IN THE WAKE OF THE HUN VANDALS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3175, 28 August 1917, Page 5

IN THE WAKE OF THE HUN VANDALS

RESTORING WAR-STRICKEN LANDS' ADOPTED VILLAGES AND CITIES American, French, and British civil, iaas are working in oloaest co-operation with the French military and civil authorities in restoring the territory devastated by the Germans when they hmv I riedly quit the lines they had held for ; two years from Noyon to the Sbmme. ' The American Associated Prose corresi pondent, after visiting Noyon, the adopt- , • «d daughter of Washington, went i through the entire district and observed 1 what was being done. Others have fol- • lowed the eiample of the Federal capital, and have devoted their onergies to ■ the succour of particular localities. For [ instance, the American Fund for French • Woundod has- stepped aside from its 1 original idea and taken full charge of 1 the hamlet of Behericourt, with its 125 ' remaining inhabitants, all of whom were in the greatest distress. American women have seen to it that all th'ese poor ' people are provided with their most necessary requirements in the way,of food L and clothing. ■ ■ ' The Counters de Chabrannes La Pal- . lice has taken to herself tho hamlet of Slaueourt, of which only heaps of bricks ' and etonee remain, and will rebuild it. > Dr. Baron Henri de Rothsohild has open- ' ed a food and clothing depot at Noyon, [ to which he eends everythiof* necessary [ to keep life going to any applicant in L any part of the afflicted district. All [ this, however, is but a drop in the ocean when it is realised, that there are , 243 villages and hamlets spread over [ the French zono alone of the country . wiiich the Germans, before their Tetieat, tried to make into a desert. One hundred of these small communities are now just heaps of stones and bricks, without ono habitable room or cellar among them, while of tho remainder onethird were partly demolished, and the rest only slightly. : . Thousands Without Food and Shelter. In this legion 35,000 old men. and women and children under fifteen years I were left without shelter or food by the i Germans. 'Some 12,000 of these wsre ! evacuated immediately to the interior of ■ France, where a proportion of thorn' ■ joined their relatives. The military tmi thoritiee have grappled in a masterly ; way with the vast problem which ooni fronts them of providing ;ior a large , destitute community immediately behind . the lines where a shield c-f J'>«nch flesh and steol was holding back '.he Germans from, a possible return. They eet to work to organiso the country and Its people. The first step was to pronrte food, and this was done through the military commissariat, as, there was no means of civilian transport of supplies from other parts of France. Then came the question of putting in . cultivation again, the 250,000 acres of i agricultural land comprised in the Frenph zone. ,It was late in {he season, but a practicable scheme was at once for. mulated and put into effect. Officers of high rank Were placed in charge. Tie devastated country was divided into seven sections, and composed of twentj , - five communes, and oach in charge of an officer with skilled aides. Horses were lent by the Army, broken ploughs and harrows were repaired by motor mechftn. ice of the Army, seeda of all kinds were : procured, and work on (he land was be- • gun. For thie manual labour was noees- " sary, and this was found among thenway ■ peasants and small farmers in the ranks. Thirty American tractors were found lying idle in a depot not far from tne stricken district, and these were traas- " ported to the places where they could be most useful and put to work. The labour was dangerous, owing to the pie- ) senco of unexploded shells under ths 6orface of tne fields,, but only ono incident has occurred from this cause. [ Four Thousand Acres Planted. 5 Iu this way about 4000 acres -bjsve been ploughed" and sown with grain and grass, and another 2500 acres ploughed and cleared of weeds, while, with the help of American, English, and l'ronch donors, every family has been provided with seeds and roots to form a truck garden, with 'the result that sufficient " produce is expeotod to make tho com- : inuuity self-supporting. The Germans " had also cultivated a considerable tract of land and sown it with rye, which they tried to destroy before their hurried departure, but with only partial sucoeefi, [ for at least 2500 acres will produce crops this season. In the meantime houses aro being repaired where possible awl temporary shacks erected where no habitation exists. Schools have been ope»«i, military doctors attend tho sick, a postal - service has begun, and so far as posalWe life is being made endurable for tho thousands who suffered eo much during tho German occupation, and-virtually lost everyulThg they possessed when the ln« vaders departed.