Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-28
Other Lands than Ours.

reason for such discomfort. The num-
Der of births last year was S26.n2. as
compared with S45.37S the year before,
and an average of 851, 044 for the pre-
ceding ten years. The number or
deaths was less. so that the excess or
births oyer deaths was 13. LOG. ~That
was small natural increase In the
population of France. but 1t was
Sufficient France has a large popu-
lation for it's size. and while the births
are pronortionately much less than in
Great Britain or Germany. they are as
many as the circumstances OF the ma
ton Justify. The French are not a
migratory people in the same sense as
are the British or Germans hence
as large birth rate prOportlonately
in France as in Germany or Great
Britain would soon Overcrowd the
country and result in want ana misery.
There is less distress among the
French people than among those or
any other European nation, despite the
enormous taxation imposed on them.
If the French government ceases to
look for an opportunity to revenge it.
self on Germany, and reduces it's out
Law for way purposes, the French peO-
ple would soon be, III an economical
sense far in advance of those of any
other Eurorean country. The failure
to increase rapidly i'm population is
something which France does not need
to worry over.
The traces of the old feudalism in
japan survive conspicuously in the
laws that make labor uniOnism and
strikes criminal. BY the police regu-
lations of 1900 the Japanese authorities
are empowered to punish workingmen
who go on strike or who speak or agi-
tate for wages and hours of labor"
There is, in fact, complete legal pro-
hibition of the right of combination
among wage-earners. SO long as such
laws remain in force the capitalists
and manufacturers of Japan are sure
Of very cheap labor supply, and this
fact will undoubtedly aid them enor-
mously in competing with western
industrialism for the various open
markets in the Orient. Yet there is
likely to be, in time, an awakening
among the Japanese working class.
The economic standard of living among
them will rise as the increase of wealth
goes on. Then. too, the Japanese can
not assimilate western civilization to
any great extent without imbibing also
our labor union ideas. The right to
combine and strike must be conceded
some day. Meantime, it is singular
that socialstic propaganda has be-
gun there even before the right of la
Dor to agitate or combine for higher
wa peS haS beer, recognized.
There are important matters before
the French congress to which the gov
eminent is addressing itself with earn
est resolution. One is the income tax.
concerning which two proposals are
now under consideration. either of
which would make revolutionary
changes in the fiscal sysetm. Another
is the refreshing proposal to reduce
the period of military service to two
years. A third is the government bill
for establishing a wOrkingmens pen
sion fund. Of course there are also
the agreements with Great Britain over
the NEWFOUNDLAND shore and the par
tition of Africa. and with Spain over
the dispostion Of Morocco. which must
be brought up for approval. To all
these measures the government stands
pledged, and it means to put them
through during the present session, or
at least in the new session which be-
gins in January next. To that END
the deputies will probably be kept at
work in both afternoon and evening.
and speeches "for Buncombe" will be
discouraged. 1t is an inspiring specta-
Gle to see France thus settling down to,
business in serene disregard of the
winds Of war and the waters OF in
trigue which are raging about her.
There is no nation of continental
Europe that can so well afford an at
titude of self contained and self-reliant
independence as can France. and that
she is at this time assuming such an
attitude is an omen of her future good.
Reports continue 10 come from a.!
sides Of the terrible and growing dis
tress in southern Russia. The munich
pal authorities in the large towns are
voting relief funds. but in amounts
which are ridiculously inadequate TO
the necessities Of the case. Thus at
<rementchug a resolution to pay one
dollar week to the more destitute re-
servists' families of the district was
thrown out in the municipal chamber.
and an amendment carried to pay fifty
cents. Many Of the reservists' families
consist OF five, six or even more chill
dren, so the value Of this aid may be
imagined. The military authorities
deny all responsibility for the misery
caused by the mobilization. In view
OF the large number Of men killed and
incapacitatcd at the front, they have
been asked to what extent the various
municipal corporations and charitable
organizations may depend upon gov
ernment assistance later on. They
have replied that soldiers or reservists.
when dead or incapacitated. no longer
officially exist" and that their wives,
families. or other dependents cannot be
assisted out of military funds. The
state of affairs in the villages and out
lying hamlets is even worse. The
representative of n German agricul-
tural machinery business who lately
returned to Odessa after visiting vari-
GUS agricultural areas in the south of
Prussia declares that the outlook for
the winter is the worst he remembers
Tor fifteen years. many of them years