Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1937. THE FRENCH CRISIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 199, 23 July 1937, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1937. THE FRENCH CRISIS.

France is never long free from a political or an economic crisis, and more often than not the two go hand in hand. They are almost inevitably complementary and are the products of a system that is indigenous and peculiar to France. Perhaps it is because of their frequency that the indomitable Frenchman does not lose heart, but with a: philosophy akin to that of the traditional Englishman that his country “will muddle through” pursues his tramelled course hopeful of some beneficial results from the latest upheaval. France is again in the throes of financial turmoil, happily not • accompanied by any great external repercussions. The displeasure caused by M. Chautemps’s modification of the original Popular Front socialistic programme, coupled with the Socialist Congress vote demanding that the Premier carry out the Labour Federation’s plan for credit control, unsettled the Bourse last week-end. M. Bonnet (Finance Minister), whose resignation was rumoured but so far has not eventuated, intervened with the announcement of a policy of strict economies. On Wednesday came the news that Cabinet had decided to defend the price of rentes, also that the Governor of the Bank of France had been replaced by M. Fournier, as “a sop to the orthodox financial interests.” The latter phase of the cable touches the core of the situation. France has been declared to be the very essence of democracy, and no more vividly is the principle seen in operation than in the political sphere, with not a few curious twists.

When, last month, M. Leon Blum resigned the Premiership after a record in recent years for length of service, he was succeeded ultimately by M. Camille Chautemps, who was Premier for two months in 1933, sharing with M. Sarraut the period between M. Daladier’s repeated terms of office. Styled a professional politician with all the peculiar implications that the title confers in France, he w r as Minister of the Interior during the memorable Stavisky scandal and his brother-in-law was head of the prosecutor’s office that absolved Stavisky. Even after he resigned office the 'campaign against him by the Right Press, the financial interests, and the Comite des Forges was one of the most virulent in modern times. He was the first Prime Minister to resign without being outvoted, and till his recent reappearance had virtually retired from politics. It is perhaps a little significant that he finds himself in difficulties again, for in the matter of a political crisis the Frenchman has a singularly long memory. Through

certain members of its Regency tlie Bank of France is closely allied to tlie Comite des Forges, the French steelmakers’ trade association that dominates the selling policy of its several hundred members. The Bank of France itself owes its origin to Napoleon and is credited with making and breaking French Cabinets as a child can make or break, a toy city. Although it issues the nation’s public money and controls the gold supply, it is a private bank with about forty thousand shareholders, only two hundred of whom are permitted to vote for the Regents. The latter combine the hereditary distinction of family as well as contemporary command of wealth and comprise an amazing plutocracy. They number eighteen, and three of them—the governor and two vice-governors—are State appointees. The fact that M. Layberie has resigned the former office in the hope of pleasing orthodox financiers is significant, for a governor who disagrees with the private Regents has little recourse but to do so. Twelve of these private Regents represent a crosssection of French finance, industry, and commerce, six being bankers, holding their seats by hereditary right. The remainder are steel, paper, and chemical manufacturers. It is not difficult, therefore, to visualise the reasons underlying the anxiety of the Bank of France for a more orthodox financial policy.