FRANCE OFFENDS SWITZERLAND

WHAT might seem to the superficial observer to be merely a tempest in a teapot, owing to the comparatively small importance of the original subject under consideration, namely, the confirmation of the so-called 'free zones' agreement of 1919 between France and Switzerland, has led to action on the part of M. Poincaré that the Franco-Swiss press does not hesitate to call high-handed, while the German-Swiss papers go so far as to speak of an ultimatum. There can be no doubt that, whatever the merits of the case may be, all circles in Switzerland, of whatever political complexion, are highly indignant and defiant.

The convention of 1919, regarded by the Swiss as temporary until ratified by a referendum, according to the Swiss constitution, has to do with certain artificial customs-boundaries which do not coincide with the political frontiers. It is hardly worth while to go into the details of the arrangement, but the important point is that, when it was subjected to a referendum of the people, it was disapproved and therefore could not be ratified. When the French Government was informed of this result, M. Poincaré addressed a letter to the Swiss Minister at Paris, express

ing surprise, impatience, and the 'confident hope' that Switzerland would nevertheless, and in spite of the referendum, proceed to ratify the convention. Among other things he said:

In acknowledging the receipt of your communication I find myself compelled to inform you that the French Government is not of the opinion that the reasons given by the Federal Government for not ratifying the convention of August 7, 1921, are valid (fondées). . . .

...

The Swiss Government certainly does not mean to cite as authoritative a referendum

rendering inoperative a convention regularly concluded with France in realization of

and conformity with the agreement of 1919.

I shall be very much obliged if, in explaining these considerations to the Federal Government, you will kindly request that it confirm, with the least possible delay, its agreement with the Government of the Republic, by carrying into effect the convention of the seventh of August, 1921.

It is, of course, in the phrase, 'with the least possible delay,' that the Swiss see an ultimatum; and the Baseler Nachrichten is of the opinion that Poincaré's 'note has for its object the preparation of Switzerland for France's next step, which will be the consolidation of the Customs cordon with the Swiss frontier in other words the arbitrary abandonment of all free-zones arrangements.'

The Swiss Nationalzeitung, referring to the excuse that the Swiss had for some time tacitly agreed to the convention and should therefore promptly ratify it, chides the French for splitting hairs and asking Switzerland to disregard her constitution. The Journal de Genève, usually very pro-French, quotes M. Poincaré against himself from an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes, as follows:

'France has always been, and still remains, the acknowledged spokesman of the great ideas that lead humanity onward. But she displays a pathetic weakness in the art of exploiting her qualities and her actions.'

Must we believe that M. Poincaré, now that he has become head of his Government, is too absorbed by matters of state to correct errors which he once denounced? It is to be hoped that the Cabinet presided over by M. Raymond Poincaré, being now in possession of the reply of the Federal Council, will consider in a broad way the question of Franco-Swiss relations, and will think twice before casting a shadow upon those which the most ancient of all democracies maintains with the French Republic.

It is satisfactory to note that several French periodicals of standing are of the opinion that a way will be found to arrange matters without offending further the susceptibilities of the Swiss.

YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS

THE mutual antagonism of Serb and Croat seems to be coming to a head in the South-Slav Kingdom, and it is even rumored that M. Raditch has threatened to form an independent Croat Republic, though many believe that this is merely a political ruse, and that M. Raditch really desires Yugoslav unity, though on a federal basis.

The Radical Party that at present is in office, with the veteran M. Pashitch as Prime Minister, stands for a centralized Government in Yugoslavia, as

do also the Democrats. The opposition comes from the Croatian Agrarians, led by M. Raditch, and other Federalist parties. At the general election last Sunday the Radicals won 120 seats, the Croatian Agrarians 70, and the Democrats 50, the remaining 68 seats being divided between smaller groups.

As more than four fifths of the Yugoslav people live by agriculture, it is no wonder that all political parties have to a certain extent a dash of agrarianism. The Radicals, as has been pointed out in a previous article, were originally a peasant party, and the Democrat programme also covers rural interests and agrarian reform. The Croat Republican Peasant Party and the Croat Agricultural Labor Party are peasant parties in a more narrow sense, but both of them lay at least as much stress on Croat separatism as on agrarian and social reform. Peasant parties in the strictest acceptation of the term are the Peasant League (Zavez Zemljoradnika), the Agricultural Labor League (Zavez Težačka), the Agricultural Labor Union (Težačka Sloga), and the Independent Peasant Party (Samostojna Kmetijska Stranka). These four parties formed in the National Assembly the Club of Agriculturists, which comprised 39 members.

The most important of these, the Peasant League, is an avowed classparty whose members call each other 'brother,' and whose bitter language against the 'bourgeois' and the 'dictatorship of capital' is first cousin to the Socialist idiom. The fundamental idea of the Peasant League may be expressed by a modification of the famous formula of the Abbé Sieyès: 'What is the peasant? Nothing! What ought he to be? Everything.' From being pariahs the peasants are to be awakened to the consciousness of their human dignity. The chief demands of their programme are army reform,

electoral reform, and agrarian reform with expropriation of the big landowners without indemnity.

The Peasant League, indeed, is intended to be the starting-point of a great movement to introduce an entirely new social order. By means of the coöperative agricultural societies, of which there are more than 4000 'in Yugoslavia with over 200,000 members, they believe that a gradual transformation of society can be brought about.

BRAZILIAN FINANCE AND TRADE

THERE has been during the past few months a distinct appreciation in the price of Brazilian securities, a condition which is accepted in certain quarters with some suspicion, in our opinion unreasonably. Although the fall in the value of milreis is puzzling at first sight, there can be no doubt that it was solely in consequence of the very great financial liabilities incurred by the Government, mostly in connection with the war. On the other hand, the improvement in securities is owing to the allround effort a successful one- of the Government to reduce expenditures. This has been done in almost all fields controlled by the Government.

The official returns of the foreign trade of Brazil for the first nine months of 1922 show a favorable balance of trade exceeding $65,000,000, and there is no reason to doubt that there has been no decrease in this favorable tendency during the time which has elapsed since then. Whereas an impression has prevailed that Brazil has been importing foreign commodities out of all proportion to her exports, the actual fact is that she has been exporting in international values a considerably greater amount than she was importing. If she keeps on cutting down expenditures, the rise of the milreis cannot long be prevented; and general prosperity will

ensue, as ought to be inevitable in a country so rich in national wealth as Brazil, which enjoys a singularly fine climate, with practically no desert land, owing to a very general rainfall. This, for a tropical and semitropical country, is remarkable.

Nevertheless, only about one fifth of her enormous area is under cultivation, owing principally to a lack of capital, which must come for the most part from abroad. At the same time one great danger, as in most South American countries, is foreign ownership. Part of Brazil's difficulties have been due to undertaking to subsidize foreign enterprises, which, having recognized, she must of course sustain; but it is certainly the part of wisdom to encourage native investors as much as possible. This should not be very difficult, when the generous terms she offers to investors are considered.

A FRENCH FEMININE REFERENDUM

THE Paris correspondent of the Milan Corriere della Sera has made a number of interesting discoveries in regard to the French feminine soul, after a close study of Parisian women's magazines. One of these magazines put the following questions to its readers: Whom would you advise a friend to marry? To what nationality would you prefer to belong if you were not French?

The replies were more than twenty thousand in number, and the results very eloquent, as well as significant, for the reason that undoubtedly these ladies fairly represented modern French femininity. "Time was,' says the correspondent, 'when first place in the heart of woman was usurped by the romantic poet, the artist, the handsome armyofficer, or the irresistible opera tenor. But it is evident that the day of sentimental dreams is gone. Our epoch is a