Just Around the Corner?

Ebullient Pierre Mendes-France is a youthful (38) politician with a veteran's flair for gauging the public mood. Last week spring burgeoned in Paris, and it was inevitable that winter-weary, war-worn Frenchmen should feel that at least half their troubles were over. Sensitive Mendes-France sniffed deeply and bounced up with the most optimistic official word yet on French recovery.

Said Minister of National Economy Mendes-France: "Conditions now appear ripe for improvement." The curve of the national economy, which touched its nadir several weeks ago, is now rising. Shipping is no longer so scarce; for example, the port of Marseilles handles more than its prewar tonnage. Carloadings are up. The textile industry is gathering headway. By 1946 French agriculture will supply the nation's bread, the period of "repairs" will be over, the period of "getting started" will begin. And by 1948 the period of genuine "economic planning" can be launched.

Minister Mendes-France skipped lightly over certain qualifying facts: Marseilles' tonnage is mostly for Allied military use; for almost two years before the 1946 harvest is in, the nation will have to import its bread. But France, tired of endless greys, welcomed the first rosy hues.

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