Oldal 2 [2]
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And this interpenetration is not only of recent vintage, though
quite obviously at present the top economic positions in the Saar
are in French hands, since the French are running the mines, It
is but to dine in Saarbrticken's Weinrestaurant Malepartus, to
realize the French penetration : the great majority of the diners
are French industrialists and mining engineers, who either live
on the Saar ar have vast interests there,
The same extraordinary impression is carried by the
very lively cultural life on the Saare The French under the im=
pulse of their very dynamic representative, Mo sieur Grandval,
have done a creditable job at promoting the cultural life, They
ereatecd a university, which today is a gathering place of the
Austria, Switzerland, Germany etc. It is in the truest sense
intermational. It gives the finest lecture courses. And still
starts It has to few studentse It is somewhat boycotted by the
tial : a proper life, The same thing is true of other things 3%
and still its programmes do not ring truee The press on the Saar
well financeée And stili the population will rather read the
poorer neighbouring German papers, whose standard nevér even
approaches the one of the Saar presse It is true that aii the
papers on the Sauer reflect, the views of those who accept the
official version as tio the future af the area, Hence it is inte=
resting to note that on the-book stands the Gexman products have
ail the favours $ vendors complain, that the French publications
usually remain unsold* :
In the economic life, the Saar is absorbed fully by
France‘ The currency is the French France Only French goods are
sold in great abundance’ All the French products have their repre
sentations on the Saar; by the seme token most of the goods on
the Saar are sold in France’ This absorption, being logical on
out without suffering, in fact in creating a lot of new wealth,
The Saar today is much more prosperous than it was when with Ger¬
many, Wages are good, especially in the mines and milis, and the
prices lower than in France, In comparison to Germany prices on
certain goods, especially on wines and liquors, tobacco, elec=¬
tric appliances , which makes for extremely important smuggling
operations, adding greatly to the prosperity of the merchants.
There is naturally no smuggling to France, since there is no
economic borderé between both countriese But on the other hand
there is massive smuggling to Germany. Thus, for instance, this
16.