RUHR, OCCUPATION OF THE

The entry of French troops into the rich industrial district of Pru ia in January, 1923, following Germany’s default in the fuel deliveries to France required from her by the Treaty of Versailles. France’s action was one of the sequels of the World War and furnished a climax to the deadlock reached at the close of 1922 in the long-drawn negotiations between the allies and Germany on district lies north of Cologne and is bordered on the west by the Rhine, one of whose tributaries, the Ruhr river, penetrates it and gives the region its name. Most of Germany’s coal came from the Rhine and Upper Silesia, but the best of it for metallurgical purposes lay in the Ruhr basin of the Rhine, which the French seized. It is, or was, the heart of Germany’s industrial organism, with great steel mills, blast furnaces, zinc works, coke ovens, chemical Plants and textiie industries, and under and about these establishments reposed the richest and most convenient coal deposit in Europe. her resources and industries in the Ruhr that the Germans before the war became | the fronmasters pe ried id a Pont ie Se third of France’s coal aig mines. fuel and as France could not supply her own needs, Germany was penalized to supply her with about 2,000,000 tons of coal a month as reparation. In the | jatter part of 1922 Germany presented i on ee beh Poranitt in her coal deliveries | ¢o France, who took prompt cognizance of of Deputies the situation. on. The French Chamber December 16 gave the preiierd of Hrance, Belgium, Italy and | Vote), AU AB recorded Het deliveries Germany OF uot in wilful or os. deper | hon. bien at Cologne the next day and proceeded to enter the Ruur, occupying E en on January 10. The Chamber of Deputies again supported the government by an overwhelming vote and Germany recalled her amba ador from Paris. France disavowed all thought of military operations or any occupation of a political character, She held the Ruhr as a security to coerce