The following is the estimate of Dr. H. A. Gibbons on the situation in Alsace-Lorraine immediately before the outbreak of the European War:
"One could easily fill many pages with illustrations of senseless persecutions, most of them of the pettiest character, but some more serious in nature, which Alsace and Lorraine have had to endure since the granting of the constitution. Newspapers, illustrated journals, clubs, and organizations of all kinds have been annoyed constantly by police interference. Their editors, artists, and managers have been brought frequently into court. Zislin and Hansi, celebrated caricaturists, have found themselves provoked to bolder and bolder defiances by successive condemnations and have endured imprisonment as well as fines. Hansi was sentenced to a year's imprisonment by the High Court of Leipsic only a month before the present war broke out and chose exile rather than a Prussian fortress.
"The greatest effort during the past few years has been made in the schools to influence the minds of the growing generation against the '_souvenir de France_,' and to impress upon the Alsacians what good fortune had come to them to be born German citizens.
"Among the boys, the influence of this teaching has been such that over twenty-two thousand fled from home during the period of 1900-13 to enlist in the Foreign Legion of the French Army. The campaign of the German newspapers in Alsace-Lorraine and, in fact, throughout Germany was redoubled in 1911. Parents were warned of the horrible treatment accorded to the poor boys who were misguided enough to throw away their citizenship and go to be killed in Africa under the French flag. The result of this campaign was that the Foreign Legion received a larger number of Alsacians in 1912 than had enlisted during a single year since 1871!
"Among the girls, the German educational system flattered itself that it could completely change the sentiments of a child, especially in the boarding-schools. Last year the Empress of Germany visited a girls' school near Metz which is one of the best German schools in the _Reichsland_. As she was leaving she told the children that she wanted to give them something. What did they want? The answer was not sweets or cake but that they might be taught a _little_ French!