The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1943-02-11
CAN WE PROFIT BY EXAMPLE?

INV W.
The last decade saw the wide dissemination of the beliefs
of some of the so-caled inteligentsia whose stock in trade was
a sneering attitude at what they called "the middle class vir-
tues" They are now largely silent and many of them have
publicly admitted their error, but nevertheless their fallacious
theories had a profound effect on our national life.
Some of these treated with contempt were thrift, the pres
ervation of the family, the gospel of hard work, morality. 1t
might be well to examine the example of France. Frequently
in the news of late has been the name of General Henri Honore
Giraud, French leader now high commissioner of French North
Africa. General Giraud represents in France the ultra-conserv-
alive school of thought. Nevertheless, some of the reasons he
assigned to the fall of France in a long memorandum to old
Marshal Petain should be studied by thoughtful Americans, re-
Numbering that France is now at the mercy of the Nazis and
that we could be, too, except for a fortunate geographical
location.
General Giraud said:
in a race formerly solid, rustic, tough against fatigue, but
where alcohol and syphilis had opened suppurating wounds,
the skeleton shrank, the tissues became lax, the resistance dis
appeared The soldier of 1910 twas mott equal to that of
1914"
He says, ITO sum up youth insufficient in quantity, in
sufficient in quality. That's what the 20 years following the vic
tory gave us" Passing to the entire nation, he said its charac-
teristic, at the base, was lack of authority The leaders dele
gated authority, never asserted it. The composition OF Frances
frequently changing ministries was a scandal. In industry, there
was a weakening of output, a lack of method, an increase in
overhead.
but the damage was even more moral than material. Get
ting used to disobeying his chiefs, getting used to no command
ing, the Frenchman from his earliest youth became used to doing
as he pleased" l.
Until 1914, he said, the French laborer and peasant were
hard workers, guided by economy. But after 1918, spurious
luxury increased" Sunday was forgotten as a day of rest.
Everywhere, both the employer and employee sought every !
excuse for ideness. The 40hour week merely gave the French c
worker an extra day to waste his salary. In
In business and political life, "t was easier to succeed by Is
intrigue than by work. Politics became a career of compromise,
arrangements, betrayal" IT.
Shortage of equipment, untitled orders, airplanes that never f
materialized, obsolete tanks, munitions that never arrived - all "
this was the result of work inadequate in quantity and quality G
To preach under production at a time when Germany "
shouted that it was better to have cannons than butter was not
only treason against the nation but a crime against honesty"
Admittedly, we have avoided many of the pitfalls of France.
Already, the crucible of war has revealed the inherent sturdi- In
ness of our youth. Our production has mounted, in spite OF Iw
handicaps, a tribute to industry's genius. But we have some of al
the same weaknesses that General Giraud found in his home I'm
weaknesses that brought it to its knees and may make it
a second-class power for generations to come. Labor, industry ell
and government all will do we'll to eliminate them. b