The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-04-23
BY MILNER.


France stood the brunt at the out
break of the war and at Marne saved
civilization" from being crushed be-
meath tie heel of Prussian militar-
ism. Czaristic Russia assisted in ac-
complishing this great task. AL was
done by the Allies to keep tottering
Tsarism on its throne. Nationalistic
aspirations, under the rule of the
bloody monarch, of any of the sup
pressed nationalities, were condem-
ned as unpatriotic acts that threat
ened civilization. AS a tactical step,
national selfdetermination was pro-
missed all small nations which would
support ''the war to end war;"
The real saviour of civilization"
was France, for she was first ready.
The bourgeois statesmen reason thus,
had Paris been captured, civilization
would be ruined. 1t was not the
English or Americans who saved
Paris but the French themselves.
"Civilization" is again in danger. Not
that the Prussians threaten to in
wade and destroy it. They merely
fail to support it. So, the same
wicked" Germans are blamed for
the present misery. So, Paris and
France are threatened now but not
by invasion. 1t is the French capital
ist system and the governing clique
that is about to collapse. Read what
they say and how they illustrate
their present situation. No bolshevism
is implicated, no information is taken
from any bolshevik source. The
chairman of the Senate Finance Com
mittee of France and the "New
York Times" supplies US with suf-
ficient material to show what "civi-
lization" faces.
The "Times" of March 20, 1921,
carries a dispatch by Edwin L.
James, dated Paris, March 10, 1921,
under the heading "France Faces
Big Financial Crisis" The article be-
gins: discussion of the French bud
get of 1921 is coming in the Senate
next week, just when the repara-
tions situation is scheduled to become
again strained" Further, in the same
dispatch we read: "As for the French
budget, M. Cheron, Chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee, says in
his report distributed to the Sena-
tors today, that unless Germany
pays, the fiscal problem Of the
French Government is insoluble. The
French press tonight critices M.
Cheron for thus characterizing the
Governments financial situation, but
M. Cheron has facts and figures be-
hlnd his statements"
In the next paragraph Mr.. James
gives us these figures, and they are
as follows: "France must find 3d.
0O0,0O0,0O0 francs this year, and her
revenue is estimated at 22,000,000,-
! 900. She is carrying a deficit of 49,
900, 100000 already spent on the pro-
spects of German payment, and 49,
000,000,000 more is carried in this
years budget to the same account.
She cannot make ends meet by in
ternal loans M. Cheron says, and he
discounts all plans of heavy realiza-
tion Immediately on the prospects of
German payment. His whole report
comes to one conclusion: Germany
must pay or French finances are in
a hopeless fix" Then the honorable
gentleman makes a comparison be-
tween the France before the war and
the France today, the victorious
France. "In pointing out that Fran
ce's prewar debt of 27,0OO,OOO,O0O
has mounted to 3O2,0O0,OOO,0OO M.
Cheron explains it in the following
striking Manner" says Mr.. James.
But the manner is not at all strik-
ing, for the same old song of Ger
man aggression is repeated and moth
ing is said about the actual cause of
the war. Although we quote one sem
tence from the "Times": "To defend
her liberties and her soil, to save
the civilization of the world, she
sacrificed 100000 Of her children"
But Cheron does. not say word
about the squandering of hundreds
of millions by Clemenceau in destroy
ing the productive forces of Russia,
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.