Before the war Germany marketed a large amount of its coal in France, three hundred thousand tons annually.
Bauxite or aluminum ore is mined in France, and 60 per cent. of the output of the world is French product. Algeria contains millions of acres of virgin forests, ready to be explored. The cork oak is one of the important trees. Large exports of iron ore are made to England. At the end of the war the French expect to market ore and coal from the fields of Lorraine.
In our travels through Marseilles, we did not observe anywhere play grounds or amusements of any kind for the workmen.
Marseilles has a number of convalescent hospitals. We saw in the streets on Sunday, soldiers wandering about, English, French, Russian, Tunisian, Algerian, Hindu-Chinese, Moroccan, Australian, Canadian, Corsican; natives of Madagascar and Negroes from South Africa—soldiers from eleven different nations.
There is a plan projected to connect Marseilles with a system of French canals, so as to afford direct water communication between the Mediterranean, the North Sea and thus to the English Channel. Marseilles antedates the Christian era by five hundred years. In 1782 a man-of-war mounting one hundred and eighteen guns, named "La Commerce de Marseilles" was built at the expense of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce and presented to Louis XVI for the fleet sent by the French Government to fight for American independence. Marseilles, later on, became prominent in the French Revolution and gave its name to the French national hymn.
The largest tunnel in the world is now well under course of construction in France, its object being to give the city of Marseilles connection with Paris and the interior in general by rail and water. This tunnel will provide an ample waterway for barges. The entire project involves the building of a new harbor and the cutting of a ship canal, actually tunneled through solid rock for five long miles, joining the old harbor and the Mediterranean to the River Rhone. The Rhone's upper stretches are placid and already are used extensively for barge navigation, but near Marseilles the stream is far too turbulent for commerce. A range of hills had prevented the construction of a canal in days gone by. Now, with France energized by the war, and with the necessity for the canal emphasized thereby, the tunnel is being pushed and the canal will soon be opened. It will connect Marseilles with the network of canals which extends throughout the country. There are longer tunnels in the world, but none so large, for this is seventy-two feet wide and nearly forty-seven feet high. The work was begun in 1911-12 and has been continued through the war. The project is being put through by the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce, which found $8,000,000 of the $18,280,000 required to do the work. The balance will be paid by vessel tolls. The canal runs from Arles to the Mediterranean, a distance of fifty-one miles, making a navigable waterway to the usable portion of the Rhone and the Saone, opening 337 miles of water capable of bearing 600-ton lighters. By this canal and links already available, barges can be sent from the Mediterranean to the English Channel.
On Monday, September the 25th, I called upon the Consul General A. Gaulin. I found him a very agreeable gentleman and quite devoted to his work, a great deal of which consisted in helping needy Americans stranded in France.
The Commission was invited to luncheon at the Hotel Reserve, overlooking the Mediterranean and the Chateau D'If. On my right sat the president of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce, Adrien Artaud, and on my left sat Lucien Estrine, former president of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce. At this elevated hotel, tradition has it, the Count of Monte Cristo and his bride had their wedding breakfast.
In the afternoon an open meeting was held by the Chamber of Commerce at the Regina Hotel. This meeting was attended by citizens of Marseilles interested in the import and export business. The question of credits was pretty thoroughly discussed. It was stated by a number of Frenchmen present that the coveting of the iron ore and coal deposits of France by the Germans was the real cause of the war.