Evening star., 1935-03-24
BY PERTINAX.

- COUNCIL, dIlQ ElCIlC Laval
minister of foreign affairs.
have been the dominant figures OF
the French political world. Their
personal action and influence-mainly
devoted, In the case of the former, to
financial and economic matters; in
the case of the latter, to foreign
policy-summarize the activity Of the
whole cabinet. The time has come
to ascertain whether they are worthy
Of their trust, whether they will be
able to succeed where Doumergue
conspicuously failed. That is, will
they be able to straighten out the
parliamentary institutions of France
and put them in harmony with the
exacting requirements of the present
period: An authoritative leadership
in home affairs and energetic prep
aration, both diplomatic and mill
tary, against external danger.
So far, it is still doubtful whether
Flandin and Laval will remain long
in power. Doumergue tried to i'm
pose his will, from above, on all con-
tending parties and factions. The
sanguinary scenes of February 6,
1884, had left a marked impression
upon the average FrenChman; they
had produced a feeling Of awe which
had reduced the Radical-Socialist
and Socialist ma jority in Parliament
to passive acquiescence in the deci-
sions of a government of national
union, born of the impatience of
public opinion at the sight of the
misdeeds of so many politicians.
Doumergue might have succeeded
in carrying out his scheme Of con-
stitutional reform had he put it for
ward in the early Summer rather
than in the late Autumn. His error
was that he did not realize that this
submissive attitude would not last
forever and that as the Stavisky and
Prince scandals receded into the past
the profiteers of the old regime would
again raise their heads. When he
finally made up his mind to extend
and consolidate by executive ordi-
nances whatever reforms he had been
able to enforce, and to introduce a
constitutional reform intended to
strengthen the executive authority al
the expense of the legislative. it was
too late. The opportunity had slipped
away; the spell was broken. There
fore Flandin and Laval, who as mem
bers of Doumergue's cabinet had IA
vored opportunist rather than die
tatorial methods, were forced. when
they shared his succession, to fall
back upon the use of expedients.
Attitude Traced.
Flandin belongs to what is some
times called the republican nobility
That descriptive term can be applied
to men whose forefathers during the
last three-Quarters of a century have
fulfilled important public functions
or have shone at the bar. Toward
the end of the second empire, in the
late sos, those forefathers were
very radical in their views. In their
judgment, the long expected advent
Of the republican regime was bound
to mean a drastic rupture with the
past, not only in regard to the mode
of political life, but also in the form
of society. They were political and
social reformers and outspoken anti
clericals"
But little by little, as they gathered
wealth and were burdened with hon.
ors. the outlook of these men changed
appreciably. They became extremel!
conservative. P. E. Flandin'S fathel
was procurator general director o.
public prosecutions in Algiers and
late in life, became a Senator. Wher
Clemenceau sent Malvy, the Radical
Socialist minister Of the interior, tc
trial before the Senate sitting in tt
capacity Of High Court of Justice, un-
der a charge of neglect of duty
amounting to treason, he had to rely
upon this astute lawyer to rescue the
governmental case, which had mo-
been too well conducted. Later, as g
reward, Clemenceau appointed him tt
the much coveted post of general res
ident" in Tunis.
Such are the political SURROUNDING
in which the present head of the
French ministry was brought up. Ht
is ambitious. He wants to sustain the
family tradition of success in public
life. He Is personally courageous. A
few years ago he silenced the Social.
lists, who accused him of having placed
his political influence at the service OF
the Aeropostal Co., by making use oi
the time -honored tactics of retaliation
Doctrine Uncertain.
But as far as his political doctrine
is concerned. he seems to be rather
uncertain. He makes a striking dis
play Of economic liberalism. He seems
to be an Anglophile. But what does
economic liberalism mean at a time
when the state is willy-nilly COM
pelled-to interfere with private busi-
ness at nearly every turn? What prac.
tical purpose can be served by pro-
British bias when the relations be-
tween France and England are neces-
sarily determined by the willingness
or mwillingnesS of the London cabi-
net to assume continental commit
ments2
Behind Flandin's great oratory it is
hard to discover any settled program
beyond a good deal of deft maneuver-
ing. Himself a moderate. unlike his
friends of the center, Tardieu and
Paul Reynaud, he has always been
careful to spare the feelings Of the
Radical-Socialist leaders and to pose
as a man who could conciliate the
Left and the Right.
In contrast with that grand bour-
geoise," Pierre Laval was born in a
peasant family far away from Paris, in
Auvergne. He laboriously made his
way to the bar while earning liveli-
hood as a school teacher Of the second
grade, attending to the discipline OF
the boys. Thus he happened to serve
under Herriot in the "lycee" Of Lyons;
but as the great Radical-Socialist
leader was a brilliant professor of
"rhetorics," Laval did no more than
escort the pupils to the class room and
watch them In the dormitories.
Today Laval is supposed to be a rich
man. Not that he ever achieved strik-
ing success as a lawyer, but he ap-
pears to have been very much in de-
mand as q kind Of conciliator and
promoter Of private interests behind
the scenes. He married the sister Of a
Socialist Deputy Of his native province
and was elected to Parliament on
the eve Of the World War. In that
first encounter with DOliticS IaValS