Now or Never

Neither the President of the U. S. nor any Cabinet officer is privileged by custom to ask Congress for endorsement or condemnation of any course which he proposes to pursue. Thus President Thomas Woodrow Wilson did not know whether or not he was negotiating at Paris a treaty which would be approved by Congress. But in France it is otherwise. There, Parliament can be asked to register approval or disapproval in advance. With intent to ask such a question, Prime Minister Raymond Poincare, renowned "Lion of Lorraine," went solemnly last week before the Chamber of Deputies.

In a masterly three and a half hour address, M. Poincare reminded the Chamber that negotiations for revision of the Dawes Plan are about to begin among the Allies, the U. S. and Germany (TIME, Jan. 14). The representatives of France, he said, must have a free hand. They would cling tenaciously to the principle that Germany must pay enough to satisfy French reparations claims and cover the debt of France to Britain and the U. S. Within that rigid framework the Chamber ought to accord the Government every liberty in negotiation.

"If you propose to overthrow my Cabinet, mes amis," cried the Prime Minister, "do so now! A crisis today would have serious but reparable consequences. A crisis once the negotiations have begun would be a mortal blow to France!"

Pondering well these words the Chamber presently gave the Prime Minister a vote of confidence, 325 to 251, a majority of 74. Thus the Government of France need not fear to be knifed in the back by Parliament, during the Reparations negotiations, as was Thomas Woodrow Wilson when he sought and failed to persuade Congress that the U. S. should enter the League of Nations.