Uneasiness in France M. Daladier and his Government may congratulate
them- selves on the success of the k28,000,000 Defence Loan which, issued this week on very generous terms, was heavily over- subscribed. Yet French public opinion remains uneasy, and the success of the loan was immediately followed by a collapse of confidence and heavy selling on the Bourse. Several reasons may be found for this sudden reversal of feeling, among them the almost pathological instability of French capitalists at the present moment. More important, however, is M. Daladier's failure to draw up the decrees on the 4o-hour week and the increase of production. Any return of confidence in France is so hesitant that it needs to be followed up by further successes, and the essence of M. Daladier's problem is to act quickly. Unfortunately the threatening international situation continually disturbs work on domestic problems ; discussion of the decrees by the Cabinet was postponed in order to draw up plans for large increases in France's colonial army. And the international situation equally disturbs public opinion. There is little doubt that one of the most important factors which decreased the effect of the Defence Loan was Signor Mussolini's Genoa speech, which seemed to deny any hopes of a Franco-Italian agreement and once again brought France face to face with the fatal and intractable problem of Spain.
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