that part of
the world are long, and it requires
more than few centuries to obliterate
them.
For the Saar is one of those areas
which through varying combinations
tlecocks of diplomacy almost since time
inmemorial. Just now 1t is in the
news because on January l3, 1885, its
inhabitants are scheduled to vote on
whether they wish to continue to be
governed, as at present, by a League
of Nations Commission; to return to
Germany; or to become French. This
sounds simple enough; but when all
the attendant circumstances are taken
into consideration, it is not difficult to
understand why half of the chancel-
1erieS of Europe are worrying about it.
They are merely following out the
tradition which for more than 1000
years has made an international dan
ger spot of the area drained by the
Rhine and its tributaries.
Small But Important.
On the map the Saar is inconspicu-
Gus; a mountainous district tucked
between Lorraine and the Bavarian
Palatinate, and lying Just southeast
of Luxembourg. Through its western
portion there meanders the River
Saar, whose waters find their way into
the Moselle, and eventually into the
Rhine. But ever since Roman times
this little bit of country Git contains
only 730 square miles, has been
strategically important, and for some
centuries it also has been economic
ally important.
The valley of the Saar River pro-
Vides one of the obvious corridors be-
tween Central and Western Europe
When Gaul was Roman province
the Teutonic barbarians used to in
wade it by the Saar route. The Ger
mans In 1870 trod the same ground;
and so, doubtless, will at least a por-
ton of any future invading forces in
that part of the world.
Practically ever since the time Of
Charlemagne the territory now known
as the Saar has formed, more or less,
a political and administrative unit.
For several centuries 1t was ruled by
the Counts of -Saarbrucken
who were nominal subjects of the holy
Roman Emperor, and during the Thirty
Years War it was overrun and dev-
astated, as was the rest of Germany.
Louis XIV cast envious eyes on this
territory and annexed it for 20 years
or SO; Napoleon held it for similar
period. With these two exceptions,
however, the Saar has been under
German control for at least 500 years.
Although during the eighteenth
century Sarrois troops used to fight in
the French Army, they never consid-
cred themselves as Frenchmen, and
from the unification of the German
empire in 1870 to 1918 the rest of
the world considered the Saar as
German, as, for instance, Pomerania
And, to quote recent writer in the
London Times: Nobody can deny
that the Saar is by habit. tradition
and culture essentially German. It's
inhabitants almost without exception
speak and think in German and live
as Germans every day of their lives.
They have German manners, tastes,
amusements and clothes. The men
shave their heads, wear short jackets,
smoke light cigars and drink beer out
of mugs like Germans. The women
display German fashions and have
never got far from the hausfrau state.
The children are German children;
the little boys have cropped yellow
polls and play soldiers and the little
girls have Gretchen plaits."
Twenty Years Retrospect.
Why, then Git might be asked, since
these facts are nowhere disputed) =,
should there now be any question
concerning the Saar's future? And
why should there be any doubt as to
the result of the coming plebiscite?
The question cannot be answered
without considering the whole politi
cal and diplomatic situation of the
last 20 years. In 1914, when the war
started, there was no evidence to
show that the French regarded the
Saar as in any way to be differ
entiated from the rest of Germany.
But-the French general staff could
not forget that the Prussians had
come through the Saar gap in 1914
and in 1870. And the French civilian
government could not forget that
since 1870 the Saar had in a sense
been the keystone of the South Ger
man industrial arch.
Before 1914, when Lorraine was
German and Luxembourg was inside
the German customs union, the three
districts had been perfectly compile
mentary to each other. Coal from
the Saar was shipped to the iron
and steel works of Lorraine and Lux
emoourg. Alternatively, iron ore from
these two provinces was sent to the
Saar to be smelted with the local coal.
There was certain amount of pri-
vate French capital in the Saar un-
dertakings. but it was subject to Ger
man political control.
1t is therefore not very surprising
that IN 1917. when a secret treaty was
made between France and Czarist
Russia, 1t was agreed that the Saar
Basin was to 60 to France. In 1919,
when the treaty of Versailles was
being drawn up, France openly put
forth her claim to this area.
1t stirred up hornets nest Of pro-
tests. Two of the most active hornets
were Lloyd George and Wilson, both
of whom. for their own reasons, re-
garded the French claim as going
much too far. Alsace-Lorraine, they