Evening star., 1936-08-13
Brown

Continued From First Page)
working because they thought that
their rights had to be recognized at
once.
And this was not surprising. For
two years France had been governed
by governmental DEGREES which draS-
tically cut wages and salaries and
increased taxes. But after the en1-
ployes, workers and clerks had their
rights legally recognized they went
back to work and there is no more
trouble In France today than in any
other well-organized country"
And the near-sighted French Pre-
mier cleaned his glasses so as to have
a better look at his interviewer. Pre-
mier Blum generally has been de-
scribed as a parlor socialist. The story
is told that he is a man Of means
great means, who knows about the
hardship and misery Of the masses
from hearsay. The truth is that Blum
is a poor man. True enough, he does
come from a family which used to be
wealthy. His father had prosperous
silk factory. At his death, Blum in
herited a comfortable sum OF money.
He was indulging then in socialist
politics and left his inheritance in the
hands of his brother, who was the
business man of the family. Blum
also had married well-to-do woman.
But the depression came and the FAC
tory was closed. Blum lost everything.
His wife died leaving him her entire
estate-s100,0 900. Some four years ago
he married an interior decorator and
thought it unethical to keep his first
wife's money. So he handed his in
heritance over to his son.
Tried to Sell Articles.
Blum is q good lawyer, but the
depression hit his practice. too. The
year previous to his coming to Office
he was so hard up that he personally
called at the office OF an American
newspaper IN Paris to ask advice ABOUT
placing some OF his articles in Ameri-
can magazines or newspapers. Blum.
at that time, was just a member
of the Chamber and no American
editor would take his highbrow. theo-
retical Writings. Only two months
before he was hoisted to power, he
received a few frienoS at his country
place-a bungalow no. far from Paris.
The Buns had no servant ana
Madame Blum had to cook dinner.
In the apartment on the Qual q
Orleans, the Blums now have some
handsome furniture-remnantS OF tne
former rro5De.!ty-aHd two servants.
YES" said Blum. 1--WE have serious
problems in front of us, but who
hasn't these days? We have in France
close to 100000 unemployed to take
care of. Many of them are unem-
playable and the government has to
see that they don't starve until they
die. The others will find employment
in the public works we are just start
ing now"
The French P. w. A. is not follow
ing closely the. footsteps of its Amer
ican sister. The general idea is that
the government will give the inspira-
ton, but local organizations will decide
the type of work to be done, and, what
Is more important, the individual COM
munities will finance it. The tax
payers of q county will get together
and find out what kind of public works
their community needs. Once this is
decided government-guaranteed loan
will be f1oated among the inhabitants
of that particular county. Thus the
money will be raised and spent by
the people and for the people Of the
and whatever graft there
must be, will take place within the
limits of the county or the district.
And nobody will kick about it.
Pensions Is Problem.
The other method Of dealing with |
unemployment-the white collar un- |
employed. whose numbers are com.