L’Écho annamite
- Administrative employment and the Annamites
- To the voters; to the candidates
- Report on the seventh Assembly of the League of Nations
The leading essay explains attraction to administrative employment through the alternatives open to salaried workers: private jobs without retirement guarantees versus a more stable, if poorly paid, colonial service. The electoral column urges Vietnamese voters in both electoral colleges to prioritize collective interests and exercise independent judgment. The League report describes a committee’s draft response to American reservations about the Permanent Court, including the need for agreement on special conditions. The selection puts arguments about dependence and responsibility beside international negotiation over participation.
Translation
Administrative employment and the Annamites
Fit only for office work, they must choose between private businesses and the Administration if they are not to remain idle. Everywhere their position will be the same: that of salaried employees. In private businesses they are hired haphazardly, usually without serious guarantees for their future. In our fortunate country there are no pension funds for employees outside the civil service who hope for rest in old age. In the Administration, superiors are often difficult toward indigenous subordinates. But the situation is more stable, with the prospect of a pension—a starvation pension, admittedly, but a pension nonetheless. With good connections one can be appointed overnight without difficulty, instead of waiting around for months. And if one is well placed, one becomes somebody, with regulations and rights on one’s side: part of the omnipotent Administration that can do anything with the local inhabitant, taxed and put to labor at will. Forced to choose between the Administration and private firms, the Annamite, a “product of the colonial environment,” does not hesitate. And there he is, guilty of an obsession with civil-service employment!
To the voters; to the candidates
Annamite voters, attention! The colonial elections are approaching. This is addressed to all Annamite voters, in the Annamite electoral college as well as in the French electoral college. Compatriots, whoever you are and whatever your connections, remember your sacred duty: to make good use of your ballot. Think first of the interests of the community, of our country. Let us be conscientious voters who know how to command respect. A voter is not one of Panurge’s sheep. Let us keep a sharp eye open.
Report on the seventh Assembly of the League of Nations
The committee of the conference of states signing the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, charged with examining the United States Senate’s reservations regarding American adherence to the Court, has finished its work and submitted a draft final act. The act states that, while regretting the absence of assistance from an American representative, the delegates examined the American reservations and conditions with a constant desire to satisfy the United States as fully as possible. The committee recognized that American adherence on special conditions requires agreement between the United States and the protocol’s signatories. Following these ideas, the committee considers that it should address the letter sent by the American Secretary of State to each signatory state of the protocol.
Context
A career choice shaped by insecurity
The writer explains preference for administrative work through the alternatives available to salaried employees. Private employment offers little security and no pension, while government service promises at least a small retirement income. The accusation of excessive ambition for office is thus answered with an account of practical economic constraints.
Connections determine access to security
The French word “piston” means influential connections used to secure a position. In the passage, such help replaces months of waiting with an almost immediate appointment. The problem is therefore not only the attraction of a stable job, but also the unequal access to it through personal networks.
Joining the administration changes social position
The civil servant gains regulations and authority on his side, while the ordinary inhabitant is described as subject to taxes and compulsory labor. Employment becomes a way to move closer to the machinery of colonial power. That social distance helps explain why even a poorly paid post could carry status.
A ballot independent of personal obligation
The election appeal asks readers to put the community before their own relationships. Beside the article on connections in employment, it makes an opposite demand: public judgment should not be surrendered to a patron or acquaintance. The metaphor of following sheep urges voters to act as individuals who can resist pressure.
A newspaper addresses a divided electorate
The appeal explicitly reaches Vietnamese voters in both the Annamite and French electoral colleges. It tries to build a shared political identity across those administrative divisions. French-language Vietnamese newspapers were part of the developing public arena in which such collective demands could be voiced.
Why American court membership needed special terms
The U.S. Senate’s reservations sought to protect American interests in the Permanent Court, notably over advisory opinions on questions affecting the United States. Other signatories had to consider how those conditions would fit a common institution. The September talks concerned membership on agreed terms, linking national consent with international judicial cooperation.
Original
Le fonctionnarisme et les Annamites
Aptes seulement aux travaux de
bureaux, ils ont à choisir entre les
entreprises privées et l'Administra-
tion, s'ils ne veulent rester oisifs.
Mais partout leur sitution sera la mê-
me, celle de salarié.
Dans les entreprises privées, ils
sont engagés au hasard, le plus souvent
sans garantie sérieuse pour leur ave-
nir. Les caisses de retraites n'existent
pas dans notre heureux pays pour les
employés non-fonctionnaires qui 38,
pirent au repos dans leurs vieux jours
Dans l'Administration, les Chefs
sont souvent difficiles pour les subor-
donnés indigènes. Mais la situation y
est plus stable avec eh perspective
une pension de retraite, de famine, il
est. vrai, mais une pension quand
même. Avec un hon" piston" on est
nommé du jour au lendemain, sans
aucune difficulté, sans avoir à faire
"les pieds de grue" pendant de longs
mois. Et puis, si l'on est bien "casé",
on est quelqu'un, on a avî c soi le rè.
gîemeni, le droit. On est, enfin, de
l'Administration, de cette Administra-
tion omnipotente qui peut tout avec
le ddn îailiable et corvéable à merci.
Acculé à la nécessité de choisir
entre l'Administration et les entre-
prises privées, l'Annamite, "produit
du milieu colonial ", n'hésite pas un
instant. Et le voilà coupable de "fonc-
tionnarisme !
Aux électeurs Aux candidats
Electeurs annamites, attention 1 !
Les élections coloniales approchent !
Ceci s'adresse à tous les électeurs an-
namites, du collège électoral anna-
mite aussi bien que du collège électo-
ral français.
Compatriotes, qui que vous soyez,
quelles que soient vos relations, n'ou-
bliez pas que vous aurez un devoir
sacré à remplir, celui de faire un bon
usage de votre bulletin de vote. Son-
gez avant tout aux intérêts de la col-
lccliviié, de notre pays.
Soyons des électeurs conscients qui
sachent se faire respecter. Un électeur
n'est pas un mouton de Panurge. Ou-
vrons ril, et le bon. - -
Compte-rendu de la 7e assemblée de la Société des Nations
De son côté la Commission de la
Conférence des Etats signataires du
statut de la Cour de Justice Perma-
nente Internationale, chargée d'étudier
les réserves formulées par le Sénat.
des Etats-Unis à l'adhésion de son
pays a la Cour, a terminé ses travaux
et déposé un projet d'acte final. Cet
acte final constate que les délégués,
tout en regrettant de n'avoir pas pu
profiter de l'assistance du représentant
des Etats-Unis, ont étudié les réserves
et les conditions des Etats-Unis ens'ins-
pirant constamment du ferme désir
de donner satisfaction, dans la plus
large mesure possible, aux Etats-Unis.
La Commission a reconnu que l'adhé-
sion des Etats-Unis dans des condi-
tions spéciales nécessite une entente
entre les Etats Unis et les signataires
du protocole ; s'inspirant de ses idées,
la Commission pense qu'elle devra
adresser la lettre envoyée par le Se-
crétaire d'Etat des Etats-Unis à chacun
des états signataires du protocole.