The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED TFI EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1913. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 56, 11 July 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED TFI EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1913. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

The recent revelation of the German Government’s intentions with regard to Alsace and Lorraine lias caused much discussion and bitterness in France, and the hopes raised at the Berne Conference are not likely to bo sustained. When the, last mail left the news had been semi-officially confirmed in Germany that it is proposed to submit Alsace-Lorraine to a special law in regard to the right of association and the freedom of the press. Since 1908 Alsace-Lorraine lias enjoyed the same rights of association as the rest of the German Empire. it is now proposed that the Government should have, the power, in Alsacc-Loi raine alone, to. suppress arbitrarily by a simple decree any society “which endangers the safety and internal peace of the country and any society whose activities are not in accordance with the terms of

its statutes.” The Government is to bo tin l , solo judge as to whether any given society fulfils those conditions. The proposal, it is explained hr a Paris correspondent, means simply the suppression of all right of association. The .second proposal is to empower the Government to interdict in Alsace-Lorraine, also h\ a mere de-c-rep, the sale of any newspaper printed in a foreign language (including French) whether published in AlsaceLorraine itself nr elsewhere, it seems that in the reasons given for those proposals it is stated that the French Government has the power to suppress newspapers printed in a foreign language. The correspondent referred to says that while it is true that the French law in this regard is very illiberal, the circumstances are not quite the same when the “foreign language” particularly aimed at happens to ho the native language of a large number of the inhabitants of the j country concerned. T nder the present ( German law the Government has power to prohibit the sale of newspapers i 1

printed or published abroad; the pioposed amendment would give it the, power (in Alsace-Lorraine alone) to prohibit tlie sale of papers and pnhli-j cations printed and published in AI-.

sace-Lorraine itself in any language, other than Gorman. The power would j he used to intimidate the pres®, which would necessarily he deprived of all freedom of speech. The present law also gives the Government considerable powers in regard to the suppression of societies, and the Government has already dissolved several in the conquered provinces, and it i® stated that it is proposed to make these powers unlimited.