Journal de Genève
- The seventh Assembly
- The labour market
- A sense of unease
The lead editorial welcomes Germany's admission to the League of Nations while weighing the breakup of the Latin American voting bloc. A Swiss labour-market report puts August unemployment at 11,818, yet finds the overall situation broadly stable as vacancies increase. The Paris correspondent describes distrust of Stresemann's recent speech among people who nevertheless favour a direct Franco-German agreement.
Translation
The seventh Assembly
The divisions that have emerged among the American states seem to us, moreover, to be one of the most lasting features of this Assembly. If we recall the sort of electoral terror that certain Latin American delegations exerted over the League of Nations, we can gauge the importance of the change that has taken place.
A change for the better, in one sense, which has dealt a death blow to the idea of continentalism, whose consequences might, in the long run, have proved fatal to the League of Nations. But a dangerous change in other respects, whose full implications will become apparent only in the future.
The breakup of the American bloc is a negative factor in the development of the League of Nations. Germany's entry is a positive one; hence its importance.
We may be sure that the 1926 session will go down in history as the Assembly that admitted Germany. One good deed is enough to save a soul. The delegates have not wasted their day, since, for their part, they have erased the memory of the war, solemnly affirmed the principle of the universality of the League of Nations, and increased the effectiveness of international institutions by everything that Germany's contribution represents.
W. M.
The labour market
The Federal Labour Office has just published the eighth issue for 1926 of its Social Statistical Information, devoted to the situation of the Swiss labour market in August 1926, the age groups of the unemployed at the end of July 1926, emigration and immigration in the second quarter of 1926, and, finally, the cost of living in August 1926.
From the large statistical tables, forbidding in appearance to the uninitiated, and the many technical observations contained in this booklet, we shall pick out the figures and assessments that seem likely to interest the general public.
First, the number of unemployed: there were 11,013 at the end of July and 11,818 at the end of August, an increase of 7%; over the same period the increase had been 6% in 1924 and 1% in 1925. But whereas job vacancies had fallen during August in those two years, by 19% and 9% respectively, they rose by 5% in August 1926.
The movement in applications for employment, the Labour Office says on this point, has remained within the limits of a normal seasonal fluctuation. Job vacancies have changed much more favourably than is usually the case at this time of year.
In sum, the overall situation is more or less unchanged. The unemployed account for approximately 1% of the total number of people who work for wages.
A sense of unease
Paris, 23 September.
(From our correspondent)
The speech Mr Stresemann gave the other day in Geneva naturally made the most deplorable impression in France, as we have already had occasion to observe. At first, public opinion reacted quite sharply. Immediately afterwards, however, the more or less semi-official newspapers, those strongly influenced by the Quai d'Orsay, set about playing down the importance of the incident. They said that the German foreign minister had spoken chiefly to reassure German nationalist circles and that his remarks had no bearing on the Franco-German talks. They added that, after all, Mr Stresemann had said nothing that his predecessors or he himself had not said before. Finally, it was added in the same circles: “It is simply one of those ‘blunders’ that German diplomacy so often commits through a lack of psychological insight.”
But it would be a mistake to believe that this view is universal, or even general. Many prominent people, and by no means the least important, see the event quite differently and believe that it cannot be taken too seriously. I am not speaking here of men who are systematically hostile to Franco-German talks and would like to see them fail. On the contrary, these are people who believe that a direct agreement between France and Germany would be very welcome. But they are also convinced that such an agreement can be beneficial only if it is prepared in a spirit of mutual candour and good faith, and if the two sides do not interpret it in contradictory ways. Franco-German relations are so crucial to Europe as a whole, and it is so essential that a supposed solution should not carry the seeds of future misunderstandings, that we think it particularly worthwhile to clarify the views of the people to whom we refer.
Context
Germany and the balance of representation
Germany's admission on 8 September 1926 brought a permanent seat on the League Council. Admission had stalled in March amid a dispute over seats, so the editorial's celebration came after a real institutional crisis. The Council combined permanent seats for major powers with members elected by the Assembly; the elected seats increased from six to nine in 1926. Its decisions generally required unanimity. Representation therefore affected the ability to make decisions, not merely ceremonial prestige. Against that background, the editorial treats the weakening of a continental voting bloc and Germany's arrival as different changes: one dismantled an existing alignment, while the other added a major European participant.
What the monthly unemployment figures measured
The Labour Office's month-end comparisons belonged to a relatively new national statistical system. A federal decree of 1919 introduced regular counts from 1920, and their coverage was expanded in 1924. The figures depended on registration at employment offices, especially by people who expected some practical benefit from registering; women and foreigners were underrepresented. Seasonal work also mattered greatly in construction and tourism. This helps explain why the article compares August with the same month in earlier years and weighs vacancies alongside jobseekers. Its conclusion of stability describes the movement of those indicators, rather than an absence of hardship for every worker.
Why reconciliation still aroused suspicion in Paris
The Locarno agreements of 1925 committed Germany, France and Belgium to respect their common frontiers and reject forcible changes, with Britain and Italy providing guarantees. They made cooperation possible without settling every dispute left by the war. On 17 September 1926, Briand and Stresemann met privately at Thoiry to discuss the Rhineland's evacuation, the Saar coal mines and German railway bonds as a possible means of easing France's financial crisis. These were substantial political and economic interests. The correspondent's insistence on matching interpretations thus concerned what a rapprochement would actually deliver: supporters of agreement could still fear that reassuring diplomatic language concealed incompatible expectations.
Original
La septième Assemblée
Les divisions qui se sont révélées parmi les
Etats américains nous apparaissent, d'ailleurs, comme l’une des caractéristiques les
plus durables de cette Assemblée. Si l'on se
rappelle l'espèce de terreur électorale qu'ont
fait peser sur la Société des nations certaines
délégations de l'Amérique latine, on mesturera
l'importance du changement qui s'est produit.
Changement pour le micux. dans un sens,
et qui a porté un coup de mort à l'idée du
continentalisme, dont Îes conséquences eus
sent pu, à la longue, être fatales pour la Société des nations. Mais changement périlleux,
par d'autres aspects, et dont tous les développements n'apparaîtront que dans l'avenir.
La rupture du bloc américain est, pour la
Société des nations, un élément de dévelonpement négatif, L'entrée de l'Allemagne est
un élément positif; de là son importance.
On peut être sûr que la session de 1926
restera dans l'histoire comme l'Assemblée de
l'entrée de l'Allemagne, Une’ bonne action
suffit à sauver une âme. Les délégués n'ont
pas perdu leur journée, puisqu'ils ont effacé,
pour leur part, le souvenir de la guerre, affirmé solennellement le principe de luniversalité de la Société des nations, et accru de
tout ce que représente l'apport de lAllemagne, l'efficacité des institutions (nternationales. W.M.
Le marché du travail
L'Office fédéral du travail vient de publier
le 8 fascicule de 1926 de ses Informations de
statistique sociale, consacré à la Situation du
marché suisse du travail au mois d'août 1926,
aux élasses d'âge de chômeurs à fin juillet
1926, à l'émigration et l'immigration au 2e trimestre 1926, enfin au coût de fa vie en août
1926.
Nous glanerons, au milieu des grands tableaux statistiques d'aspect rébarbatif pour
les profanes et des nombreuses remarques
d'ordre technique contenus dans cette brochure, les chiffres et les appréciations qui
nous paraissent devoir intéresser le grand
public.
Tout d'abord, le nombre des chômeurs : ils
étaient 11.013 à fin juillet, et 11.818 à fin
août; augmentation 7%; dans la même période, l'augmentation avait été de 6% en
1924 et de 1% en 1925. Mais tandis que les
offres d'emplois avaient diminué ces deux
dernières années. au cours du mois d'août,
respectivement de 19 et de 9%, elles ont
augmenté, en août 1926, de 5 %.
Le mouvement des demandes d'emploi, dit à ce
propos l'Office du travail, est demeuré. dans les
limites d’une fluctuation saisonnière normale Les
offres d'emploi ont subi un changement bien plus
favorable que ce n'est d'ordinaire le cas à pareille
époque.
En résumé, situation à peu près stationnaire dans l'ensemble, Sur le nombre total des
personnes qui louent leurs services, les chômeurs représentent approximativement le 1%.
Sentiment de malaise
Paris. 23 septembre.
(De notre correspondant)
Le discours que M, Stresemiann a prononcé l’autre jour à Genève a produit naturelle.
mennt, comme nous avons déià eu l'occasion
de lé constater, le plus déniorable effet en
France, Au premier momennt la réaction de
l'opinion a été assez vive. Mais. aussitôt
après, les organes plus ou moins officieux,
ceux qui subissent fortement l'influence du'
quai d'Orsay, se sont attachés à réduire l'importance de l'incident. Ils ont dit aue le ministre allemand des affaires étrangères avait
parlé surtout pour rassurer les milieux nationalistes allemands et que ce qu'il avait dit
ne tirait pas à conséguence en ce qui concerne les pourparlers franco-allemands. Ils ont
ajouté qu'en somme M. Stresemann n'avait
rien dit que ses prédécesseurs ou lui-même
n'eussent déjà déclaré. Enfin on a ajouté, dans
les mêmes milieux : «C'est simplement une
de ces «gaffes» que la diplomatie allemade, par manque de psychologie, commet souvent.
Mais on se tromperait si l'on croyait que
cette façon d'envisager les choses est universelle où même générale, Beaucoup de personnalités. et non des moindres. considèrent cet
événement d'une tout autre manière et pensent qu'on ne saurait trop le prendre au sérieux. Je ne parle pas ici d'hommes qui seraient systématiquement lostiles aux pourparlers franco-allemands et qui désireraient
les faire échouer. Il°s’agit, au contraire, de
gens qui croient qu'un arrangement direct
conclu entre la France et l'Allemagne serait
très heureux. Mais ils sont, d'autre art, convaincus qu'un tel accord ne peut être bienfaisant que s'il est préparé dans un esprit de
franchise et de bonne foi mutuelles et que si,
de part ct d'autre, les parties ne l'interprètent pas contradictoirement. Cette question
des rapports franco-allemands est si capitale
pour l'Europe entière et il est si essentiel
qu'une prétendue solution ne soit nas grosse
de malentendus futurs, que nous croyons particulèrement intéressant de préciser le point
de vuc des personnes auxquelles nous faisons allusion.