Part 6 (1/2)

It is the purpose of the French Heroes' Fund to make this Chateau in France a complement to Mount Vernon. In it are to be kept records of Colonial days, as well as those of the present war. There is to be a room dedicated to the British; one to the Legion; another to the American Ambulance and still another to aviation. It is also to be made a home for orphans and for soldiers who have been disabled.

After a collation, we visited the reception room, which contains a number of old-time engravings, facsimiles of the Declaration of Independence, a bronze bust of Lafayette, a marble bust of Lafayette and a bronze bust of Franklin. Overhanging the bed in which Lafayette was born is a fine portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Although Lafayette died in Paris, the bed in which he died was brought to the Chateau, and we were shown this also.

Among other things in the reception room was a large placard with the heading ”North American United States Const.i.tution Explained”. There was also a billiard table which looked as if it had seen much service.

I have alluded to this visit to the birthplace of Lafayette in a little address which I made at Besancon, and which will appear later.

Some photographs of the Commission were taken before leaving. Quite a large sum was raised among the Commissioners and given to the mayor to be distributed among the poor of the village.

Our next objective was LePuy, where we arrived at 4:30 P.M. and had breakfast, so-called, although the detour to the birthplace of Lafayette made us about ten hours late. We were met by the prefect, the mayor and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. We visited a church built on the top of a rock, the ascent to which was by three hundred perpendicular steps, two feet wide. It was said that these steps were built in this way as an opportunity for penance, it being a very hard operation to climb to the top. Some of our people made the ascent, myself among the number. When we reached the top we were rewarded by a magnificent view of the surrounding country. At the highest point is a statue of the Virgin Mary, made of Russian cannon, recast after capture by Napoleon.

While at LePuy we were shown the only spot where the immortal Caesar was defeated; otherwise his reign was triumphant.

Leaving LePuy we arrived at St. Etienne at midnight, after a most perilous ride. A banquet had been planned at St. Etienne, but had been postponed. On the following day we visited the establishment of the Giron Brothers, ribbon manufacturers. This establishment dates back to the very early part of the Nineteenth century, and at present has two thousand employees, nearly all women. Its trade is largely with the United States. On account of the labor situation the factory is working only half time. The men are at war, the women in the munition plants and factories. Wage earners make four, and not to exceed five, francs per day and consider themselves well paid.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Monastery of St. Michael at Le Puy.]

We also visited the silk manufacturing plant of P. Staron, Jr. We saw here the most beautiful silks and brocades. Among other fine things were ribbons in the Fleur de Lis design, the national flower of France. On account of the war the employees at work were few.

Here we met Mr. Wm. H. Hunt, American consul and the last appointee of President McKinley before his untimely death.

At St. Etienne I went into a barbershop to get a shave, sat down in the chair, and a youth not over twelve years of age started to lather me. I supposed, of course, that he was getting me ready for the barber, who would soon appear; instead of that he proceeded with the work himself.

He spoke a little English, telling me his father was in the army and he was running the business. He gave me one of the best shaves I received in France.

My next experience with the youth of France was with a boy chauffeur.

Our military automobiles had disappeared for the time being and I engaged a taxicab.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Silk Tapestry Menu Used at Dinner to the Commission at St. Etienne.]

The boy who ran this was not over eleven or twelve years of age, but he did the work well.

On the evening of September 19th, we were given a banquet by the Chamber of Commerce at St. Etienne. It was a very successful affair. I met here Theodore Laurent, a prominent steel manufacturer whom I had met at Brussels in 1911, when the American Iron and Steel Inst.i.tute made its famous visit to England and the continent. At this banquet we met also the prefect and other notables.

VI.

A GREAT MUNITIONS PLANT

Wednesday, September 20th, we left St. Etienne for St. Charmond to visit the plant at which Mr. Laurent is director general. His company owns several plants, this being the most important and one of the oldest manufactories of cannons and munitions in France. We met here Colonel Rimialho, who is the inventor of the seventy-five-millimeter gun and has general charge of the artillery and munitions manufactured in France.

The plant at the present time makes only cannon and munitions. There are no blast furnaces at the works. They use the Siemens-Martin process and melt about seventy-five to eighty per cent. sc.r.a.p. They also use a quant.i.ty of vanadium steel imported from America and furnished by the American Vanadium Company. We were told that France produces five hundred thousand sh.e.l.ls or projectiles daily. This plant turns out twenty-eight thousand of this number, besides one hundred and twenty thousand fuses, or detonators. Before the war the works produced one hundred and twenty thousand annually; they now make this number daily.

They have sixteen thousand employees, five thousand of whom are women.

We saw here a number of Amazonian Junos doing men's work while wearing leather ap.r.o.ns, and were informed that they were fully as efficient as men and are paid the same wages.

We saw at these works a number of the now famous ”caterpillars”, an armored car moving on a broad track which it lays down as it goes. This machine was invented by an American, and I have seen it at work on the Pacific coast.

After an examination of the works, we were taken to the suburbs of the town and a special test of the big guns was made for our benefit, the firing going to the hill. We were instructed to put cotton in our ears and keep our mouths open, and faithfully observed this injunction. The seventy-five millimeter fired twelve shots in thirty-six seconds, by my watch. The target was brought to us afterwards and we were shown that the projectiles went straight through without a side dent. We were also treated to the firing of some of the very large guns, and by the time this was over I was ready to visit an ear doctor, if there had been one convenient.

When this interesting exhibition was ended we were entertained for the first time in a real French home. Mr. Laurent took us to his home and gave us a luncheon. We met Mrs. Laurent and two daughters, but the four sons had joined the colors. Two of them had already lost their lives in battle.

We met at this luncheon Sir Thomas Barclay, of London, who has taken an active part in the humanitarian work of England, with headquarters in Paris.