Journal de Genève
- The International Labour Office Session
- Federal Finances and the Pension Funds
- Impressions of Syria
The Journal de Genève's front page of 15 October 1926 covered international labour, Swiss public finance and the French mandate in Syria. A column signed W. M. previewed a session of the International Labour Office. It expected the eight-hour day to be the main political issue again and cited Albert Thomas's gloomy August article on the setbacks: a ninth working hour in Italy, longer hours in British mines and worrying rumours from France and Poland. Alfred Georg reminded readers that the federal civil servants' fund and the Federal Railways pension fund together had a deficit of 643 million. He argued that the interest on that sum alone, over 32 million francs a year, plus 40 million for social insurance, threatened to keep the federal budget out of balance. An unsigned report from Syria described a drive from Beirut to Damascus and Baalbek and an unescorted afternoon tour of the Meidan quarter with General Vallier, presented as proof that calm had returned.
Translation
The International Labour Office Session
…services to countries grappling with social difficulties, and it is not ruled out that work in the mines may one day be the subject of a special session of the Conference.
* * *
From the political point of view, the central interest of this session will be, as so often already in the past, the question of the eight-hour day. Circumstances in this matter do not appear kind to the International Labour Organisation. M. Albert Thomas published on this subject, in the August issue of his review, a rather melancholy article. The introduction of a ninth hour of work in Italy, in the country which was one of the first to ratify the Washington Convention; the lengthening of working hours in the mines in England; rumours reaching us from France and Poland offset the ratifica-
Federal Finances and the Pension Funds
Before the popular vote of last 5 December on social insurance, we had, in this very space, drawn the attention of the Federal Council and of the Swiss people to the deficit of 643 million shown by the Fund for Federal Civil Servants (281.9 million) and the C.F.F. pension fund (361.4 million). This deficit, we said, represents a liability chargeable to the Confederation. The interest on this sum at 5% alone requires an annual expenditure of more than 32 million francs, which, added to the 40 million planned for social insurance, must seriously jeopardise the restoration of the Confederation's financial balance.
Impressions of Syria
…-die and 'shake off' the other vehicles, which we saw again only when they arrived at Palmyra… as we were leaving it again). A few days ago we drove from Beirut to Damascus and to Baalbek. Calm and order reign everywhere in this region, where bands of bandits were still holding out only a few weeks ago. General Vallier, commander of the infantry troops of the Levant and commander of the Damascus region, kindly drove me in his car through the city and right into the Meidan quarter, which was the bandits' quarter. We travelled the whole afternoon without any escort, without a single soldier on our car, and we did not have the slight-
Context
The 1925 social insurance vote behind Georg's warning
Alfred Georg ties the federal pension deficits to the social insurance programme that Swiss voters had just endorsed. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, voters approved Article 34quater of the Federal Constitution by a clear majority on 6 December 1925. The article obliged the Confederation to create old-age and survivors' insurance (AHV). The paper dates the vote 5 December, while the dictionary gives 6 December. The constitutional article created only an obligation, and the AHV did not begin operating until 1948. The 40 million francs a year that Georg counts for social insurance was therefore a provision for a scheme that did not yet exist. His argument is that the Confederation should face its existing pension liabilities before taking on a new national programme.
The federal civil servants' law and the long pension problem
Georg's column appeared while the federal civil service was being reorganised by law. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland records that the Federal Council submitted a draft civil servants' law to Parliament in 1924. Parliament adopted it in 1927. The law imposed a duty of loyalty, restricted political activity and banned strikes. The deficits of 281.9 million in the civil servants' fund and 361.4 million in the railway pension fund were therefore a live issue while the new law was still pending. The pension question remained unresolved long after 1927. On 3 December 1939, voters rejected another federal salary law that would have brought a modest pay rise and a rehabilitation of the pension funds.
How the Great Syrian Revolt reached Damascus
The 'bandits' in the Syria report were part of the Great Syrian Revolt against French mandate rule. The revolt broke out in July 1925 in the Jebel Druze and spread to Syria and southern Lebanon. It reached Damascus, which the French army bombarded on 19 October 1925. Historians describe a nationalist insurrection whose demands were Syrian independence and unity. France answered with force. By early 1926 it had raised its troops to 50,000. By the spring of 1926, artillery fire had destroyed much of Damascus and the nationalist leaders had been forced into exile. The report's word 'bandits' and its picture of the Meidan as the bandits' quarter give the mandate side's view of a conflict that these accounts treat as a political uprising.
How far Damascus was pacified in autumn 1926
The correspondent reports that calm and order reigned around Damascus. The historical accounts show that this region held out longer than most of Syria. After France renewed its offer of a full amnesty in February 1926, the whole country was pacified except the Jebel Druze and Damascus. Operations in the Damascus region lasted longer than elsewhere before the area was finally pacified. The revolt as a whole continued for about another year. The Druze were decisively defeated in spring 1927, and Sultan al-Atrash went into exile in Transjordan. The French army finished suppressing the insurrection at the end of summer 1927. The unescorted afternoon in the Meidan therefore shows conditions in the city during the last phase of the revolt, not after it had ended. General Vallier's titles and the report that fighting had continued 'a few weeks' earlier remain the paper's own statements.
Original
La session du B. I. T.
services aux pays aux prises avec des difficultés sociales, et il n'est pas exclu que le travail dans les mines forme un jour l'objet d'une session spéciale de la Conférence. * * * Au point de vue politique, l'intérêt central de cette session sera, comme si souvent déjà dans le passé, la question des huit heures. Les circonstances, en cette matière, ne paraissent pas clémentes à l'Organisation internationale du travail. M. Albert Thomas a publié, à ce sujet, dans le numéro d'août de sa revue, un article assez mélancolique. L'institution d'une neuvième heure de travail en Italie, dans le pays qui, l'un des premiers, avait ratifié la convention de Washington; la prolongation du travail dans les mines en Angleterre; des bruits qui parviennent de France et de Pologne compensent la ratifica -
Les finances fédérales et les caisses de retraite
- Avant le vote populaire du 5 décembre dernier sur les assurances sociales, nous avions, à cette même placc, attiré l'attention du Conseil fédéral et celle du peuple suisse sur le déficit de 643 millions qu'accusait la Caisse des fonctionnaires de la Confédération (281. 9 millions) et la caisse de pensions des C. F. F. (361, 4 millions). Ce déficit, ' disions-nous, représente un passif à la charge de la Confédération. Le seul service des intérêts de cette somme à 5% nécessite une dépense annuelle de plus de 32 millions de francs. qui, ajoutée aux 40 millions prévus pour les assurances sociales, doit compromettre gravement le rétablissement de l'équilibre financier de la Confédération.
Impressions de Syrie
die et «semer» les autres véhicules que nous n'avons revus qu'à leur arrivée à Palmyre... lorsque nous en repartions). Il y a quelques jours. nous nous sommes rendus en auto de Beyrouth à Damas et à Balbek. La tranquillité et l'ordre règnent partout dans cette région où les troupes de bandits résistaient il y a quelques semaines encore. Le général Vallier, commandant les troupes d'infanterie du Levant, commandant la région de Damas, a bien voulu me conduire dans son auto à travers la ville et jusque dans le quartier de Meidan, qui fut celui des bandits. Nous avons cheminé toute l'aprèssans aucune escorte, sans un seul soldat sur notre voiture, et nous n'avons pas eu le moin -