REHABILITATING RHEIMS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 32, 2 November 1920, Page 7

REHABILITATING RHEIMS

PATHETIC Jil'fOliTS MADIv. Before tlio devastating Hermans came there were 14,WW houses in Kheims. Of tl!«se over i'ooo were either burned or deslropedjiindofilfto reinuiiuler llicreuio uiny aoout u score that escaped damage. 'j'llo .Municipal Council has lost hope. The State has"" not been iible to coma to its* assistance, ilnd though ■ the cil.y has a eut-and-dried plan lor its renaissance, to carry it out will cost 250,000,000 francs; and.even if, as has been suggested, though us yet not officially, the Stalo givuits a subsidy of 58 per cent., tiie idea of the city, which is nothing more than a. heap of ruins, finding 125,000,000 francs is out of the question. So, according to Mr. John Bell m tlifc "Daily it comes to this— liheinis, which suffered four years of frightful martyrdom, has had to tako the step of making its plight known to the world In tho hope that (ho nations, AUiod and noutrnl, which admiral its courage aud fortitude while the Germans were trying to blot it out of existence, will translate sympathy into practical help. In its desiro fo livo again Rlicitus lias been constrained to appeal to the world for the chance. Jt is pathetic to nolo the efforts made to obtain some semblance of industrial activity in the city. I saw a foundry at. work, also a. weaving mill employing 350 hands. But it may bo years beioro the .Touiithan Holden mill, which worked night and day before the Germans came, is set going again. It has no roof, thero are big gaps in its side walls, its machinery _is rusting, and poppies are growing in its desolate yard. 'The- champagne firms are again at work, but forty per eont. of the vineyards are unproductive, and with a "dry" America and heavy English taxes on chamwgno, who can say that as much wine will be required as before the war? / Tho roofless town hall, where _M. Roc-ho, the Mayor, entertained us, is a shell of a place for winds to whistle (lirough. .And the cathodral, with its headless statues, torn roof and scarred front and sides, has acquired tho character of a symbol, joining its mute appeal to that of ths Mayor of Bheims for practical sympathy.