Vol. XX

No. 11

Cicero, Ind.

Some Comparisons.

In area, France is not so large as the state of Texas. The population of France is ten times that of Texas. The area of France in 1914 was 207,000 square miles; the area of Germany, 208,000 square miles; of Austria-Hungary, 261,000 square miles; and of Texas, 265,000 square miles. When the boundaries of these European countries are readjusted according to the terms of the peace treaties, France will have an area of 213,000 square miles; Germany, approximately square miles; and Austria-Hungary about 50,000 square miles.

170,000

Although France has an area only one-fifteenth as great as that of Conti

nental United States, her population. in 1914 was nearly 40,000,000, while that of the United States was estimated to be 100,000,000. Both the British Isles and Italy are smaller than France. The British Isles have a population of 45,000,000; Italy a population of 32,000,000. These three leading countries among the Allies have a combined area less than one-sixth that of the United States and a population about one and one-sixteenth times that of the United States. The total wealth of the United States exceeds the combined wealth of these three great countries of Europe.

In comparing our efforts in the Great War with those of France, it is well to

remember that sacrifices on our part, in finances and man-power, must be at least two and one-half times as great as those of France in order to equal those of France in proportion to wealth and population. Thus, if France spent twenty-five billion dollars in the prosecution of the war, an equal expenditure on our part would exceed sixtytwo billions. France lost in men, "killed in action and died of wounds," 1,300,000; a proportionate loss on the part of the United States would have included all the men in the American Expeditionary Forces and nearly all those in military camps of the United States at the date of the armistice. During the period of the war France had nine million men under arms, or nearly one-fourth of her total population. A proportionate number on the part of the United States would be twenty-three million. This number is equal to all men in the United States between the ages of 18 and 45 years, as revealed by the official registration during the war.

The part of France in the war was more trying to her people than the situation of any other of the larger nations on either side. Within her borders land areas were sacrificed not only for the care and training of her own soldiers, but also for millions of British and American soldiers; for millions of German soldiers and for the devastating processes of modern warfare. It was the villages and cities of France more largely than those of any other country that were destroyed and deserted. At the close of the war the fighting forces of Germany, Britain and America returned to countries where the land was untouched by the desolation wrought by the movements and the contests of great armies. France and Belgium on the western front were

left to restore, as best they could, ruined villages, cities and farms. The Rivers and Mountains of France.

The natural features of France are important not only in physical geography, but also in political geography, for the eighty-seven "departments" of France are named for rivers, mountains and coast features. The method of naming the political units relates the natural and the political divisions of the country in a manner which aids in the study of the geography of France.

At the city of Lyons there is a large monument consisting of a chariot drawn by four horses. These horses represent the four important rivers of France-Seine, Loire, Garonne, Rhone. The map of France shows that much the larger portion of France is drainedby these four rivers and their tributarics. The Seine is the most northern of these four rivers. The northern tributaries of the Seine were in the battle zone of the Great War and for this reason their names became we known. The Marne joins the Seine just east of Paris. Along its course were fought the first battle of the Marne in 1914 and the second battle of the Marne in 1918. The Qise River joins the Seine a short distance west of Paris and the Aisne is a tributary of the Oise. Important battles were fought along these streams. It is important to note that the Seine River, the principal tributary of the Rhone, forms a direct line with the lower Rhone, while the upper Rhone flows westward from Switzerland and forms a sharp bend at Lyons where the Seine joins the Rhone.

In northern France the Somme River flows westward into the English Channel; the Meuse flows northward across Belgium and Holland to join the Rhine

near its mouth; and the Moselle flows northeastward from France into Germany to join the Rhine at Coblenz. These rivers and the principal cities along their courses should be found on the map and carefully studied in order to locate important events of the war.

The western and northwestern portions of France are plains, broken in some places by rugged highlands, as in Britanny and Normandy. These plains include more than half of France. The large area of highlands west of the Rhone-Seine River is known as the Central Highland. The eastern edge of this area is called the Cevennes Mountains. Between France and Spain the Pyrennes Mountains, one of the highest ranges of Europe.

Eastern France is mountainous throughout. In the Southeast are the French Alps, extending castward to the Alps of Italy and Switzerland. The summit of Mt. Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, is in France but its base extends outward into three countries-France, Italy and Switzerland. North of the French Alps, between France and Switzerland, are the Jura Mountains. A narrow pass separates the Juras from the Vosges Mountains, which, in 1914, formed the boundary between France and part of Germany. The rugged Vosges and the highlands between the Vosges and Luxemburg were such barriers to the rapid movement of armies that Germany decided to attack France through Belgium rather than to move across the mountainous German boundary directly into France.

The Argonne Ridge, covered with the heavy growth of the Argonne forest, is a small highland area extending north-south between the Aisne and the Aire rivers. On this ridge and in the region between the ridge and the

Meuse river was fought the severest engagement of the war in which the American troops took an important. part. The battle is known as the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It took place from September 25 to November 11, 1918. More American soldiers were killed in this engagement of six and a half weeks than were lost in all other battles of the war.

The Departments of France. We are apt to think that in writing a letter to a friend in France we need. only give the name of the city followed by the name France, thus: St. Aignan, France. This is equivalent to addressing a letter to Springfield, U. S. A. Just as we include in the address the name of one of the forty-eight states, so the French include the name of one of the eighty-seven departments, thus: Springfield, Illinois, corresponds to St. Aignan, Loir-et-Cher.

The departments are the main divisions of France, just as the states are the main divisions of the United States. That is, France is governed much more largely by the Central Government at Paris than the United States is by the federal government at Washington.

The departments of France are all named from some natural feature in or along the department. Rivers, mountains and coast features supply most of the names. The following selected names show how the physical geography of the country gives meaning to the main political divisions of France. Nord (North) is the most northern department.

Pas-de-Calais (the French name for the Strait of Dover) is the department bordered by the Pas-de-Calais or Strait of Dover.

Somme is the department through which the Somme River flows.

Seine is the department in which Paris is located. But the Seine is such a long and important river that its name is used in combination with other names to designate several departments.

Seine Inferieure is the department on the lower Seine, at the mouth of the Seine.

Seine-et-Marne is the department crossed by both the Seine and the Marne rivers. "Et" in French means "and". The Marne is of sufficient importance to give its name to more than one department.

Marne is the department along the middle course of the Marne River.

Haute Marne (High Marne) is the department including the source of the Marne river. The entire length of the Marne is included in the three departments named above.

We are too apt to think that the Alps Mountains belong to Switzerland. They extend beyond Switzerland into France, Italy, Austria and Germany. The names of three departments in France indicate the importance of the French Alps.

Alpes Maritimes (Alps along the coast) is the department in southeastern France along the Mediterranean

coast.

Basses Alpes (Lower Alps) is the department containing the foothills of the Alps in southeastern France.

Hautes Alpes (High Alps) is the department among the higher Alps.

Hautes Savoie is the department in which the summit of Mt. Blanc is located.

A study of the eighty-seven depart ments and the natural features of France from large political and physi

Villages and Cities.

About one-half of the population of France lives by farming, but almost the entire population lives in cities and villages. The farmers live in villages and go out into the country to cultivate their land. Many farmers travel five or six miles to their farms and some go as far as ten miles or more. It seemed strange to an American, accustomed to seeing a house, barn and other buildings on every farm, to travel by automobile for hundreds of miles in France and Germany without seeing a single farm house or farm building of any kind out in the open country.

In the farm villages the buildings were placed near the street and close against each other. Each family occupied a frontage of about sixty feet. The buildings included, as a rule, a house, a stable and a shed, all opening on the street. The buildings of one family adjoined closely those of the next and so on from street to street. Thus, as one walked along the street. he passed in order the doors leading into the house, the stable, the shed, repeated time after time. The village church, the village school and the village inn formed centers of community life.

In the larger towns, residential and business houses predominated over the farm houses and in the large cities the entire population is engaged in business and industrial pursuits. The great walls around many cities and the wall-like appearance of the streets in cities and villages give the impression that the people of France in city and country alike have built their homes and their business houses for defense.

against an attacking foe. The history of France tells of a long line of successive wars, great and small, and their towns scem to show an effort at preparedness.

In any geography the important cities of France are mentioned in the text and shown on the maps. The great seaports most used by the American Expeditionary Forces were: Havre on the Seine, Brest at the western tip of the peninsula of Britanny, St. Nazaire on the Loire, Bordeaux on the Baronne, and Marseilles on the Mediterranean Sea. Brest was the most important, and the only one used during the last few months of demobilization.

American soldiers were found in all

parts of France. Many thousands were congregated in some of the large cities, especially in the base ports. where much labor was required in the handling of supplies. Hundreds were found in small villages, living in the homes of the French people or in barracks built by the American government. As demobilization proceeded, village after village and city after city was vacated by the Americans. A traveller might pass through a region in which the Americans were more in evidence than the French, and on passing over the same route a month later find that the Americans had gone and the French were once more in full possession of the country.

Exercises.

1. Make a list of all places named in this article and find them on the map.

2. Trace the rivers named from source to mouth and note the cities along each.

3. Make a list of all cities named in the text of your geography and find them on the map.

4. On a map showing departments, find how many departments contain the name Loire.

5. Use the scale of miles and compute the length of the longest line that can be drawn in France. Compare with the length of the longest line in Texas; with the longest line in the United States.

6. Is Paris farther north or south than your home? How many degrees? How many miles?

7. Is Marseilles farther north or south than your home? How much?

8. From the map make a list of ten coast features of France.

9. Draw an east-west line through the southern tip of Germany and across France. Where does this line pass in France?

10. Draw an east-west line through the northern tip of France and across Germany. Where does this line pass in Germany?

The recreation work of the Indiana Parent-Teacher Association is under a grade Athletic Association, composed of the teachers, principals of the schools, the officers of the loca! Par

ent-Teacher Associations, chairman of the township Parent-Teacher Association and chairman of the county council of Parent-Teacher Associations. In each township, each local school