Le Petit Matin
- For Disarmament
- M. Steeg in Rabat
- The English Chaos
This partial reading of Le Petit Matin for 6 October 1926 brings together short wire dispatches. One describes a pontifical high mass celebrated by Cardinal [?] Del Val beneath Giotto's frescoes in San Francesco. From Blois comes the case of Bishop Audollent, fined one franc for ordering a Eucharistic Congress procession at Villefranche-sur-Cher despite the mayor's ban; the left-wing deputy-mayor Georges Richard received the same fine by default. Rabat reports Resident General Steeg's arrival from Casablanca, and Warsaw carries an official Polish denial that the government would accept handing Danzig to Germany. From London, the paper predicts that British miners will reject the government's proposals in their district ballots yet return to work on district terms, with 171,419 already back.
This edition covers three short excerpts from the front page. The headlines are legible, but most body text is too small or blurred to transcribe, including the exchange rates, most dispatches and the signed column 'Vers la Cité meilleure'. The text legible in the tile under 'Pour le désarmement' concerns a mass at San Francesco and the Blois bishop case, not disarmament, so the article on the League of Nations disarmament commission could not be read or discussed. Passages marked [?] are illegible at those points.
Translation
For Disarmament
…se russe of San Francesco; beneath the vaults painted in fresco by Giotto and soberly illuminated. An immense crowd heard a pontifical high mass celebrated by Cardinal [?] Del Val.
Undesirable displays
A bishop convicted
BLOIS, 5 October. – On 5 September last, a religious demonstration took place at Villefranche-sur-Cher on the occasion of the Eucharistic Congress. Mgr Audollent, despite the Mayor's ban, ordered that a procession would be held in the town. The same day the left-wing groups, led by the deputy and mayor of Romorantin, M. Georges Richard, organised a con- [?]
M. Steeg in Rabat
M. Steeg in Rabat
RABAT, 5 October. – M. Steeg, coming from Casablanca, arrived in Rabat. He went at once to the Residency General, where he was greeted by all the local authorities.
Danzig and Poland
WARSAW, 5 October. – The Pat Agency declares itself authorised to deny categorically a foreign report saying that the Polish Government was prepared to accept the alleged plan to assign Danzig to Germany.
The English Chaos
At the police court of Mennetou-sur-Cher, Mgr Audollent was fined 1 franc; M. Richard received the same sentence, but by default.
The English chaos
LONDON, 5 October. – Judging by the first results of the ballot in the mining districts, it now seems certain that the Government's proposals will be rejected, but that, however paradoxical it may seem, the miners will return to work on the terms set by the district. Since Friday the return of 6,832 miners to work has been reported, which brings the total to 171,419, a figure that includes the 60,000 workers assigned to safeguarding the pits. [?]
Context
Steeg's Morocco a year after Lyautey
Théodore Steeg, a Radical politician, had governed Algeria from July 1921 and replaced Marshal Lyautey as Resident General in Morocco on 11 October 1925, with a mandate to restore peace and move the protectorate from military to civilian government. When this dispatch reported him arriving at the Residency General in Rabat from Casablanca on 5 October 1926, he had therefore held the post for almost a year, and the Rif War that had brought about the change of leadership had ended with Abd-el-Krim's surrender to Pétain on 26 May 1926. The paper records only a formal welcome by local authorities, but Steeg's programme was already taking shape: he favoured French settlement, and in his first three years brought in almost as many colonists as his predecessor had in thirteen. Three months after this report, a decree of 4 January 1927 created a fund for large-scale irrigation works, the policy that had earned him a reputation in Algeria. The page does not say why Steeg had been in Casablanca.
Why British miners were still out in October
The dispute behind 'Le chaos anglais' began with the Samuel Commission's report of 10 March 1926, which recommended cutting miners' wages by 13.5% and ending the government subsidy to the industry. The general strike of 4–12 May was called to protect 1.2 million locked-out coal miners, but it collapsed while the miners stayed out. On 5 July the coalowners posted new terms of employment based on an eight-hour working day. Set against the figure of 1.2 million, the paper's count of 171,419 men back at work, of whom 60,000 were men assigned to safeguarding the pits, shows that the great majority of miners were still out at the start of October, five months into the stoppage.
How the lockout ended
The London correspondent read the first district ballot returns as a paradox: the miners would reject the government's proposals yet go back to work on whatever terms their own district settled. The final outcome matched that direction. The Modern Records Centre's timeline records that miners returned to work between 27 and 30 November 1926 on lower pay and longer hours, a result it calls total defeat. Before the stoppage, the Miners' Federation had refused both the wage reduction and regional negotiation, yet the dispatch already expected the men to go back on terms fixed by each district. The defeat had a legal sequel in 1927, when the Trades Disputes and Trade Union Act made sympathetic strikes and mass picketing illegal.
Why Poland denied a Danzig deal
Danzig had been a Free City since 15 November 1920 under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Its population was predominantly German, yet it was bound in a union with Poland covering foreign policy, defence, customs, railways and post. The arrangement satisfied neither side: the loss of the city deeply hurt German national pride, while for Poland, until the new port of Gdynia was built, almost all its exports passed through Danzig. A foreign report that Warsaw might accept a transfer of the city to Germany therefore touched Poland's access to the sea, which explains why the Pat agency issued a categorical denial. The paper does not identify the foreign report or the 'alleged plan' it mentions.
Original
Pour le désarmement
se russe de San Francesco; sous les voûtes peintes à Fresques par Giotto et sobrement illuminées. Une foule immense a entendu une grande messe pontificale célébrée par le cardinal [?] Del Val. Les exhibitions indésirables Un évêque condamné BLOIS, 5 octobre. - Le 5 septembre dernier avait lieu à Villefranche-sur-Cher une manifestation religieuse à l'occasion du Congrès Eucharistique. Mgr Audollent, malgré l'interdiction du Maire, ordonna qu'une procession aurait lieu dans la ville. Le même jour les groupements de gauche, conduits par le député maire de Romorantin, M. Georges Richard, organisèrent une con - [?]
M. Steeg à Rabat
M. Steeg à Rabat RABAT, 5 octobre. - M. Steeg, venant de Casablanca, arriva à Rabat. Il se rendit aussitôt à la Résidence Générale où il fut salué par toutes les autorités locales. Dantzig et la Pologne VARSOVIE, 5 octobre. - L'Agence Pat se déclare autorisée à démentir formellement une information étrangère disant que le Gouvernement polonais était disposé à accepter le prétendu projet d'attribution de Dantzig à l'Allemagne.
Le chaos anglais
Au Tribunal de simple police de Mennetou-sur-Cher Mgr Audollent a été condamné à 1 franc d'amende; M. Richard a eu la même condamnation mais par défaut. Le chaos anglais LONDRES, 5 octobre. - A en juger par les premiers résultats du scrutin dans les districts miniers il paraît désormais certain que les propositions du Gouvernement seront repoussées, mais que, si paradoxal que cela puisse paraître, les mineurs retourneront au travail aux conditions fixées par le district. Depuis vendredi on signale le retour de 6. 832 mineurs au travail, ce qui porte le total à 171. 419, chiffre dans lequel sont compris les 60. 000 ouvriers préposés à la sauvegarde des puits. [?]