Frances Finances
The French Government seems doomed to fall on finance, which once more reveals itself as the Achilles' heel of democracy. M. Chown's valiant efforts to balance the budget are being steadily thwarted by the Finance Committee of the Chamber, on which the Socialists are asserting themselves strongly. The French, of course, have never succeeded in cultivating the British attitude of grumbling but loyal acquiescence in the matter of income- tax, and a Stock Exchange strike has resulted from the proposal, carried by the Finance Committee, for , the conversion of Government bearer bonds into inscribed stock with a view to checking tax evasion. The Finance Committee has rejected the proposal for a 5 per cent. increase in all direct taxation, and the Service Ministers have followed the traditional course of declaring they cannot get a centime off their estimates. Altogether, M. Ch6ron's proposed economies have been reduced by GO per cent. The Government's appeal still lies, of course, to the Chamber, but the verdict is likely to go against it. The sequel is not obvious, but there is talk of the manifestly unsatisfactory expedient of a Cabinet of the Right resting on a Chamber of the Left. And there will still be a budget to balance.
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