Evening star., 1928-12-23
PO|NCARE CABINET
FACES DOWN. ALL
Premier, in III Health, Seems
to Be Losing Grip on
Government.
(By radio to The Star and the New Yorl
Herald-Trihune. CopYright. 1921

| (By radio to The Star and the New York
Herald-Tribune. Copyright, 1929
| PARIS, December 23.-The handwrit-
ing on the French political wall at pres
ent offers many indications that the
new Poincare government will be short
lived. A series of events in and out of
the Chamber, of which the Gazette du
Frances" 125,000, ,00O-f franc scandal, in
volving the names of important editors
and politicians, is by no means the
least, have tended one after another to
weaken appreciably the prestige of the
man who for 28 months ruled France
with an iron hand.
Today senators, deputies and busi-
ness men are saying that Poincare isn't
the old Poincare, that his grip on the
government has slackened discouraging-
ly. To make matters more depressing
Poincare is in bad health. He is man
physically tired. At SO he has driven
himself almost to the limit of endur-
ance and the pace is beginning to tell.
His mania for work. as the French
call it, remains unassuaged, but his
wonderfully firm constitution has begun
to revolt.
The premier is now suffering from
an abscess in the throat which is suff1-
ciently grave to compel him to request
the finance committee the other day not
to question him too long, since his con-
dition wouldn't allow him to speak at
length These things have not passed
unnoticed by those close to Poincare,
They are wondering how much longer
he can stand the strain and whether
his health or his support will break
first.
Strength Lesson.
For tragic as it may seem, Poincare's
support in both Chamber and Senate
today is sadly depleted from that of a
few months ago. The ministry of re-
publican concord when founded, was in
no sense ministry of national union,
and now that is all too evident. With
out being too pessimistic, it is necessary
to remark that sound political observ-
ers in Paris see stormy days ahead for
the government in January when the
Chamber reconveneS, and in the opinion
of many it would not be surprising If
the Poincare ministry falls either in
January or February. What was once
strong majority has been whitfield
away in the budget debate until now
there are only score or two votes, and
this week has served to demonstrate
that the majority is more precarlous
than ever
From the time the new government
was formed on Armistice day, almost
every event has revealed an increasing
weakness of Poincares ministry. With
it has been a pronounced sapping OF
Poincare's prestige and a slackening
of the old Poincarean f1rmness with
which he held the reins. In the cham
| Der a bitter budget debate, even though
the budget finally was passed. offered
evidence that the government was not
sure of itself. The Chambers final
all-night budget sitting was a turbu-
lent affair wherein the opposition ran
helter-skelter, forced through the radi-
cal boost of deputies salaries by a
questionable margin of eight votes
Since then the number of deputies
J has changed the vote SO that provision
as passed the Chamber now does not
represent the Chambers true vote. Dur
ing this time the government failed to
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