Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-24
FRANCE'SLABOR TROUBLE
WHAT MAY BE DONE BY n.
CLEMENCEAU'S COMMISSION.

4 IARlS, teD. O.-M. Ctemenceau, leader
/ Of the Radicals, has obtained his commits
sion Of A members, a grand bran new
l committee Of the whole House. to in
/ quire into the condition of the industrial
| crisis. The government was defeated on
/ the motion, and very properly so, for the
commission, by calling for papers and
| persons, could collect mass ofuseful in
formation, and officially record the COM
! plants and the remedies of the parties in
terested. However, it is a notorious fact
that since 1913 all such commissions have
/ ended in sterilltv, because the committees
| considered themselves to be special Par
liaments sort of tmperium in imperio
for discussing all Utopias, all theories and
| all systems. -
| The commission just appointed could
! render real services, not only to France.
| but to other nations, If it simply gather
ed, classed and centralized all informa-
ton possible on industry, capital and
labor, at present so much out of joint;
! ii IT made in word the statistics of facts
and opinions. The economic problem is
! red3ubtable, owing to the radical trans
! formation effected in commerce and in
dustry by contemporary science, In
France the Industrial crisis is localized to
halfa dozen large cities, because the in
dustries are concentrated in these places,
hence the intention to open factories in
tue provinces. All the wideawake in
dustrielS are doing so. 1t has been said:
How small of all that human hearts endure,
| That part which laws or kings can cause or
cure"
The French Legislature can do small
part by voting laws regulating plans of
life assurances for workmen, ana annui-
ties for their old age, accidental in
surances, trades unions, hours of work
in mines, arbitration courts to cOmpro-
mise disputes between masters and men.
and thorough recasting of the system
OF taxation. The State cannot generalize
into law the innovation so highly aD-
proved of by numerous employers, that
of making the employed participants in
their profits. But as the State itself is a
great contractor, vast employer of
labor, directly or indirectly, it could ar
range to try the experiment, and insist
that it's contractors essay the plan. By
thus calling all hands to the work the an
tagOnism between capital and labor would
be minimiZed.
Discussing international rates of wages,
so as to bring about kind of metric scale
of salaries, is pure illusion. There are fac
tors and elements in the problem that
cannot be seized. The cheaper the labor,
A century before Adam Smith, Samuel
Butler laid down the principle of political
economy in the diStich:
''FOr what is worth in anything
But so much money as twill bring?"
The cost Of the necessaries of life is not
the sole regulator OF the rate of wages.
In France the average weekly earnings
of a workman is q francs, and that Of his
food 10 francs; in England the respective
fiWurpG arp and IL france. in Csarp,oy1,
% and IL francs; in the United States 90
and IA, and in Italy Is and 10.
MADEMOIsELLE AUCLERC PROPOSES A
REMEDY.
She appeals to the inhabitants to elect
women to govern France since the male
sex have signally failed to do so. And
note the mean revenge taken upon her.
The government baliff, a she critter," has
again sold off her penates, since she de-
clined to pay her taxes pending the ar
rival of ladies to power. AS usual, the
Women's Rights Club bought in the Pc
mates.
Nothing from TOnquin save that a news
paper has been established at Hue, and
that the more the Annamites know of the
French the more they are charmed with
them. Orientals have an acquired love
for Westerns. Bacninh remains still
the TubicOn between France and China.
Many think that Admiral Courbet ought
to have cracked that nut after SOntay.
Note has been taken OF the wisdom of the
Marquis Tseng, who avows that there is a
time for everything under the sun9a time
to keep silence and time to speak. Ec-
clesiastes can thus teach him Sagacity as
we'll as C0nfucius.
NJ. ROuher's sun set with the disappear
ance of the Second Empire in 1870; with
the death Of the Prince Imperial he with
dra " frpO a II militant Rnuonartfcp,
deed it is no secret that his health gave
way from the shock he experienced on
viewing the remains, as he had to certify
formally as to their identity OF the unfoT-
tunate Prince on their return from Zulu
land. The Vice Emperor, the Richelieu
of the Second Empire. was a selr-made
man: from being provincial notarv-law-
yer, he rose to the highest political posi-
tion under the Empire. He had
the proverbial tenacity of the
Auvergnat in his nature.
circumspect, slow but resolute. He com
menced life as a Republican, but in IS49
broke with that party by his celebrated
apOstrOphe: ''Your revolution of Febru-
airy, 1913, is only "a catastrophe" He was
Minister OF Justice under President Louis
Napoleon in 1919; he was not openly
identified with the coup IL etdt, but he ac-
cepCed its success. He was too cOnserva-
tive and too jurist to approve of the spoil
alton of the 0rleanist Princes, and his
name will ever be associated with the
treaty of commerce with England, that ne
and Lord" Golden negotiated.
But on the other hand he said-for he
was the representative spokesman Of the
Second Empire-that the Mexican expedi-
tiOn was the most glorious thought of
NapOleOn's reign; that the Italians would
"never' have Rome, and that, on the dec
laration of war against Prussia, France
was ready" thanks to the Emperor's care.
NJ. Rouher's idea Of conducting the stage
coach was: confide the reins TO autocratic
hands, keep the breaks we'll on, and omit
nothing to secure the material welfare of
the travellers. He did not believe in play
ing with liberties.
NJ. ROUHER HAD A MARVELLOUS FAC
ULTY
for clearing up what was confused, and
mastering the details of a subject with
rapidity. He personally talked over the
project Of the commercial treaty with
manufacturers, importers and shippers Of
high and low degree. He knew the profits
and losses of their trades to a centime.
He so amazed poor herring ship broker
by his knowledge that on parting the Wis
itOr cOnfidentiaDy begged NJ. ROuher to
remember that if ever he "lOst his place
to write to him, as they could do business
together"
NJ. hDunEE VAS not STRICTLY q man OF
cultivated intellect; his eloquence was
unadOrneds he was said to be ''DemOsthe-
ness before the pebbles" He had happy
knack Of clnchng adYersaries; he ever
commenced replying to their weak argu-
ments and then demanded what was the use
Of continuing. Ab uRO disco 0nlnes. He
was never a tiresOme orator and he could
hit Off a situation with a phrase. He was
an incessant worker; he rose at five in
the morning, labOred till eight in the
evening, and went to bed at ten. He cared
but little for society, and his only amuse-
ment was quiet rubber with schcOI-
boy friends. He was a good looking,
rather than handsome man; he dressed
well, but negiigentlv. Physically he had
what Plutarch eXacted for a states
man. an sample chest. and
good TANKS" He possessed the courage
to say ''nO" when he meant no. When
the Prussians invaded France, NJ. Rou-
hers chateau at Cercay. which was a gift
from Napoleon III, fell into their bands,
and, what they most priced above all, the
secret and confidential archives of the
Second Empire. n. ROuher was 50 years
Of age, and succumb5d to sOftening of the
brain. A clergyman that NJ. ROuher once
aided insisted on being allowed to repay a
little of tAp debt of praeiffIdp For n