L’Écho annamite
- A Necessary Foundation
- Events in China
- The Bank of France and Purchases of Gold Coins
This issue of L'Écho annamite led with a signed column by "E. A." arguing that Indochina lacked schools beyond the primary level. The writer said the Collège Chasseloup-Laubat in Saigon and the Collège du Protectorat in Hanoi turned away as many pupils as they admitted, or more, every year, and that despite repeated French promises to educate the Annamese, only about a dozen young Annamese reached the baccalauréat each year. A dispatch signed "X." described China's Nationalist Government setting up provisional civil administrations in the provinces won by its armies, keeping the generals out of civil affairs, and even winning over Zhejiang's commanders. A short notice announced a new Bank of France price for buying gold coins from 3 November.
Translation
A Necessary Foundation
We often complain that education is not yet widespread enough in Indochina. Not only do many villages have no primary schools, but children who have successfully passed the examinations for the certificat d'études cannot go any further, because the establishments offering higher primary and secondary education are too few. Thus, for example, establishments such as the Collège Chasseloup-Laubat in Saigon or the Collège du Protectorat in Hanoi are obliged every year, at the start of the school year, to turn away a number of pupils equal to or greater than the number they are able to admit. How many of these children, whose keen intelligence and love of work were nonetheless plainly shown during their five years of primary schooling, could certainly have gone further with success and reached the baccalauréat just as well as their young French schoolmates!.. The result of this situation is that, despite the intentions so clearly and so often affirmed by the French administration to educate us and raise us up, only a dozen young Annamese reach the baccalauréat each year.
Events in China
The successes won by the Nationalist armies in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian made it possible to extend the Nationalist Government's control over their territories. The Government immediately set about organizing a provisional administration and entrusted its direction to capable officials. These were ordered to cooperate with the military commanders, who were asked not to intervene in the civil administration. The existing popular organizations took part in the provincial and district councils. All the measures adopted to establish close cooperation between the Nationalist authorities and the provincial populations were rigorously carried out. The result exceeded all expectations. Notably, the military commanders in Zhejiang province were seen to have no fear of the Nationalist Government and, after accepting its control, to ask for its help with political reforms.
The Bank of France and Purchases of Gold Coins
From 3 November, the Bank of France will apply to its purchases of gold coins a price of 18 francs per gram of fine gold instead of 9, which represents a fall of 10 fr. 23 per louis d'or since the beginning of the exchange operations.
Context
How small Indochina's higher education was in the 1920s
The colony did have a university at the top of the ladder, but it was small. The Indochinese University in Hanoi was founded by a 1906 decree of Governor General Paul Beau, opened in 1907 and closed in 1908 for financial reasons. It reopened in 1917–1918 as a group of five schools: medicine, public works, administration, teaching and agriculture-forestry. Even after more schools were added in the 1920s, the university had only 511 students in 1929, about half of them from Tonkin. E. A. places the bottleneck lower down, at the collèges that prepared pupils for the baccalauréat. His claims that Chasseloup-Laubat and the Collège du Protectorat turned away as many applicants as they admitted, and that only about a dozen Annamese passed the baccalauréat each year, are the paper's own figures. The sources cited here do not confirm them.
Vietnamese students who left for Paris and Canton
Some young Vietnamese left the colony to study abroad. A 1927 estimate counted about 3,000 Vietnamese in Paris, and most of the students among them came from southern Vietnam, Cochinchina. This fits a column that cites a Saigon collège as its first example of pupils being turned away. France was not the only destination: in the interwar years Canton and its Whampoa Military Academy also attracted several Vietnamese students. Canton was the seat of the Nationalist Government whose progress the same page reports.
The Canton government in the autumn of 1926
By the time this dispatch appeared, the Nationalist Government was moving its centre of gravity north from Canton. The Northern Expedition armies left in July 1926. In October the Kuomintang ended the Canton–Hong Kong strike, and in December the National Government moved to Wuhan. The strike had been a source of radical labour power in Canton. In March 1926 Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law in Guangzhou and detained left-wing strike leaders, and when the strike ended in October 1926 the strikers had won few of their original demands. Harold Isaacs, in his critical 1938 history, wrote that after these events full control of Guangdong passed to the southern general Li Chi-sen. The dispatch signed X. presents civil-military cooperation in the newly won provinces as a complete success, with generals staying out of civil administration and Zhejiang's commanders accepting Nationalist control. That is the correspondent's account. The sources cited here do not cover the Zhejiang claim, and they show a government that had curbed its own left wing in Canton that same year.
Émile Moreau's Bank of France and the gold purchases
The notice came from a Bank of France led by Émile Moreau, who was governor from 1926 to 1930. Moreau led the Bank's work on stabilising the Poincaré franc in 1926 and strongly supported de facto devaluation. He also argued for building up gold reserves in the years before the Great Depression. Buying gold coins from the public points the same way, since it draws privately held gold into the Bank. The sources do not explain how the price per gram was set. The figures in the notice are also inconsistent as printed: a change from 9 to 18 francs per gram would be a rise, yet the item calls it a fall. The notice's own numbers therefore cannot show how the Bank's purchase price had actually moved.
Original
UNE FONDATION NÉCESSAIRE
Nous nous plaignons souvent de ce que l'enseignement n'est pas encore assez répandu en Indochine, non seulement beaucoup de villages n'ont pas d'écoles primaires, mais encore les enfants qui ont subi avec succès les épreuves du certificat d'études ne peuvent continuer plus loin parceque les établissements leur donnant les enseignements primaire supérieur et secondaire sont en nombre insuffisant. C'est ainsi que, par exemple, des établissements tels que le collège Chasseloup-Laubat à Saigon ou le collège du Protectorat à Hanoi se voient dans l'obligation de refuser chaque année, à la rentrée scotaire, un nombre d'élèves égal ou supérieur à celui qu'ils peuvent admettre. Combien de ces enfants, dont la vive intelligence et l'amour du travail se sont cependant nettement manifestés au cours des cinq années d'études primaires, auraient pu certainement poursuivre plus loin avec succès et parvenir au baccalauréat aussi bien que leurs petits condisciples français!.. Le résultat de cette situation est que, malgré les intentions bien et souvent affirmées par l'administration française de nous instruire et de nous élever. une douzaine de jeunes gens annamites seulement parviennent chaque année au baccalauréat.
LES EVÈNEMENTS DE CHINE
Les succès remportés par les armées nationalistes dans les provinces du Hounan, Houpeh, Kiangsi. Tchékiang et Foukien permirent d'étendre le contrôle du Gouvernement Nationaliste sur leurs territoires. Celui-ci s'occupa immédiatement de l'organisation d'une administration provisoi re et en confia la direction à des agents capables. Ceux-ci reçurent ordre de coopérer avec les chefs militaires qui furent invités à ne pas intervenir dans l'administration civile. Les organisations populaires existantes participèrent aux conseils provinciaux et des districts. Toutes les mesures adoptées pour établir une coopération étroite entre les autorités nationalistes et les populations provinciales furent rigoureusement exécutées. Le résultat dépassa toutes les espérances. On vit notamment les chefs militaires dans la province du Tchékiang ne rien craindre du Gouvernement Nationaliste et solliciter son aide pour les réformes politiques, après avoir accepté son contrôle.
La Banque de France et les achats des monnaies d'or
A partir du 3 Novembre, la Banque de France appliquera pour les achats de monnaies en or le prix de 18 francs par gramme d'or fin au lieu de 9, ce qui représente une baisse de 10 fr. 23 par leurs d'or depuis le commencement des opérations d'échange.