Strenuosity

The daily routine of Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux, according to a recent report from Paris, is as follows:

At 5 a. m. he arrives at the Ministry of Finance, before anyone else is there, accompanied by his beautiful sheepdog Ali.

At 9 a. m. he receives his chief subordinates, each carrying a heavy brief case. Hastily he scans and annotates their documents.

At 11 a. m. he goes for a 15 minute walk in the Tuilleries gardens with Ali.

At 1 p. m. he lunches.

At 2 p. m. he is back at work, sometimes at his own desk, sometimes in various offices of the Finance Ministry.

At 6 p. m. he quits his desk.

At 8 p. m. he dines.

At 9 p. m. he turns out his bed-light.

At 5 a. m. he arrives at the Ministery, accompanied by his beautiful sheepdog Ali.

Why so strenuous? He explained himself:

"I am going to America next week to defend the interests of France. I shall do so in the same spirit as I defended them at London."

Undoubtedly he had done well at London (TIME, Sept. 7). The British had asked France to pay -L-20,000,000 yearly for 62 years on her War debt. Caillaux had offered -L-10,00,000. The British came down to -L-16,000,000. Finally they offered to compromise on -L-12,500,000, provided France would not pay any other creditor (meaning the U. S.) more proportionately. M. Caillaux said "Yes, that will do" and went back to France with the British offer.

France has never formally accepted the British proposal.

It is understood that M. Caillaux will offer equal terms to the U. S. He may well be in training if he expects to induce the U. S. experts to agree to a similar settlement.