The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-14
The Sufferers


 Neatly dressed gentlemen, four abreast, are parading the streets of The Hague, Amster- dam, Rotterdam and other Dutch cities. The gentlemen are the civil servants employed ln the postoffices, the telegraph, railway and ministerial departments of the government The parades are intended as demonstrations of protest against the proposed cut In tneli salaries. Drastic economy" is the policy oi Minister of the Interior Collin, and the small bureaucracy as usual has been singled out as the victim. From first-hand observation this writer knows that the small government or ficial in such countries as Holland, Denmark France and Germany is eking out miserable existence. It is respectable poverty, nothing less, and it is a constant marvel that these men can even make decent appearance 1T public. Of course economy is good thing But there is no economy in regard to build- ing new units for the Dutch naval forces Orders for millions of dollars of new stock have recently been placed. Under examina tion the whole Dutch naval program becomes joke In event of aggression, say on the part of France or England or Japan, the lat ter against the Dutch Indies colonies, the Hol land fleet would be absolutely useless. The days of Tromp and De Ruyter, who swept the seas with broom in the mast, have long since gone. It was often said before the war TnaL III case OI d 1duu 1nfd6AVA bJ tNSA AAeNAJj the kaiser would not necessarily have to rise early on day selected for an expedition against Holland and that he could be back in Berlin before luncheon and still have Holland under his control. Of course this is exaggerated. The Hollanders would do as we'll as the Belgians in defending their soil, and in the light of historical precedent they would even do better. But to build fleet, a powerful fleet, at the expense of the happi- ness and decent social conditions for the common people is driving militarism within the terrible precincts of nervous jingoism.
 sliding To The Left"
 "Figaro' warns Premier Herriot of the distinctly noticeable sliding to the left" of his whole interior policy. The socialists have informed him that his foreign policy of the last six months has realized all their hopes," but they remind him that the time is now ripe to inaugurate spiritel attack against the capitalist system in France. "We must not be content to battle the capitalists and the imperialists of other countries, but we must strike at their strongholds in our own republic" they tell the premier. The whole trouble with M. Herriot is that to continue in power he must try to retain the support not only of the socialists, but also of the radical republicans. The latter are not such enthusiastic supporters or the soclans' goal and methods. There is a remarkable resemblance in M Herriot's position and the position of Ramsay Macdonald. In his for eign policy MT. Macdonald had the support of the liberal party at such functions as the Geneva conference and the London agree ment, for instance. With the loan to Rus sia, Mir. Macdonald began to tackle the slt- uation at home. For him this loan was an expedient to ameliorate the unemployment situation and therefore more matter ol home policy than of foreign policy. When faced by the necessity of continuing with pre- election pledges given to the left wing of the labor party, Mir. Macdonald showed cer' tain reluctance. He knew it would mean the loss of the support of progressive liberals And the same thing is taking place in France The radicals are awaiting developments They are opposed to more sliding to the left" and to NJ. Herriot the worst feature oi the situation is that his majority depends or these very radicals. .,"