Islands to Unscrew?

An awesome, a tremendous sight was the lying-in-state of beloved "Papa" Joffre, Marshal of France. Last week the Chamber of Deputies met for the first time since his death (TIME, Jan. 5). Up, up the steep steps of the Tribune the oldest pair of legs in the chamber carried Deputy Maurice Sibille to read the official eulogy. Would it pass, or not? The Chamber is notoriously fickle. It refused to cheer Clemenceau on his first appearance after a would-be assassin had wounded him at the time of the peace conference./- But "Tiger" Clemenceau was the antithesis of "Papa" Joffre. The Marshal was in France unquestionably the best beloved hero of the entire War. Last week would even a single deputy refuse to join in laying a harmless wreath of words upon the tomb of JOFFRE? The eulogy ended with this moving appeal by Oldest Deputy Sibille: "May there be no use of language that would wound others or inject hatred!" There was no such use. Silently nearly all the Socialist deputies, all the Communist deputies, abstained from voting, refused to join in the last accolade of France to the man who saved Paris at the Marne. Reason: Socialists and Communists are pacifists. On the other hand, there was no trouble in the Chamber last week about the cost of burying Joffre: 300,000 francs ($11,700).** One-third of this sum was for ripping up from the streets along the funeral route and laying down again the "safety islands." These were ripped up & laid down for Foch--the object being that the Hero's body should pass straight up the centre of the way. But how many times is this gesture to be made--so grand, so spacious, so magnificently French? In Paris last week there was a growing undercurrent of opinion that the safety islands should hereafter be made in such a way that they can be unscrewed. Work Done by the Chamber last week:

P: Re-elected President (speaker) Fernand Bouisson (Socialist) for the third consecutive time.

P: Gloomily received Minister of Labor Edouard Grinda's announcement that 17,500 persons are now on the French "dole." Two months ago the number was less than 2,000, year ago it was 1,100; but prosperous, gold-hoarding France has suddenly begun to feel a slight pinch from the world boojum of "Depression." Instant Reaction: The State Railways offered reduced fares to foreign laborers desirous of leaving France. Expulsion measures were mooted.

/-Said the "Tiger" afterward to his secretary: "The papers said there was cheering. There was not--and yet, great God, there I stood with the bullet still in my body!" **The salary of the Prime Minister is only 75,000 francs ($2,925).

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