Another important problem now before the French public is the reduction of the period of military service. Committees of both Houses of Parliament are assiduously studying the question of reducing the term from three years to two, and General Andre, the War Minister, has expressed readiness to give the plan a trial. The legislators who take a special interest in the matter of depopulation have chipped in with a suggestion that any conscript who shall have married before joining his regiment shall be let off with only one ¥" Premature such as Would be encouraged by this proposal are hardly desirable. A more important feature of the question is the consensus of opinion among all the experts that the change in the period of service from three years to two will involve the abolition of what are called " dispensations" or reductions of two years to young amen studying for a profession. Under the new scheme, the youths who were liable to three years' military service would gain a year while those who escaped with one year would be obliged to serve two. This would be nothing less than a tax on intellect. The future lawyer, doctor or incor would have to give up what the working man would gain. This is serious occasion for conflict between the bourgeoisie and. the democracy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.