Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, NOV. 23, 1937. FRANCE’S PREDICAMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 304, 23 November 1937, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, NOV. 23, 1937. FRANCE’S PREDICAMENT

On top of the disturbing' revelations arising- from the arrest of members of the revolutionary society called the Cagoulards, the French Government has had to withstand severe Opposition criticism of its internal and foreign policies. The Cagoulards, really a band of terrorists, Were preparing- a vast armed plot against the Republic. They had huge hidden stores of arms, illicit radio stations, a hospital, and an elaborate military system ready for the day they chose to launch their plot, until the police penetrated its ramifications to startle the nation. Last year the Government of the time dissolved various militant leagues which had become a feature of French national life, and it is stated that the “Secret Revolutionary Militia” has been formed from the extremists of these several factions. For a Government faced with difficult internal problems and with a troubled foreign situation, the revelations in Paris last week were a matter of grave unrest, and M. Cliautemps apparently only survived a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies when the Centre Party obeyed the request of M. Flamfin not to vote. The present Government, which came into office last June, preserves the PopularFront, the Radicals and Socialists sharing office and the Communists continuing their pledge of support from outside. There is very little difference between M. Plum’s Ministry and M. Chautemps’s. Chiefly it lies in the Ministry of Finance, where M. George Bonnet, a former occupant of the post, known and trusted, succeeded M. Vincent Auriol, wlio had forfeited the confidence, if not of the Chamber, certainly of the Senate M. Bonnet, in a review of the financial dangers, has declared that France must balance her Budget or inflate. The Government’s choice is a balanced Budget and stability. Before. M. Blum retired from the Premiership he complained that he was the victim of a concerted attack by vested interests to drive him out of office. “Capitalists,” he contended were conducting a “sit-down strike” alike against himself and the public weal, and. ne realty implicated the Senate in the charge. By “sit-down strike” M. JJlum meant a, flight of capital abroad, but this had happened under Conservative Governments, being partly actuated by the disorder m the public finance's, and partly by the fear

that the franc must sooner or later be forced oft' sold. M. Blunt devalued the franc and so removed the second fear, but his Administration was not prudent and France’s financial troubles were aggravated by his rash and lavish expenditure. Moreover he could not control undisciplined Labour Unions, and with precipitate haste carried through liis programme of social legislation, especially the reduction of the hours of work., A commentator puts the case succinctly when he says that the crisis in France is first and last a crisis of confidence. ‘‘The Budget cannot be balanced without an economic revival; the economic system cannot revive unless and until enormous hoards of exported capital are brought back to reduce the rate of interest and stimulate business enterprise, and capital will not come back until confidence is first of all restored.” France’s legislation operates against a reflux of capital and the. task of balancing the Budget may not inconceivably prove too great for M. Bonnet. Finance has been the rock on which past French Governments have been wrecked, and M. Chau temps may suffer the same fate. The Popular Front has not helped to restore confidence.