Evening star., 1926-11-07

very wealthy and innumerable small
Effect on Frugality.
Today the fundamental spirit Of
fr1IEality Of the French people is
paralyzed by the fact that what one
saves today Is wiped out tomorrow
by the fall of the franc. In this lat
ter phases of imitation the French
nation is now undergoing the iuevi-
table disproportionate rise Of prices,
of the cost of living Tomorrow or
next dey will come all the dread cir
of stabilization-the al
most frantic rise of prices. tE.a ar
rival of unemployment. the shStnk-
age of a foreign trade built UP tenn
upon weak money. The
next Winter will be very severe and
there are at least possibilities of some
disorders, although there is little real
bas sis for expecting a revolution given
the weariness of the people and the
a absence of leaders.
But unlike Germany and Britain,
France has found no firm political
leadership. Whether PoinCare can
last, whether he will even be in office
when this article Is printed. is mat
ter of grave doubt. And after Poin-
care and the precious collection of
former prime ministers. who make
up the cabinet Of concentration. there
is nothing in sight, no man, no
party. The whole political system
of France has broken down dnder the
strain of recent years. The nation
and its leaders have shrlInk from the
enormous and universal suffering
which more and more becomes ines
capable.
Today beneath the surface France
is the saddest place I know in the
world; there is an atmosphere of
of despair. of disillu-
sionn1ent. which is we'll nigh inde-
serbia BILE There is an enormous
amount of hardship among certain
classes, the people who lived upon
savings, which were invested in gov
ernment securities. the people on
fixed salaries, the government en-
ployes and functionaries. Only the
men who work with their hands and
the farmers have any real situation.
which Is, of course, about the same
all over Europe.
Belgium's Firm Policies.
In little Belgium, from which l am
writing, there are most of the French
circumstances. but Belgium has
found political stability and leader
ship. Under the firm control OF
Tranquil. known to many Americans
fro mthe days of Belgian relief. and.
like DIR. Schacht of the Berlin
Reichsbank. one Of the half dozen
great European figures of the mo-
ment. Belgium has, by imposing
enormous new taxes, sacrificing her
state railway system, consolidating
her floating debt by single drastic
decree. reached the point where sta
biliZatiOn of the franc is not only
possible but imminent.
But this stabilization carries with
II the certainty Of enormous suffering:
1t means the wiping out of practically
all the means Of existence of very
large class of the population-and on
the whole the most valuable class In
the nation-the teachers. the scholars.
again of the middle class. The de-
preston which on notices In France
is here in Belgium. the same sense
Of hopelessness. the feeling that de-
spite all the sacrifices of the war and
all the efforts and hardships Of the
postwar period. there has been and
there is no escape from the Continu-
ing misery of that struggle.
If one looks at the Italian situation
1t is different only in degree. Italy
has found a dictator and q system.
1t has escaped labor troubles by
means of dictatorship. An aroused
and perhaps exaggerated sense of
nationalism has served to divert at
tention from domestic troubles, but
not without bringing certain dan
gers. There Is a spirit In Italy not
quite paralleled anywhere in Europe.
But all that Mussolini and the able
men he has about him have been
able to do has not abolished the sin
gle. brutal fact that Italy Is not a
going concern. that 1t is destitute
of raw materials, that IT is without
capital. that it Ia overpopulated and
can find no outlet for its rapidly
gaining population.
People Eating War Bread.
the Italian currency, like the
French and the Belgian. has fallen
greatly in recent times: the people
are eating war bread. desperate rem
edies are being employed to reduce
imports and thus TO balance exports
and imports. But all that has been
accomplished has not and cannot
change the situation. AS it stands
the italian situation is in many re-
spects one of the most gloomy in
Europe; il is fundamentally worse
than the British. the German or the
French.
Moreover. this same Italy consti-
tutes the single grave problem for the
peace of Europe. No one can now
exclude the possibility of a Franco
italian war, because the growing bit
terness and resentment Of all Ital-
ians for the circumstances in which
their country finds itself expresses
itself in inCrea sinRly bitter Outbursts
against France. No one who was at
Geneva during the recent sessions
can mistake the general Europea n
apprehension over this Italian mani
festation. and more than one of the
m6re conspicuous statesmen have re-
peated to me the statement that an
Italian war cannot he excluded from
the list of possibilities-and consti-
tutes the single serious peril in
peace.
1t Is universally agreed that Mus
solini does not want a war and sees
the deadly peril for Italy and for
Fascismo Of such a struggle. But
the real peril lies in the state of mind
of the people. in the obvious and i'm
pressive passion with which large
masses of the people readily respond
to the smallest semblance of an op.
portunity TO vent their feelings
against France. And one must note.
following the recent incidents which
filled the press of Paris and of Rome
that the French are becoming restive
under the continued and repeated
manifestations of Italian Ill will and
tending more and more to adopt a
stiff tone.
Two Striking Events.
Thus the two striking circumstances
In the international political situation
are the Franco-German rapproche
ment and the Franco-Italian bitter.
ness. The Franco German rapproache
ment has its real basis in economic
rather than political circumstances