Moroccan War

In Morocco. The war between the French and the Riff tribesmen (TIME, May 11 et seq.) was resumed after a lull of nearly two weeks. A tremendous Riffian drive on Fez was halted without serious losses by the French. Sultan Mulai Yusef, for whom the French exercise a protectorate in Morocco, visited the front and gave heart to his defending faithfuls. A blockade of Riff territory was begun by joint action of the French and Spanish.

At Paris. At Paris the scenes were more exciting. Deputies filed into the Chamber to give or withhold a vote of confidence to "the Government on its Moroccan policy. The galleries were crammed full, a notable onlooker being U. S. Ambassador Myron T. Herrick.

Premier Paul Painleve opened debate by stating that France must present a solid front in Morocco. He said that the Government could not take the initiative in negotiating peace, because such a move would be construed by the enemy as weakness. He then read from the Communist newspaper L'Humanite an article. "Treason" yelled the Right Deputies. "Be calm," rejoined the Premier, and continued reading.

After this the Communists had their turn. For a solid six hours their speakers occupied the tribunal. Their arguments were of the usual Bolshevik brand. Deputy Doriot, the most notorious of his crew, declared:

"We are with Russia and against you. We are with Morocco. We are with every nation in revolt against your capitalist civilization."

This angered sexagenarian, one-eyed Deputy Picot. He jumped out of his place, rushed up the steps of the tribunal, attempted to drag Doriot to the floor. In a moment the Chamber was in an uproar. Deputies and ushers rushed toward the struggling men. M. Franklin-Bouillon, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, ran full tilt into Communist Deputy Bourlois, who struck him a resounding punch in the face. Staggered, M. Bouillon stepped back a pace, blood dripping from his nose, and in a second more he closed with the Communist and they rolled to the floor.

Blows, yells of rage and pain filled the Chamber. A dozen Deputies scuffed on the floor kicking, pushing, slapping. President Herriot, having worn himself out calling for order, put on his silk hat and betook his full-dressed self from the Chamber as a sign that the session was suspended. It was also a signal for the attendants to clear the public galleries. An excited attendant, with marks of a maturing black eye, rushed to the signal box and instead of pushing the button to signal the sergeants-at-arms to clear the galleries, he pressed one that called out the guard. For some minutes armed soldiers prevented the Deputies inside from going outside and those outside from going inside. After a few more minutes order was restored and back came President Herriot.

M. Picot immediately rose, apologized for precipitating the fight to the President and to his colleagues, but studiously not to the Communists.

After further debate the Chamber recorded a vote of confidence in the Painleve Cabinet by 510 to 30 votes.