At the Congress of Rennes (1898), the Federal Committee presented a plan of a "federal viaticum", and in 1900, the _Office national de statistique et de placement_ was organized. The "federal viaticum" was optional for members of the federation, and though presenting certain advantages for the Bourses, was accepted by very few of them. Organized in 1899, it functioned unsatisfactorily. The _Office national_ began activity in June, 1900. It was organized with the financial aid of the government. In 1900, after the Universal Exhibition, Paris was overcrowded with unemployed workingmen, and the government thought it could make use of the Federation of Bourses to disperse them over the country. Before that, in November, 1899, the Federal Committee had addressed the government for a subsidy of 10,000 francs to organize the _Office national_. In June, 1900, the Government granted 5,000 francs. The _Office_ began to publish a weekly statistical bulletin containing the information on the fluctuation of employment sent to the Federal Committee by the Bourses. The _Office_, however, did not give the expected results. In organizing these services, the Federation of Bourses always kept in mind the interests of the syndicats. It directed workingmen to employers who satisfied the general conditions imposed by the syndicats. The _viaticum_ also served to diminish competition among workingmen in ordinary times, or during strikes. In all its activity the Federal Committee generally followed the same policy. It called the attention of one Bourse to the experiments and to the achievements of others; it made its own suggestions and recommendations and it carried out the decisions of the Congresses. It did not regard itself as a central organ with power to command. Constituted on a federalist basis, the Bourses expected from the Federal Committee merely the preliminary study of problems of a common interest, reserving for themselves the right to reject both the problems and the study; they considered even their Congresses merely as _foyers_ where the instruments of discussion and of work were forged.[97] [97] F. Pelloutier, _op. cit._, p. 154. The activity of the Federal Committee was handicapped by insufficiency of means. The financial state of the Federation between 1892 and 1902 may be gathered from the following table: _Receipts_ _Expenses_ _Francs_ _Centimes_ _Francs_ _Centimes_ 1892-1893 247 209 45 1893-1894 573 95 378 95 1894-1895 1,342 55 960 07 1895-1896 2,380 05 1,979 1896-1897 2,310 75 1,779 45 1897-1900 6,158 75 5,521 45 1900-1901 4,297 85 3,029 71 1901-1902 5,541-- 85 4,320 80