19133 Hopes of the Reichsland 



We are Americans, not partisans or journalists; we are study- 

 ing conditions for our own information and satisfaction, and 

 because I was born in New York and my friend in Paris, "I 

 leave the word to him" (/^ lui laisse la parole). 



Being met in frank and friendly ways by all types Growing 

 of people, we soon found that the feeling against '■"'«''»^«' 

 German rule was steadily growing, largely because of 

 the consistently arrogant treatment received from 

 Prussia, a government which knew no forrii of disci- 

 pline save that meted out by superiors to inferiors. 

 The anomalous condition of "Reichsland" (imperial 

 territory) and the continued status of "Deutsche 

 zweiter Classe" (second-class Germans) seemed in- 

 tolerable to the freeborn Alsatians. A romantic 

 sentiment for France, which had always respected 

 their freedom, generally existed, but practically no 

 hope of returning to French allegiance. Above all, 

 nearly every one desired to avoid war, as an appeal 

 to arms would ruin the twin provinces by making 

 them once more a battleground. 



The one immediate aspiration was for autonomy, Demand 

 which would place Alsace-Lorraine {Elsass-Lothrin- {°;/'""' 

 gen) in the rank of other German states; personal 

 freedom like that enjoyed in England, France, and 

 Switzerland seemed beyond reach because Germany 

 would certainly not accord to conquered people a 

 freedom her own citizens had lost. The current feeling 

 of educated men at that time was well summed up by 

 one of them : 



We would not be a fortress and a battlefield, but rather a 

 bridge between two great nations. No war; a Franco-German 

 understanding and autonomy for Alsace-Lorraine. 



Beginning at Metz, where we first interviewed the Maz 



I 503 3 



