Dipping and Scratching

Paunchy, shaggy-haired Premier Briand of France met taut-waisted, sleek Dictator-Premier Primo de Rivera of Spain at the Quai d' Orsay last week.

Each took a pen, dipped, scratched. By their dipping and scratching they validated in perpetuity a Franco-Spanish pact exiling Abd-el-Krim, famed captured Sultan of the Riff (TIME, June 7), to the island of Reunion or Bourbon.

Many a Spaniard was vexed at Dictator Primo's exalted connivance at providing Abd-el-Krim with opulent support for life on a balmy isle 45 miles long, 32 wide and only 380 miles off the coast of Madagascar. At Madrid the slogan, "Hamstring Abd-el-Krim!" has long attained a popularity rivaling the no-longer-touted, "Hang the Kaiser!"

Frenchmen consider that peace with Krim was cheap at the price, promised him comfortable support in his exile.