FRENCH WOMEN AND ECONOMY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1917, Page 7

FRENCH WOMEN AND ECONOMY.

•the new call forretrenchment. ' Paris, December 1. The old of economy is rapidly giving place to a new, for the decree has g> ne forth that private economy and public economy must be reconciled if <t national sncccss is to be achieved Women, necessarily, play a groat part i p - economy, and the discussions on it just now arc animated. Everyone clearly sees ths weak points of present arangomcnts, and yet it seems difficult to make any change,' and the more oni listens to popular ideas of economy the mere one realises how very human and imjerfect they are. It is a tradition that the Frenchwoman is economical, but the war has proved economy to be a very relative thing, and unless, in these days, we are economical in the broadest and most national way, our economy is of no account To refrain from spending is nt>t orcwgli. To put by for a rainy day ji<sl; now is like keeping an umbrella in its ease when the storm is beating down Women are learning that money is sent for the use of the community, and not for the narrow needs and pleasures of each individual. The economy which hoards, even though it be for tlio problematic benefit of those hereafter, is being proved a failure. The idea tliat it is wiser and more economical to havo few children, bring them tip in comfort, and leave them a forturte. ratliei than risk a large family and have the pain of seeing both sons 'and daughters struggle to earn their daily bread, is slowly but surely and sadly being brought home to thousands of ipen and vcmen, who have lost their only sons in the war, as fcne of the worst mistakes of modern times'.

The economy of -to-day and to-mor-rc.w must therefore be very different ( from that. of yesterday. ' From the highest to the lowest in the land there is but one economy to preach, the ccon-on-v which benefits the nation. In all the details of the individual life the bread lines of the race will havelto be umembe'red, and woman's economy will He with her consolation with her children. From this point will the economies of the krenclnvoman of the future be forced to start. She has proved to her desolation that to economise golti .■it the expense tf the population is very false economy indeed, and to-day, as she looka over the iist of economies that are expected from her by the Governmrt, she cannot but count them small if. only she can, on her side, claim such measures from the rulers of the country which : shall ensure her having reasonable means- of housing, feeding, and educating her children so as to bring them up healthily and happilly. She demands house room at reasonable vent, iTadulaterated food at reasonable rates, and an education that does not destroy the physical fibre' by its intensity. H NATIONAL DEMANDS/ ' The Government is asking women to economise on everything, from the most ol vious luxury to the most unquestionable necessity. She is told that the country needs her, mentally, physically, r:orally, but she is left a little in.the o:irk as to how she is to Use her forces The law can enforce certain abnegations; it has closed the shops where she eopgragates too frequently, with motives of extravagance, an hour carliet than usual, so as to economise electricity. It is talking about ordering one meatless day a week and of forbidding the confectioners to make cakes. It 's considering whether restaurant bills wl en over a certain amount shall not pay a tax, and in that class of bill would come the afternoon-tea bill. As afteriioon-tea rooms are essentially the resorts of woman, woman would again be called upon to economise. She is a!,'o exhoiiecl to dress less extravagantJv, and her appearance at the theatrj hnd the Opera in luxurious clothes is as strongly condemned as her use of her r.;otor-car for pleasure or for the benefit of her dogs. The working-class woman is being called on to economise in much the sanie th!ngs as her ulster of leisure—her butcher, her confectioner, and (instead of her motor-ear) her cinema. The middleclass woman of small means is supposed, to yield to the temptations of the bargains in the big 1 shops. She wastes both time ami money in looking for what she does not want, and the amount of health and temper she squanders in the process is not set at its proper va'iue.

Home of the most economical women in I re nee are those who are working night aid (lay to keep the industries aliv* When trade 1 was at a standstill, as it was for the first few ijiontlis of the war the question of unemployed women was one of the most serious in the towns. To-day the women who cannot vvork in munition factories are employed in civil industries largely run by women. If in I lie cry against luxuries these industries are again immobilised, unemployment will recur, because the munition works will not want most of the women who will be thrown out. Tn the face of all the indiscriminate censure of luxury which is going on just now, these women persistently maintain the necessity of keeping alive, all sides of life anl declare that the greatest evil that could happen to the connivv would be "that it should lose its vitality, which feeds to some extent on uifisii" distractions. Instead of trying uflcrly to destroy luxury, many women think it would be better to merely clip her wings with a firm but not unkindly hand and to organise all round but not t) impose laws which suggest Geuuan despotism.