without which it was impossible to leave Lille, decreed that they should be delivered on payment of one franc, and were valid for six weeks for daily journeys between Lille and the nearest village. Every inhabitant of the town who desired leave had to have one of these passes and also an identity card which the German police could demand at any moment. Failure to produce such a card involved a fine varying between 3 and 30 marks, or 2 or 3 days' imprisonment. Even inside the town itself, it was difficult to get about, because of a decree issued in March 1915 prohibiting motor-cycle and motor-car traffic. From the start, the town was forced to feed the troops of occupation, and von Gravenitz, in a decree (Nov. 23 1914), took pains to lay down the menu. Thus, an officer's lunch had to consist of soup, two meat and two vegetable dishes, cheese, dessert, and half a bottle of wine. Non-commissioned officers got no cheese, and beer instead of wine. The inhabitants upon whom troops were billeted had to bear the cost of lighting, heating and laundry. It is hardly necessary to add that the municipality found it almost impossible to see that these copious menus were provided; indeed, for a time the occupied districts were threatened with famine. In Feb. 1915 the meat ration was cut down to 150 grammes per head, and it was only through relief work of the Dutch Government and a Spanish-American committee that the civilian population obtained food.
On Jan. 19 1916, all Frenchmen in the town between the ages of 17 and 60 had to register themselves on a penalty of imprison- ment. The people were prohibited from standing at their win- dows and from travelling by tramway without special permit. On Nov. 4 1914, it was decided that Lille should pay an indefinite sum. Payments on account were to be made as follows: Nov. 10 1914, one million francs; Nov. 17, 2 millions; Nov. 24, 3 millions, and the indefinite remainder by Dec. i. The mayor and the bishop did their utmost to raise the money demanded by the enemy, and paid the first two millions. They were unable to obtain the third million, and von Heinrich agreed to accept a total payment of seven millions on Dec. i.
Damage and Reconstruction. The best way of showing the extent to which the ten invaded departments of France suffered from the war, and the effort made to repair the damage done, is to compare pre-war statistics with figures taken at the date of the Armistice and on Dec. 31 1920. The ten departments concerned, those of the Aisne, Ardennes, Marne, Meurthe-et- Moselle, Meuse, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Somme and Vosges, had, when war was declared, 6,523,260 inhabitants, or 16% of the total population of the country, paying 18% of the total tax- ation. They formed the richest portion of France: rich in re- sources, in artistic treasures and historical associations. Lille, Cambrai, Turcoing and Arras were, before invasion, daily in- creasing the value of their textile, metal, glass and alimentary industries, while the mines of those regions yielded 90% and 55% of the total output of iron and coal respectively. There were 11,500 works, producing at full working 83% of the pig iron, 94% of the woollens, 90% of the linens, 60% of the cot- tons and 70% of the sugar output of France. Altogether there were 25,763 industrial establishments, with a rental value of 108,200,000 fr. a third of the rental values of the whole country. The smaller metal trade alone employed 100,000 workmen. In the Meurthe-et-Moselle the iron industry em- ployed 38,000 people, and kept 76 furnaces going. Power stations produced 300,000 kilowatts of electrical energy, or nearly 50% of the total. Trade and agricultural communi- cations were insured by a splendid system of roads and railways, with many bridges and viaducts. It was the most flourish- ing and the best -equipped part of France.
When the Armistice was signed 1,400,000 people had been killed, 800,000 crippled, and 3,000,000 wounded. Municipal life had ceased in 3,256 of the 3,524 communes occupied by the enemy. Nearly 4,000,000 hectares of land had to be put in order again, of which 1,757,000 hectares were agricultural. There were 265,000,000 cub. metres of trenches to fill in; 300,- 000,000 sq. metres of barbed wire to pull up; nearly 300,000 houses to be rebuilt completely, and about the same number
to be repaired. Shell-fire had damaged 3,296 schools, 2,674 churches, 2,447 mairies, and 49 hospitals; 523,000 milch cows, 469,000 sheep and goats, and 367,000 horses, donkeys, and mules, had been carried away by the Germans. Two-thirds of the area and productivity of the coal-fields of the departments of the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais had been destroyed; 220 pits had to be reconstructed. The Lens-Lievin-Carvin-Meurchin and Drocourt (Pas-de-Calais) fields were completely destroyed, and the workings were flooded. The destruction done to the coal- mines was estimated at 880,000,000 francs. The majority of the power stations had either been systematically destroyed or emptied of their material, the resulting damage amounting to 210,000,000 francs. Of 200 gas works 150, serving 323 towns, had been damaged to the extent of 60,000,000 francs. In the iron trade, in the department of the Meurthe-et-Moselle alone 50 blast furnaces had been badly damaged or completely destroyed. Foundries and rolling-mills had been either stripped of their equipment or destroyed on the spot. As typical examples of German devastation there were the steel works of Denain- Anzin (Nord), of Homecourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle), and Mont- St. Martin. The first establishment, which had 8 blast furnaces, 3 Martin and i Thomas steel plants, and 20 rolling-mills, in 1914 produced 400,000 tons of pig iron, the same amount of steel, and 350,000 tons of finished goods. The Germans left of it nothing but a heap of ruins. At Homecourt only the skeleton of 7 blast furnaces remained; the Thomas plant was blown up by dynamite; the Martin plant was taken to pieces and removed to Germany; the rolling-mills and electric plant were smashed. At Mont-St. Martin, where the installation had cost 8,000,000 francs, the buildings were emptied of their contents and de- stroyed. The iron and steel trade suffered losses estimated at 2,300,000,000 francs. The minor metal trade losses amounted to 1,100,000,000 francs.
Terrific havoc was wrought in the textile industries by shell- fire, by pillage, and through destruction by the retreating enemy. In the region of Fourmies (Nord), where there was no serious fighting, of 74 works 6 only appeared to be workable, and those only after very great repairs. The other 68 had either been burned, demolished, or emptied of their equipment. At Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, the same systematic pillage had taken place. Ar- mentieres, which had 8,000 looms before the war, was nothing but a heap of ruins. At Sedan, the centre of the cloth trade, only 15 looms were in working order. Together with the cost of the buildings destroyed, the damage amounted to 950,000,000 francs.
The importance of the agricultural-alimentary industries of the devastated regions before the war can be measured by the fact that they absorbed one-third of the motive power used by the whole industry throughout the country. Of 214 sugar fac- tories in existence before the war, no less than 145 had suffered. The buildings of 90 of them had been destroyed, and the machin- ery of 130. Eleven refineries and 72 distilleries had been com- pletely demolished. The brewing industry suffered heavily. Of the 2,825 breweries in France in July 1914, over 1,800 were destroyed, pillaged, or emptied of their machinery. The total loss suffered by this industrial group was estimated at 600,000,- ooo francs. The glass, mirror and crystal and chemical indus- tries suffered losses amounting to 800,000,000 francs. There were many quarries in the devastated regions. Their losses amount to about 20,000,000 francs. The tanneries, of which there were 141, working 1,248,000 skins a year, suffered damage amounting to 25,000,000 francs. To this long list of ruins to be repaired must be added 52,000 km. of roads, 2,400 km. of railways, and 3,500 bridges and viaducts. Over 3,500 industrial establish- ments had been destroyed or badly damaged; 2,000,000 families had been ruined; 2,700,000 people had been driven from their homes. Never before had a country been called upon to repair such a mountain of ruin.
Undismayed by the magnitude of the task and the countless difficulties at the start, France immediately took in hand the work of reconstruction. The first great difficulty was the pro- vision of labour, with so many killed, so many still suffering from wounds and the shock of war. Material was also lacking in a
