Notable Excesses

"A notable excess," said Premier-Finance Minister Raymond Poincare, before the Chamber of Deputies, "a really notable excess of revenue over expenditures, Messieurs, has been achieved under my direction for the first time since the War. When I assembled my Cabinet (TIME, Aug. 2), we were forced to obtain credits of 930,000,000 francs [$179,490,000] from large concerns, but every centime has now been repaid and 7,500,000,000 francs [$1,447,500,000] to our credit in the Bank of France. [Applause.] I repeat, Messieurs les Deputes 'a notable excess.' "

Premier Poincare, boastful only of birds-in-the-hand of his own shooting, did not mention that Soviet Ambassador to Paris Rakovsky approached Foreign Minister Briand, last week, with a tentative offer to repay 55,000,000 francs ($10,615,000) per annum on the Tsarist debt to France. If this long frozen source of revenue has actually begun to thaw, Frenchmen may well rejoice; but it was rumored that the Soviet Government comes once again with a fair-seeming offer, but intends to hold out once again for further credits from French manufacturers which France is loath to grant.

Excessively sensational was a report, last week, from Moscow that the local French Ambassador, M. Jean Herbette, has openly professed Bolshevism, substituted a seal of his own design for the French seal with which he should stamp his documents, and finally evaded several times on the plea of ill health and inability to travel intimations from Foreign Minister Briand that he must return to Paris.