Evening star., 1936-11-13
FIST FIGHT ENDS
CHAMBER SESSION
Deputies Exchange Blows
in Debate on Minister Sal
enqro's War Record.
Bg the Associated Press.

PARIS. November l3.-Swinging
fists of Leftist and Rightist deputies
stopped a stormy session of the Cham
ber of Deputies today.
The trouble began during debate
over the World War record of Min
lister of the Interior Roger Salengro..
Opposing deputies screamed invec-
tive at each other and when Premier
Leon Blum mounted the tribune, the
Leftists rushed from their benches
and swarmed over the Rightists in a
mad melee.
The chamber sessions we're tenn
porarily suspended.
Books sailed through the air as the
deputies slugged one another.
One Leftist, dashing across the room
in front of the government benches
struck the Rightist Jean Louis Tixier-
Vignancour with right to the chin.
Tixier-Vignancour had shouted
when the premier rose to speak: Blum
means war!"
Edouard Herriot, president of the
chamber, called a halt to the sitting
and ordered uShers to clear out the
spectators
A court of honor cleared Salengro
on october 80, of charges he betrayed
his country during the World War.
(The court, headed by Gen. Marie
Gustave Gamelin, army chief of staff
declared Salengro had not been con-
demned to death as a deserter and
that he had been acquitted by a
military court, during the war. while
he was then a prisoner in Germany }
Becquart Speech Halted.
The Rightist Deputy Henri Bee
quart, carrying charges that Salengro
was condemned to death as a de-
serter in the World War to the floor
of the Chamber, was forced to halt
his speech while Deputies shouted at
each other.
Salengro, seated on the government
bench beside Premier Blum, remained
silent while Rightists yelled:
''Salengro is a deserterr'
Leftists counter-attacked with sim
ilar charges against the Rightist Dep
uty Philippe Henriot.
Threaten to Bolt.
Earlier moderate supporters Of the
Popular Front government warned
they would bolt if Premier Blum yields
to Communist demand for last-min-
ute intervention In Spain to save
Madrid
The government encountered an
other tempest in the threatened reSig-
nation of Defense Minister Edouard
Daladier in protest against withheld
approval of his rearmament program.
The Communist drive to bolster the
Madrid defenses was opened by
Jacques Duclos, secretary of the party
in France, at a meeting of Popular
Front Deputies. Duclos reminded the
legislators of Blum's assertion last
Monday that his government would
scrap the international non-interven-
ton agreement if Great Britain would
do likewise.
Threaten to Withdraw.
Radical-Socialists, most moderate
element in the Popular Front speedily
answered that they would withdraw II
the premier abandoned Frances neu-
trality either independently or by
agreement with London.
The Communists appealed to the
Socialists to support their demand that
France remove its barriers against in
tervention. They urged the Socialists
to join them in recruiting large army
of volunteers to rush to the defense of
Madrid.
There is not a minute to lose, dear
comrades" the Communists pleaded,
urging immediate acceptance of their
plan.
They also demanded an open from
tier for the proposed volunteer corps
and the release of small munitions
makers who we're jailed last month
for making grenades for the Madrid
government without a license.
Daladier, regarded by political OBJ
servers as a likely successor to Blum
If the coalition government should
fall, threatened to quit the cabinet
after his arms program encountered
Socialist Communist opposition in the
Chamber of Deputies.
Leftists Defer Action.
Leftist members of the Chamber
Army Committee deferred ratification
of the program because of Daladier's
refusal to permit Extreme Leftist
newspapers from circulating in army
posts. ....
Well-informed sources, however, ex-
pected a vote of confidence would be
given to the government and that
Daladier would remain in the cabinet.
I'VE were promised most solemnly
by the government that air parity
with Germany would be maintained
by our home defense force" the de-
fense minister declared, without sug-
eesting that Germany had any idea
of attacking either France or Great
Britain.
Daladier charged the French Armys
weapons now we're inferior to those
possessed by Germany. Russia, Italy
and the United States.
"If we continue like this" he
warned, "I don't see what power can
prevent us from going on until some
day there may be very terrible reck-
oning Every one can see what
the situation is.
The government simply cannot
make up its mind or get the premier to
make up his"
Recent injury of several police
men quelling street demonstrations
prompted authorities to order new
steel helmets for the Paris force in
future riots.
The new headgesr, it was pointed
out, also would be useful for police
on air-raid protection duty In the
event of war. -
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