Evening star., 1934-11-04
(Continued From First Page.)

the presidency in June, 1881, has
done his best to apply corrective
AS of all men he is the least in
clined. to be revolutionary and abhors
all the tenets of Fascism, he has
sought on every occasion for the ap-
to resign and reopen the gate to the
mob which last February surged on
the Place de Ia Concorde has been,
up till now, the only kind of pres
sure resorted to by him. But his
success, although substantial. cannot
by any means be called complete or
final.
To start with, he had to surround
himself when he took Office last Feb
ruary with the personnel of the old
regime because he did not want to
break too abruptly with the parlia-
mentary majority in existence. M.
Albert Sarraut, to whom the ministry
of the interior, the nerve center of
the police, was intrusted, is case in
point. How was it possible for such
a man, brought up in the Radical
Socialist party, to suppress the abuses
born of its long uncontrolled pre-
dominance? Moreover, M. Doumergue
had been helped to Office last Winter
by the Sarraut family, which is very
powerful in the south of France,
where it runs the "Depeche de Tou-
louse.' On personal grounds, there
fore. it was difficult for him to dis
pense with the services of that clan.
Making short work of all those con-
siderations, the terrible happening in
Marseille has freed him from many
obnoxious trammels. At last the
ministers and officials who are not
equal to their tasks have a good
chance OF disappearing.
But to remove incompetent or un-
worthy men is not enough. The sys-
tenn itself and the way it is practiced
must be altered. AS things stand to-
day, only statesmen of exceptional
energy can succeed in making the
governmental machinery work more
or less satisfactorily. A Clemenceau,
a Poincare, whatever may be their
limitations, are not the gift of every
year, not even of every 10 years.
The constitution must be changed
In such a manner as to enable a
premier nearer to the average to play
his part. OF course, some danger may
lurk in such an innovation. But,
everything considered, it is not to be
feared as much as the peril resulting
from the permanent debility of the
executive. For nearly three-quarters
Of century the trouble of the French
nation has not been that it was ruled
too drastically, but too weakly. To a
great extent the prodigiouS waste of
the World War and of its aftermath
has been the outcome. Hence the
amendments M. Doumergue wishes
to add to the constitutional laws of
February and July, 1875, the charter
OF the third republic.
They may be summarized as fol-
lows, reservation being made for the
atterthoughts M. Doumergue may
have before the reassembly of Parlia-
ment next Tuesday.
The president of the Council of
Ministers would assume the title of
prime minister" and the new ap-
pellation would involve an enlarge
ment and enhancement of the func-
ton. The prime minister would be
able to watch at close quarters the
work performed in all the ministerial
departments with the assistance of
staff of experts especially attached
to his offlce) and to have it CO.
ordinated toward the accomplish
ment of a definite purpose. An
Economic Council with provincial
branches "a kind of advisory eco
nomic chamber), the Council of Ma
tlOpal DefRnSR and a hna I'd of Sfo