288 



FRANCE. 



who enjoy a superfluity must form a larger idea 

 of their social obligations, and resign themselves 

 to assuming a somewhat heavier portion of the 

 public charges in order to relieve those who buy 

 bread for their families with a daily wage." The 

 budget substituted for the door and window tax 

 and the furniture and personal-property taxes a 

 house duty, graduated according to the rent, and 

 also according to the size of the family and the 

 number of servants. A man having 7 children 

 under sixteen years of age, who thus was for- 

 merly exempt from the personal-property tax, 

 pays no tax if his rent is not over 750 francs ; if 

 it is above that figure, the tax is reduced by 80 

 per cent. ; if there are 5, by 50 per cent. ; if 3, by 

 25 per cent. Persons having a single housemaid 

 pay a slight additional tax, but when 2 servants 

 are kept the house tax is augmented 40 per 

 cent., and this additional tax is multiplied if the 

 family has more than one residence, and in- 

 creases in steep progression according to the 

 number of servants and the. rental value of the 

 dwelling or dwellings. The budget increased 

 the land tax from 3 to 4 per cent. The tax on 

 spirits was also increased, but the wine, beer, 

 and cider taxes were reduced. A readjustment 

 of the succession duties was another part of the 

 scheme. The Radicals proposed an income tax 

 rising from 1 per cent, on 1,000 francs to 7 per 

 cent, on incomes between 50.000 and 100,000 

 francs, and 10 per cent, on all higher ones. The 

 Government accepted the proposition to refer 

 the question of an income tax to a committee. 



Casimir-Perier, who had unwillingly ac- 

 cepted the premiership, and would gladly lay it 

 down, imperiously overruled the Minister* of 

 Justice, who accepted the decision of the com- 

 mittee not to prosecute Deputy Toussaint for 

 an address to striking miners, and. declaring it 

 to be a Cabinet question, obtained the authoriza- 

 tion to proceed against him by 291 to 220 votes. 

 When the Radicals attacked the Government on 

 May 17 in regard to its Church policy, M. Casi- 

 mir-Perier obtained a vote of confidence of 334 

 Deputies against 142. On May 22 the Socialists 

 had their turn. For a miners' eight-hour bill 

 introduced by Jules Guesde urgency was refused, 

 after which M. Jonnart, Minister of Public 

 Works, was questioned with regard to his orders 

 to managers of state railroads to refuse to grant 

 leaves of absence to men who wished to attend a 

 congress of railroad employees in Paris. The 

 action of the minister was denounced as a vio- 

 lation of the law of 1884 protecting trade unions. 

 M. Jonnart, who had given some sort of prom- 

 ise to Deputies that he would intercede with the 

 railroad companies to urge compliance with the 

 law of 1884, declared that he did not admit the 

 right of servants of the state to join trade 

 unions, as it would destroy discipline and ad- 

 ministration. M. Millerand, protesting that 

 preceding ministries had granted leaves of ab- 

 sence and allowed the men to take part in trade 

 unions, moved that the Minister of Public 

 Works be invited to cause to be respected by 

 the railroad companies, and particularly by the 

 state railroads, the law on trade unions." M. 

 Ouvre, who usually supported the Government, 

 showed the emptiness of the pretext of necessi- 

 ties of the public service, and M. de Ramel, of 

 the Right, offered a resolution that the law of 



1884 applied equally to men employed by the 

 state and by private companies. M. Casimir- 

 Perier moved the order of the day pure and sim- 

 ple, which was rejected by 265 votes against 225, 

 and after the ministers had retired M. de Ramel's 

 motion was adopted by 251 votes to 217. The 

 members of the Cabinet who had previously en- 

 couraged M. Jonnart in his attitude toward the 

 trade unions resigned in a body. It was a Re- 

 publican majority that overturned the ministry, 

 and not a coalition with the Reactionaries, most 

 of whom voted with the minority. The Radical 

 Left called for a shifting to the Left of the axis 

 of the new policy, and the Socialist Radical 

 group resolved to support only a ministry that 



Government Republicans upheld Casimir-Perier 

 in his assertion of the principle of authority. 



The Dupuy Cabinet. President Carnot ap- 

 pealed in turn to M. Bourgeois. M. Dupuy, M. 

 Peytral, and M. Brisson to undertake the task of 

 forming a ministry. On May 29 M. Dupuy suc- 

 ceeded in getting one together, composed as fol- 

 lows : Premier, Minister of the Interior, and 

 Minister of Public Worship, Charles Dupuy: 

 Minister of Finance, M. Poincare; Minister of 

 Justice. M. Guerin ; Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Georges Leygues; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, M. Hanotaux; Minister of War, Gen. 

 Mercier ; Minister of Marine, Felix Faure : Min- 

 ister of the Colonies, M. Delcasse ; Minister of 

 Public Works, M. Barthou ; Minister of Com- 

 merce. M. Lourties ; Minister of Agriculture, 

 Albert Viger. The ministerial declaration gave 

 pledges to guarantee public order and push for- 

 ward democratic measures, especially bills relat- 

 ing to social problems and pensions for working- 

 men. M. Casimir-Perier was elected President 

 of the Chamber. 



A bill creating pension funds for miners passed 

 the Chamber on June 9, having already passed 

 the Senate. A bill originated by the Socialists 

 permits trade unionists who have been elected 

 deputies to retain their membership in the 

 unions. On June 21 M. Jaures attacked the 

 Government for having suspended university 

 professors for speaking at socialist meetings or 

 writing for the organs of his party. A bill was 

 passed excusing jurors who objected from taking 

 the oath " before God and men." The Cham- 

 bers authorized the rmmicipality of Paris to 

 issue a loan of 117,000,000 francs to complete 

 the drainage system and buy more sewage farms. 

 When a loan of 200,000.000 francs, paying 2i 

 per cent., was offered in April without financial 

 agents the people rushed to subscribe at the issue 

 price of 82| per cent., covering it 85 times over. 



The Government was severely criticised lie- 

 cause Gen. Mercier had refused to treat with 

 Turpin, the discoverer of picric acid, from which 

 melinite was developed, who had been sent to 

 prison after selling his patent to the Armstrongs, 

 and afterward pardoned. The inventor had of- 

 fered to provide an engine of v/ar that would 

 clear a wide space for miles in front of an army. 

 It was to be a gun capable of hurling a peculiar 

 projectile made with picric acid, consisting of a 

 bomb that on bursting will scatter other bombs 

 filled with smaller projectiles. 



