Norwich bulletin., 1914-12-25
FRANCE coNTRAsTEo
 WITH UNITED STATES.
Conditions Which Prevail In the Tw,
 Great Republics.
(speciaI to The Bulletin.)

q I
 Washington, D. C., Dec. 24.-France the wealLny, enI4gntened, contensed
 gardenland, where want was almost
 unknown and waste was rare; the, strong, thrifty, art-loying France of just before the war. as described with intimate detail and contrasted win
 the United States, it's great slster re-
 public, by Major General A. W Greedy,
 United States Army, forms the sub
 Ject of statement prepared by the
 National Geographic Society. It says:
 Paris can no longer be looked upoIs
 as France. The repository and guar
 dian of art treasures which Tn extent,
 variety, and beauty are elsewhere un- surpassed; enriched with historic ma terial of priceless value; adorned by artistic monuments and noDle s<Tue- lures; beautified by broad streets and perfect parks; the center of culture Tor the nation; the fashion dictator for the world; the seat of government and
 so of power; scarcely surpassed else where. as financial cehter-Paris is
 at once the envy and admiration of
 France, as indeed of the world. Still, 1t is not France.
 The real France is country of in duStry, of scientific application, of aforesight and comfort and of rich
 resources. Genera; prosperity Is best
 banks), which. numbering 2,400, re- cefve only limited sums from it's clientele wage earners, petty trades men, etc. The deposttors annually trl- crease, in 1911 being 2i.1 of the popula.- tton. Despite the rising standard of
 living. the accr1nuIationG In these small
 banks had reached s774.406, 900, aver aging S19.65 to each man, woman and child in France.
 "A recent essay by Dr. F. s. Will
 Hams treats of the savings of the four leading commercial countries. He says: France has the lowest wage scale and the highest percentage of savings bank depositors, s4.6. Amer
 lea has by far the highest wage-scale
 and by tar the lowest savings -bank depositors, 9.9.'
 Vastly beneficial are cooperative operations in agriculture. commerce, trade, insurance and other lines of public utility Rural credit, road sys- tems, and workmen's houses are fac tors of prosperity and prducers of com fort. We were wont to pity the down. trodden iaborer of Europe in contrast with the free, individual workman at home;- yet the French workman enjoys advantages of no mean order over the AmeT1can as regards unemployment employees insurance, compensation for | injuries, old-age pensions, and last but not least, frugal living through low
 rents, CO., operation, and vastly superior
 market facilities
 The United States initiated this | ? St-A SlS COltGCILCu movement to
 solve the serious problem of urern-
 ployment. by bringing the jobless man I to the manless job France has for
 years had a Central Employment Bu- reau. which now numbers 126 welt diEtriDuted exchanges. Small dndi- vldual workshops. fast disappearing wlfh us. increase steadily. thou vi1 slowly, in France thus indicating the progress of peronal prosperftv-the best guarantee of the stability of The elimination of religious fn- struction from the national schools has | been pursued to a successful end II though bitterly contested. or the 5.629,a0e nupils in 1908. only 2 per cent were taught in authorizad religious
 establishments. Primary instruction :s obligatory between the ages of and IS- The announced aims of the pub-
 ijc school system are to cultivate na-
 frictism, to iHstiiI morality, to teach tolerance. to make French languag 20
 uniform to develnpe accurate observa- ffDn and to enlarge snhe~es nf f1, 44~e~t Of the 90 technical lechools, no less than