Army officers welcome the announcement that M, Painleve, the War Minister, has written to M. Poincaré asking him to increase the scale of pay. The position of many' officers is, as I mentioned in a previous letter, extremely difficult, on account of their pay not having been raised in proportion to the cost of living. In Paris, most of them are obliged to do outside work to make oth ends meet. Some do account-fancy jobs for business firms; others Jdrive taxi-cabs or act as' ticket collectors and inspectors on the omnibus and "tube" dines. The' colonel of a regiment stationed in Paris once had to countermand a night march so that his officers Jwould not lose the outside occupations which they needed to eke out their small incomes. Things became so bad that it was even proposed some months ago to form an officers' syndicate or trade union, but fortunately Marshal Petain had sufficient influence to prevent this project front being carried out.
The position of army officers was: /urought home to them more acutely than ever when the present scale pensions took effect about two years Jago and they discovered what their position was supposed to be in the found himself between the head and mal service. A major-general
the assistant hend of a Government depiartinent, a colonel was on about the same footing as a police commissioner and the—time-expired sergeant who remained in the arm, perceived. that his "pension would no better than that of a second-class office attendant. This state of things inevitably caused great discontent, extending to all ranks. The "Journal" publishes the text, of 'a confidential letter sent in July 11924 by Marshal Petain in reply to query by General Nollet, then! Minister for War, as to whether he thought the army could be counted the upon in the event of internal: dis turbances. The Marshal replies "The sense of duty, formerly carried by officers to so high a pitch is not extinct. It still exists, especially among officers of the pre-war period with whom it is a tradition; but, as] the result of the upheaval caused by the war and subsequent disappointments, the sense of duty has been blunted. The cause can only be found in the difficulties of existence, lack of promotion, the instability of our military institutions and the uncertainty of the future.
A feeling of hostility has gen. jup against the political leaders of the country, who, rightly or wrongly, are held responsible for this state vf things. I do not believe there is nny isk of a military insurrection. We have not yet reached that point. We must not, however, allow the ideas of military syndicates and votes for officers to take root. I have exerted the whole of my influence against them, Anyt lence the army amba But the real danger in the event of istirbances would be the neutrality of the army, beginning with that of its leaders. It would be a very serious matter indeed if the army remained passive and refused to do anything.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.