Endurance Test

After three weeks of embittered bickerings over the Emergency Taxation Bill, which is to give the Government power to enforce taxation by decree (TIME, Feb. 18 et seq.), the Government closed discussion and the bill was passed by a majority of 136 votes. It has now to go to the Senate. It was hoped that the bill would, if passed, become law by March 15.

The session at which the final vote was recorded lasted from 10 A.M. on one day to 7:05 A.M. on the following, with only two short intermissions. It was stated that only the indomitable will of Premier Poincare and the indefatigable power of explanation and persuasion of the Minister of Finance, M. de Lasteyrie, a descendant of the famed orator Mirabeaii, made it possible to carry the closure motion in "one day.

The last man to hurl defiance at the Government was Deputy Leon Blum, one of the ablest of Socialist leaders. Said he:

"These final measures are the ransom France must pay for a policy in the Ruhr which has prevented any settlement of the reparations problem. They are a confession of failure. It was the Ruhr occupation which caused depreciation of the franc; if the franc improves it will not be thanks to the measures now being voted but to the work of the experts and consequent abandonment of the policy which France inaugurated 14 months ago."

The Emergency Taxation Bill gives power to the Government to decree taxation laws instead of having to pass each bill through both Senate and Chamber. An improvement in the State finances of some 7,500,000,000 francs is anticipated. Some of the measures that will be taken to ensure this improvement are: sale of the match monopoly which has been run at a loss; general increase of 20% in taxation; reorganization of provincial government system, estimated to save 1,000,000,000 francs; penalization of persons falsifying income tax returns; increase in parcel post, postcard and telephone charges; 50% increase in railway fares, estimated to save the State 1,500,000,000; increase in the price of tobacco, a State monopoly; increase in the stamp tax; etc.