Crucial Slap

Stimulated by the success of liberals in England and Japan (see p. 25), Socialists, members of the Left Cartel in the Chamber of Deputies spent a busy week trying to overthrow the Poincare government.

Having shunned the issue for three years, the Deputies were faced last week with ratifying the Mellon-Berenger Debt Agreement (TIME, July 8). No other course was open to them. They had either to ratify the agreement or pay a separate War supplies account of 400 millions to the U. S. on Aug. 1.

Early in the week the following extraordinary statement appeared in L'lntransigeant, powerful popular daily:

"American friends as well as those Americans who are not our friends, put this in your pipe; you will never see the color of our $400,000,000 on August first.'

This was not an admission of France's racial dislike of paying bills so much as admission that the debt agreement would have to be ratified.

White chinned Prime Minister Raymond Poincare, facing the facts, insisted that the agreement be ratified at once, as written, without reservation. Like bilious children avoiding bitter physic, the Deputies fought against ratification and used the issue as excuse to shin-kick the Poincare cabinet. Meeting outside to Chamber, both the Finance Committee and the Committee on Foreign Affairs voted to ratify the debt agreement provided that a reservation was inserted making France's payments to the U. S. conditional on Germany's payments to France under the Young plan. Patiently Premier Poincare reiterated that this would never be accepted by the U. S., which has immovably insisted that Europe's debts to the U. S. and Germany's reparations to Europe must be kept separate. He wanted the reservation, if made at all, to be in the form of a separate announcement, noted and communicated to the U. S. apart from the Mellon-Berenger plan. The Opposition was immovable, clung to its reservation. Inflated with temporary success they waited a chance for a test of strength. With Latin complexity, a crisis was built up which had nothing to do with the merits of the reservation, very little to do with the debt.

There had been a parade of wounded veterans in protest against debt ratification. The police had tried to stop the parade. In the Chamber, Deputy Maurice Dormann, representing the veterans, rose to make Minister of the Interior Andre Tardieu admit that during the parade, the bland face of Prefect of Police Jean Chiappe had been twice slapped by an outraged woman. Minister Tardieu assured the honorable deputy that the face of M. Chiappe had not so been slapped. Veteran Dormann declared he had seen it with his own eyes. He suddenly shouted: "As a Deputy, as a war veteran, as a man. I have been insulted! I demand an official retraction!"

For a few minutes the face of M. Chiappe threatened to upset the government of France. Prime Minister Poincare and Minister Tardieu pleaded anxiously with Deputy Dormann, pointed to the gleeful faces of the Opposition, told M. Dormann that he was being used as a parliamentary tool to overturn the government by creatures afraid to attack the government directly on the score of debt ratification. Deputy Dormann hesitated, cooled off, let the "crisis" pass.

Quick to follow his advantage was Premier Poincare. He called his cabinet together and had it vote as a unit against reservations in the debt accord. Over the week-end he sent urgent messages to those deputies who had not the courage to vote one way or the other, a considerable group. Cannily he pointed out that if his government should fall there was no opposition leader with any better prospects of keeping a cabinet in power; further, that if he should fall, they, the irresolute deputies, stood a very good chance of losing their seats.