Evening star., 1926-04-04

| defeated and the franc be still further
markedly depressed in consequence,
! they might get the ma jor blame for
| the latter and be punished according
| ly. The support of the radical So
| cialists who stood by the government
| had to be bought by the government s
most unwilling acquiescence to inclu-
| sion in the taxation bill of proposals
/ of government oil and sugar monop-
olies, the former certainly Ito become
effective April l, 1920 a dubious
. project intimately involving relations
| with Russia.
| 1t seems likely that the Senate will
! take those proposals out of the tax
| alton bill, which might mean more
rowing in the Chamber.
The true measure of confidence will
| be the extent to which the maturing
sholt t-term obligations are resub-
/, scribed.
The franc fell to 3.S91a cents the
| other day on New York Exchange,
the lowest point ever. l believe 1t has
| since recovered to about 3.46.
Having completed the above l note
that the French Chamber. since send
ing its taxation bill to the Senate, has
voted an increase of 80 per cent on
most import duties to offset the rev.
enue loss from the fall of the franc.
Last Sunday an incident of some
importance followed the election OF
two Communists to the Chamber
through support from the unified
Socialists and radical Socialists, their
victories over opposing candidates
supported by the League Of Young
Patriots" being very narrow ones.
When the results We're announced
there was considerable demonstra-
~, - rf
triots," in the course of which one of
the young patriots was knocked on
the head by a policeman. His subse-
quent death has further embittered
the already sufficiently bitter feeling
of the extremists toward each other.
The Duke of Orleans, head of the
House of Bourbon and pretender to
the throne of France since 1894, is
dead. He was son of that Comte de
Paris who was attached to McClel-
lans staff in the Civil War, and wrote
history of that conflict. and grand.
son of Louis Philippe, King Of the
French. His cousin, the Duke of
Guise, succeeds him as head of the
House of Bourbon. Presumably, even
If that gentleman should renounce his
claims, the French government would
not consider 1t safe to allow him TO
he has TO he an exile, he might as
we'll have the fun attaching to the
role of pretender. Indeed, one hears
that he has formally assumed that
role. He seems to be a good sort.
Rumors continue to float about
vaguely importing that Abd-el-krim
is making overtures looking TO peace
with France and Spain. Reports
greatly differ as to whether or no
ABIDE -krim is in good plight to con
tinue the struggle. The weather and
the condition of the terrain should
soon be favorable to operations on the
grand scale. And then we shall see
what we shall see.
The Druses and the bandits of
varied sort continue to whoop things
up against the French authorities in
Syria, but NJ. de Jouvenel. the French
high commissioner. announces that
about April 10, when the roads should
be in good condition and the weather
heartening to the Africans. Algerians,
Moroccans, Tunisians and Senegalese,
who constitute the bulk of the troops
under the French colors, his troops
will begin a campaign intended
thoroughly to deracinate rebellion and