PRAISES FRENCH CONDUCT IN OCCUPIEDS TERRITORY

"Wherever I went in the French occupied regions of Germany, I was impressed with the conduct of the French troops," said Mr.A.G. Alley '01 to a CRIMSON reporter last night. Mr. Alley, who has recently made a trip through Germany studying the conditions of the country, is to speak at the Union tomorrow evening on "The Fight for the Rhine, Ruhr, and Sahr" at a meeting held under the auspices of the Harvard Branch of the League of Nations Non-Partisan League, Mr. Alley, who is a member of the Boston branch of the Non-Partisan League, is planning to give lectures throughout New England this winter on subjects connected with the League of Nations.

French Troops Tactful

"Of course it is impossible for any one man to make general observations," Mr. Alley continued, "but in nearly every case, I found the French troops to be surprisingly tactful in their relations with the inhabitants of the occupied territory. This is by no means easy, when one considers the attitude which the Germans have adopted toward the French soldiers.

"The Germans ignore the French, they pretend that the Frenchmen are not there. On several occasions I have seen a German walk down the streets of Cologne, with his head in the air, scornfully oblivious of a group of poilus standing in his way. Collision was inevitable, and in every case, I saw the poilus draw aside with a grin to let the German pass by.

"But however tactful the French troops may be, they cannot administer without intense suffering, the French policy which compels the inhabitants to work and exiles them if they do not.

"Granting the necessity of a military occupation, however, I don't see how that policy could be administered with any less hardship than the French are now doing it.

"If there is to be any solution of the present complications in the occupied districts, it must follow a change in this policy of the French. Germany is terribly disorganized and it cannot recover without some external assistance such as was given to Austria.

"Last summer, after my return to Germany, I travelled on to Vienna. Judging from the conditions there, the Viennese had an even harder time but they, in their misfortune, had attracted the attention of mankind. Foreign relief societies and foreign bankers had combined to assimilate the rehabilitation of Austria. The Austrians were working for their eventual prosperity, and working hard, because they felt that they were getting somewhere. It seemed to them that they had rounded the corner and that conditions from then on would become slowly better, until, in their children's time, the country would have returned to peace and prosperity.

"With the Germans it is different. They also feel that they have turned the corner, --but in the opposite direction. In their present impossible attention with the French dominating them at every turn.