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Show I Words and Cartoons Against Caillaux Led to Calmette s Deathf H The Pictures and Bitter H Articles That so En- H raged the Wife of H France's Minister of H Finance That She Shot H the Famous Editor of H Le Figaro rt IE five shots whfch Madame Joseph Can-I Can-I laux poured into the body of Editor Gas-ton Gas-ton Calmette, have started a disturbance that may turn France upside down. The situation In Paris appears to possess the fl same elements that have produced six revolu- tions -within one hundred and thirty yearB, and fl caused the streets of the volatile capital to swim with blood every time. Gaston Calmette, the editor of the Figaro, began a. bitter campaign on behalf of the con-.. servatlve classes of France cgainst the radical socialist Minister of Finance, Joseph Caillaux. Suddenly by an unexpected turn, what had been an acrimonious political fight changed into a whirlwind or the deepest human pas- An examination of the Figaro reveals some of the causes that led Madame Caillaux to shoot Gaston calmette. For over three months, that is, since December 11, when the present Fronch Government took office, the Hl Figaro has conducted an uninterrupted attack on Minister Caillaux- of unparalleled bitterness. The newspaper has accused him of being a liar, a turncoat, of aiding all kinds of criminal and corrupt financial schemes, and of using his official information for the benefit of his stock exchange friends. The Figaro is the leading organ of the wealthy, conservative and fashionable classes of France. Joseph Caillaux was. until his resignation in consequence of his wife's act, the most aggres-give aggres-give and capable member of the new cabinet, headed by M. Gaston Doumergue. He was the Hi Lloyd-George of France. The chief feature of his political programme was an. income tax law, which was bitterly resented by the con-servatlve con-servatlve classes of France, Hence the oppo-eition oppo-eition of Figaro. For three months the Figaro published on an average three articles a day against M. Call-laux, Call-laux, the principal one by the editor, Gaston Calmette, and the others by his ablest asslst-ants. asslst-ants. This made about 270 articles in all. In addition there appeared every other day a niercileBS cartoon against Caillaux, exposing his corruption and dishonesty. These were usually by Forain, the cleverest and most scath-ing scath-ing caricaturist in France. The articles sought not only to show that Caillaux was thoroughly corrupt and dishonest Hj in all hiB political affairs, but that he was ut-terly ut-terly Insincere in his advocacy of his pet scheme, the income tax. The culmination of this line, of attack came with a letter by M. Caillaux which the newspaper published on March 13. The letter waB written from the Senate. The name of the person to whom It was addressed Is not published, but the "tutoiement',' the "thee and thou" style used in the letter, shows that it was written to a very intimate friend. It reads: "Although I wanted to do so very much, it was impossible for me to write to you yester-day. yester-day. I was compelled to attend two meetings of the Chamber in the morning from 10 o'clock to noon, and In the afternoon from 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock. "I was very tired, but won a great, success by j demolishing the income tax project, while ap- pearing to defend it. I received applause from j the Right and Centre (the Royalist and Con- servatlve sections of the Chamber) without too 1 greatly displeasing the Left (the Radical and Socialist sections). I succeeded in giving a turn to the helm in the direction we needed. "The meeting of the Chamber this morning i did not end till 12:45. 1 "I am harassed, at the end of my strength, Hj -md almost sick, but I shall have rendered a 1 great service to the country. THY JO." It was the publication of this letter which led Madame Caillaux to kill Editor Calmette. It was said that the letter was addressed to her when she was stil lthe wife of Leon Claretio, a distinguished writer who contributed to the Figaro, On March 8, just before the letter that pro-valued pro-valued the fatal shotB, M. Calmetto published the following typically Parisian article about M. Caillaux: "We have to record a new pirouette by M Caillaux. "We could hardly bring ourselves to believe it, still less to publish it, for such a short time has passed since the last 'looping the loop' of our Minister of Finance on the subject of the Immunity of the Rente and then of its taxation. f 1 : : " P ! ' ,v This Cartoon, by Forain, in the Figaro, Shows Joseph Caillaux Reaching for the Nation's Sword, "Are you going to flourish it in the face of th c enemy?" asks his companion. "No, I want to put a dent i n it," says Caillaux-. That double pirouette which permitted certain very familiar and very well informed friends to execute a most audacious stroke on the Bourse is not yet sufficiently effaced from our stupefied memories to make it prudent to plan another manoeuvre of the same kind. "We are, however, obliged to ask a new question with regard to the Credit Foncier Bgyptien of which wo have not yet spoken often enough. "On December 27th last we expressed ourselves our-selves thus: 'M. Caillaux, who has been Minister Min-ister of Finance for twenty days, receives at his official office In the Louvre, stock brokers, . representatives of great financial corporations, directs the handling of French Government funds and knows in advance the purchases that will he made by the savings banks which have such great influence on the market for the Rentes, and on the entire Stock Exchange; yet, nevertheless, he has retained his highly paid f employment in a foreign bank whose headquarters headquar-ters is at Cairo. He is still president of the Credit Foncier Egyptien. We may make the same observation concerning the Credit Foncier Argentin.' "On the following day M. Caillaux, by way of the newspapers which draw their information informa-tion from him and through a paragraph from the official Havas Agency, declared that he had given his resignation as the administrator of the two societies mentioned by us. "We recorded with pleasure this tardy decision de-cision which we demanded and which parlia-, mentary morality required, and then we noted" ' several weeks later the nomination of a new president, M. Sebastien de Neufville, at the head of the Credit Foncier Argentin. But what was our surprise to learn that nothing had been changed in the Credit Foncier Egyptien whfch furnished by far the fattest revenue to M. Caillaux namely 100,000 francs a year. Did M. Caillaux make a little error when he informed in-formed us by the Havas Agenoy that he had given hia resignation on December 28? His name is still on the first page of the report of the corporation, which was drawn up on "January 20 last. "But here is something still more astonishing. astonish-ing. The general meeting of stockholders was held at Cairo on February 17, and President Caillaux was excused from attending on the ground that he was occupied by his business at Paris. The directors made no allusion before be-fore the meeting to a resignation by our Minister Min-ister of Finance. No administrator was named in his place. Our plutocrat demagogue remains re-mains then president of the Credit Foncier Egyptien. There iB only one change in his position to be mentioned, and that is one which he did not announce. M. Caillaux was re-elected president for five more years, his authority having ended in the year 1913. "One could not juggle more Insolently with the truth. "M. Caillaux will continue as a participant very much interested and very well paid by the Credit Foncier Egyptien to protect on the Paris stock market the lottery sales of the corporations corpora-tions of which the French Penal Code prohibits the sale." Shortly before this, on March 5, Calmette made a particularly vicious attack on Caillaux, stating that he had reversed his own position on the question of taxing the Interest from French Rentes or government funds. The Government appears to have discovered rather late that It will be very unpopular to tax this kind of income, and the dexterous M. Caillaux had to make a somersault. Here is the artiale: "THE PUBLIC PALINODIES OF M, CAILLAUX. '7n the Senate M. r.lbot and M. Touron, and In the Chamber, M. Briand, M. Barthou, and M. Klotz have pointed out the fantastic contradictions contradic-tions in the policy of M. Caillaux varying according ac-cording to the hour and the weather, according "The Man of Many Masks." The Figure Is That of Joseph Caillaux, Shown by His Very Bald Head. The Mask He Is Wearing Is the Face of Ex-Minister Monis. The Mask on the Chair Is That of Briand, Another Ex-Minister. A Cartoon by Abel Faivre in the Fio-arn. to whether he was a Minister or only a candidate candi-date for the Ministry. But these important personages of our Parliament had too high a sentiment of duty toward the country even to imagine the scandalous and disgraceful recantation recan-tation which M. Caillaux in his new income tax project was 'about to give to all his speeches, to all his engagements, to his whole programme. pro-gramme. "What, was the platform of our plutocrat demagogue, president of the Credit Foncier Egyptien, president of the Credit Foncier Argentin, Ar-gentin, etc., etc., in his campaign against the Barthou Cabinet, which he endeavored to upset to replace it by himself and his friends. "It was the taxation of the Rente I "This tax he declared was indispensable to all the financial policy, to all the fiscal reforms that fermented In the head of M. Caillaux. When M. Dumont, on the other side, demanded on behalf of the Government the freedom from taxation of the coupons of our State funds, M. Caillaux, from the tribune on December 2, 1913, declared: " 'The real object you are proposing In exempting ex-empting the Rente from taxation Is to ruin the system of Income tax which the Chamber built up in the preceding legislature. " 'A clause exempting in a formal fashion, a3 the Government asks the French Rente, is inconsistent in-consistent with the income tax project. Gentlemen, Gen-tlemen, I ask a vote of fidelity to yourselves. Preserve at least your liberty. Do not put any kind of mortgage on the fiscal action of the Chamber. I ask you to give not only a vote of fidelity to yourselves, but, if I may say so, a vote of dignity.' "The voto of 'fidelity' and 'dignity' was given. The majority of the Chamber adopted the theory of M. Caillaux, and the Barthou-Dumont Cabinet, having asked a vote of confidence on the immunity of the Rente, resigned. "The system sketched by M. Caillaux triumphed, tri-umphed, and the Ministry of Finance was confided con-fided to the conqueror aB a reward. "What Is Lho first paragraph inserted by M. Caillaux, Minister of Finance, in his new income in-come tax project submitted to the Commission on March 4? "It is the immunity of the Rente from Taxation! Taxa-tion! "M. Caillaux, after having jeered at it, ask3 for it. There Is in the French Parliament, in the Fronch Government, a man who despises to such a degree his own words, his own promises prom-ises and the tribune from which he uttered them! " 'Give us,' you wMl say, 'proofs of these crimes against reason, against thrift, against the law which you publish every day.' "These proofs can easily be given, since it la sufficient to reproduce public statements. The speech of December 2 was inserted in the Official Offi-cial Journal, with this thundering exposure of the dangers of making the Rente immune from taxation : "'It Is not worthy of France to consent to the hypothecation nd the immunity which they ask from you, and I may add, having a strong sentiment of what Isay, that It is not worthy of the credit of France to thus enter Into engagements which should be left to countries coun-tries with damaged finances. France has no need of them for its credit.' "Now here is the first article, intentionally . obscure in its wording, of the law submitted yesterday to the Senate by M. Caillaux: "'Article 1. The tax on the Income of personal per-sonal capital applies to dividends, interest, arrears ar-rears and all other" income of (1) shares, founders' foun-ders' shares, partners shares, special partnerships, partner-ships, bonds, and loans of all kinds, of French corporations and associations mentioned in the law of the 29th of June, 1872, and not freed from the income tax on personal property prop-erty by subsequent laws.' "It 13 exaotly the law of June 29, 1872, which creates an annual tax of 3 per cent on revenues, reve-nues, interest and Rentes of all kinds, the French Government Rente excepted. 1 j )ge ' '' rrt . ' M11 . . Two Attendants of the Paris Stock Exi jetf t change Are Talking. One Says: "B gjife said it before me, but I had no confi &Qr- dence in him." A Reference to the Stoci Tips Minister Caillaux Is Said to Havi '- Given to His Friends. Cartoon by Forali ; - in the Figaro. wrT "In consequence of this rlght-about-fac W which will perhaps surprise some socialists, the Fronch Rente is, therefore, on the proposal ti & of M. Caillaux, excepted from taxation. Thi a al Minister must have made to some of hli olicen friend3 of the Stock Exchange the valuable Al be confidence of the palinody, which he was to The make public on March 4, after the closing ol vft d the Stock Exchange, for on the eve of receft irtant ing this privilege, which places them abovfl Hush all other securities, our State funds had shown te t a sudden advance of one franc which,- alas) grhi neither the Interior nor the exterior relatloni jrccc of our country could explain. ftm "What are we- to think of the Minister who) &ed to attain power or to prolong the enjoyment nrld ' of his appetites, thus publicly .and cynically io 1 tears Into shreds all that makes the nobility ol .' power, the loyalty of parliament and the dignity, i of our Government?" i :z In his earlier attacks on Caillaux the editor , stated that the Minister had demanded SO per cent of $1,250,000 from the heirs of Marcej i Prieu for securing the sum due to them which ' was In the hands of the Government Priea was a great French merchant whose property was confiscated in Brazil, which eventually paid tfT the sum named as an indemnity to the French H Government. - ; X Calmette further charged that Caillaux had! ... brought about the postponement of the trial Buy of Henri Rochettc, who swindled the great waf Paris bank, the Comptoir National D'Escompte' L u of an enormous sum of money. The postpone 7 ment enabled Rochette to escape to Mexico. " ties Calmette also charged that Caillaux extorted $80,000 from the same bank for political uses. ' When Madame Caillaux injected the passion Til6 ate and tragic elements into this bitter contro-: j'Mr. versy, she raised Paris to a state of frenzy u-B Many saw in Calmette's attacks on Caillaux'' ' a despicable attempt of the propertied classes' ?ew to discredit a true friend of the people. On'! the other hand, the royalists and the upperr Bfidi classes were enraged by the prospect that onoi whom they regarded as a demagogue and cor-'i J ruptionlst might escape from punishment under! : cover of an assassination. ' etyg- The young royalists, known as the "Camelotsi ,"1 a du roi," because they believe In promoting; m-their m-their cause by street propaganda, held a nolsyij l . ' demonstration in the Cafe Napolitain. Criealf! -gw of "Down with the Republic!" and "Vive leii ,'Mis: roi!" were raised. The meeting was dispersed see i by the police. It gathered larger than ever, sw in and around the big Cafe Cardinal. Twofi thousand anti-government demonstrators colt E lected. Once more the meeting was dispersed with force. btak The sentiment that always favors the woman 1.' was invoked on behalf of Madame Caillaux. A beautiful woman had acted for the sake of ? s love. Thereforo her action was sacred. Whenr S?m Madame Caillaux called on Editor Calmette, J: to the he said. "I do not wish to see her, but I must t receive her because she is a woman." ' When the police were going to arrest her fi i ej sho said, "Do not lay hands on me, I am a, t! woman." When she was put in St. Lazare d prison two thousand students demonstrated be- i, sV0l neath her window, and swore that they would 5 t4n die before a hair of her head should be touched, ;v just because she was a woman. P. ?ut Forty thousand soldiers have been moved Into ! fJch Paris in readiness to supp.ess any insurrection. j jUi It was as recently as 1871, within the memory r- l$m of elderly men, that Paris rejected the national 4 fa? government and set up the Commune, because ? L it was irritated. The emotions of Paris, frivo- J fm lous as they may appear, can always give anx- e iety to a French Government, for they have I "Bu produced mighty upheavals !n the past- |