but also to make joint loans with Great Britain to Serbia, Belgium, Greece, and Montenegro. The expenditures during the first months of 1915, according to a statement made by M. Alexandre Ribot (minister of finance) on March 18th, amounted to almost 1,300,000,000 francs a month. The Bank of France had been called upon in 1914 to furnish 3,600,000,000 francs, and in 1915, thus far, 1,000,000,000. The amount raised by public subscriptions in 1914 was only 1,200,000,000; in less than three months in 1915, a sum more than twice as great had been raised. Altogether the national defense bonds had produced 3,862,000,000 francs up to March 12.

MINIMUM WAGE FOR THE SWEATED TRADES. The miserable conditions usually prevalent in the sweated trades were aggravated by the war, since many poor women, whose husbands had been sent to the front, found it necessary to earn their own livelihood and swelled the number of underpaid workers in the clothing trades. To remedy this evil, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill modifying the Labor Code and establishing the principle of a minimum wage for certain categories of women workers. According to the statement of M. Jean Morel, who made a remarkable report on the bill in the Senate, the minimum wage regulation would affect about a million women wage-earners, many of whom had been receiving less than 20 centimes an hour for their labor.

THE DESCLAUX GRAFT CASE. In March a profound sensation was created by the Desclaux trial. Instances of dishonesty on the part of officials and contractors in connection with the provision of supplies for the army were probably no more numerous in France than in other countries, but in France such cases aroused public indignation to a greater degree, because among the swindlers who defrauded the government were men who had recently held important administrative positions under the Radical-Socialist government. The most conspicuous offender was a former paymaster-general of the French army, François Desclaux, who had been identified with the Radical-Socialist faction and had been chief secretary to M. Joseph Caillaux during the latter's term of office as finance minister, in 1914 (see YEAR BOOK for 1914, FRANCE, Murder of M. Calmette, p. 269). In January, 1915, M. Desclaux was arrested on the charge of stealing army supplies. Mme. Bechoff, a prominent Parisian dressmaker, was implicated in the case, and quantities of the stolen goods-coffee, tents, shells, and helmets were found in her home. Two months later, M. Desclaux and Mme. Bechoff were convicted after trial by court-martial, M. Desclaux receiving a sentence of seven years' solitary confinement; Mme. Bechoff, two years' imprisonment; and a soldier-accomplice, M. Verges, one year. Desclaux appealed from the decision of the court-martial, but was unable to secure an acquittal, and was degraded from his military rank, August 2nd. The Desclaux case was by no means an isolated incident. In December the fact was revealed that M. Thierry, under-secretary of war, had been a director of a firm, La Morue Française, which had sold a quantity of chemically-preserved codfish to the government at an outrageous price. Many other cases of corrupt dealing in the provision of war supplies were exposed by M. Simyan, in a speech before the Chamber of Deputies, December 14th.

ATTACKS ON THE WAB MINISTRY. During the

summer a few deputies and certain Parisian journals vigorously assailed the administration of the war department. In the Chamber, June 24th, a Radical-Socialist deputy, M. Léon Accambray, violently censured the minister of war, M. Millerand, for having failed to prevent or correct grave defects in the manufacture of shells and in the organization of the sanitary service. Again, on August 5th, after a most eloquently patriotic speech had been delivered by M. Deschanel, M. Accambray attempted to voice virulent criticism of the minister of war. M. Accambray on this occasion obviously failed to gain the sympathy of the Chamber, the overwhelming majority of which was keyed to the highest pitch of patriotic enthusiasm by the reading of President Poincaré's message. The army, said M. Poincaré, realized that "on the victory of France and the Allies rests the future of civilization and humanity. . . . Those who fall die without fear, since by their death France lives and will live forever. . . . In the error of its arrogance, Germany has represented France as light, impressionable, unstable, and incapable of perseverance and tenacity. The people and the army of France will continue to controvert this calumnious judgment by their calm conduct." The storm of criticism had not yet blown over, however. M. Clemenceau, writing in his journal, L'Homme enchainé, continued to discover flaws in the war department. In the Chamber of Deputies, August 13th, M. Brizon vehemently praised General Sarrail, who had been recently removed from his important command in France and transferred to the distant Dardanelles. General Sarrail, it may be noted, was regarded as a possible successor to General Joffre and was praised by Radicals and Socialists as a better "republican" than the commander-in-chief. In reply to the criticisms which had been directed both against himself and, by implication, against the generalissimo, M. Millerand intervened, August 20th, in the debate on an appropriation for the payment of two additional under-secretaries of war, and declared: "For a week certain deputies have conducted here a trial of the war minister. According to them my administration has been characterized by negligence, inertia, and carelessness; I am a prisoner in my own office; I have abdicated in favor of the military authorities and am an enemy of parliamentary control." M. Millerand admitted frankly that the sanitary service at the outset had been faulty; but he asserted that the defects had been remedied, that the supply of munitions had been accelerated in a most satisfactory manner, and that the commander-in-chief enjoyed the complete confidence and admiration of the government, the army, and the nation. The Chamber then adjourned to August 26th. During the short recess, a petition was presented by notable publicists in favor of a modification of the censorship of the press; among the signers of the petition were Gabriel Hanotaux, Stephen Pichon, the editors of the Temps, of the Journal des débats, of the Figaro, and of the Gaulois, and M. Georges Clemenceau, whose criticism of the government was mentioned in a foregoing sentence. The test of the government's strength came in the sitting of August 26. Many observers expected the Chamber of Deputies to insist upon the creation of a secret committee to investigate the conduct of the war department. M. Accambray repeated his attacks on M. Millerand. But the president

of the council, M. Viviani, defended the government in a stirring speech, and the Chamber of Deputies with only one dissenting voice granted the credits for which the government had asked. The Chamber was thereupon adjourned to September 16.

THE COST OF THE WAR. Finance monopolized the attention of the Chamber in September. The budget for the remaining three months of 1915, as drafted by Finance Minister Ribot, contemplated an expenditure of 6,240,000,000 francs. Russia, M. Ribot declared, was spending 1,800,000,000 francs a month; Germany, 2,500,000,000 francs; and Great Britain, an even larger sum; whereas the average monthly expenditure of France would amount to less than 2,100,000,000 francs. The three-months' appropriation was quickly passed by the Chamber of Deputies and received the approval of the Senate, September 28th, making the total of appropriations since Aug. 1, 1914, more than 28,000,000,000 francs. DELCASSE'S RESIGNATION. The failure of the Allies' diplomacy in the Balkans, culminating in the Austro-German-Bulgarian invasion of Serbia (consult WAR OF THE NATIONS), entailed as one of its consequences the resignation of the French foreign minister and the overthrow of the Viviani cabinet. M. Viviani's explanation of the Balkan situation was published in the French papers, October 13th. That night M. Delcassé, the foreign minister, sent a letter to M. Viviani, announcing his resignation. The following morning, M. Viviani called a special meeting of the council of ministers and explained that M. Delcassé, who had previously asked to be relieved of his arduous ministerial duties, on the ground of ill-health, now insisted upon resigning, since he could not agree with the government on the question of aiding Serbia. In the afternoon of October 14th, the president of the council informed the Chamber of Deputies that the foreign minister had resigned, but denied that any divergence of opinion had manifested itself between M. Delcassé and the other members of the cabinet. Further information regarding the government's plans for the relief of Serbia were in sistently demanded by M. Painlevé, who dwelt with great emphasis on the importance of preventing the Germans from opening up the road to Constantinople, and practically demanded that the government reveal the size of the forces sent to Saloniki. M. Viviani, however, would vouchsafe no other information, and limited himself to asserting that in sending the force to Saloniki, the government had taken care not to weaken the front in France. M. Renaudel, a Socialist, reproached the government for its slowness of action and demanded a secret committee to investigate the matter. M. Viviani announced that he would regard the vote on this question as an indication of the Chamber's confidence in the government. The demand for a secret committee was then rejected by 303 to 190, and a vote of confidence was passed, after a tumultuous discussion, by a majority of 372-9. More than 150 deputies abstained from the vote, as an indica tion of their lack of confidence in the cabinet. Since he could no longer command the unanimous confidence of the Chamber, M. Viviani tendered his resignation to President Poincaré, October 29th.

THE BRIAND CABINET. A new cabinet was formed by M. Briand, October 29th; its membership, as announced October 31st, was as fol

lows: President of the council and minister of foreign affairs, M. Aristide Briand (not inscribed in any of the groups of the Chamber, but leader of the Federated Parties of the Left: consult the YEAR BOok for 1914, p. 269); ministers of state, without portfolio-M. de Freycinet (Senate, independent), M. Léon Bourgeois (Senate, Democratic Union), M. Emile Combes (Senate, Democratic Union), M. Jules Guesde (Unified Socialist), M. Denys Cochin (Right); justice, M. René Viviani (Republican-Socialist); war, General Galliéni; navy, Admiral Lacaze; finance, M. Ribot (Senate, Republican Union); interior, M. Malvy (Radical-Socialist); public instruction and fine arts, M. Painlevé (Republican-Socialist); commerce, M. Clémentel (Radical Left); agriculture, M. Jules Méline (Republican Left, Senate); public works, M. Marcel Sembat (Unified Socialist); labor, M. Albert Métin (RadicalSocialist); colonies, M. Doumergue (Senate, Democratic Union). M. Jules Cambon, as delegate of the minister of foreign affairs, was an important auxiliary of the new cabinet. It is interesting to note, furthermore, that since the outbreak of the war, under-secretaryships for munitions, sanitary service, aviation, and intendance had been created in the war department; the new posts were filled by M. Albert Thomas (Unified Socialist), M. Joseph Thierry (Democratic Union), M. Justin Godart (Radical-Socialist), and M. René Bernard (RadicalSocialist), respectively. The most important features of the Briand cabinet were: first, the inclusion of a representative of the Right, M. Denys Cochin; second, the fact that eight of the new ministers-MM. Briand, de Freycinet, Bourgeois, Combes, Méline, Ribot, Doumergue, and Viviani-were former presidents of the council; third, that the fighting departments, the navy and the army, were placed in charge of professional warriors, Admiral Lacaze assuming control of the navy, and General Galliéni, who had rendered brilliant service as military governor of Paris, superseding the much-criticised Millerand in the ministry of war. On November 3rd, M. Briand made his declaration of policy before the Chamber of Deputies. He promised to improve the censorship; he assured the Chamber that the government would communicate to it all the information to which the Chamber was entitled; he declared that France and her Allies would not abandon "heroic" Serbia; and he warned the enemies of France that they could not expect "either weariness or exhaustion" on the part of France. As for the terms of peace, he declared, "when the territory of France shall have been wrested from the invader, when the peoples who have been martyred for us, among whom Serbia must be included, have been restored integrally to their rights, then there will be a question of peace." A Socialist, M. Pierre Renaudel, attempted to heckle the new government, demanding a secret committee to investigate the conduct of the war, and inquiring why Socialist papers were excluded from the trenches. M. Renaudel created a lively sensation, and evoked some vehement protests when he insisted that France should repudiate all ideas of acquiring new territory by the war, and asserted that the consciousness that they were not fighting for territorial conquests was a moral asset to the French army. The debate on the declaration of policy was wound up by the president of the council with an eloquent appeal for unanim

ity. By 515 votes to 1 the Chamber of Deputies signified its confidence in the cabinet; 25 deputies, notwithstanding M. Briand's appeal, abstained from the vote.

POLITICS AND THE HIGH COMMAND. In course of the year a number of generals in the French army were superseded by younger men, and a few very important transfers and new appointments were made. The popular General Sarrail, for example, was transferred from his command in France to the Dardanelles. Admiral Dartige du Fournet replaced Vice-Admiral Boué de Lapeyrère in command of the naval forces. A still more significant change, however, occurred in December. On December 2nd a decree was is sued entrusting General Joffre, who had hitherto been in command only of the armies in France, with the supreme command of all French military forces, excepting those in the colonies and in northern Africa. The purpose of the appointment, explained General Galliéni, was to secure "unity of direction" in the prosecution of the war. Some critics interpreted the decree as a triumph for General Joffre, who would now be able to control and supervise the French operations in the Dardanelles and in Serbia as well as in France. M. Georges Clemenceau, however, in his L'Homme enchainé, and M. Gustave Hervé, in La Guerre sociale, hinted that General Joffre was being honored with a nominal promotion, in order that the actual direction of the campaign in France might be given to another. On December 9th M. Emile Constant in the Chamber of Deputies questioned the government in regard to the high command. When M. Briand refused to take the Chamber into his confidence in the matter, M. Charles Chaumet declared: "It seems that you have taken too literally the witty paradox of M. Marcel Sembat, 'give us a king or give us peace.' It has appeared to you that there was some incompatibility between democracy and the state of war. We are persuaded, for our part, that the strength of democracy is to remain true to its principles." In the vote that concluded the interpellation, M. Briand was upheld by a majority of 443 to 98. Two days later an announcement was made which seemed, in some measure, to justify the predictions of M. Clemenceau and M. Hervé. Gen. de Curières de Castelnau was appointed to the newly created post of chief of the general staff. General de Castelnau had brilliantly commanded the second army in Lorraine during the earliest stage of the war; subsequently he had been placed in command, first of the army of the Somme, and then of the group of armies in the centre of the French battle line; it was he who had directed the French offensive movement in the Champagne region during September and October, 1915. WAR OF THE NATIONS.

See

FINANCE. In the middle of December the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were called upon to vote credits sufficient to cover the estimated expenditures for the first three months of 1916. Minister of Finance Ribot made the statement that France was spending approximately 2,100,000,000 francs a month, as compared with 1,500,000,000 francs in the first months of the war. According to the calculations of the appropriations committee of the Chamber, the total expenditures of France from Aug. 1, 1914, to Dec. 31, 1915, amounted to 31,024,000,000 francs. More than three-fourths of this sum, or 24,347,000,000 francs, had been disbursed for purely

military expenditures. The loans which had been issued to supply the stupendous sums needed for the war had been received by the French public in a highly satisfactory manner; General Joffre had urged his soldiers to persuade their friends and relatives to invest in the "loan of victory"; and the offices opened to receive subscriptions to the loan had been thronged by patriotic investors.

THE CLASS OF 1917. The determination of the French government to utilize every resource, hesitating at no sacrifice of money or of men, until victory was assured, found new expression at the close of the year 1915, when the ministry introduced a bill into the Chamber of Deputies providing for the immediate enlistment of 400,000 recruits who, under normal circumstances, would not have been called to the colors until 1917. Certain deputies, notably MM. Turmel and Auriol, demanded that before authorizing the government to call out the class of 1917, the Chamber should appoint a committee to investigate the utilization of the resources already at the government's disposal, or that at least the government should inform the Chamber of the number of recruits already incorporated in the army. A minority of 112 deputies supported this demand, but the majority upheld the gov ernment. In the course of the ensuing discussion, Lieutenant-Colonel Driant, reporter of the bill, assured the Chamber that the health of the young recruits would be carefully protected; that their barracks would be new, clean, and amply ventilated; that they would receive an extra supply of bread and meat and hot soup, besides wine, with their rations. M. Driant demanded, and obtained, one concession from the government, that the date for the enlistment of the new class be postponed from Dec. 15, 1915, to Jan. 5, 1916, in order to permit the youths to spend their Christmas holidays at home. General Galliéni, the war minister, informed the Chamber that although it was deemed necessary to call up the class of 1917, the boys would not necessarily be used in the trenches for some time to come. "I am asking you to call up the class of 1917," he said; "it is necessary that this class of recruits shall be prepared for the moment when the intensive production of armaments and of munitions, together with the reënforcement of the battle-line with new masses of men, may permit new and decisive efforts." Responding loyally to General Galliéni's appeal, the Chamber passed the bill unanimously. In the Senate the bill was passed on December 27th.

Consult also INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND ARBITRATION, and WAR OF THE NATIONS.

FRANCHISE, MUNICIPAL. See MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, Model City Charter.

FRANK, LEO M. See GEORGIA, Politics and Government.

FRATERNAL ORDERS. See INSURANCE. FREE BAPTISTS. See BAPTISTS, FREE. FREEMAN, HENRY BLANCHARD. American soldier, died Oct. 15, 1915. He was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1837. At the age of 18 he enlisted in the tenth United States infantry, in which regiment he was a first sergeant at the outbreak of the Civil War. A few months later he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and shortly after, captain. He was brevetted for gallantry in the battle of Murfreesboro and later received the same honor as major in the battle of Chickamauga, where he was