340 
Indiana University 
January 11, 1923, French troops occupied the Ruhr. The 
last and best of Germany’s sources of coal was now in the 
hands of France. From the Ruhr came the coke for smelting 
the iron ore of Lorraine. These great iron and coal fields are 
connected by the valleys of the Rhine and its tributaries. On 
these raw materials is based one of the three great 
iron and steel industries of the world. “The indus- 
try”, says Professor C. L. Leith, of the University of Wis- 
consin, “is to be regarded as a single great unit, regardless of 
national boundaries.”^ For almost one-half a century this 
great economic unit was under the political control of Ger- 
many; it was a divided political control from the close of the 
Great War to 1923 ; since then it has been under the political 
control of France. 
Germany has no other field left to develop in place of the 
Ruhr. Her steel industry, her great chemical works, and 
her wonderful electrical plants are all at the mercy of France. 
This Gallic power now controls both the sources and the seats 
of German production and can wreck her rival for European 
supremacy at any minute. The economic ascendency in con- 
tinental Europe which Germany enjoyed in 1914 is now 
potentially in the hands of France. 
The consolidation of this strategic position entails a gi- 
gantic task on the victors. No eye can see the time when 
opposition on the part of the vanquished will cease. It is not 
likely that Great Britain will welcome with open arms this 
new competitor when she has already bled herself white to 
knock out the German rival. To do so would require marked 
readjustments in trade and commerce. It is more likely that 
Britain will “dig in” at this time in order to maintain her 
present marked advantage, and by the erection of formidable 
economic arrangements frustrate future competition from 
France. On the other hand, prospect for a speedy adjustment 
of the question of reparation is not good, and therefore France 
is likely to remain in possession of the Ruhr for some time. 
For this reason she will be able to organize this continental 
iron and coal unit with deliberation. And it may be that she 
will be so used to the new relations that she will never be will- 
ing to turn over the district to Germany. 
Should France evacuate the Ruhr, then the coal and iron unit 
C. L. Leith, “The World Iron and Steel Situation in its Bearing on the French 
Occupation of the Ruhr”, Foreign Affairs, I, No. 4 (June, 1923), 
