The Devastation of Northern France

I. THE MARTYRED LANDS

THE evolution of mankind toward a régime of justice and liberty could be accomplished only at the cost of much bloodshed. It was inevitable that men who were devoted to the principle of respect for individuals, creeds, and property, should clash with those elements of force and violence which assumed to impose their domination, with the sole aim of gratifying their desires and instincts.

The age-long struggle between the peoples devoted to these opposed doctrines has thrice been fought out in Northeastern France. Was it not on the banks of the Marne, between the cities to-day known as Sens and Troyes, that the battles took place, in which the Roman general Aëtius, aided by Theodoric King of the Visigoths, by Merwig and his Franks, by Gondicaire and his Burgundians, fought against the devastator Attila, who heaped up ruins under his horse’s hoofs?

The Allies delivered Western Europe from this scourge, who claimed to be the messenger of God, on the Catalonian Fields, where 160,000 men lost their lives in a terrible battle. It was on this same ground, united in the same spirit of independence and liberty of the peoples, in July and August, 1918, that Americans, English, Belgians, Italians, and French, united in a common cult of independence and liberty, put to rout the red-handed Kaiser and his son, who prided themselves on spreading terror and creating havoc wherever they passed. Once more, hundreds of thousands of men have purchased with their lives their liberation; once more, thousands of villages have been plundered and burned down, and women, young girls, and children have died of hunger, terror, and shame, because of one cruel man’s dream of establishing his domination by might in defiance of right.

When, in 1793 and 1794, Republican France had to defend herself against the coalition of European monarchies, it was in the north, at Wattignies, and again, beyond Charleroi, at Fleurus and at Tourcoing, that the Republican armies delivered France and completed the work of the conquerors of Valmy and Jemmappes.

The contests of 1792,1793, and 1794, which were fought in the Argonne and in the north of France, left much ruin behind. But the devastation was not systematic. The country suffered because it was the main theatre of the struggle in defense of liberty and republican principles; but it had no experience of the complete destruction of dwellings and factories, the carrying off by force of young girls and men in contravention of all the precepts of the law of nations.

It was in 1914, and during the following years, that the soil which had witnessed heroic struggles sustained for centuries against the partisans of force organized to oppress the free peoples, suffered the worst outrages, and the maximum of cruelty.

It is hard for those who do not know the rôle which the north and the east played in the material existence of France to understand why the Germans devoted themselves to this business of unnecessary destruction and massacre. On the other hand, the motive of the destruction is manifest when one learns by statistics the importance in the national economy of the occupied and devastated territories.

To blot out those prosperous and productive districts of the north and east of France was in the eyes of the Germans, in 1914, to make all resistance impossible, because the principal centres of production of metals and coal, indispensable for carrying on the war, were in the departments of the Nord, of the Ardennes, and of Meurthe-et-Moselle. They were protected by no defensive works, for Belgium, whose neutrality had been guaranteed by treaties signed by Germany, seemed to shelter the northern frontier from invasion from that direction.

When Germany saw that, despite the occupation of Northern France, the military resistance continued, and that the ingenuity of the national character, supplemented by importations of raw materials, especially from the United States, was prolonging the war, she decided to destroy systematically the agriculture and industry of Flanders and of Eastern France. She knew that by carrying out this barbarous plan, she would deprive France of all possibility of exportation for many years. Whatever the military result of the conflict, she would have won an economic victory. And that was the thing which was important to her.

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF FRANCE

The departments of the Nord, of the Pas de Calais, of the Aisne, of the Ardennes, of the Marne, and of Meurtheet-Moselle, which suffered most from the German occupation and from the fighting, are among the most productive, because of the variety and extent of their products. In these districts the earth beneath the surface is no less rich than the soil itself. In the departments of the Nord and of the Pas de Calais alone there were, in the former 22 concessions, in the latter 27, for coal-mines; and of a total production of 41,000,000 tons, in 1913, the Pas de Calais alone supplied 20,000,000. Paris received a great part of the coal required for its industrial and domestic needs from the Department of the Nord, which produced, annually, 27,000,000 tons.

Seventy-eight per cent of the total output of coke came also from these two departments.

The great centres of production of iron ore also were occupied by the enemy. The veins of the Moselle represented 90.6 per cent of the whole of the French output; and 85 per cent of all the cast-iron produced in France came from the departments of Meurthe-etMoselle, theNord,and the Pas de Calais. These same departments sold yearly 62 per cent of the pig iron manufactured in the whole country and 56 per cent of the finished products of the same material.

By hammering to pieces the blastfurnaces within range of their artillery, and by carrying away the tool-making machinery from the factories of the Lille district, the occupying forces deprived French industry of almost the whole of its means of large-scale production.

Indeed, to whatever branches, either of agriculture or of industry, we turn our attention, we find that these northern and eastern districts stood in the very front rank in production, in cultivation, and in a very great variety of manufactures.

For instance, 59.26 per cent of the hops crop was gathered in the Department of the Nord. The beets for distilling raised in that department, and in the Pas de Calais and the Oise, made up 62 per cent of the whole French crop, and their distilleries produced more than 65 percent of the industrial alcohol used in France.

The departments of the Aisne, the Pas de Calais, the Somme, the Nord, the Oise, and the Marne furnished 80 per cent of the crop of sugar-beets.

The greatest yield of wheat and oats was obtained from the fields of Santerre and in the Department of the Nord. Grazing land also was very abundant there. The two departments of the Pas de Calais and the Nord supplied one tenth of all the butter sold in France. There were 297,000 head of cattle in the Nord, and 245,000 in the Pas de Calais.

It would be easy to give more figures, which would place the Nord in the foremost rank in the production of flax, and also of coffee-chicory, which grew only in the districts occupied by the enemy.

This exceptional fertility of the soil helps us to understand how, in ordinary times, before the war, a population of three millions was able to live comfortably in the two departments of the Nord and the Pas de Calais. Large families were not rare. They found remunerative occupation in agricultural labor, in the mines, and in the many different industries of the region. No other department was nearly so densely populated as the Nord. While in the whole of France the average density to the square kilometre was 73, there it was 339.

The preparation of wool used for weaving, its transformation, and the same processes with flax, kept thousands of people employed. Roubaix had become the first town in the world for wool-combing.

III. THE SYSTEMATIC DEVASTATION

The absence of any military protection, in a region bordering on a neutral country, made it possible for the Germans to occupy the Department of the Nord, a part of the Pas de Calais, the Department of the Ardennes, and a large part of the Marne. From the last months of the year 1914, down to the glorious days following the second victory of the Marne, in 1918, the Germans remained in the most fertile and busiest districts of France.

Farther to the east they occupied part of the Department of Meurtheet-Moselle, and had the most important factories within the range of their artillery.

How did they treat persons and property? The story has been told, and with abundant evidence to support it. They scorned all the rules of the law of nations which mankind prided itself upon having adopted. The doctrine of force, and its consequences, were the only rule of conduct of the conquerors.

The population was subjected to the most cruel harassments. Numerous summary executions on the most absurd pretexts, arrests and deportations of individuals, either to Germany, there to work in munition factories, or to the battle-lines, where they compelled children and young men to dig and construct offensive works against their brethren — these have been perpetrated so often and to such an extent that it can fairly be said that these barbarities have done woeful injury to all mankind.

But their most brutal crime was when they deported women and young girls from the cities of the north to Belgium and Germany. We may well wonder how it is possible that a people which called itself civilized could commit such a crime. It would continue to be incomprehensible were it not part of the deliberate scheme of devastation of the industrial districts of the north.

Economists know that certain industries, like weaving and mining, can be developed only if the working population, specializing from generation to generation, has acquired the manual dexterity necessary to insure the superiority and fine finish of certain manufactures. Is not the absolute annihilation of the families of workers in the districts where such industries are located, a sure means of seriously impairing, for the future, the recruitment of labor ?

The deeds of pure barbarism done upon the families of the cities of Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing were a part of the scheme of definitive destruction of the industries of Northern France.

The second manifestation of this purpose to destroy appears when we look into the process of carrying off tools and machinery from the factories.

According to the affidavits produced before the Chamber of Deputies by M. Louis Dubois, reporter of the Budget Committee on the questions of devastation and war-damage, the mines occupied by the enemy have been subjected to carefully planned demolition. In the war-zone one finds complete methodical destruction of means of communication — bridges, sluices, and railway lines; also the no less methodical destruction of surface structures and stocks of tools; together with the complete disappearance of food-supplies and the removal of machinery. Moreover, all the underground workings have been systematically flooded. And the deliberate purpose to impair the future output of the mines is further established by the dynamiting of a considerable proportion of the metal frames (cuvelages) which support the walls and prevent the caving in of the shafts sunk in soil which is especially susceptible to that danger.

The mines are thus made inaccessible in addition to being flooded. Taking those of the Pas de Calais group alone, the output of which amounted in 1913 to 14,000,000 tons, with a personnel, above and below the surface, of 66,000 men and women, they will have to go down to a depth of 400 to 500 metres, and drain 35,000,000 million cubic metres of water — an immense subterranean lake.

In the north supplies and machinery have been carried away, and in most cases the Germans have flooded the underground works, going so far as to divert the waters of a stream and turn them into the shafts of the mines.

The object of the work of destruction, thus deliberately performed, was not only to impede the industrial progress of Flanders, but also to strike a severe blow at the economic structure of the whole of France. Of a total output of 41,000,000 tons of coal, in 1913, from all districts, the departments of the Nord and the Pas de Calais produced 27,000,000. Now, the labor problems which must be dealt with in years to come, together with the continuing high price of raw materials, will tend tc keep the price of coal very high, and will make it difficult to obtain it in such quantities as are essential for the resumption of business. The devastation of the mines in Flanders has therefore been carried out, not only with the purpose of impeding the progress of industry in that country itself, but in the hope that France, being absolutely compelled to procure coal, must in this way pay a war-tax to Germany indirectly, buying coal and coke at high prices, and thus providing her with the means of carrying on her enterprises in the east.

The plants for combing and spinning wool, jute, and cotton, in the Fourmies district, have been inspected by a parliamentary committee. It is interesting to record the facts noted in 74 factories. Of 735,000 spindles used in spinning the combed wool, about 651,500, or 88 per cent, have been destroyed; of 3550 looms, none remain; of 4500 cardingmachines, 3000, or 75 per cent, have disappeared, as have all of the 100 frames for weaving carded wool. Also, all the jute-spindles and looms have been put out of commission.

And there are many other districts where the damage is just as great.

In the less specialized industries, outside of weaving, there has been the same systematic devastation. Take printing, for instance, which was actively carried on in the north: the presses have been carried away or destroyed; and the same is true of all the types. Here, the invader’s purpose could not be dissembled: the Germans intended to procure a market for their type-founders and their makers of rotary presses, who, before the war, were distanced by their French competitors.

After the pillaging of the factories, we must not forget the devastation of the homes. In cities like Lens, out of 11,000 houses, not one is left standing. And from the affidavits read from the tribune in the Chamber of Deputies, during the sitting of December 19, 1918, it appears that 250,000 houses have been destroyed in the devastated districts, and that 250,000 others are more or less seriously damaged.

Woods and forests have been cut down indiscriminately. And lastly, more than 100,000 hectares of the best land in France is unfit for any sort of crops. Two million hectares have been laid waste; they will have to be cleared, first of all, of the infernal machines buried there.

It will cost more than twenty billions of francs to restore the buildings; more than ten billions’ worth of furniture has been stolen or ruined. Moreover, it will cost at least ten billions to put the farms in condition for working. To replace the industrial material of the mines, of the carding, spinning, and weaving plants, of the electrical plants, of the foundries, large and small, of breweries and sugar-refineries, distilleries and agricultural industries, oilrefineries, tan-yards, currying-shops, dye-works, bleacheries, plants for the manufacture of chemicals, glassware, and various by-products, will require an expenditure of at least twenty billions.

Finally, the great undertakings in the way of public works and means of transportation: railroads serving the public in general, railroads of local concern, tramways, waterways, seaports, roads and bridges, the distribution of electric power, post-offices, telegraphs and telephones, cannot be reconstituted unless at least ten billions are devoted to that purpose.

That is to say, approximately, and at the minimum figure, about sixty-five billions must be found, in order to provide the compensation promised to the people of Northern France and to complete successfully the work of restoration, which is, as all agree, a work of international justice; for Northern France has been the theatre of a conflict wherein were opposed, not simply two nations, but two forms of civilization.

It was in the name of the doctrine of might that these devastations were committed. It is by virtue of the doctrine of justice triumphant, that the ruin must be repaired.

IV. THE QUESTION OF RESTITUTION

But the problem of the economic reconstruction of Northern France cannot be solved by the payment of a sum equivalent to the value of the damage done.

In the first place, it is impossible to find the wherewithal for an immediate payment of sixty-five billions of francs. Moreover, if that sum were forthcoming, the combined efforts of French and Allied industries could not, before a number of years have passed, manufacture sufficient machinery to reequip in a few months the factories of Northern France, and also of the devastated portions of Belgium and Serbia, which countries also have been made victims of a deliberate system of spoliation.

And after all, to centre all the efforts of the manufacturing establishments of the Allied countries on the reconstruction of the pillaged regions would be helping German industry to secure an easy triumph in foreign markets, would it not ? She would encounter no competitors, and would dominate the industries of the Allied countries, even more completely than before the war.

In the interest of justice as well of the future of the Allied nations, it is most important to provide in the treaty of peace a general requisition scheme, which would compel Germany to restore immediately everything she has taken; to reconstruct the buildings with her own materials; to furnish them with the furniture which she has carried off.

This is the more urgent because it is the only way of hastening the return to normal life in the north of France.

Have we not during the war constantly heard German military officers congratulating themselves because the ghastly scenes of the battlefield took place far from their own homes? It was in the name of might that they polluted French soil with fire and rapine. Today, when might is on our side, it would be easy for us to carry pillage to the banks of the Rhine. We prefer, while in occupation of that territory, to respect property and persons. But. this attitude, which is most humane and worthy of the cause which the Allies have defended, should not divert us from carrying on to the end the work of restitution. If we fail to do this, while victorywill surely have crowned our heroes’ brows with laurel, France will as surely have lost the war.

In fact, the most productive departments of France will for years remain depopulated, and her total product will be greatly impaired. Her whole rural and industrial economy will be shaken to its foundations. And if this state of affairs is prolonged, it is by no means certain that the joy of triumph may not some day be succeeded by the righteous anger due to undeserved misery.

This condition is understood by our Allies in the United States and England, who have decided that the supply of raw materials necessary for the resumption of industrial life shall first be ensured to Belgium and Northern France. But it is essential to have it distinctly understood that this allotment, this right of priority, shall extend, not merely to orders for goods that can be produced immediately, but to the extent of the full capacity of output before the war. Otherwise, the Germans would still occupy a commanding position, for they would be able to obtain stocks of cotton, wool, etc., when their victims would not be in a position to make up raw materials for which they have a promise of priority.

V. JUSTICE TO BE DONE BY THE PEACE CONGRESS

Therefore, when France demands that Germany be forced to make reparation for the damage which she has deliberately inflicted upon Belgium and Northern France, she seeks no material profit, as Germany did in 1871, when she imposed upon her foes a war indemnity of five billions. Then Germany had suffered no harm. Her territory was inviolate.

To-day, the conqueror might pillage in his turn, and even, while respecting the rules of international law from which he has never chosen to depart, make reprisals on lives and property. He refrains from doing so, voluntarily. But in that case, according to the rules for the peace, as set forth by President Wilson and sanctioned by the will of the peoples concerned, and by the terms of the armistice of November 11, 1918, it is most important that the work of reparation be complete and speedy. It can be so only as the result of measures which will serve to rebuild the economic structure of the martyred peoples. It was Germany’s hope, whatever might be the issue of the war, to destroy the power of production of those countries to which, as she declared, she had the good luck to carry the war. She reckoned upon her ability to resume her intensive economic life, as soon as the blockade should be raised. She had laid her plans for an economic victory, in blood, fire, and pillage.

It is necessary that the Allies exact reparation for the wrongs that have been done; if not, in spite of all their sacrifices of men and property, suffered during four years and a half in the common cause of all mankind, Belgium and France will have lost the war.

The peace cannot be just and remedial unless it provides for the work of economic reconstruction. We must present a plan of systematic restoration in opposition to the system of impoverishment conceived by German villainy.

And when, under the energetic pressure of the Allies, the work of reparation shall have been fully accomplished, the nation which unchained this terrible tragedy will have paid none too dear for the evils she has caused. For in the cemeteries of the cities of Louvain, of Lille, and Douai, there are graves of old men, women, and children whose only sin it was to be Belgian and French. Their hearts were full of affection for their dear ones; their eyes rejoiced in the light of the sun. The Germans have taken their lives, thus violating all laws, divine and human.

Only reprisals could satisfy the sacred longing for vengeance. The fact that Germany is being spared such reprisals is a favor to her. And if, in addition to this, Kaiser William’s Empire should escape the payment of the cost of restoration in Belgium and Northern France, it would be, not weakness merely, but downright injustice. In that case, the treaty of peace would place its sanction upon one of the most monstrous iniquities which has ever been inflicted on mankind.

To make Germany carry the whole burden of the restoration of Northern France is not demanding a war-indemnity ; it is not giving form to a thirst for revenge which would prevent mankind from progressing toward a better future; it would, on the contrary, be the performance, by those who desired the war, — for they looked forward to it as something novel and enjoyable and profitable, — of an act of just restitution which presents itself as the first penalty to be imposed by the tribunal of the peoples upon those who strove to annihilate by virtue of their might the defenders of the right and of the liberty of the nations.

The restoration of Northern France and Belgium, at Germany’s expense, should be the first result of the League of Nations.