ALSATIANS WIN FIGHT FOR RELIGION IN STATE SCHOOLS French Government Decree Rescinded

From Our Own Correspondent PARIS.
An event that passed almost unnoticed has just brought to an end an incident which had opposed the Alsatian Catholics to the Front Populaire government.
It is known that the Alsace and Lorraine Departments are, from the religious point of view, under the Concordat regulations.
Furthermore, and contrary to general practice in the rest of France, religious education in these departments is given in the government schools.
The Legislative Act of August, 11, 1936, having prolonged by one year the duration of compulsory school attendance in the whole of France, the government decided that attendance would be prolonged by still one more year in Alsace-Lorraine in view of the extra work which religious instruction imposed on the children.
The object of this measure was to induce the Alsatians and Lorrainers to give up religious training in order to avoid the burden of prolonged school attendance.
A presidential decree of October 10, 1936, therefore, laid down that the Alsatian and Lorraine children should attend school until the age of fifteen.
This measure caused tremendous dissatisfaction among the Alsatian Catholics and Mgr. Ruch, Bishop of Strasbourg, led a vigorous opposition. A decision of the Conseil d'Etat (State Council), on December 3, 1937, has
straightened out the whole situation, it declares that the Decree of August 11, 1936, is illegal. Following this decision. the government has presented for the signature of the President of the Republic two decrees re-establishing the former duration of school attendance in Alsace and Lorraine.
Thus ended an attempt to establish government lay schools, in Alsace and Lorraine, such as they exist in the rest of France.