AFTER-WAR FEVER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 3

AFTER-WAR FEVER

THE MALAISE OF PEACE LABOUR. LASSITUDE - (By'Pierre Mille, in the London "Observer.") A eood many, years ago—it was in 1902—1 happened to be in St. Petersburg, aiul, having sent a registered letter to Paris, I perceived, by the unusual time the* answer took to roach me, that it must hixvo been opened and read by tue "Cabinet noif" -"Docs your Government open registered letters also?" I ft Russian friend of mine,, fit that time a personage of considerable 'importance. , "It opens these first/ ho replied ingenuously. "But how did you know. I Ravo' him my reasons for auspecting the fact. He made a eign of disgust. "There you are/' lie said resignedly. "The poiieeman is like your stomach. ■You only uoticu it is theris when it is out of order." T •• I have never forgotten the mot. in matters political and social, it expresses a profound truth. Wo very rarely notice when all goes well-with the social order, for that appears ..only natural. It is when things go wrong that we are conscious of them. , "France has just signed a glorious peace. ■Whatever criticisms iray lie levelled at the TrOntr which has ended the war, it is verv certain that it dispels all menace on the part of Germany at present, and perhaps for a long time. England an« the United States guarantee to France the benefits of the common victory. Tho enthusiasm with winch President Poincare and Foch were, greeted during their triumphal tour of Belgium proves the existence of ft factor which m tho future will have to be taken into account by-diplomacy: that is, that trance is no longer to be considered by foreign countries as a nation of thirty-nine million inhabitants, but as one of fortynix million. High Prices We may hazard the opinion that, at the moment, it i* the most conservative country fa' Europe, thanks to the large majority of small agricultural land-own-ers which it contains. _ ; Twenty-seven million people gain a living by tilling the soil—and nearly every family owns a small holding!—as against thieo million (counting women ana children) workmen engaged in manufactures. Jsov.' the workmen of the groat manufacturing centres are the only people with Socialistic aspirations. It is admitted by the leaders of the Socialist Party that in all probability the Socialist Deputies will form a much less important group in tho new Chamber'than they did,before, the ivar. In conversations I have had with them, these leaders predict that the number of Socialist Deputies will be diminished by at least half-at the moment they are about a hundred strong—at the general election. The workmen of the most important industries are turning from Parliamentary Socialism _ towards trade unionism;' But as engineers, clerks—in fact, -'the; middle classes—arc developing a tendency to form trade unions also, this trade. unionism will perhaps have doctrines differing widely from Marxian Socialism. But, nevertheless, the country is uneasy; it i 9 suffering—its only feeli.ng is that "something is wrong." The phenomenon is undeniable. , Tt has the same causes that exist 111 all the European States; the increased cost of living, (he high prices of all the articles of food and clothing, from which results the immediate raising of the /onts of town houses. It mav be said .(hat, taken on the whole, prices have at least trebled since tho war. And the French pay more than the English, because it is precisely their northern and eastern industrial regions which have been destroyed by the Germans (who kneiv well what they were doing, and intended to profit by this destruction), and because our merchant servico lias ceased to exist. Even agricull ire in Franco is Buffering from this Our paysans,' who-'linve - realised- immonse-profits these' last -Tiiay be said that they have b«?n the real war "profiteers —are beginning to complain. The soil is exhausted, and needs manuring. Algeria is 'now one of the greatest phos-phate-producers in the world —its mines would suffice for tho requirements of the whole world for 2000 years-but boats are lacking to carry the phosphates to the French puysan. Further, the weather this year has been detestable,-and the harvest will,.be a .poor one. Even the' flocks aiid herds have suffered. France has used up nearly all its sheep, and, for the same reason that prevents the importation of (phosphates, it is impossible to replenish the flocks with Algerian sheep. Labour. What has happened throughout the wholo of Europe lias equally happened to us. There have been strikes in every branch of industry, and even in the Government services: ironworkers, ■Post Oiike servants—ercn the teachers nearly lollowed their example!—and tho workers 011 the Paris Metropolitan. It is only fair to add that these'su-ikes are on ' tho decrease. "Suppose," said the leaders of an iniportan-, trade union the other day,' "we go out 011 strike and get another increase of salary, We should see at once the cost of living increasing iu proportion, and we-should have gained nothing." It is well, known that the Confederation Generate du irnvail .(the C.G.T.) was forced-to abandon the general strike announced for July 21. the greater part of the b'.g trade unions had shown clearly their./reluctance to take part in this It will have a political character, tliey said, "and we do not' wish to intervene except for economic advantages. M Jouhaux, one of the most influential leaders of the C.G.T., summed up the situation by declaring that the stoppage of work would bring about a state or famine, and consequently wouid jnP ire the social revolution,'which he still desires. but for which, he confesses, tlio working classes are not yet ripe. Thus the danger does not lie so much in the stoppage of work as 111 its slowing down. War seems to have brought about a state of universal nervous fatigue. The soldiers who come back from the front have 110 longer the habit of working as they did before the war. They find it quite natural to take a liolidov'before settling down to work, ami when they do settle down it is with a certain lack of energy. Tho lesult is as follows: with the same number of - orkmen the production is unmistakably interior to that of before, the war. It must be admitted that the lassitude and carelessness are to be seen only i, tho town worker. In the country, on the contrary, the demobilised soldier who comes back to his fields is ordinarily an eager worker. That 1$ because he is, as a rule, the owner of the land he works, and even when lie only rents it the rent has not changed, whilst profits have at least trebled. So the lure of money encourages him. All these causes of the slowing down of public activity are common alike to the Continent and to England. But there is another one, peculiar to France. That is the discontent of our neions of the north and east, which await in vain the redress of their grievances, the reparation that will allow them to begin work again. It manifests itself in .1 sort of weariness, a general disgusi. that apoears even in tho banal and mediocre manner i# which .the S edited, in the worllil?wiiPss of IhcatiKWl productions, in the.work of our young writers, w',lo are far more rendv to publish articles of criticism tlinn books of imagination—the very opposite of whal used to l'o.