M. Doumergue's Problems M. Doumergue is standing firmly by his
constitutional reform proposals, but the indications are that he will have great difficulty in getting one at least of them through. As it happens that one alone—the provision that a disso- lution of the Chamber may be ordered by the President at the request of the Priine Minister without the concur- rence. of the Senate being required, as it is at present requires the summoning of a Constitutional Assembly at Versailles. It is argued, therefore, that M. Doumergue would be well advised to drop it, since if he persists in it he will be committed to all the paraphernalia of a consti- tutional assembly and even then not get what he wants. But the indications-are that he will stick to his guns and trust to another broadcast appeal to the people, and the general dislike of the idea of bringing the National Government down, to secure him the necessary majority for an amendment of the constitution. The opposition rests its case on the fear that some future Prime Minister may hold the threat of dissolution over the Chamber as a lever to force through measures which he could never get through by other means.
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