L’Écho d’Alger
- Radical-Socialist Federation of the Rhône
- The Republican-Socialist Party
- The Settlement of Inter-Allied Debts
L'Écho d'Alger of October 11, 1926 carried three political dispatches from mainland France, all turning on Raymond Poincaré's new government. In Lyon, Édouard Herriot told the Rhône federation of his Radical party that he scorned insinuations of self-interest over his entry into Poincaré's cabinet, and the congress voted him its confidence. War Minister Paul Painlevé, welcomed by the prefect of the Nord and senior officials, told a Republican-Socialist banquet that he had joined the cabinet to help avert a catastrophe when depositors were besieging the savings banks. The National Union of Veterans, speaking for 400,000 members, handed Poincaré a resolution against ratifying the Mellon-Bérenger and Caillaux-Churchill war-debt agreements, calling the debt, principal and interest included, unpayable and its amount disputable.
Translation
Radical-Socialist Federation of the Rhône
…Socialist Federation of the Rhône. MR. HERRIOT JUSTIFIES HIS POLITICAL ATTITUDE AND HIS ENTRY INTO THE POINCARÉ CABINET. – THE CONGRESS VOTES HIM A RESOLUTION OF CONFIDENCE.
Lyon, October 10. – This afternoon, before the Congress of the Radical and Radical-Socialist Federation of the Rhône, Mr. Herriot delivered a speech in which he answered the many criticisms leveled against him in recent months over his political attitude, in particular his entry into the Poincaré Cabinet.
Mr. Herriot recalled the gesture for which he has often been reproached: stepping down from his presidential chair to defend the threatened Parliament. "I was then called upon," he said, "to take responsibility for the Government. People told me: 'You should have evaded it.' I scorn the insinuation that my attitude, that my intervention, were self-interested.
"To the political difficulties had been added the abominable dif–
The Republican-Socialist Party
He was received on the station platform by Mr. Hudelo, prefect of the Nord; by General Lacapelle, commanding the 1st Region; and by Mr. Chatelet, rector of the University. He went at once to the prefecture, where a private reception was held, then proceeded to the banquet hall.
MR. PAINLEVÉ'S SPEECH
The War Minister states the reasons that led him to collaborate in the Poincaré Ministry
In his speech, Mr. Painlevé analyzed the reasons for his collaboration in the present Poincaré Cabinet, saying that the task at the time had been to help the maneuver to prevent a catastrophe, at a moment when the approaches to the savings banks were crowded with customers impatient to recover their savings.
"The last elections," he said,
The Settlement of Inter-Allied Debts
A STEP BY THE NATIONAL UNION OF VETERANS WITH MR. POINCARÉ
Paris [?], October 10. – The President of the Council this morning received the delegates of the regional groups of the National Union of Veterans. Mr. Rossignol, the president, handed Mr. Poincaré a resolution on the settlement of inter-Allied debts, worded as follows:
"Duly mandated by the 400,000 dues-paying members of their Association, the presidents of the regional groups, meeting in Paris on Sunday, October 10, 1926, concerned about the decisions the government intends to take regarding the settlement of inter-Allied debts, consider it their duty to recall their earlier resolutions calling for the non-ratification of the Mellon-Bérenger and Caillaux-Churchill agreements.
"They consider that France is unable to pay the sum of 7 billion dollars, principal and interest included, which corresponds, at the current rate of exchange, to nearly 240 billion francs, and to England an almost equal sum.
"They hold that the amount of these debts is open to dispute, and they demand a
Context
Why Herriot had to defend joining Poincaré
Herriot was the man who had organized the Cartel des gauches, the Radical–Socialist coalition that won the elections of May 1924, and he led its new majority. That majority broke up in 1926, with the socialist SFIO passing into opposition. According to Larousse, Herriot, after a second and short-lived attempt to govern, had to give way to Raymond Poincaré, who in July 1926 formed a national union ministry that the Radicals joined; the English Wikipedia describes it as the National Bloc parties plus the Radical-Socialists. Herriot himself became Poincaré's minister of public instruction, serving from 1926 to 1928. The leader of the left coalition was thus sitting in a cabinet with the right-wing parties he had campaigned against two years earlier, and this is the change of course behind the "many criticisms" the article mentions. The paper reports a confidence vote by the Rhône federation; it says nothing about the mood of the party as a whole.
Herriot's home ground in Lyon and the Rhône
The congress that applauded Herriot met on his own political turf. He began his career as a municipal councillor of Lyon in 1904 and was elected mayor the following year, a post he held for the rest of his life apart from a break under Vichy. In 1910 he entered the general council of the department, and two years later he became senator for the Rhône, before resigning in November 1919 to sit in the Chamber of Deputies, where he became leader of the Radical party. A vote of confidence from the Rhône federation therefore came from the people who had built his career, which makes it a strong sign of local loyalty rather than a measure of opinion among Radicals elsewhere in France.
Painlevé, the Republican-Socialists and the financial panic of 1926
Painlevé belonged to the Republican-Socialist Party, one of the Cartel's component groups, placed slightly to the left of the Radical-Socialists, and his collaboration with Herriot had led to the formation of the Cartel itself. He had been prime minister in 1925; when Poincaré replaced Briand in 1926 he kept the War Ministry, which he held until July 1929. His picture of crowds at the savings banks belongs to a broader crisis: capital flight and the failure to collect German reparations had produced a monetary crisis, and Larousse lists inflation, the accelerating fall of the franc and a loss of confidence among holders of Treasury bonds. The Chamber granted Poincaré the full powers for financial recovery that it had refused his predecessors, and the English Wikipedia states that the monetary crisis ended as soon as his government was formed. The savings-bank scene is Painlevé's own justification as the paper reports it; the cited sources describe the crisis in general terms only.
What the veterans were protesting against
The Mellon-Bérenger Agreement, dated 29 April 1926, fixed the amount and rate of repayment of France's war debt to the United States. It greatly reduced the sum France owed and set relatively easy terms, yet most French people felt that Washington should waive its war-debt claims altogether. France had wanted, as in its agreement with Britain, a clause tying payments to German reparations, but the United States refused the linkage. Opposition from former soldiers was visible: 20,000 war veterans demonstrated in Paris against the agreement, though the cited page does not name the organizers. The resolution's figure of 7 billion dollars includes principal and interest, as the resolution itself says; for comparison, the total debt stood at about 4,230 million dollars in June 1925. The figure of 400,000 dues-paying members is the association's own claim.
How the ratification fight ended
The veterans' demand for non-ratification held for years: successive governments delayed a vote. Only on 21 July 1929, after an all-night session, did the Chamber of Deputies narrowly ratify the Mellon-Bérenger Agreement, by 300 votes to 292, and it then ratified the Caillaux-Churchill agreement on France's war debt to Britain. The issue later caught up with Herriot himself: in December 1932, as prime minister again, he decided to pay the December installment of the debt to the United States, and the angry Chamber overturned his government. In the end, most of the debt was never repaid.
Original
Fédération Radicale Socialiste du Rhône
Socialiste du Rhône M. HERRIOT JUSTIFIE SON ATTITUDE POLITIQUE ET SON ENTREE DANS LE CABINET PONCARE. - LE CONGRES LUI VOTE UN ORDRE DU JOUR DE CONFIANCE Lyon, 10 octobre. - M. Herriot a prononcé, cet après-midi, devant le Congrès de la Fédération radicale et radicale-socialiste du Rhône, un discours où il a répondu aux nombreuses critiques formulées contre lui au cours de ces derniers mois, au sujet de son attitude politique, notamment son entrée dans le Cabinet Poincaré. M. Herriot rappelle le geste qu'on lui a souvent reproché d'être descendu de son fauteuil présidentiel pour défendre le Parlement menacé. «J'ai été ensuite appelé, dit-il, à prendre la responsabilité du Gouvernement. On m'a dit: «Il fallait vous y dérober.» Je méprise cette insinuation que mon attitude, que mon intervention auraient été intéressées. «Aux difficultés politiques étaient venues s'ajouter les abominables dif -
Le Parti Républicain-Socialiste
Il a été reçu sur le quai de la gare par M. Hudelo, préfet du Nord; par le général Lacapelle, commandant la 1re région; par M. Chatelet, recteur de l'Université. Il a gagné aussitôt la préfecture, où une réception intime a eu lieu, puis il s'est rendu à la salle du banquet. LE DISCOURS DE M. PAINLEVE Le ministre de la Guerre dit les raisons qui le décidèrent à collaborer au Ministère Poincaré Dans son discours, M. Painlevé a analysé les raisons de sa collaboration à l'actuel Cabinet Poincaré, disant qu'il s'agissait alors d'aider la manœuvre pour empêcher une catastrophe au moment où les abords des caisses d'épargne étaient encombrés de clients impatients de recouvrer leurs économies. «Les dernières élections, dit-il,
Le règlement des dettes interalliées
UNE DEMARCHE DE L'UNION NATIONALE DES ANCIENS COMBATTANTS AUPRES DE M. POINCARE Paris [?] 10 octobre. - Le président du Conseil a reçu ce matin les délégués des groupes régionaux de l'Union Nationale des anciens combattants. M. Rossignol, président, a remis à M. Poincaré une résolution relative au règlement des dettes interalliées ainsi rédigée: «Régulièrement mandatés par les 400. 000 cotisants de leur Association, les présidents des groupes régionaux réunis à Paris dimanche 10 octobre 1926, inquiets des décisions que se propose de prendre le gouvernement à propos du règlement des dettes interalliées, croient de leur devoir de rappeler leurs ordres du jour antérieurs concluant à la non ratification des accords MellonBérenger et Caillaux-Churchill. «Ils considèrent que la France est dans l'impossibilité de payer la somme de 7 milliards de dollars, capital et intérêts compris, qui correspondent, au cours du change actuel, à près de 240 milliards de francs, et à l'Angleterre une somme presque égale. «Ils estiment que le montant de ces dettes est contestable et ils exigent une