Presidential Tears

Europeans think of grizzled Raymond Poincare as the hardest of hard Frenchmen, the inflexible Wartime President, the cold-hearted fiscal genius who as Premier saved and stabilized the franc (TIME, Jan. 3, 1927 et seq.).

Last week Europe saw another Poincare, an old man with tears in his eyes. Broken in health when he left public office, Lawyer Poincare could not return to practice at the bar. Doctors' fees and hospital bills sapped the small capital he had managed to save. For the past two years he has written magazine articles when not too sick to write. Last summer, by a ghastly oversight the Chamber of Deputies, which had intended to vote a pension to M. Poincare, adjourned without passing the bill.

Last week bustling Premier Edouard Herriot called on the 72-year-old invalid, told him that he need not write for the rest of his life, that he will receive a pension of 200,000 francs ($8,000) per year.

"Helas!" cried M. Poincare, while tears gathered in his eyes, "I am now too poor to live without it."

"You must think," soothed Premier Herriot, patting the ex-President on the shoulder with a big, consoling paw, "You must think. Monsieur le President, of nothing except how willingly the Chamber has voted you this aid! You must think of how glad the people of all France are to have you accept it!"

With their new wealth M. and Mme Poincare will spend the winter in a tidy villa at the quiet end of the French Riviera in Hyeres. There at leisure Monsieur le President will complete his memoirs.*

*"Monsieur le President" is the courtesy title of every Frenchman who has ever been: President of the Republic, President (i.e. Premier) of the Council of Ministers, President (Speaker) of the Senate or President (Speaker) of the Chamber.

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