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Show EX -PRESIDENT OF FRANCE DEAD 45 YEARS IN PUBLIC LIFE OF REPUBLIC Paul Deschanel Forced to i Resign Presidency Owing to Illness ACTIVE IN POLITICS Election in 1920 Marked End to Power of Clemenceau PARIS. April 28. (By the Associated Associ-ated Press.) Paul Deschanel former president of France, died this afternoon after-noon Paul Eugene I.oul- Deschanel, tenth president of France, entered upon a V n-venr term In that office on February Feb-ruary 18. 1920, after having been . hosen by the national assembly the i " . ding January by the blgscst majority ma-jority since the election of Thiers. th .'irst president of Hie present republic SI .'- sman and author and one of the most brilliant public speakers in France. M. Deschanel's political triumph tri-umph marked the retirement from public life of former Premier Georges Clemenceau. The campaign had been most sensational sen-sational nnd bitter M. Clemenceau. th. n at the height of his power as the Fren h war premier and one ..i the negotiators of the treaty with Gei -many. was. up until a few day before the election, believed to be the only-candidate only-candidate who had a chance for tho office Catholic and Socialist votes in the French parliament, however, combined com-bined wiih those of the political enemies ene-mies of the 'Tiger" and elected He-1 schanel A few months later, when Deschanel had heen forced by lllnesa to resign. "The Tiger' was asked If he again would permit his name to bo used as a candidate for the presidency TOO YOUNG To ACCEPT. I was too old to be elected last .lanurny." he replied ironically, "and I feel too young to accept now, in case I was chosen. I am going into India's Jungles to hunt tigers, which Is much less dangerous than French politics.' I On May 24. 1920, a few months aft-1 er taking up his residence at the Ely-I Ely-I see palace as the successor of Polncare I President Deschanel. when on his way at night from Paris to Montbrlson to I dedicate a monument, fell from a moving mov-ing train while attempting to raise a windowr In his sleeping compart-1 j ment. He was supposed to have been! lonlj lik'htly injured Thereafter, how-1 lever, the press of France expressed j almost dally solicitude for his he.ilth I After passing weeks of convalescence In Normandy, he returned to Paris in ' dune to preside at the council of ministers. minis-ters. Later It was announced that he : had suffered a complete breakdown; land that his resignation was Inevitable. Inevi-table. The following September, the president sent a letter of resignation to Premier Mlllorand together with a message to the senate and chamber, of deputies which were soon followed' by the election of his successor. LONG IN PUBLIC LIFE For nearly 4". years M- Deschanrl had been In French public life He! was president of :he chamber of dep-utl dep-utl IS when elected to the hlghe-t pOc as first citizen of France. PrcVfbusly 1 he had been head of the French par llamentary commission on foreign and colonial affairs. In a speech nt Paris the first year of the war he dc- .-Ir.rerl tlierA eonlil Ya 1 no noulr-i lu when '"Hizatlon Itself was at stake " j Among his first acts upon assuming I the presidency were his signing of a dei ree making commissioners to study French living costs and another barring bar-ring alcoholic drinks from Elysee palace. M Deschaiel was horn In 1857 In Brussels, to which . Ity his father went, after being exiled from France in 1851 I for having published a pamphlet entitled en-titled "Catholicism and Socialism." When be was 8 veils old, the bo;- returned re-turned to France with his Father, who ! was pardoned by an act of amnesty, following a recat latlon of his views. ENTERS Pi BLIC SI R ICE The young man was educated :n Parle and which only 20 years old he entered the puolic servtcc, becoming seoretary to M, de Marcere, then minister min-ister of the interior. He becaniQ secretary sec-retary to Jules Simon, president of the council the following vein and served until 1.885 when he was elected n em- her of the chamber of deputies from the department of Eure-et-Eolre In 1 S 9 6 he was named vice president of that body and two years later was until iy02 when he was defeated for re -elect Ion M. Deschanel was later Appointed, president of the parliamentary cam-' i mission on foreign affairs and colonies colo-nies his work in that body continuing until 1909 In April. 1 f 1 n. M Descha- nei returned to the chamber, becoming i f Continued on Page io 1 i go 45 YEARS IN PUBLIC LIFE OF REPUBLIC (Continued from rage one) its president In 1012 He remained In ; the chair continuously until hie election elec-tion to the presidency. In 1913 he I was urged to become a candidate for i president against Raymond Polncare, I. ut polled olilv i S vyli at I he election elec-tion In the midst of hla political and pubii. labors, M Deachanel found time to write a number of works on political and social problems Madame De.sehanel was formerly Mile. Germalne Brlce, daughter of Rene Brlee. member of the chamber I of deputies for LUe-et-V0alne. oo |
