Le Figaro
- The Odious Maneuver Continues
- The Veterans and the Inter-Allied Debts
- The Vanished Rainbow
This Le Figaro front page led with politics and money. François Coty's signed column opened with a warning that every plot against France begins by lulling the nation's attention, and that its enemies go silent as soon as vigilant Frenchmen expose them. A news report described Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré receiving the leaders of the Union nationale des combattants, who brought resolutions on the inter-allied war debts and on Franco-German rapprochement; Poincaré told them that Washington was sending its bill but that France, as debtor, wanted first to have it out with its creditor. Henri Vonoven's political column mocked Paul Painlevé for travelling to Lille to justify his stance to his Republican Socialist party, just before the Radical ministers were due in Bordeaux to excuse their place in Poincaré's national union cabinet. This reading covers only the opening lines of each piece.
Translation
THE ODIOUS MANEUVER CONTINUES
[…] Every time a foul blow is being prepared against France, every time someone wants to make her fall into a trap, they begin by lulling her attention to sleep; and if it happens that vigilant Frenchmen cast some light on the designs that threaten their country, the enemy at once goes to ground; he stays motionless and silent; he waits […]
THE VETERANS AND THE INTER-ALLIED DEBTS
A step taken with M. Poincaré
The President of the Council received yesterday morning the presidents of the departmental groups and the central committee of the Union nationale des anciens combattants. In the course of various meetings, this association had adopted several resolutions concerning the question of the inter-allied debts and that of Franco-German rapprochement. It came to submit them to M. Poincaré.
The President of the Council, after thanking the Union nationale des combattants, added that the American government is sending us its bill, but that the French debtor wishes first to have it out with its creditor. France […]
POLITICS — THE VANISHED RAINBOW
Before the Radical ministers go off to Bordeaux to apologize for belonging to the national union cabinet, M. Painlevé went to Lille to bring the Republican Socialist party, of which he is president, the explanation of his attitude. One really has to be a party militant not to have understood it yet, and one […]
Context
The American 'bill' and the Mellon-Bérenger agreement
The 'bill' Poincaré mentioned was the Mellon-Bérenger agreement of 29 April 1926, which fixed the amount and rate of repayment of France's war debt to the United States. France had wanted its payments to Washington tied to the reparations it received from Germany, but the United States would not accept that linkage; Poincaré's remark that the French debtor wished first to have it out with its creditor reflects that grievance. On 7 October 1926, four days before this issue, the American chargé in Paris cabled that Poincaré had not yet reached the point of forcing the agreement through as it stood. The same telegram reported that he was preparing ratification with reservations of some kind during November. The words the paper attributes to Poincaré fit that posture: a government that accepted the debt had to be settled but meant to attach conditions and take its time.
How strong the veterans' and Parliament's opposition was
The Union nationale des combattants was pressing on an issue that had already brought veterans into the streets: French reaction to the agreement was cool, and 20,000 war veterans demonstrated in Paris against it. The paper adds that the association's resolutions also covered Franco-German rapprochement. In his October 1926 telegram the American chargé judged opposition to ratification in Parliament to be not only real but of considerable force, with a representative inside the cabinet itself. That resistance outlasted this government's first months by years. The Chamber of Deputies ratified the agreement only on 21 July 1929, after an all-night session and by 300 votes to 292, a margin that shows how deep the hostility the veterans voiced in 1926 remained.
Foreign credits for the franc and the price of ratification
The debt agreement was also the key to foreign money for stabilizing the franc. The United States had quietly been blocking private and public loans to France while the debt question stayed unsettled, which put pressure on the franc. By October 1926, according to the American chargé, various American bankers had offered to make large sums available once the debt agreement was ratified. Poincaré, however, was not yet ready to stabilize the franc and was toying instead with the idea of using German railroad bonds. Against that background, the answer reported here, acknowledging the bill but insisting on explanations first, can be read as telling the veterans that the government would not rush ratification merely to unlock American credit.
Painlevé, the Radicals and the end of the Cartel
Vonoven's 'vanished rainbow' can be read as a jibe at the remains of the left-wing coalition that won the 1924 election. The Cartel des gauches, led by Édouard Herriot, broke up in 1926 when the socialist SFIO went into opposition. Poincaré, whose own government the Cartel had defeated in 1924, returned for a third premiership in 1926 at the head of a cabinet of the National Bloc parties plus the Radical-Socialists, and the monetary crisis ended once it was formed. Herriot himself served as Minister of Education and Fine Arts from 1926 to 1928. The Socialist Republicans, the party the column says Painlevé presided over, had sat in the Cartel to the left of the Radicals. That is why the column treats Painlevé's trip to Lille and the Radical ministers' expected appearance at Bordeaux as apologies to former allies: the Figaro, under political director François Coty, was mocking left-wing ministers who now served in a Poincaré cabinet.
Original
L'ODIEUSE MANŒUVRE CONTINUE
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LES ANCIENS COMBATTANTS ET LES DETTES INTERALLIEES
CHEF POLITIQUE: LUCIEN ROMIER E nand nges, taire érêts f Le e. nous être t le l'enc car pérer teur LES ANCIENS COMBATTANTS ET LES DETTES INTERALLIEES Une démarche près de M. Poincaré Le président du conseil a reçu, hier matin, les présidents des groupes départementaux et le comité central de l'Union nationale des anciens combattants. Au cours de différentes réunions, cette association avait adopté divers vœux concernant la question des dettes interalliées et celle du rapprochement francoallemand. Elle est venue les soumettre à M. Poincaré. Le président du conseil, après avoir remercié l'Union nationale des combattants, a ajouté que le gouvernement américain nous envoie sa facture mais que le débiteur français désire préalablement s'expliquer avec son créancier. La France LE La ligne d coupée SAINT-MA du déborde my, le pont p nale entre S écroulé ce tions avec le ne, sont co rent a dév bone et de p veau la lig plon. Afin d'év les pompier les puissant tan, firent s des rochers A la fin
L'ARC-EN-CIEL EVANOUI
.. 6, 62 La Lire -...... 1, 36.. 0, 96 La Peseta -...... 5, 25 n Doll 4, 85 A Rome, le Dollar vaut en Lire 26 05 - [?] - la Livre - 132. R POLITIQUE: FRANÇOIS COTY S veau ue suite hôteantes'est unicaRhôtors de pouLA POLITIQUE L'ARC-EN-CIEL EVANOUI Avant que les ministres radicaux s'en aillent à Bordeaux, s'excuser de faire partie du cabinet d'union nationale, M. Painlevé s'est rendu à Lille, pour porter au parti républicain socialiste, dont il est président, l'explication de son attitude. Il faut vraiment être militant pour ne pas l'avoir encore comprise, et l'on