"Hang It!"

"Me, seek power? No, hang it! I may be your President, but I am not the sweeper in this house." Thus snapped Antoine Pinay, when members of his Independent Party pressured him to take on the job of trying to form a new government. Two other Premiers had already tried and failed: Socialist Guy Mollet, representing the biggest bloc (100 seats) among the parties who more or less govern France, and Rene Pleven, whose left-center U.D.S.R. is the smallest (7 seats).

Although the late government of Premier Maurice Bourges-Maunoury had collapsed over Algeria, the squabbling now turned on how to solve the economic crisis: by year's end France may have no money to pay for imports. After a talk with President Rene Coty, Pinay declared: "In view of the gravity of the situation explained to me by the President, I do not think I have the right to refuse." In 1952 Conservative Antoine Pinay had made himself a hero by "saving the franc." But last week his proposals to hold the line on taxes, slash expenditures and economize on France's burgeoning social security setup promptly met Socialist hostility, and it looked as if Coty would have to find somebody else to save the franc.

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