The Washington herald., 1909-03-18
STRIKE
In FRANCE SERIOUS
Millions of Letters and Tele-
grams Remain UnSent.
GOVERNMENT IS EMBARRASSED
Official communications Held ID
and Only Three Out of Eighteen
kan Crisis Reach Paris-Premier
CIemencesu 90 Wage Fight to End.

London. March 1.-THE following has
been teIephoned 20 London by your col
respondent at Paris. all telegraphie COM
munication with England having ceased
and cable messages refused al the Paris
Office. presumably because the operators
at Brest and Havre have joined the
strikers
The situation e increasingly serious.
The strike IS spreading throughout
France and is threatening q complete
paralysis Of the telegraph and postal serv-
ices. every branch Of which is already
involved 20 greater or lesser extent.
The post-ofice electricians and the
clerical stan are the latest sdherents of
the strike movement. Il has been impOs-
sibIe 20 send a telegram out Of Paris TO-
day. Not one message has been dis
patched, except from strikers 10 col
leagues in the provinces. 1t is almost
equally useless 10 Try 10 reach any
part Of the country by mail, as there
Is no certainty whatever that any letter
will be dispatched or, If dispatched. that
it viii be delivered
VI. simyan Is Hated.
While N. Simyan. under secretary OF
posts and telegraphs. embodies for all
the employees the sum Of their grlev-
ances. he is the object Of violent hatred
on the part Of the women employees. who
accuse him Of disrespectfUl criticisms Of
thelr capacity. They are consequently
not only whole hearted striking them
selves. but are influencing TO the utmost
degree possible their male colleagues TO
Join them. a number Of employees at
tended at their respective Offices but
only 10 emphasize their ''crosseS arms
tactics. Those who were not appeased
were promptly dismissed and about l,el5
were thus cashiered-
To-day several OF the principal district
Offices IN Paris were closed for hours.
and the public received sCant attention
al the Offices remaining open II is es-
tima.ed that 10000 kilograms. and 1890
letters are accumulated here awaiting de-
livery. Piles Of mall bags lie on the
platforms OF some OF the railway sta
tions. the mail men refusing to handle
them.
The government brought some eighty
telegraph operators from the country to
CAV to MI vacancies in the capital OF
these forty refused TO work The re-
mainder worked for less than an hour
and then quit.
Official Dispatches Held I'D.
One Of the greatest troubles Of the gov
ernment arises from the so-caIled Official
telegraph operators joining the strike.
/ These operators are the men employed
at the palace Of the Eiysee and the gov
ernment Offices on cipher and other sfs-
cial dispatches. The government has re-
ceived during the past two days only
three Of eighteen important communica-
tions dealing with the Balkan crisis. and
| II feels rs embarrassment keenly in deal
I ing with the international situation
I Nevertheless. the administration takes
the frmest attitude. and absolutely re-
7 fuses to meet the demands Of the ual-
contents. This attitude was defined IN
/ the most direct terms by Premier CIem-
/ enceau tonight, when he and NJ Bar
theau. minister OF public works. received
! a number OF Paris deputies. who urged
/ the government to arranEe--for the an
] pointment OF a superior commission 20
/ investigate all the grievances OF the en-
tire postal and telegraph services NJ.
/ Clemenceau replied with emphasis that
| the government would not make a con-
| cessiOn OF any SORT or consider any griev-
ance until the strikers returned to work.
/ He added: They wish 10 fight Well.
we accept the challenge. and the last
word is going 10 be with the govern
ment-"