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"They demand, in place of the decisions of certain municipal councils which are in flagrant opposition to the will of the parents, to be allowed to make known what is the will of the people in the questions which concern the Church and the schools.
"They declare that they are firmly resolved to use all the means which are in their power to obtain the immediate realization of their claims, and are resolved to defend with an inflexible energy their rights, their liberties and their traditions."
Those who have gazed at the tall spire of the Strasbourg Cathedral, shrouded in Gothic mystery, remember that this is the place where Goethe received his education. They will remember that the Provinces were, until the time of Louis XIV, a part of the Holy Roman Empire, that from 1871 until 1918 they were part of the old German Empire. Gazing around the streets, these people will find German signs faintly obliterated by French; they will become conscious every now and then that German is being spoken by the passerby. The opponents of M. Herriot ask: "How can a country so impregnated with German customs be assimilated to France in the twinkling of an eye?"
Premier Herriot was forced to see the point. He announced last week that any project designed to modify the present status of Alsace and Lorraine would be submitted to Parliament before being put into effect. This statement was taken to indicate that the Government had abandoned its plan to alter immediately the laws of the Provinces in favor of a progressive assimilation to La Mere Patrie. M. Herriot's proposed trip to the Provinces gives additional corroboration.