THE FUTURE OF FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3198, 24 September 1917, Page 7

THE FUTURE OF FRANCE

A NEW COLONIAL POLICY DEBT TO HER COLONIAL , TROOPS I'i-om the beginning of (he war members of the French Government have made it a rule not to grant interviews to journalists. But since, at a time when all the Allied Forqes. are concentrated towards the same end .of .weakening .for a long time a dangerous enemy, the colonies will take a more and niore important place, I have thought (says llr. Archibald Marshall, Paris correspondent. of the "Daily News") it would lie of interest to know, the views on (his point of the man best fitted to speak Of it. _ I liave Keep granted, a long.; conversation wfth M. Magindt, French Colonial Minister, whose qualifications for his post are universally recognised, ami although, Jfor reasons which will be understood, I cannot present it in all its details, I have been authorised to give what follows on the subject of tlie assistance given to Trance by her colonies during the war. Tlie War Eas revealed to Franco Ihe importance and utility of her colonies, aud they will be after the war one of"the surest and m'oßt efficiiofous means of her revival. Her colonies, which only yesterday seemed to many of the/peoplo of France to be of little advantage to her, and even a superfluous luxury, have brought to their Motlier Country since the beginning of tho war a support that has become more powerful and more necessary from day to day. Tho terrible crisis .which for so long felt Franco to face'her redoubtablo toes on tho Western front almost alone impelled hor to make appeal to all her resources, and overy IVenchfiian can pnt at its 'proper value tho .aid which sho has drawn ( from her Outlying, possessions, which are' an immense reservoir of men and' of. natural riches. It is these men, who have, come from all parts—from Tonkin, Tunisia, -Madagascar, Algeria, Morocco, and elsowliere—animated by the same desire to aid the Mother Country ia tho danger that menaced her, fighting fraternally under tho same flag, without distinction of religion Or colour —it is these' mejt who gave England tho opportunity to arm herself in the most formidablo fashion, andi Amorica to decide into which scale) sno should throw her sword, - ' Enemy\ Propaganda Fails. Everyone now knows in France what is 'owing to our colonial troops, and their' presence in our .Army, more than any other form of propaganda, has made the colonial idea, hitherto so neglected, popular. Since tho beginning of. the • war the British colonies have beeil self-supporting, ree'eiving from tho Mother Country only what was indispensable and could not be obtained on the ,spot or from neighbouring colonies.. In epite of this, their life has remaifted normal,, and even with the difficulties created by unlimited submarine warfare nothing has been lacking to. them. Not one of the French colonies has suffered invasion from the enemy, and no serious disorder has taken place. You have there one of the most striking proofs of the failuro of enemy propaganda before the war. In spite of their persistent efforts, upon which the enemy, counted to the extent of considering the results to havo been already acquired, all the French colonies, just as India did; have remained faithful to the mother country. . Far from their demanding from France military forces to defend or pacify them, it has been possible to withdraw from them nearly all home troops, and thoso which remained have fought successfully with the Eng. lish and Belgians for the conquest or neigbouring German.colonies. . Besides furnishing France -with men, her colonies ,havo. rendered her inestimable service in the.matter of food. Their ■contributions might have been even more, considerable, might indeed nave been three or four times as much, if they had. been organised and suitably valued from the beginning.. Tbe French Government is now working at this question, with . energy,,. and ■ already notable Tesults have been achieved. . The French Storehouse-. France, in consequence of her complete mobilisation, deprived of nearly all her agricultural labour, and lacking necessary raw materials for her industries, has only been able to subsist and to hold out thanks to. her importations. Through the enormous purchases which she has had to make outside she has impoverished herself and incurred debts. The greater part of . all the importations wnich she has been obliged to obtain from abroad at the price of gold might nave been furnished to her by -jolonbs. The French Government nhderstands ihe importance of utilising the immense fields of production',with which ner colonies provide her, for nearly all that is lr.ck.ing in the soil of. the mother country, rich as it( is, exists there. The most energetic measures are being taken to increase the economic contributions of the colonies. In a congress vnder the presidency of the Minister the French Government has assembled the men best qualified in colonial interests to study the possibilities of production of each colony, and to find the proper means of gaining the best and most immediate profit from them. However important may oe the immediate results, they will bo jmall compared with those of to-morrow. If she continues to carrv out the colonial policy which she has already inaugurated, France will find in her colonies all that at present makes her dependent on other nations. Thanks to her colonial possessions, fifteen times as great as ner European territory, peopled by nearly fifty millions, she will be able, no longer asking for anything. outside, to reconstitute her wealth of before tho war, and worthily maintain her place among tho great nations. All the'future Of Tranco lies in her colonies.