FRENCH CHAMBER IN UPROAR

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 15

FRENCH CHAMBER IN UPROAR

♦ Continued Occupation Of Factories POLICE ACTION AGAINST STRIKERS REFUSED (UNITED TRESS ASSOCIATION —COPTRIGHT.) (Received June 12, 10.16 p.m.) PARIS, June 11. When the Chamber of Deputies met the Right members began obstructing to prevent discussion on new Government bills, but a show of hands rejected a motion to shelve them on the pretext that the factories were still occupied and law and order not respected. Uproar, punctuated with cries of “Pigs” and “Scoundrels,” greeted M. Blum’s introduction of the measures. Another wild demonstration was precipitated by his declaration that he would not order the police and mobile guards to enter the occupied factories. A measure exempting former servicemen’s pensions from taxation was passed without division, and a Pay and Holidays Bill, granting 15 days’ leave after a year’s service, was passed by 563 votes to one. After a monotonous debate the Chamber eventually passed a bill for the restoration of cuts, which, incidentally, precludes civil servants from taking jobs outside State employment, and adopted a Collective Contracts Bill by 528 votes to seven. The Chamber then adjourned. It will debate the 40-hour Week Bill at 9.30 a.m. to-morrow.

STRIKERS GROW IN NUMBER DIMINISHING HOPES OF SETTLEMENT WORKERS OUT OF CONTROL (Received June 12, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON. June 11. The Paris correspondent of “The Times’’ says the good impression by Sunday’s settlement is slowly evaporating, the numbers of new strikers exceeding the numbers of those resuming. Thousands marched cheering down the boulevards waving red flags and others cheered in taxis, shouting defiant slogans. The Trades Union Council s authority is not as strong as its leaders supposed, the workers ignoring its decrees and, instead of returning en bloc and consolidating the advantages won, they are taking up collections and exhausting middleclass sympathy by waging a guerrilla war in order to squeeze the utmost from individual employers. Strikes have extended to the firstclass Parisian restaurants and hotels. Factories are idle at Bordeaux, where shipyard workers took possession of the liner Cap Padaran. A boatbuilder at Marseilles, angered by his striking staff,, fired at them and was arrested after wounding one. The franc continues to sag, but the exchange market is inert. In the meantime, see-saw strikes and settlements continue in France. Ten thousand workers and nonunionists are without any clear plan of action. Thousands of Parisians went without breakfast owing to a strike of waiters and butchers. Rouen is paralysed through the occupation of the port by striking dock workers. The workmen engaged on the construction of the eastern fortifications also downed tools. The strike movement is spreading to Marseilles, which is without taxis or newspapers. The continuance of strikes m the most unexpected quarters suggests that many workers feel that they must take advantage of the situation before they are too late.

to come to an agreement on the exact phraseology of the planks. _ Senator Borah was summoned again during the day to make his wishes known. The platform when finished was about 3500 words long. It contains all the old traditional expressions in which political promises are framed, yet combined new phrases with them to an extraordinary degree. To that extent the New Deal will give Democrats a marked psychological advantage. The platform makes pledges on issues of international significance. It affirms faith in protective tariff, and advocates the repeal of reciprocal trade agreement law and an end of the secret negotiation of trade agreements; it promises the restoration of the principle of a flexible tariff and opposes further devaluation of the dollar. The platform demands the repeal of all laws whereby Congress delegates to the President the power to issue and regulate currency. It advocates international stabilisation of currency, but does not indicate when it is to be done.

A foreign affairs plank opposes foreign alliances or political commitments as demanded by Senator Borah, and opposes American entry into a World Court of League of Nations. International co-operation for limitation of armaments and the traffic in arms is advocated. Every effort is pledged to collect war debts, and President Roosevelt is condemned for the Government s failure to reopen negotiations with the debtor nations. The platform was unanimously adopted immediately the reading was finished by the chairman.