exation of an open sore to your Empire,"
said Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria to the German Kaiser when
Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany by the Treaty of Frankfort at the
close of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. As we entered the world war
to fight for the downtrodden people of the world, determined that people
must have their rights and that the peril of military autocracy must be
crushed forever, the problem of Alsace-Lorraine became a great problem
to America. Every citizen of the United States should know something of
this little country that has been called "The Nightmare of Europe."

Germany made every possible effort to blind the eyes of the world in
regard to the facts about these provinces. She constantly declared there
was no Alsace-Lorraine problem. In 1881, the Kaiser, in speaking of
these provinces gave utterance to these words: "Germany would leave her
eighteen army corps and her forty-two million people on the field of
battle rather than surrender a single stone of the territory won in
1871." Because Mr. Daniel Blumenthal, who lived in Alsace all his life,
was mayor of one of the important cities there and a member of the
German Reichstag and the Alsace-Lorraine Senate for years, dared to tell
the world the truth about his country, he was condemned to death eight
times. He lived, however, and then they imposed upon him sentences of
penal servitude that aggregated more than five hundred years' time.
This man finally got out of Germany and the whole world then listened to
his story.

First, take a look at the provinces. They are located, as you know, at
the northeast corner of France. Together they are about as large as the
Yellowstone National Park, or the size of about six Iowa counties. The
soil is the most fertile to be found in Central Europe. The hills are
richly wooded with fir, oak and beech, as well as other varieties. Corn,
flax, tobacco, grapes and various fruits are grown. The great wealth,
however, is in the minerals. Iron, lead, copper, coal, rock salt and
even silver are there. Manufacturers of cotton and linen are plentiful.

In the old days this country was a part of ancient Gaul and the Romans
had it for five hundred years. When Rome broke up it became a part of
France, and so remained until about the middle of the tenth century, at
which time it came under the jurisdiction of Germany. Later on Alsace
became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. During these days it was made a
republi