Little Shouts, Great Whispers

An alarmingly shabby individual rushed from the Chambre des Deputes, and sought the Quai d'Orsay (Foreign Office) nearby with swift nervous strides. As its portals flashed open before him, he tossed his battered felt hat to a flunkey and bellowed questions and commands in a rich throaty voice. Almost before the Foreign Office secretaries could answer or obey, he had seized his hat again, jammed it down over his thick mane of hair and rushed back to le Chambre. The individual who thus hectically disported himself throughout the week, was, of course, M. Aristide Briand. As Premier he was forced to keep an eye on a most uproarious and disheartening wrangle in the Chamber. As Foreign Minister he was obliged to give some thought and care to preparations for the reception of two distinguished guests at the Quai d'Orsay.

The Wrangle. Some 25 Deputies were delegated by their comrades to arise and propose over 100 amendments to the Cartel Finance Measure (TIME, Feb. 1, et ante), which was literally thrown to the Chamber by the disgusted Premier.

Many of the speakers were well supplied with jibes for the rival measure of Finance Minister Doumer, which was not technically before the Chamber at all last week; and as a result Briand and Doumer were baited continuously.

Deputy Jacques Louis Dumesnil secured the only really hearty laugh of the week by shouting: "What difference does all this talk about taxes make? In England a gentleman who does not pay his quota to the State is looked down upon and his former friends will not shake his hand. In France we never rest until the man who dodges has told us how he does it!"

Meanwhile the protagonists of the Cartel poured out a mass of figures designed to show that their measure would provide sufficient funds without enacting M. Doumer's hated "sales tax." M. Doumer parried these as best he could. The Deputies several times attested to the farcical quality of the debate by filing out into the lobbies in such numbers that some of them had to be called back to maintain a quorum.

At length Premier Briand rasped his throat angrily and glared up at famed Cartel finance expert Vincent Auriol: "On the Tribune with all the ingenuity of which you are capable you may be able to balance the budget with your scheme; and you may really have a scheme which might balance it. But there is not confidence behind you! All your plans are built on sand! That is why M. Doumer and I are seeking collaboration which will restore the necessary confidence and procure resources for the state."

Late despatches reported that Briend's "collaboration" with the Cartel had taken the form of offering to change the name of M. Doumer's proposed "sales tax" to "production tax," and making it seem to bear less upon the consumer by levying it on wholesale transactions only.

The Guests. Sir Austen Chamberlain arrived from a "vacation" at Rapallo, Italy, where he is rumored to have secretly reached an Anglo-Italian "understanding" with Premier Mussolini.

Foreign Minister Briand welcomed Foreign Secretary Chamberlain and they went into secret session with each other and finally with Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary General to the League of Nations, who suddenly had sped to Paris from Geneva.