Word: papa
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...before the riot because the Cabinet of that stylish Paris Lawyer Maître Paul-Boncour was falling -on the issue of this year's budget which French Deputies have threshed with increasing futility for two weeks (TIME, Jan. 30). Final debate dragged through 22 hours. When famed Papa Henri Chéron, stubborn old Norman Finance Minister, demanded an "absolute [balanced] budget" at the cost of drastic tax uppings and salary slashes, he was met by arguments for what was called a "relative budget...
...Chamber Finance Committee a budget squabble seethed hotter every day. erupted on the Sabbath. Deputies vowed they would not stomach Papa Cheron's proposed $213,000.000 of increased taxes and $208,000,000 of economies (TIME, Jan. 23). French postmen threatened to strike if their pay is axed. French veterans sent delegations to Premier Paul-Boncour pleading the "sanctity" of their pensions. Meanwhile the French Taxpayers' Union threatened a "tax strike" unless just such economies as cutting post-men's salaries and veterans' pensions are made. About the only cheerful message Papa Cheron received last week...
...cannot decide, not like this-not all in a moment!" cried flustered Papa Chéron, "I must think." Characteristically he rose, paced the Cabinet room with big steps, tapping thoughtfully on his huge chest...
...reflect too long. Chéron," chaffed a Cabinet colleague. "In the end you will accept!" Deliberately, ten minutes later, Papa Chéron accepted. French cartoonists rejoiced. Within a week M. Chéron was a national figure, a sort of Norman Coolidge, invincibly bourgeois. As Finance Minister he outlasted Premier Poincaré, carried on under Premier Briand, then under Premier Tardieu. When the latter fell (TIME, Feb. 24, 1930) Papa Chéron was found to have left in Jean Frenchman's long, woolen sock a treasury surplus of 19 billion francs...
Today, two short years afterward, France has squandered her surplus and faces a budgetary deficit of more than 10½ billion francs. Last month, when Premier Joseph Paul-Boncour succeeded Edouard Herriot, he begged Papa Chéron to come out of retirement and roll up a surplus again. After solemn thought (and probably some chest thumping) Chéron of Lisieux is Finance Minister again. Last week at a painful Cabinet session he told Premier Paul-Boncour & Ministers exactly what bitter pills must be swallowed if France is to have a sound, balanced budget again...