Tough

Since April, Premier Edouard Daladier has ruled France in a manner more pleasing to the French Right than that of the preceding Popular Front cabinets. A Radical Socialist, for two uninterrupted years Minister of National Defense, M. Daladier's strong inclinations to please the Right have often conflicted with the fact that only by Socialist support has he remained in power. Although quickly-changing French cabinets during the last year have been less & less lenient with striking workers, last week M. Daladier got positively tough.

Production in the Hotel des Monnaies (National Mint) has been increased lately by 60%. To handle the increased work 85 new employes were added, wages were upped 20%. Still the work lagged behind schedule. Taking advantage of a new elastic interpretation of the 40-hour week by which the working day can be temporarily lengthened, longer hours were ordered for the workmen last week. The 500 employes of the mint, however, decided to tolerate no tampering with their 40-hour week. They began a sit-down strike. Premier Daladier ordered police to clear the mint and to break up a demonstration outside. Then he ordered posted a notice that workers failing to return by early this week would be considered as resigned.

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