The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-05-01

0ffn4u IAftpffr&. lu4t wa koS1.
truesypc boche reasoning.
However said tho mayor. hun.
dreds OF these houses can be occu.
pied II No only had window glass.
OF course. all the windows were
shattered. As soon az tho windows
are made whole the people can
begin to como back"
The bureaucrats listened with In
sesess. HUT France has no window
glass. II was very sad. they ad.
mifred. but there IL the fact. There
IL no window glass and no glass
factories III to operate. The very
small residue OF glass; on hand r.
sold at an exorhitant price. That
pssce may BE- justified by conditions.
hut u makes the rrxIassing at Yer,
dun practically impossible. A savior
appeared In the distance. An Amer.
lean glass company made . propc.
sition.
Offer Frvn Americans
~Grant US = license 20 import
eiass.- said the ccmpany's spokes.
man. and wc will load . ship with
the glass you need. We viii lay II
down on French docks at the actual
cost of glass and freight. because
10 want 10 help France
The mayor was delighted. but the
bureaucrats were Mortified. They
would not give the license 20 import
glass. The course Of exchange IL
running against France. they said
n France bought many goods from
America. the franc would become
much too cheap. This unfortunate
tendency can only be corrected by
not purchasing from America and
By selling to America That IL
theoretically true, Of course. and
yet
As soon as I can open my fac
tory again. cnn employ 5000 peo-
pie." said a manufacturer near Lille
to the bureaucrats the other day.
But before I can open my factory
I must have new machines. The
Germans took all of mine. Give mo
license to import the machines
from America"
Frpnchmsn Refused Ileense
you can't have It," said the bu-
reaucrass. THAT would tend TO
cheaper the franc"
Then my 5000 work people get
no work." asked the manufacturer.
They starve, then, II the state does
not feed them?"
1T Is most unfortunate" said the
bureaucrats. But you cannot have
the license"
So the 5000 work people are idle
and the town OF verdun IL still
empty because of bureaucratism.
one might multiply examples. Lum'
Der Is badly needed for reconstruc
sion purposes. but a plan to Inn
port lumber at cost from scandi'
navia was turned down the other
day. The bureaucrats said that
French lumber must be used be-
cause Of the deteriorating franc.
But there In not enough French
lumber. What will you ask the
bureaucrats? II IL very said. is II
not7
Cost Of Living Formidable
I0e Quietly akntifrt tftE iith t't,
of living became formidable not
long ago. OF all the major belliger-
ent countries. France comes nearest
10 feeding herself In normal times.
But the standard ration here costs
almost twice as much as In Eng.
land and considerably more even
than In the United States. There
fore England and the United States
coilaborated TO Hooverize France
out Of her high cost hole. CoincL
dcntally. one OF the Paris news.
papers discovered that on the docks
at MarseiIles there were noun
tains OF sugar and tapioca and to-
bacco and rice and no on and so
on" The docks were no full that
ships could not unload there. Some
Of these mountains of eatables had
been on the docks for more than
three months.
The edible mountains were firmly
dashed in place by red tape. The
bureaucrats could not move them.
1t is not as tho this were an iso-
lated instance. Thruout the war
there has been a constant outcry
that the civilian administration has
hecn inefficient and obstructive and