Evening star., 1925-04-26
FRANCE FEELS ANXIETY.
DISGUST, DEPRESSION
Masses Are Disturbed by Plight Occa-
stoned by Internal Conditions and
Character Of Government.

own finance minister. NJ. Clementel.
who promptly resigned. not only leav-
ing Herriot in a position which had
now become hopeless, but plunging
the whole country into a highly
nervous state The adverse vote in
the Senate and the resignation of
Herriot which followed were inevita-
able consequences.
Thus. in something less than year
~ Radical-Socialist. progressive
government, as we should say in
America. had destroyed the unity of
France at home. the political unity
which had endured all the shocks OF
the war; 1t had gravely weakened
the actual position of French foreign
relations; il had struck a blow at
French prestige and popularity in
Alsace- Lorraine; it had forced poll
ties into the colleges, precipitating
revolt of the students. and, finally.
1t had brought France, from the fiscal
point of view, to the verge of crisis
the gravity of which could not be
exaggerated.
Surrender to Socialists.
For all of this no one in France
held Herriot responsible. The French
verdict was that the prime minister
was no more than good -natured,
weak. but sincerely and Realistically
| honest man, who, to take power-for
he was, like Macdonald, inordinately
a ambitious-had surrendered his real
| liberty to the Socialists, without whose
votes he could not retain his position.
/ TO these Socialists. to the direct
domination of Leon Blum, the leader
! of the Socialists and, in the minds
of many, the true master of France
| for the past 10 months, were to
be ascribed most, if not all, OF the
various incidents, blunders and worse
| than blunders which have brought
| France to the least attractive position
she has held since the war.
1t is interesting to note. too. that
with Herriot, a with Macdonald. per
! sonal vanity, the rather extraordinary
! imitation that comes with power,
played no little part in the ultimate
| downfall. Before he came 70 power he
| was one of the simplest and most ap-
| proachable of men His associates,
! like himself, denounced the old order,
denounced secret diplomacy and old
| fashioned methods from the house
| tops. but no sooner did they come to
| Office than they adopted a secrecy
which put that of all predecessors in
the shade. Poincare used to see re
porters. he even had a day each week
| on which he received the American
| correspondents, but the new radical
prime minister and his associates be
came invisible. the spirit in which they
ruled was that of Moscow, the manner
| reminiscent of the Soviet in it's utter
lack of Openness or regard for public
! information.
Senate Stands Guard
For year. then, France has been
undergoing this affiictfon of a Radical
Socialist government which repre-
sented. to put it mildly, trial mar
/ riage between Moscow and Utopia. be-
tween the Soviet and the idealist, be
tween the Blum Socialist and the
| Herriot Radical. 1t has terminated
| now because all France is reused, be
cause the Senate has al last inter
vened to put a barrier between the
radical and Socialists of the Cham
Der and the further realization of
| a program which it is now realized
/ would leave France defenseless on her
frontiers, without credit in the money
| markets abroad and divided into
fiercely fighting factions at home.
| have been going TO France pretty
regularly for the last Is years. and
never in this time, never even in the
worst days of the war, have / found
anything like the anxiety, dis
gust. depression which are to he
felt on all sides at the present moment.
You do not have to read the papers
Oh Ine OPPOSITION, you 40 not nave 10
go beyond your concierge in the hotel.
your neighbor in the cafe to realize
/ how profoundly shaken and disturbed
the mass of the French people are at
the plight in which they find them
selves and at the character of the gov
ernment which the election saddled
upon them.
France in the days of the war was
at least self respecting. brave. de-
termined. but France. after a year of
Herriot. is something quite different.
| Yet the road TO deliverance is not
easy. for there still repains in the
Chamber of Deputies "a ma iority
made up of radicals. Socialists. with
convenient Communist votes aYaila-
BILE, which may block any attempt to
form real ministry of national de-
fense. And it is nothing less than a
ministry of national defense which
could now restore French confidence.
In the end it may be necessary for
the president and the Senate to dis
solve the Chamber and force a new
election. unless there Is break I'm
the ranks of the radicals, which
might make the forma ton of a new
bloc possible.
Depends on German Election.
Much. If not everything. now de-
pends upon the progress of the Ger
man election. The fact of the Hin
denburg candidacy has already made
a profound impression upon the
French mind. If there should be re-
vealed any possibility that this can
didacy might succeed, then there
would be rush to the right within
the present French Parliament which
would make any new election un-
necessary. On the other hand, if the
defeat of Hindenburg takes place.
then it may be that there will be ex-
periments with one or two more
weak and more or less radical min
istries before the real test comes.
At the moment we are plainly ap-
preaching a constitutional crisis. a
struggle between the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies, but in the last
analysis the position of the Senate is
strengthened by the fact that it is
likely to have the support OF the
President of the republic, who was
chosen in opposition TO the wish and
efforts of the radical Socialist COM
btnation in the Chamber.
Makeup of Cabinet.
As 1 write this article announce
ment Is made of q combination cab
met of Painleve, Caillaux and BRAND
The first two names are fairly sig
nif1cant of the present situation.
Painleye is the man who as war
minister is held responsible in many
quarters for the failure of the French
offeI%ive at the Aisne in 1917, which
led TO the temporary decentralization
OF the French army. AS prime min
lister, a little later, he brought France
to the edge of defeat by his hopeless
incompetency. the defeat which was
only averted by the coming of