The Alaska daily empire., 1920-01-30

l
 work and to spend a period varying
 from two to seven years, in prepar. | ing to be soldiers at a pay of one cent a day to themselves and cost to the government of hundreds ot
 millions year. The State indeed spends far more on public instruc,
 ton, and on the upkeep of the army ] and the navy than on commerce and ! industry. , 1 How much would such a situation 1 affect the mentality of the American, 1 the prosperity of the United States? It determines the character of the French people in their business deal ings, and in their choice of an oc- cupation. Two out of every five of the inhabitants of France have some thing put away in the savings bank
 In 1913, all these contributions. which include small accounts given as school prizes to children, amounted to over one thousand million dollars. or an average of about $3O a head At the same time, the individual proprietors who own a piece of
 land, or house, or both, number eight million. This thrifty state of affairs is the
 result of the cautious manner in which the French people face exist ence: they are ready always for a possible long period of war.
 Recent history has proved the wis dom of their forethought. Following the wholly unexpected invasion oi
 the Germans in 1914. at a moment when the French had never been
 more pacific, more democratic in their national sentiment, the first
 war loan was over-subscribed forty times The last budget, called for in October 1918. after an enemy occupa- tion which had endured for over
 four years, brought six thousand mil lion dollars, or an average of $152 per inhabitant.
 In 1871, when the Franco-Prussiau
 conflict had drawn, to close, tine
 Germans, hoping to crush the French.
 exacted from them an indemnity of
 one thousand million dollars. They
 were at the end of campaign dur
 ing which Paris had been beseged
 for one hundred and thirty days be-
 fore capitulating. and which had been
 followed by a civil uprising. They
 had changed their form of govern
 ment from. an empire to republic
 during the war and they were beaten. Yet they paid the indemnity out Of their personal economies, in seven months time.
 Thus, it is national necessity for
 the French to prefer security to risk. Great numbers of Frenchmen be- come government employees, simply
 because. though poorly paid. 4they re- ceive. at the end of twenty-five years of service, small pension for life. Finaneiers.. on the other hand, are scarce. Credit is little practiced.
 The Banque de France. which has 500 branches throughout the coun- try. has only 15,000 depositors who make use of check book. The Credit Lyonnais counts 155,O0O dc positors, who draw checks to an average. of only 1900 year
 The fact that for fifty-two months a violent war was actually raging on French soil has somewhat em- phasized this frugal attitude about
 money. It has led to slight mid ] understanding in the dealings with foreigners. A better knowledge of the reasons for so close a reckoning of the pennies should help to dlspel any unpleasant memories.
 In France not only millions of French soldiers, but millions more of overseas troops, English, Irish. Scotch, Indians. Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Serbians, Rus sians in the beginning and Americans. later on. were concentrated in rela lively limited area. There was also a constant stream of refugees pOur ing into the free part of France from Belgium. from the invaded districts, | and from Serbia.
 In the meantime S,000,000 French I men had been mobilized and taken l from their regular work for national defense. military and industrial. All I these successive occurrences made l prices go up as inevitably as the in- l natona of balloon caused it to rise. 1 The increase in the United States
 calculated on fofty-five different food l and Industrial products amounted, in l the first six months of 1918, to 21O per cent on the former cost, while in France it scared to 3S4 per cent on food, and ASA per cent on manufac- ! tured materials.
 This, you win say. is legitimate. what you object to is not tic tenn.