The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-11-03
BY FRED b. PITNEY.


Editors Note: Tho French people are
that they prize their independents and
resent efforts OF the government to die
tate methods Of eatin; and living. They
gees without Thought Of their own fu-
dire shortage which official figures
have a Wonderful opportunity IN help
ing to restore the agriculture Of
F';Snce by furnishing i've stock both
now and after the var.
The French government is very
burs a:'ratic, blu: the French people
do not like to be overgoverned. They
ors to them Of med$lling in a mans
private affairs. For this reason it has
been extremely difficult to get a
workable income tax law in France.
The people Immediately rose against
the proposal to give the government
the right to examine their books and
find out if they told the truth about
their incomes, or find out what their
incomes were, if they failed to make
return. So scheme was figured
out for taxing a man on seven times
his rent, if he made no income tax
return, or one the government
thought too low.
Saying how much or what a man
shall eat Is, also, getting pretty close
to private affairs, and therefore, the
French government, knowing init
mately the people it has to deal with,
is slow in coming to such measures
even in face Of the only too evident
food shortage in the country. There
have been efforts at. price fixing, but
they have not worked satisfactorily.
one reason being that they have not
been national but local. Paris, for
example, has tried fixing the price Of
butter. but it has been found that the
result has been to drive butter away
from Paris to localities where it
could be sold for what the market
would pay.
National Price Fixing To Be Tried.
A scheme of national price fixing
is to be tried now with beans and po-
tatoes. Both of these crops are far
below the requirements Of the coun-
try. I have seen many days when
potatoes could not be bought in Paris,
and 1t was a common thing last win
ter to have to run half over the city
to find a market where green vege-
tables could be bought. The national
price fixing schepe for beans and po-
tatoes will divide/the country into dis
tricts and fix the price for each dis
trict with penalty for sending
either commodity out Of the district
without permission.
So far, meat has withstood all ef-
forts to control its consumption
there has been no attempt to con-
troll its price-and yet it is vitality
necessary either to control the con-
sumption Of meat in France or to in
crease the supply Otherwise, the
end of the war will see the country
so reduced in It's herds that it will
take many years to bring them back
| again to the point where France will
| be once more self-sustaining.
Supply Must Be Increased.
OF course, the thing to do is to in
crease the supply. When a country
has had it's bread, stuffs cut down to
the extent to which France has suf-
|
on meat. One might think they would
fall back on vegetables, but the same
reasons that have deprived them OF
grains have deprived them of vege-
tables. There have not been the
hands to cultivate the ground. They
could no more raise vegetables than
wheat. And they have fallen back on
beef. mutton and pork. The herds
existed and they have been eaten up.
The people had to have something to
eat.
To what extent the herds have dis
appeared is shown by the cutting
down Of the meat ration Of the SOL
diers at the front At the beginning
Of the war they were allowed one
pound of meat day. Twenty per
cent has now been cut from that al
lowance. And will point out again