FRANCE 



3295 



FRANCE 



In the state elementary schools, 

 the teachers must not be priests, 

 monks, or nuns. These schools are 

 free, and children between 6 and 13 

 are compelled to attend them or 

 others. For boys and girls over 13 

 there are state lycees and high 

 schools provided by communes, as 

 well as private establishments. 

 Then there are a number of state 

 universities, a number of technical 

 colleges, schools of fine arts, and 

 conservatoires of music and drama, 

 all state institutions. The numer- 

 ous technical schools do much to 

 keep up the high standards of 

 French workmanship. There is a 

 good system of training teachers. 

 Training of School Teachers 



Free instruction with board and 

 lodging are provided in what are 

 called normal schools ; no post can 

 be obtained without a certificate 

 from one of these, and all who 

 obtain posts undertake to remain 

 teachers for 10 years. If they de- 

 vote all their lives to teaching, they 

 retire on pensions. Salaries are 

 paid to them according to pro- 

 ficiency in their profession, not 

 according to whether they are in 

 populous or small places. Their 

 proficiency is decided by the in- 

 spectors of schools. These inspec- 

 tors are also trained so that they 

 may understand thoroughly the 

 responsibilities of their position. 

 French education, as far as it goes, 

 is good. It helps to keep up the 

 standard of intelligence among 

 what has been called the most in- 

 telligent population in the world. 

 Much is done also in the home. 

 French children are encouraged to 

 ask questions, to raise objections, 

 to use their intellects. They are 

 treated as reasoning creatures. 



The state does much for the sick 

 and poor, though it does not ac- 

 knowledge any obligation to pro- 

 vide relief. There is an old-age 

 pension system upon contributory 

 lines. Special care is taken of chil- 

 dren who are abandoned or ill- 

 treated. These are mostly placed 

 with peasant foster-parents, and 

 when they are of an age to begin 

 work are given the opportunity, by 

 apprenticeship or technical train- 

 ing, to enter a trade. Lunatics are 

 well looked after at the expense of 

 public funds. There is also wide- 

 spread organization of charity 

 through the bureaux de bienfais- 

 ance (alms -giving committees), 

 which exist in all large communes 

 under the presidency of the 

 mayors. The funds at their dis- 

 posal come partly from private 

 sources, partly from taxes upon 

 entertainments and special grants. 

 Outdoor relief is given, hospitals 

 are kept up, and medical attend- 

 ance is provided for the sick in their 



homes. The idea has grown in 

 the French mind that it is right and 

 proper for the state and other 

 authorities to look after those who 

 need the community's help. The 

 idea of dependence upon the au- 

 thorities, and of liability to serve 

 the general interest, is noticeable 

 in many directions. 



Thus there has never been any 

 objection raised to military service 

 as an obligation upon all men. 

 Liability to this service begins at 

 20 and does not end until 48. 

 Before 1913 the term spent with 

 the active army was two years, 

 then it was raised to three. In Dec., 

 1920, it was reduced to eighteen 

 months. From 23-34 the French- 

 man belongs to the reserve, then 

 for seven years he is in the terri- 

 torial army ; his last seven years 

 of service he passes in the terri- 

 torial reserve. Twice during his 

 reserve period he may be called 

 upon for a month's training in 

 camp or barracks ; once while he is 

 a territorial he is liable to a fort- 

 night's resumption of soldiering. 

 Military Traditions 



Since the period of Napoleon the 

 French have prided themselves 

 upon being a military race, and have 

 been easily moved by the prospect 

 of la gloire. They have never had 

 in their army, however, anything 

 approaching either the caste sys- 

 tem or the brutal Prussian methods 

 of training. French officers are 

 drawn from the middle as well as 

 from the upper class. There is no 

 gulf fixed between them and their 

 men ; indeed, it often happens that 

 a private is a very rich man, a 

 scholar, or a man of famous lineage, 

 while his officer is none of these 

 things. The system of universal 

 service gave the country a force 

 in the field of 3,781,000 men with 

 92,000 officers, a fortnight after the 

 declaration of war in 1914. In the 

 last year of war it had risen to 

 5,000,000 men and 128,000 officers. 



Universal service applies also 

 to the navy, but there is also 

 voluntary enlistment. Those who 

 are obliged to serve are the men 

 of the seafaring class between 18 

 and 50. The French navy has 

 suffered much from the faulty 

 management of politicians, but it 

 showed in the war that it had over- 

 come this handicap, and its work in 

 the Mediterranean was excellent. 



The finance of France, like that 

 of most other nations, was meta- 

 morphosed by the war. Even 

 before 1914 the public debt was 

 considered very large, amounting 

 to between 13 and 14 hundred 

 millions of pounds. In 1920 it had 

 swollen to the immense figure of 

 9,500 millions, and the payment 

 of interest abroad was made all the 



more burdensome by the fall in the 

 exchange value of the franc. The 

 system of raising revenue has 

 always made the indirect taxes 

 large in proportion to the direct. 

 The ratio was usually about four 

 to one. Sugar, wines and other 

 liquors, salt, candles, vinegar were 

 all subject to duty by the excise ; 

 railway tickets were taxed before 

 the war, and the high cost of 

 tobacco and matches, due to the 

 state monopoly of these articles, 

 was really a tax. The proposal to 

 establish an income-tax has always 

 been opposed, and even in the 

 urgent need of revenue which 

 followed the war no really severe 

 demand was made for direct con- 

 tributions. For a time it was hoped 

 that enough would be extracted 

 by way of indemnity from the 

 Germans. As that hope faded the 

 prospect of an unavoidable re- 

 course to income-tax or capital 

 levy faced each minister of finance 

 in turn, but each in turn refused 

 to look at it. 



France was a very rich country 

 before the war, and still has vast 

 reserves of wealth, both existing 

 and possible of development. 

 Owing to the saving instincts of 

 the mass of the population it 

 was able to lend money on a vast 

 scale abroad. For many years 

 France stood next to Britain as a 

 holder of foreign investments, and 

 these two countries were easily 

 ahead of all the rest. The difference 

 between them was that, while the 

 British investments were the pro- 

 perty of a small number of well-to- 

 do people, the French holdings 

 were spread over a large part of 

 the nation. Special opportunities 

 were offered to the small investor. 

 The Small Investor 



He could buy small quantities of 

 loan scrip at shops which sold it 

 for cash across the counter. In- 

 vestment thus became a regular 

 weekly or monthly habit with 

 large numbers of people earning 

 small incomes. As a consequence 

 of the support given by the French 

 capital to all kinds of foreign and 

 home enterprises, Paris became an 

 important centre of finance. The 

 big French banks, the Credit 

 Foncier, the Credit Lyonnais, the 

 Societ6 G6n6rale, and others, trans- 

 acted enormous business. 



Speculative finance, however, 

 became at one period a positive 

 canker on the moral health of the 

 nation. The Panama scandals 

 which were brought to light in 1892 

 showed an ugly phase of the pro- 

 cess by which many were becoming 

 rich. Even when the offensive 

 growth had been probed and a 

 number of persons tried, there re- 

 mained an uneasy feeling that all 



