FRANCE: New Formula

With Parliament due to assemble on or about Oct. 24, Premier Poincaré announced last week a new formula under which he hopes to get the Franco-U. S. debt pact past the ever recalcitrant Chamber of Deputies.

M. Poincaré declared that he is drafting a series of “provisos” to be attached to the ratification. These “provisos” would not have the force of “reservations” but would record for posterity the reluctance of France to sign the pact as it stands. Thus an honorable loophole would be left open through which France might later request easier terms, while technically bound by the letter of her ratification.