civil affairs handbook france section 2

8/4/2019 Civil Affairs Handbook France Section 2

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ARMY SERVICE FORCES MANUAL

CIVIL AFFAIRS HANDBOOK

s ie cpFRANCESECTION 2: GOVERNMENT

AND ADMINISTRATION

REPRINT OF PRELIMINARY DRAFT. CIVIL AFFAIRS HANDBOOK ON FRANCE, SECTION 2

SDissemination of restricted matter. - The information con-tained in restricted documents and the essential characteristics of restrictedmaterial may be given to any person known to be in the service of the UnitedStates and to persons of undoubted loyalty and discretion who are cooperatingin Government work, but will not be communicated to the public or to the pressexcept by authorized military public relations agencies. (See also par. 18b,AR 380-5, 28 Sep 1942.)

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY SERVICE FORCES,16 DECEMBER 1943

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ARMY SERVICE FORCES MANUAL M 52-2Civil AFFairs

CIVIL AFFAIRS HANDBOOK

FRANCESECTION 2: GOVERNMENT

AND ADMINISTRATION

REPRINT OF PRELIMINARY DRAFT, CIVIL AFFAIRS HANDBOOK ON FRANCE, SECTION 2

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY SERVICE FORCES,1 DECEMBER 1943

n . .Dissemination of restricted matter. - The infcrnation con-tained in restricted documents and the essential characteristics 0' restrictedmaterial may be given to any person known to be in the service of the UnitedStates and to persons of undoubted loyalty and discretion who are cooperatingIn Government work, but will not be communicated to the public or to the pressexcept by authorized military public relations agencies. (See a'so par. 18b,AR 380-5, 28 Sep 1942.)


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NUMBERING SYSTEM OF

ARMY SERVICE FORCES MANUALS

The main subject matter of each Army Service Forces Manual is indicatedby consecutive numbering within the following categories:

M1 - M99M10 - M199

M2?O0M300M400M500M600M'700M$00M900

M299M399M499M599M699M799M899up

Basic and Advanced TrainingArmy Specialized Training Program and Pre-

Induct ion TrainingPersonnel and MoraleCivil AffairsSupply and TransportationFiscalProcurement and ProductionAdministrationMiscellaneousEquipment, M ateriel, Housing, and Constrution

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY SERVICE FORCES,Washington '25, D. C., 16 December 1943.Army Service Forces Manual M 352-2, Civil Affairs Handbook -- France.:

Section 2, Government and Administration has been prepared under the super-vision of The provos t Marshal General, and is published for the information

and guidance of all concerned.

[SPX 461 (31 Aug 43)]By command of Lieutenant General SOMERVELL:

W. D. STYER,Major General, General Staff Corps,

Chie f of Staff.

OFFICIAL:5. A. ULIO,

Major General,Adjutant . General.

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Q.,IjIL AFFAIRS HAND

1. Geographical and Social Background2. Government and Administration3. Legal Affairs4. Government Finance5. I oney and Banking

6. Natural Resources7. Agriculture8. Indus try an d Commerce9. Labor

10. Public Works and Utilities

1. Transporta t ion Systems12. Communications

13. Public Health and Sanitation

14. Public Safety

15 . Education16. Public Welfare

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INTRODUCTION

Purposes of the Civil Affairs Handbook.International Law places upon an occupying power the responsibilityfor maintaining civil order in the areas occupied.The basic purposes of civil affairs officers are thus (1) to assistthe Commanding General of the combat units by quickly establishing thoseorderly conditions which will contribute most effectively to the conductof military operations, (2) to reduce to a minimum the human sufferingand the material damage resulting from disorder and (3) to create theconditions which will make it possible for civil government to functioneffectively.The preparation of Civil Affairs Handbooks is a part of the effortto carry out this obligation as efficiently and humanely as is possible.The Handbooks do not deal with planning or policy. They are rather readyreference source books of the basic factual information needed 'or-planningand policy making. For these reasons, it should be clear that the datacontained in this section does no imply any given program of action.

Revision for Final Publication.Significant area information is immediately needed to make certainthat organized data is in hand whenever events require it. Arrangementswere therefore made with the cooperating agencies to organize all imme-diately available material in accordance with a prepared outline. Hence,this section on French Government and Administration should be regardedas a preliminary draft. It time permits, it will be revised with specialreference to (a) the details of local administration and (b) the mostrecent developments in respect to government.

OFFICERS USING THIS MATERIAL ARE REQUESTED TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS ANDCRITICISMS INDICATING THE REVISIONS OR ADDITIONS WHICH WOULD MAKE THISMATERIAL MORE USEFUL FOR THEIR PURPOSES. .THESE CRITICISMS SHOULD BE SENTTO THE CHIEF OF THE SURVEY AND RESEARCH SECTION, MILITARY GOVERNMENT DIVI-SION, P.M.G.O., 2805 MUNITIONS BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C. (OR PHONE WARDEPARTMENT EXTENSION 76370).

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GOVER1NMENT AND ADL IN ISTRAT IONCONTENTS

g. General(1) Major Constitutional Funct ions(2) Citizensrip

. national Govermsent'(1) Legislatdi'e(a Organization and Membership(b) Pressures Exerted on the Legislative BodyCc) Legislative Control over the Executive

and the Administrative(d) Vichy and th e Legislature(2) The Executive

(a) Third Republic(b) Vichy Government(3) Administration(a) Third RepublicCb) Vichy Government

c. Provincial or Other Governmental Units(1) The Department Under the Third Republic(a) Autonomous Functions of'the Department

(b) Chief Departmental Organsi. The Prefectii. The Chef de Cabinet

iii. The Secretaire Generaliv. The Bureaux des Pref 'ecture'sv. The Inter-Departmental Councils

vi. The Conseil Generalvii. The Commission Depar tmentale(C) Amount of Supervision Exercised Over

Local Governments(2) The Department Since 1940(a) Councils(3) The Arrondjlssement Under the Third Republic(a). The Sub-prefectOb) The Council of the Arrondissement

(4) The Canton Under the' Third Republic(5) The Arrondissement and the Canton Since 1940d. Local Government

(1) The Commune Under the Third Republic(a) The Municipal Council(b) The.Mayor(c) The City of ParisCd) The City of Ly4on

(2) The Commune Since 1940(a) Rural Communes(b) Urban CommunesCc) Large Cities with Special Status

i. Parisii. Lyoniii. Marseille(3) Reorgancization of Units of Local Government

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Pagee. Special Units of Government 40

C1) Educational Districts 40(2) Railway Administration 40(3) Economic Regions 40(4) Military Regicns 41(5) Naval Districts 41(6) Cominications Districts 41(7) Judicial Districts 41(8) Police Districts 41

f. Political Parties and Other Organizations ofPolitical Significance 41(1) Intioduction 41(2) Political Parties 42

(a) Introduction 42Cb) The Righ t 43i. Federation Republica ine 43

ii. Parties Resembling th e URD 44iii. Alliance Democratique 44iv. Parties Resembling the Alliance Demo-

cratique 45v. Rassemblement National Populaire 45

vi. Parti Populaire Francais 46vii. Progres Social Francals 47

viii. Francisme 48ix. Ligue Francaise 48

(c) The Left 48i. The Radical-Socialists 46

ii. The Socialists 49iii. The Communists 51iv. Minor Parties 52(3) Para-Military Formations 53(a) The Legion 53(b) The M ilice FraflSaise (SOL) 54

(c) The National Revolutionary Militia 55Cd) The Anti-Bolshevik Legion (LVF), The

Tricolor Legion, and the African Phalanx. 56(e) Other Para-Military Formations 56(4) Pressure and Subversive' roups Representing

Big Business and High Finance 56(a) Introduction 57(b) The Comit' Des Forges (CORSID) 57Cc) The Banaue Worms Group 57i. Personnel 58Cd) The Qfgoulards 59(5) The Royalis t Right 60(a) Introduction 60(b) Action Franiaise 60tc) The Monarchist Movement 61(6) Other Rightist Pressure Groups 61(a) Group "Collaboration" 61(b) National Collectivism 62(c) The Front Paysan 62(d) The Jeunesses Patriotes 62Ce) Solidarite Francaise 62(f) Amicale ae France 62(g) La Fierte de France 63(7) Labor Unions 63(a) Before 1940 63(b) Since 1940 63

(8) The Freemasons(9) Youth Movements 66Ca) Introduction 66(b) Chantiers de la Jeunesse, &c. 67

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(10)

1. Reg ionsii. Groupements

iii. Groupesiv Equipes (teams)

(c) Compagnons de France1. Provinces

ii. Paysiii, Bailliagesiv. Cites

(d) Ecoles de Cadres(e) Collaborationist Youth Movements

i. The Jeunesses Populaires Francaisesii. The Jeunesse Fraciste

iii. The Jeunessgs Nationales Populairesiv. The Jeurip Legionv. The Jeunes du M rechalvi. The Soci~t6 de Preparation et

d'Education Sportivevii. Jeunes de l'Europe Nouvelle

viii. Ligue des Jeunes de France et L'Emp(f) Scout Movements(g) Catholic Youth Movements

i. The Association Catholique de laJeunesse Francaise

ii. Students' Federations(h) Miscellaneous Youth Organizations

i. Camelots du Roiii. Union 'Chret ieune de Jeune Gens et d

Jeunes Filles, etc.The Underground(a) Introduction(b) Liberation Frannaise, Liberation, Franc-

Tireur(c) The Communist Underground(d) The Socialist Underground(e) Underground Labor Unions(f) The Clerical Underground(g) The "Secret Army" and the Guerillas(h) Miscellaneous CrganizationsCi) Some of the Underground Publications

Circulating in FranceSelected ReferencesCharts of Goverhmental OrganizationMapsIndex

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GOVERNAENT AND ADMIN ISTRAT ION --- FNCEA. General

(1) Maor constitutional featuresAlthough the Third Republic was notestablished until after the Franco-Prussian Warof 1870, there has been relative continuity inthe French constitution since the Revolution of1789. Many of the laws still in force in Francedate from the period of the Revolution or fromthe reign of Napoleon. At the foundation of thesystem is the Declaration of the Rights of Man,

which changing forms of government have never whollydisplaced. Many groups in France do not considerthat the republican form of government has beenirrevocably adopted, and discussion of the pro-priety of other forms, both of the right and ofthe left, is an important element in politics.Under the Third Republic the principleof the separation of powers was maintained. Thelegislative and executive functions pertained totwo distinct bodies. While the judicial functionremained independent, it was not equal in degreeof power to the legislative and the executive; itcould only decide controversies, but could notinitiate any sort of action. None of the threepowers might usurp the functions of another.Under the Third Republic the presi-deat of the Republic, legislative officers, ndmayors of communes were elected, as were the mem-bers of various sub-national councils with ad-visory functions. The bulk of executive and ad-ministrative officers were appointed. All malecitizens aged twenty-one years or over and notunder disabilities stemming from court actionwere entitled to vote. In spite of long-continuedagitation for female suffrage,women were not al-lowed to vote in general elections.The Vichy Government is non-democraticin form. Power is vested in the Head of the State,who designates his own successor. No elections,even local ones, have taken place since the Vichy

Government came to power. The majority of the oldelected bodies and officials have been set aside.The Vichy government attempted togive its acts an appearance of legality by causingthe National Assembly (Senate and Chamber of Depu-ties) to vote Petain the power to promulgate a newconstitution, which was to be ratified by the nation,The last condition has not been fulfilled, norhave any institutions for the expression of thepublic will been tolerated.The question of preserving in future

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the continuity of republican government, isclosely connected with a law of 15 February 1872(the Treveneuc law). This was written to providefor the restoration of republican authority, incase a form of government contrary to the generalwill should at some time be imposed upon the people.This law is at present being widely discussed asa basis for the restoration of French authorityin France. It provides that if the legislativebody is illegally dissolved or prevented frommeeting, the individual elective departmental coun-cils (Conseils Gdndraux) shall meet as soon as andwherever in the department they can. The presenceof a majority of the members shall be requiredfor their deliberations. These councils are toexercise full public authority for an interimperiod until at least half their number shall havebeen able to meet and send delegates to a CentralAssembly which shall convene wherever the legalgovernment has set itself up. This Assembly inturn shall exercise full powers until the normallegislative body can be reconstituted by restora-tion of the former body or, if more than a monthhas passed, by general elections to form a new one.If the Treveneuc law were to be used to restoreFrench government in France, two major difficultieswould present themselves at the outset: Vichy hasreplaced the elected Conseils G4ndraux with appointedones. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to saywhat the legal government is or where it has beenset up. Once the latter point is settled andsome procedure devised and agreed upon for re-establishing the councils, the Treveneuc law couldbe used. It might prove effective as a means ofre-establishing French government even before thetotal liberation of the national territory, and ithas the advantage of undisputed constitutionality.

(2) CitizenshipThe following figures indicate thedistribution of aliens and nationals among theFrench population as a whole:

year total population nationals aliens1931 41,834,900 38,934,900 2,900,0001936 41,907,000 39,453,500 2,453,500

If the distribution of aliens invarious age and sex groups can be assumed to besimilar to the distribution in the population asa whole, tables for 1931 giving the distributionby age and sex indicate that the electorate wasabout 11,000,000 strong. About 1,000,000 personswho would normally vote are now prisoners of warand another million French nationals (ome of themwomen and therefore not voters) are now workingin Germany (estimate is for May 1943).

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Under the Republic, French nationalswere defined as those persons born of a Frenchfather, born on French territory, or naturalizedin accordance with the French naturalization law,which was not strict. Except insofar as exerciseof suffrage is inseparable from the concept ofcitizenship, no distinction was made between na-tionals, and there were no non-citizen nationals.Naturalized persons suffered under only one dis-ability: they could not be elected to the nationallegislative body until ten years after naturaliza-tion (law of 26 June 1889). A number of groupswere, however, excluded from the suffrage. Thesewere: all women, all men under twenty-one, allpersons in active military service, all personscertified to be mentally incompetent or undergo-ing treatment in a mental institution. Temporarydeprivation of suffrage was imposed on those whohad served criminal or correctional sentences,bankrupt tradesmen, and ministerial functionariesdismissed for gross incompetence. The suffragewas not always exercised by those entitled toit; some twenty per cent of the qualified electorshabitually failed to vote. The French citizenunder the Third Republic enjoyed such rights asequality before the law and guarantees of personalliberty -- freedom from arbitrary imprisonment,freedom to hold property or to work where he chose,freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedomof conscience, freedom to participate in meetings orform associations. The last right was not withoutlimitation, for the Communist party was formallysuppressed soon after the beginning of the warwith Germany. The most conspicuous duty of thecitizen, beyond conforming with the laws, rules,and regulations enacted by competent authorities,was that of performing a period of compulsorymilitary service. The length of such servicevaried from time to time, although the principlewas firmly established.

The Vichy Government has made effortsto' change the basis of citizenship from democraticuniversality to totalitarian exclusiveness. Twogroups of nationals have been placed under disabili-ties: those whose fathers were not French, andJews. All naturalizations granted after 10 June1927 are being reviewed, and several thousanddenaturalizations have been pronounced in accordancewith a law of 16 June 1940. Frenchmen whosefathers were not French are excluded from the fol-lowing occupations: law, medicine, architecture,and all public services in national or localgovernment. Restrictions of the rights of Jewsgo much further; in fact Vichy's policy with re-gard to them indicates an intention not only todeprive them of all rights but to rid French ter-ritory of them entirely (see section on Geographicaland Social Background, published separately.) Eventhe ordinary rights of French citizens born of24-48180 ABC

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-4-French parents are seriously curtailed, Suffrage,while not formally withdrawn, has not been exer-cised since the Armistice. The French citizenmay be subjected to "administrative internment,"which is imprisonment without trial and upon theorder of an administrative official; his enjoymentof property may be curtailed or abolished by thecreation of special geographical zones; he maybe required to work where the state sees fit,whether in France or in other German-controlledterritory; and his freedom of speech, press, meeting,and association have all been swept away. Unlesshe is Jewish, his freedom of conscience has suf-fered the least, and religion remains one of thefew fields in which his desire for self-expressioncan still find a legal outlet. With the demo-bilization of th e Army, he period of militaryservice has been transformed into a similar periodof service in a labor battalion, From time totime it is reported that French war prisoners orother Frenchmen of military age are about to beforced to fight against Russia on the easternfront. Such reports are impossible either to sub-stantiate or to disprove.

12. National Government(1) Legislature

(a) Organization and membershipUnder the Republic, the legis-

lative body was a single authority composed oftwo assemblies: the Senate (314 members) and theChamber of Deputies (618 members), Ordinarilythey deliberated separately. A measure had topass both houses in order to become law. Theyunited in a National Assembly when revision ofthe constitution was being discussed, and alsounited as Congress, an electoral college, to electthe president of the Republic. The Senate satalone as the High Cour t (see under Legal Affairs).

According to the constitutionof the Third Republic, th e Chamber and th e Senateeach m et in ordinary session for five months.The ordinary session might be suspended twice,for a period of a month each tme, if it grewso uproarious as to threaten the public peace,but it was necessary to compensate fo r such suspen-sion by postponing the closing date of the session.Every fourth year th e Chamber of Deputies adjournedin April for elections, and the new Chamber metin June to complete the ordinary session. TheGovernment migh t also summon an extraordinary ses-sion, which it opened an d closed as it saw fit.]t became customary to summon such a session inth e fall of every year, since the budget was rarelycompleted in the ordinary session, A ll plenarysessions were held in public and their proceedings

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published in the Jo na Officiel; committeeproceedings (see below) were secret, but the re-ports drawn up as a result of the deliberationsof the committees were published. According tothe Constitution, the president of the Republic,with the consent of the Senate, might dissolvethe Chamber of Deputies and call for new elections.Actually this provision was used only once duringthe life of the Republic and was generally con-sidered to be a dead letter. The Senate couldnot be dissolved under any circumstances.

Each body every year electedofficers from among its own members to directits work. These included a president, vice-pres-idents, secretaries, and various officials chargedwith the management of the staff and the mainte-nance of order. In both cases the president, be-sides his salary as an elected representative,received an additional saary as president and wassupplied with a residence. The president of theRepublic invariably consulted the presidents ofthe legislative bodies before forming a ministry.Like the presiding officers in the Congress of theUnited States, the presidents of the Chamber andthe Senate traditionally did not carry their partypolitics into their positions, but presided withabsolute impartiality.

Each body made its own regula-tions, by resolution, for the conduct of its work.These determined the method of voting, the formationof committees, and the rules of discipline forthe members. Voting was always public. Commonlyit was by show of hands, but if the result wasdoubtful it might be by ballot, each member de-positing in a box a slip with his name on it in-dicating his vote. If the second method was fol-lowed, voting by proxy was possible, the memberspresent casting the voting slips of absentees.Finally, if a majority of the members demanded it,each might be required to cast his ballot in personin response to a roll call.Permanent committees to makepreliminary studies and reports were set up ineach house; a special committee to deal with a

special piece of legislation might be constitutedwhen necessary. Members of committees were chosenpartly through nomination by bureaux and partlythrough nomination by "groups." The bureaux weresections to which the members were assigned by lot(11 in the Chamber of Deputies and 9 in the Senate).Each bureau nominated from one to fur committeemen.A group was an association of members of a householding similar political views. The groups didnot, however, correspond to political parties(their political complexion is discussed in detailbelow). All members were invited to join these

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groups, although there were always a few who didnot join any and who gathered together to functionas a non-group group. Each group was assigned acertain number of committeemen, approximately pro-portionate to the number of its members, which itselected itself from among its members.Certain procedures and penaltieswere established which might be used when members be-come unruly. The president of either representativebody might call a member to order, or might make anofficially recorded call to order which entailed theloss of half of the member's salary and might beincreased to include exclusion from fifteen sittingsand loss of half of the member's salary for twomonths. Defiance of this last penalty might bepunished by exclusion from forty sittings and im-prisonment for three days. Such disciplinary meas-ures were, in general, less frequently required inthe Senate than in the Chamber of Deputies.Any man might be elected to thelegislature who was above the prescribed age limit(twenty-five years for the Chamber of Deputies,forty years for the Senate) and who had the rightto vote, although his fulfillment of this last con-dition did not need to be evidenced by enrollmenton the list of voters of any electoral district.Beyond being an elector, he must have been a Frenchnational for at least ten years and might not bea member of any family which had reigned in France,or a member of the armed forces on active service.In general, the holding of another national office

was incompatible with membership in either representa-tive body, although exception was made in the caseof the higher executive and administrative officialsand for temporary tenure of office by members ofthe legislature. Members were usually drawn fromthe following occupational groups: journalists,doctors, landowners, manufacturers, and labor rep-resentatives, but a large majority were lawyers.The party composition of the houses is discussedunder political groups, below.Members of the Chamber of Deputieswere elected from constituencies set up as territorialdistricts. Each arrondissement elected a deputy;

arrondissements with a population of more than 100,000were divided into two or more constituencies.These districts were extremely unequal in population,varying from about 20,000 to 150,000 or more. Variousexperiments with other methods of representationwere tried, but none proved satisfactory. Memberswere elected for four-year terms, all expiring atonce. A man might be re-elected as many times ashe could secure the necessary votes. A candidatemight run in only one constituency in any given election.Members of the Senate were elected

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- 7 --7-indirectly. Their constituency was the departmentand they were chosen by 1) the departmental coun-cil (Conseil Gen1ral), 2) the arrondissement coun-cils of the department, and 3) senatorial delegatesselected by the municipal councils of each communein the department having more than 500 inhabitants.The number of senatorial delegates depended, roughly,on the population of the commune. A candidatemight run in more than one constituency, but if hewas successful in more than one he had to decidewhich he would represent. Members were elected fora term of nine years, one third of the body beingelected every three years. The Senate was oftenfar out of date in the matter of representing thepolitical complexion of the country; the term waslong, and even at the time of election, the electorsmight have been in office for a considerable time,and therefore no longer truly representative of thepeople who had elected them.

Members of each house received asalary of 82,500 francs, which compared favorablywith salaries of other public officials. They wereallowed free railroad travel in return for a smalldeduction from their salary. They benefited fromfull.immunity, criminal and civil, covering actscommitted in the exercise of their office. Duringsessions a member might not,without the consent ofhis Chamber, e prosecuted on criminal charges ex-cept police infractions.

General powers pertaining to theChamber and Senate as the legislative body were:the enactment of laws, supervision over governmentfinance, control over the executive through questionsand interpellations and investigations, and regula-tion of certain administrative matters. All actsof the legislative body, duly passed by both houses,signed by the.president, and countersigned by aMinister, were called laws. All bills went throughcommittee procedure and one debate on the floor be-fore the final vote. The law-making powers of thelegislative body were not limited by judicial re-view on constitutionality. Two sorts of bills mightcome before the legislature: projets de loi signedby the president of the Republic and countersignedand introduced by a Minister, and propositions deloi resulting from the initiative of either house.The two houses had similar powers of initiative,although it was necessary for financial measures tobe introduced in the Chamber of Deputies, In draw-ing up the budget the Chamber had sweeping power todetermine what expenditures should be made; legis-lative consideration of controversial matters couldoften be forced by the inclusion of relevant itemsin the budget. The Chamber of Deputies often triedto push the Senate by sending the budget to it justbefore the end of the session. The special itemswere thus left over for consideration in the extra-ordinary session. If the Senate vetoed a budget

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-8-item voted by the Chamber and the Chamber revotedit, the Senate by custom was expected to yield. Nonew items of expenditure might be introduced bythe Senate, but the Government might initiate in-creases in appropriations while the Senate was con-sidering the budget.

The regulations of each housedetermine the forms of control over governmentalpolicies as revealed by governmental acts. Thequestion was a dialogue between the member askingthe question and the Minister replying (or possiblyan exchange of notes in the Journal Officiel), anddid not give rise to debate or any sort of vote.An interpellation opened a general debate whichwas followed by a motion to continue the ordinarywork of the house; this motion might be a simpleone expressing no opinion on the preceding debate,or might express the confidence or lack of confidenceof the members. A Minister against whom a vote ofno confidence had been passed had to resign. Onlya few Ministers would remain in office in the faceof a vote of no opinion. Investigation, rarelyused, was the examination of a particular act orpolicy by a committee of one of the houses; the committeemight hear witnesses, and would present its findingsfor discussion on the floor. The effectiveness ofsuch measures of control is discussed below in con-nection with the executive.

Certain administrative matterswere dealt with by laws passed by the legislature:departmental or communal questions (los d'int4 retlocal), authorization for the formation of religiouscongregations, and other matters which by usage orstatutory provision were so handled.In law and in fact the Chamber ofDeputies was much the more important of the twohouses. By virtue of the number of its members, ithad the deciding voice in electing the presidentof the Republic. It also had the primary control inthe making and unmaking of Governments. In practicenearly all important bills, as well as all financialmeasures, were first introduced there, while theSenate merely provided a second consideration asa check on over-hasty action. This dominant position*of the Chamber of Deputies is usually not made clear

in the textbooks on French government, but in practiceit was incontrovertible.The legislative body, having hada relatively short constitutional life, had remainedlargely without tradition, and its various formsand procedures were by no means regarded as fixed.The Chambers did a moderately good job of representingthe people and defending political liberties; thefunctions of law-making and forming stable governmentsthey performed very badly at times. A legislator,especially in the Chamber of Deputies, was usually

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chosen not for his ability but for the advantageshe was expected to win for his constituency. Thegreatest difficulty under which members of theChamber of Deputies labored was preoccupation withtheir re-election. They were obliged to spend muchtime, which rightfully belonged to legislativeendeavors, in maintaining their political fences.Scandals such as the Stavisky affair and the riotsof 1934 actually implicated more government officialsthan legislators, although the legislature bore thebrunt of public resentment.(b) Pressures exerted on the legislative

bodyThe deputy was in practice thepolitical boss of the district he represented. Hewas able, through his hold over the Ministers, todictate appointments and promotions and generallyto control the distribution of local favors. On the

other hand, legislators collectively were subjectedto all sorts of outside pressures. The Governmentsought to make its wishes felt in the composition ofthe Chamber of Deputies. Through its cooperationin the distribution of favors and fulfillment ofpromises made in candidacy,tcould either secure orprevent the reelection of a deputy. Prefects andother administrative officials, acting in accordancewith agreements with higher officials, often engagedin electioneering for the candidate enjoying govern-ment approval.Conscious of its economic import-ance, big business deliberately entered the field ofactive politics after World War I. It favored keep-ing the purchasing power of the masses on a highlevel. Therefore it supported social legislationand French participation in the International LaborOffice. The most powerful big business group is theComit es Forges (an association of steel manufactur-ers) which still plays a mysterious but undeniablerole in French politics. Under the Republic itsmethods certainly included pressure on the legislativebody, and probably more sinister types of activity.Although the press used to he re-garded as a great influence in politics, it seems

probable that it was actually the other way round:politicians used the newspapers to publicize theirown actions and to plead their cause. On the otherhand, the Comitd des Forges controls several importantpapers.The Catholic Church has tradition-ally been a conservative and even a reactionary in-fluence in politics. It has known its greatestpower under monarchical or imperial government. It'influence on the legislative body was not direct,

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although it might be exercised through individualmembers. Politically speaking, the Church remainedin disrepute throughout the early part of the twen-tieth century, and the legislators tended to opposeeverything which favored it in any way. This hasnot been so under the Vichy regime.French Freemasonry is a strongholdof anti-clericalism. It is an important associationfor the allotment of political spoils, although theRadical-Socialist P1ty (see below) has largely dis-placed it as a fighting element in French politics.

(c) Legislative control over the executiveand the administrativeAlthough the Chamber and the Sen-ate together elected the president of the Republic,he then became separate from them, and was controlledby them only in so far as they exercised control

over the Cabinet. As noted above, the president didnot name a cabinet without consulting the presidentof each representative body.The mechanisms (question, inter-pellation, and investigation) by which the legisla-tive body called executive officers to account forspecific acts have been described above. The im-permanence of Ministries has often been blamed uponthe workings of interpellation. Actually the troublewas deeper-seated and derived from the very com-position of the two houses. There was almost nevera coherent majority; so the support of a Cabinet hadto be derived from a combination of political groups.If these groups shifted or re-formed on new issues,the Government was left without its legislativebacking. Unattractive as these conditions sound,cabinet positions were much coveted. Members not inthe Cabinet were anxious to unseat those who were in,in the hope that they might be called to hold aportfolio in the next government. Through inter-pellation and a vote of no confidence, a cabinetmgmber might be forced to resign because of an actof an administrative official of which he had vir-tually no knowledge. The deputies watched forquestionable acts in their constituencies and pouncedon the Minister who was nominally responsible.The two houses exercised a broadercontrol over the Government in the consideration ofbills introduced by the Ministers. They might,without attack in the form of questions or inter-pellations, make it impossible for the Governmentto carry out its policies by refusing to pass thenecessary laws. Failure to pass an iportant billsubmitted by a Minister might force the resignationof that Minister or of the whole cabinet.Control over administrative depart-ments could be exercised indirectly through control

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over the executive, or directly by financial meas-ures. The voting of the budget, accompanied byexamination of accounts, made possible a detailedreview of administrative conduct, while the with-holding or according of appropriations enabled thelegislature to dictate the future activities ofthe administrative branch. The deputies were, how-ever, dependent on the administrative officials tolisten to them in matters of patronage. The rela-tion between the deputies and the administrativewas a sort of give and take in which the deputytraded his vote on some matter of interest to theparticular iinistry concerned for the privilege ofnaming his candidate to an administrative position.

(d) Vichy and the legislatureOn 10 July 1940 the two housesmet as the National Assembly and passed a consti-tutional law, duly signed by the president of theRepublic, delegating to Petain all power to pro-mulgate a new constitution. This abdication is ofextremely doubtful legality. Even if the two bodiescould delegate their own powers in toto, they cer-tainly could not delegate the powers of other govern-mental institutions. Petain's second ConstitutionalAct of 11 July 1940 provided for the exercise oflegislative power by himself in collaboration witha ministerial council, pending the formation ofnew Assemblies in conformity with the constitutionyet to be drawn. The old representative bodieswere left with no other power than that of beingasked for their assent prior to a declaration of

war, an empty power in view of the French militaryposition. According to Constitutional Act no. 3,also of 11 July 1940, the Senate and Chamber of Dep-uties continue to exist until further order. Nofurther order has been forthcoming, nor have new as-semblies been formed. The offices and staffs ofthe two bodies have been forced to close up, leavingno mechanism for calling sessions. However, thelegislature continues to exist, although the normalinterval for new elections has been greatly ex-ceeded. New elections would normally have beenheld in 1940, but the term of office of the currenthouses was indefinitely prolonged because of warconditions. The members of the Chamber and the Sen-ate are scattered, a number of deputies havingjoined the Fighting French in London, or gone toNorth Africa. Others are held in prisons either by'the Vichy Government or German authorities, andstill others actively support the Vichy regime.(2) The Executive

(a) Third RepublicThe president of the Republic wasthe constitutional Head of the State, but he sharedhis executive power with the Ministers and, more

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Ministers, sometimes described as the Premier orPrime Minister. The president of the Republicwas elected for seven years by an absolute major-ity of the two legislative houses, sitting togetherfor the sole purpose of electing him. He wasusually chosen from among their members, althoughtechnically any French citizen who was not a memberof any family which had reigne in France or who hadnot been deprived of political rights by a courtorder might be chosen. Women were not specificallyexcluded, and a naturalized Frenchman might legallybe elected without the ten years' delay after nat-uralization required before election to a legisla-tive body. The president might be re-elected (thelast president is serving his second term) althoughtradition was against it. In any case, the term waspersonal; there was no such thing as filling outthe unfinished term of a predecessor. The term ofthe man elected ran for seven years from his elec-tion.The president of the Republic wasgenerally considered to be a rather colorlessperson. While he was surrounded by much displayand pomp at every move, he was little more than afigure head from the point of view of political pow-er. He was, however, the permanent element in anotherwise constantly shifting executive. The con-stitution guarded against the possibility of aninterregnum between presidents by providing forautomatic meeting of the electors before the ex-piration of the term and for immediate meeting ifthe president resigned or died in office.In theory, the powers of thepresident were very broad: he was commander-in-chief of the armed forces with the right of assumingactive command; he might pardon criminals; he rep-resented his country in international dealings,and .his treaty-making power was not subject to re-view; he appointed all civil and military officers,could cut legislative sessions short after fivemonths or force a month's vacation twice duringthe session; he had a suspensive veto over all leg-islation; he selected the president of the Councilof Ministers, and presided over the more importantCabinet meetings. Actually the president could

exercise none of these powers alone. All billsand decrees signed by the president had to be coun-tersigned by a Minister; he could not receive aforeign ambassador or a French official withouthaving a Minister present unless he had approval,tacit or express, of the president of the Council.The attribute of the president which carried withit the most real power was that of choosing thepresident of the Council of Ministers. Because ofthe lack of a party with absolute majority in theChamber, there were usually a number of possiblechoices, and the president's action in choosing be-tween them often truly determined policy.

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The president of the Republicis Albert Lebrun, elected in 1932 and re-electedin 1939. He is a Radical-Socialist in domesticpolitics, and in foreign policy he opposed theArmistice of 1940, wanting to move the Governmentto North Africa and continue the fight. His pres-ent whereabouts are unknown. At pne time he wasthought to have taken refuge in a neutral country,but he may well be a prisoner of his enemies --either the Vichy Government or the Germans.

The constitution made no provisionfor the President of the Council, who was in factthe head of the French government. He was a verytransitory head indeed, his tenure of office bpingdependent upon the political whims of the legisla-tive branch, upon his ability to hold his cabinettogether, and upon his relation with the permanentadministrative officials. The average life of aFrench cabinet was somewhat less thanline months.A particularly adept president of the Council mightremain in office through the life of more than oneCabinet by a reshuffling of other Ministries.Only seven presidents of the Council have held theirpositions as long as two years, and the longest wasonly two years, eleven months, and eleven days (22June 1899 to 3 June 1902). The president of theCouncil was chosen by the president of the Republicfor his ability to command a majority in the Chamber.Theoretically any one over twenty-one years of agemight be so appointed, but to function effectivelyhe had to be either a deputy or a senator. Thepresident of the Republic, while not required to doso by law, always consulted the presidents of thetwo legislative houses in making his choice. Thepresident of the Council appointed the other.min-isters, coordinated their activities, and directedthe shaping of governmental policies. He there-fore had some control over the countersignaturesnecessary to validate the acts of the president ofthe Republic. Although the president of the Councilhad most of the executive power nominally belongingto the president of the Republic, he could notexpect to hold it long, while the president of therepublic was a constant factor and in all probabil-ity would appoint the successor of any presidentof the Council.

The Cabinet, or Council of Min-isters, included the heads of the various Ministriesand Ministers without Portfolio. They were chosenby the president of the Council, whose selectionswere ratified by the president of the Republic.Legally, all Ministries were on an equal footingexcept for the Minister of Justice who was alsovice president of the Council of Ministers andpresident of the Council of State and of the Courtof Conflicts (Tribunal des Conflts -- see underLegal Affairs). Next greatest prestige was accordedthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry ofthe Interior was very important politically because

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it controlled the prefects, whose influence onelections was tremendous. The Ministry of Financecame next in importance because, after the budgethad been voted, it distributed funds. Education,War, Marine, and Agriculture were important be-cause they had large budgets and controlled a largenumber of officials. All the others were consid-ered minor portfolios. Ministers without Pottfoliomight be brought in when it was politically desir-able to include in the Cabinet more people thanthere were portfolios. The president of the Coun-cil often decided not to take a portfolio, althoughhe could do so if he wished.

The Ministers met formally asthe Council of Ministers, presided over by the pres-ident of the Republic, to consider all importantmatters. The president of the Republic might takepart in the discussions, but had no vote. Minordecisions were made in the Cabinet Council withoutthe president of the Republic, the president ofthe Council acting as chairman. The Council delib-erated secretly and the Cabinet as a whole had jointresponsibility for all decisions taken, whatevermight have been the votes of individual members.The Ministers were responsible to the legislativebody for the carrying out of the laws enacted.They were assumed to have a control over theirMinistries and a knowledge of the actions of admin-istrative officials which, in fact, they usuallylacked completely. Such knowledge and control notonly presupposes technical knowledge of the field,but would require long experience in the Ministryand familiarity with its procedures, whereas theMinisters were primarily politicians. ActuallyMinisters had to sign many documents having to dowith the work of their Ministries which they couldnot take the time to understand. Their responsibil-ity to the legislative body was implemented by themeans of control described in the discussion ofthe legislature. Part of the function of the Min-isters was, at the behest of the legislative body,to safeguard the public against dictatorial actionby administrative officers.

Attached to the Cabinet wereunder-secretaries of State, or vice-ministers. Theywere sometimes appointed to assist the Minister ofa particularly important agency, but were more oftenappointed to handle some branch of administrationwhich was important enough to warrant a semi-auton-omous status. Hygiene, Physical Education, Tech-nical Education, Fine Arts have all been so handled.The number of under-secretaries varied from onecabinet to another. They could not countersigna presidential act, nor did they attend all Cabinetmeetings, but they had the same responsibility asthe Min ers t the legislature and fell with them.

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(b) Vichy GovernmentThe Chief of State (Petain) inJune 1940 took all executive power as well as alllegislative power. Ministers and Secretaries ofState were appointed by him,as were all other of-ficials, and were responsible to him alone. Heis responsible to no one and his acts do not need

to be countersigned by a minister. Since that timePetain has been forced to turn over most of thispower to the Chief of Government, Laval.Petain, as Chief of Stateservesat his own pleasure, and designates his successor.He appointed and conferred legislative and execu-tive powers on Laval, the Chief of Government.Laval is now in a much stronger position than Pe-tain himself. Petain is, in fact, weaker vis-a-visLaval than was the president of the Republic vis-a-vis the president of the Council of Ministers,because Laval is not likely to be ousted except bythe action of a foreign power. Petain assumed theduties od president of the Council of Ministersalong with his assumption of all the other Dowersof the Chief of State. The vice-presidency of theCouncil was separated from the Ministry of Justiceand became an office comparable to the presidencyof the Council under the Republic, until Laval be-came Chief of the Government in April 1942 and assuch presided over the Council.The Council of Ministers has beenretained. The Ministers are the creatures of theChief of State or the Chief of Government and, withthat backing, have more influence over their

agencies than did the Ministers under the ThirdRepublic. A number of General Secretariats werecreated for the handling of special problems inthe central administration. They are responsibleto the Minister to whom they are attached. Thenomenclature of Ministries under Vichy is constant-ly shifting, and furthermore what was a Secretariatof State one day may be a Ministry the next andvice versa. The whole cabinet is extremely fluid;its composition in May 1943 is shown in the follow-ing list:Chief of Government - Pierre LavalMinister of Foreign Affairs - Pierre LavalMinister of Interior - Pierre LavalMinister of Information - Pierre LavalMinister of State without Portfolio -Lucien RomierMinister of Justice - Maurice GaboldMinister of Agriculture and Food Supply -Max BonnafousMinister of Education - Abel BonnardMinister of Navy and Colonies - Admiral BlehautMinister of National Defense - General BridouxMinister of Finance - Pierre Cathala24-248180ABC


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Minister of Labor - Hubert LagardelleMinister of Health - Dr. Raymond GrassetState secretary attached to Laval -Fernand de BrinonState secretary for Internal Administration,Ministry of Interior - Georges HilaireState secretary for Police, Ministry ofInterior - Robert BousquetState secretary for Information -Max Bonnafous (acting)State secretary for National Economics -Pierre CathalaState secretary for Communications and In-dustrial Production - Jean Bichelonne

Instead of legislative bodies,the actively functioning assemblies are the ConseilNational (National Council) and the Council ofState (see below), an administrative organ heldover from the Third Republic. The National Councilwas created on 22 January 1941, and was conceivedas a sort of temporary national representation tobridge the gap until the creation of the new as-semblies which are to form part of the new constitu-tion. Its only power is to consider and give ad-vice on questions submitted to it by the Chief ofState. It functions through committees of ten totwenty-five members and can meet in plenary sessiononly when called to do so by the Chief of State.The members are nominated by the Chief of Stateupon suggestions from the Cabinet and may be dis-missed by him. About a third are members or ex-members of the legislative bodies. Up to the endof 1942 seven committees had been set up, namely:Administration, Municipal Reform, Information, Eco-nomic Organization, Paris, Youth, and the Constitu-tional Commission. All deliberations are secret.There has been no plenary session. In April 1942,when Laval became Chief of Government, the NationalCouncil practically ceased to function. A largepart of its members, while supporting Petain, wereunwilling to work with Laval and unacceptable to him.

(3) Administration(a), Third Republic

The administrative agencies ofthe Third Republic were the Ministries plus certainindependent offices. Although their number andnomenclature could be changed only by statutory enact-ment, such changes were fairly frequent. In 1939the Ministries and other agencies were as follows:Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres -- besides usualmatters pertaining to any ministry of foreignaffairs, had offices for Morocco, Tunis, and themandated territories of the Near East.

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Ministere de l'Agriculture -- performed functionsof supervision over agricultural production;included service for suppression of fraud,veterinary administration, national stud farms,administrations of waters and forests andwaters and rural engineering, associations ofpresidents of Chambers of Agriculture, variousagricultural schools, laboratories and researchstations.

Ministere de l'Air -- beside supervising mattersof civilian aeronautics, included nationalmeteorological office.Ministere des Anciens Combattants et Pensionnes --dealt with interests of war veterans and theirsurvivors; also supervised military cemeteries.Ministere des Colonies -- general service subdividedby function; also offices for individual colo-nies. This Ministry, like the Ministry ofForeign Affairs, had an office for the mandatedterritories of the Near East.Ministere de Commerce et de l'Industrie -- besidedealing with matters of production and trade,included administration of weights and measures,national bank for foreign commerce.Ministere de la Defense Nationale et de la Guerre --controlled Army, military aviation, defenseinstallations, supervised military courts.Ministere de l'Economie National -- a general eco-

nomic planning agency.Ministre de l'Education Nationale -- had chargeof all public education and teaching staffsfrom primary schools through universities. In-cluded academies, museums, libraries, nationaltheaters, opera, such national industries asSevres and Gobelins.Ministere des Finances -- drew up budget and dis-tributed appropriations; also included statemonopolies (matches, tobacco, etc.), nationalprinting office, administration of registryand stamps (for official documents).Caisse de D4pots et Consignations -- administeredcredits and debts of state; contracting agencyfor state.Ministere de l'Interieur -- directed prefects,Suretd (police), dealt with all matters notassigned to other agencies.

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Ministre de la Justice -- acted as administrativeagency for courtsand penal establishments;Chancellery of Legion of Honor loosely attachedto it.

Ministere de la Marine -- controlled naval forcesand establishments; supervised naval courts.

Ministere de la Marine Marchande -- dealt with mat-ters of merchant marine, port installationsother than naval bases, fishing. (Inland ship-ping under Public Works.)

Minist re des Postes, Telegraphe et Telephone --operated mail, telegraph, and telephone services,all of which were state monopolies. Also exer-cised national control over radio broadcasting,operated a number of public radio stations.

Minisgere de la Sant(rPublique -- included housing,relief, Red Cross, and various public healthservices, institutions, and inspectorates.

Tourisme -- under.a Commissioner-General and attachedto the Ministere des Travaux Publics; includedservices for the promotion and regulation ofresort-towns, sightseeing places, etc. Alsosupervised touring club, automobile club,Alpine club, and similar organizations.

Ministere du Travail -- supervised labor conditions,hours of work, social insurance, private insur-ance companies, Caisses dcEpargne (savings banks).

Ministere des Travaux Publics -- operated railroads;maintained roads, waterways, and ports; super-vised exploitation of mineral resources; carriedout public building projects.

Banque de France -- institution which held and ad-ministered all state funds; also exercised super-vision over private banks. Headed by a Governor.

Credit National pour faciliter la reparation desdommages causds par la Cuerre -- institutionfor granting public assistance where necessaryto undertake larger projects for rehabilitationof areas damaged in war of 1914-18.

(A more detailed analysis of eachagency can be found in Didot-Bottin, Almanach A -nuaire d Commerce et ]l ndustrie for 1939

The administrative organizationwas a series of more or less independent hierarchiestied together, only loosely at best, by the Cabinetand a few semi-active inter-ministry committees.Although the Ministries were in theory subordinate

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- 19 -to the Ministers, in practice the permanent admin-istrative staff of a Ministry made all the plans foradministration and drew up documents for the Min-ister's signature. Usually the Minister had notenough familiarity with the working of the Ministryto understand most of the papers presented for hissignature, even if he had time to read them.

Each Minister had a personal staffor cabinet, separate from the permanent staff of theMinistry, on which he relied to watch over pendingmatters and to safeguard him against abuse of hissignature. This personal staff was dependent uponthe Minister, entering and leaving office with himexcept in so far as he was able to find places forindividual members of it on the permanent staff of theMinistry. This cabinet included a chief, an assistantchief (sous-chef), a secretary, and several attaches.The chief was sometimes a permanent official of highrank whose knowledge and experience were invaluableto the Minister, or sometimes a person without specialknowledge whom the Minister felt to be especiallytrustworthy. The attaches were generally given avery low salary or none at all and were attractedto the position as a valuable apprenticeship for afuture political or administrative career. During itslimited incumbency the cabinet of a Minister could haveconsiderable effect on the permanent staff because ithandled requests for change in status of personnel.The permanent staff of the Ministrieswas not under any uniform or comprehensive control suchas in the U. S. Civil Service Commission. Althougheach Ministry handled its own recruiting, examination,

etc., there was a general pattern and a consistenteffort to unify procedures.Each Ministry was divided into anumber of divisions called directions or services.Some, such as the personnel service, accounting serv-ice, and purchasing division, were to be found inalmost every Ministry. Others were subdivisions ofthe work for which the Ministry as a whole was respon-sible. The heads of these divisions had parity ofrank and were under no permanent supervising or co-ordinating officer. In most Ministries they met incouncil once a week or oftener, sometimes with theMinister, to make decisions in matters affecting the

Ministry as a whole. Each of these divisions wasin turn subdivided into bureaux,each of which dealtwith one phase of the subject with which the serviceor direction dealt. The bureaus were the fundamentalworking units of the administration. The decisionsof the Minister were based upon the informationthey supplied and the solutions they suggested. Agrave defect in the system was that there was virtuallyno lateral communication even within a singleMinistry. If an employee of one bureau

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needed information from another bureau, his requesthad to go through all the hierarchical steps upto the very top and then come down again. Thedegree of subdivision was greatest in those agencieshaving the largest number of employees.Distinct from the headquarters

offices at the seat of government were the fieldservices and officials scattered throughout the ter-ritory of France. The territorial administrativeunits were the departments (dipartements), of whichthere were ninety, including one for Corsica.Several departments might be grouped into distinctunits for the purposes of a particular branch of ad-ministration, as the twenty-one military regions,each under a regional commander, the twenty-sevenjudicialdistricts, the seventeen educational dis-tricts, and the districts of various technical serv-ices. Under the Third Republic, however, regionaldivisions were the exception and most administrativematters were handled through officials stationedin each department. The following were the ad-ministrative branches with extensive field services:Post, Telegraph, and Telephone; Public Instruction;Finance (Direct taxes and registration, Indirecttaxes, Customs); Justice; Interior (Prefects andtheir staffs); Public Works (Roads and Bridges,Mines). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had itsfield services abroad.

The chief political officer ofthe department was the prefect (pre'fet). He, withhis sub-prefects (sous-prdfets), was the localagent of the Minister, to whom the Minister delegatedsupervision over the national employees in hisdistrict. He had not the security of tenure ofheadquarters employees and other field employees,but was appointed and removed at will by the govern-ment, and was subject to no requirements for eligib-ility.

The prefect's immediate superiorwas the Minister of the Interior, but the formercontrolled all the national officials in the de-partment, including those not otherwise attached tothe Ministry of the Interior. Beside supervisingthe enforcement of government policies, the prefectwas empowered to make certain technical decisions,upon which he normally took the advice of the morespecialized personnel in the department. These in-cluded matters as various as the appointment ofteachers and the granting of permission to build abridge over a state highway. The prefect had ex-tensive powers in the investigation of criminaloffenses and the pursuit of criminals. His policepowers are described in Section 14. He also mightexercise rights similar to those of the publicprosecutor (rocureur de la Republique) or theluge d'instruction (see section on Legal Affairs,published separately). Like the

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Ministers, the prefects had personal cabinets.There was usually a cabinet chief and a secretaryand as many other employees as were necessary tohandle the work of the office. The staff mightbe divided into bureaus performing various func-tions.Each department was subdivided

into arrondissements, each with a sub-prefect (sous-prdfet) at its head. The chief and almost onlyimportance of the arrondissement was as the areaof jurisdiction of a Court of First Instance (seeSection 3). Politically it was the electoral dis-trict for the Chamber of Deputies (see above).The cantons (subdivisions ofarrondissements) had no administrative head, but wereused as areas of police, justice, taxation, andarmy recruitment.Funds for carrying on the workof administration were voted by the legislative body

in the annual budget (see Section 4). No agencymight spend funds for anything other than thespecific purpose fr which they had been appropriated-- unspent appropriations could not be shifted aboutwithin the Ministry to which they had been granted.There were, however, "secret funds" appropriated tocertain Ministries which could be spent for any pur-pose that the Minister saw fit and for which no ac-count 'was required. Each Minister prepared his ownbudget and the Minister of Finance drew up thefinancial bill.The Council of State (Conseil d'Etat)functioned as the adviser to and regulator of ad-ministration. It was composed of legal advisers andtechnical experts, chosen at the bottom by rigid ex-amination. A proportion of the posts in the highergrades were reserved to persons rising from lowergrades of the Council of State, and the others wereusually filled by persons taken from other branchesof the administration. There was no obligation toconsult the Council or to take its advice, or evento reveal what its advice had been. In complex mat-ters the legislature migA stipulate that detailsshould be taken care of by "rules of public adminis-tration." Such rules were customarily drawn up bythe Council of State for the signature of the presi-

dent of the Republic. The Council had five sections,of which one was confined to the judging of admin-istrative actions (see Section 3). The Ministerof Justice was the nominal president of the Councilof State, but this fact had little significancefor the operation of the Council whose active headwas its vice-president.Recent figures on the number ofpersonnel in the government service are lacking.

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The following table shows the estimated totals andtheir distribution among various services in 1927:Adminis- Fonction-trative

Unitnaires

Auxiliary &TemporaryEmplovees

Public 144,087Instruc-tion

Finance 61,807P.T.T. 110,740War 6,457Navy 3,255Public Works 17,815Liberated 86RegionsAgriculture 9,515Pensions 98Judiciary 6,031Penitentiaries 4,267Techanical. 1,893InstructionFine Arts 1,710Labor and 1,550HygieneInterior 1,954Printing es- 166

tabl i shmentForeign Affairs 1,120Aeronaut ics 426Merchant "Marine 1,034Colonies 983Commerce 615Smaller Units 7ZTotals 376,381

2,639

12,15124,622

230695322

10,0024258,45336

3383429511

95

50565122910193

37 146,763

18,46110,13550,00026,704

1096889

42965

278

58716

1,5216

426378

109,641

92,419145,39756,68730,65418,14711, 05610,0298,9806,0674,3552,5532,197-2,0682,0651,6871,6311,5031,2661,000

8161.,30540,750

In the same-year it was estimated that ninety-eightper cent of the TtfonctionnairesF-- were in field serv-ices.

The hierarchical order of employees,from top to bottom, was as follows in most Ministries:*Directors (directeurs), heads of services he sAservice), assistant directors sous-di teurheads of bureaus (chefs de ) , assistant headsof bureaus (sous-chefs de-e , principal cl efclerks e'dacte r nrincipa , chief clerks rprincipal clerks commis rincipaux), clerks comi ,chief copying clerks ex " ditio aires princinau),copying clerks 6x dditionnaires , chief employees(employes princi aux , and employees em 10 . Allthese grades from heads of bureaux down were dividedinto several numbered classes corresponding to salarylevels. Maximum. nd minimum limits for the salarylevels for different classes were set by the *annualappropriation acts and the Minister of each departmentwas free to determine the levels within these limits.

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Long-continued efforts to achieve uniform pay for.,uniform work from Ministry to Ministry had made con-siderable progress toward that end,. although the,job was by no means done.

The aggregate pay roll for 1927,including salaries, bonuses, and indemnities (seebelow), amounted to 7,997,000,000 francs, or twenty-two per cent of the total government expenditures.The average per capita compensation was 11,500francs. The minimum and maximum salaries set bylaw at that time were 6,900 to 75,000 francs.The following table compares the salary levels ofa number of grades in 1928:.

Directors .0,000-75,000Assistant directors 4,000-50,,0 0Heads of bureaus 32,00'40,000Assistant heads of bureaus 24,000-30,000Chief clerks 12,000-22,000Clerks 9,000-16,000

According to the law of 1 October 1930, salaries weremade to range from a minimum qf 9,000 to a maximumof 125,000 francs a year.

In addition to the basic salary,:public officials received various special allowancesand perquisites according to the individual .sfamilyobligations or cost of living in the place to whichhe was assigned. Both were fixed amounts, the sameat all salary levels, the amount of the latter beingdetermined by the size of the town or city where theindividual was employed. No cost-of-livinig bonuswas given in towns below $,000 population, while themaximum allowance given in Paris was 2,000 francea year. Moving expenses were allowed when changein place of employment necessitated a change of res-idence. Travel expenses were allmwed in first,second, or third class railroad accommodations,according to th e rank of th e employee.. Brfar thegreatest financial attraction of the public employwas its pension system. Many persons in the govern-ment service joined it because they were more in.terested in stable employment and assured provisionfor rtirement than in the somewhat larger remunera-tion iey might have received in private enterprise.All employees of the national government exceptmanual workers benefited from th e provisions of th epension system (a separate, less generous systenmapplied to manual workers). Employees paid in apercentage of their salaries and, upon retirement,drew back a pension based upon the length of theirservice and their salary during their earning period.The pension received after reaching retirement agewas at least half th e average salary for the ,last'three years of active service. To this might beadded family allowances or allowance fvr dependents,which might not bring the total payment above three-

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quarters of the average salary for the last threeyears of active service. The .contributions werepaid in to,and the pensions paid out o, the generalfunds of the Treasury, the Treasury thereby takingcare of any difference between receipts and disburse-ments.The practices of favoritism in the

government service, once uncontrolled in France,were much reduced by the use of entrance examinationsand systematic promotion and assignment. Deputiescould no longer bring pressure on administrativeofficials to appoint their proteges regardless ofqualifications; on the other hand, once an individualhad succeeded in the examination or been declaredeligible for promotion, a push from a deputy mightbe necessary to find him a position and get him intoit. Dismissal, however, was all but impossible. Theemployee had a strangle-hold on his position, and ifhe was incompetent often the only way to get rid ofhim was to promote him.The qualifying examinations wereusually very difficult, placing emphasis on literaryand philosophical education rather than on technicalskills. Higher education was all but indispensablein order to pass them. This factor formerly limitedpublic employment to persons from particular socialclasses, but recently with scholarships being givento sons of factory workers and peasants, employeeswere recruited from almost every class of the popula-tion. Normally women did not reach the highestpositions in the civil service, although a substan-tial and constantly increasing proportion was foundin the lower ranks. War veteran preference was han-dled by reserving a certain number of positions,particularly in the field services, for such persons.Civil servants were traditionallyinclined to conservatism in politics; in fact,it wasseveral decades after the foundation of the Republicbefore there was any substantial number of republicansto be found among them. By 1940 there was wide rep-resentation of all sorts of political philosophy,from the old-line ultra-conservatives to the noto-riously radical public school teachers. An importantelement in the Fren:h civil service was the activityof unions of administrative employees. They received

their original impetus as organs of protest againstfavoritism in the granting of promotions. Such unionswere permitted but were denied the right to strike.In times of stress, however, they did strike in .spiteof the prohibition. Public education unions were for-bidden in principle, but were actually widespreadand tacitly recognized by authorization of the pre-fects to deal with them. The unions functioned toprotect their members against the tyranny of higherofficials, being able to bring sufficient pressureto oust such officials, and to protect employees

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against the operation of political favoritism.(b) The Vichy 'Government

While retaining the same generalsystem, the Vichy Government has even further com-plicated administrative procedure through the divi-sion of Ministries between Paris and Vichy and themultiplication of administrative agencies. Dif-ficulties not inherent in the system are caused bythe complexity of texts to be applied and by theincompetence of officials. Some texts apply onlyin the Vichy Zone, others in both zones, and allmay be altered or nullified at, any time by ordersof the German command. The Ministries functionpartly in Vichy, partly in Paris, with many havingtwo chiefs, one in each place. The Ministers mustspend much time commuting between the two centers;to add to these troubles, many offices have losttheir archives. While the number of Ministries hasremained fairly small, semi-independent agenciesheaded by Secretaries-General or Commissioners, arealmost innumerable. Jurisdiction is hopelessly over-lapped, and each agency, with its own officials,works on fast and furiously in virtual isolationfrom other administrative bodies.

Personnel has been considerablychanged throughout, as have personnel practices. Ad-mission by competitive examination has in principlebeen retained, -as evidenced by announcements in theJournal Officiel of such examinations for variouspositions. However, several classes of persons areexcluded from the service altogether, namely citizensof foreign parentage, Jews, andmembers of secretsocieties. A law of 18 September 1940 made it pos-sible to dismiss any official without legal formal-ities. As a result prefectoral staffs, the teachingprofession, the Council of State, and the diplomaticservice have been completely transformed, whiledirecting staffs have been almost universally recast.

All existing unions of civil serv-ants were dissolved by a law of 15 October 1940,but associations confined to officials of equivalentrank in a single Ministry were allowed to continueto function under the direction of officials approvedby the Minister. These associations may in turnbe grouped into unions within a single Ministry.The Council-of State under Vichyhas acquired increased power ahd has been almostentirely revamped as to personnel. It has semi-leg-islative duties in that it prepares drafts and textsas requested or gives advice on bills drawn up bythe Government. (The permanent staffs of theMinistries used to perform this function, in a moreor less informal manner, but the upsetting of thestaffs by Vichy may have made this no longer feasible.)It also calls the attention of public powers to reforms

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in legislation or regulations that appear to be inthe national interest. In administrative mattersthe Council of State gives advice, when requested,on proposed rules of administration, as it did underthe Third Republic.The handling of field services has

been profoundly changed through the setting up ofregions corresponding to the old French provinces.There are seventeen regions, each including severaldepartments (except the region of Corsica,which con-sists of that department alone). The administrativehead of the region is the "regional prefect", theprefect of the department in which the 'seat of theregion is located. He is assisted by a director ofhis cabinet, chosen among the sub-prefects of theregion, and a secretariat. A deputy prefect in thedepartment which is the seat of the region handlesthose affairs which are strictly departmental. Theregional powers of the prefects extend to police(described under Public Safety), economic questions,and the-discipline of officials. The heads of therelevant field services stationed in the departmentare "regional directors."

The power of the regional prefectin economic matters is exercised, as the law phrasesit, with the assistance of an intendant des affaires6conomiues. These intendants are specialists, se-lected by the Ministries of the Interior and of Na-tional Economy for their qualifications, so it isprobable that they are the true administrators, theprefects almost invariably following the course theyhave mapped out. The prefect and the intendant haveauthority over the regional heads attached to the"economic" agencies, i.e. those dealing with agri-..cultural and industrial production, supply, labor,transport, and equipment for communications or forproduction belonging to the state.

With regard to the discipline ofofficials, the regional prefect may for reasons oflaw and order suspend any or all national officialsin the region on condition of reporting to the Chiefof Government and to the head of the service or serv-ices concerned.

The region, it must be said, is avaluable addition to French administration. Itjoins together areas with common interests and often,since it derives from the old province, with commontraditions. As an adjunct to the department, whichis an arbitrary unit, it may prove valuable afterthe Vichy regime has gone. It has a genuine func-tional basis which is entirely lacking in the divisioninto departments.Vichy has created a new administrative

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office, that of the cantonal agent. This officialacts as an intermediary between the prefect and themayors of communes to direct the latter in the car-rying out of those functions which are of generalinterest. He is appointed by the prefect and theexpenses of his office are defrayed partly by theState and partly by the department. No informationabout his functions is available other than thetext of the law providing fcr the position.

Under Vichy, the central govern-ment reaches all the way down to the communes.Mayors and councils in communes of more than 2,000inhabitants are no longer elected but are appointed,by the prefect if their population is under 10,000and by the Secretary of State for the Interior ifit is more. Even in communes of under 2,000 in-habitants the elected officials may be dismissed,and if this happens, since Vichy does not hold elec-tions, they must be replaced by appointed officers.Their powers are principally concerned with localgovernment, but this system of appointment makesthem responsible to the central authority for theirconduct of local affairs.

Another innovation by Vichy strength-ening the hold of the central authorities over allphases of administration is the institution of com- -missaires du pouvoir, They are directly responsibleto the Chief of Government, and their authorityspreads to all administrative services and to thewhole area of France. By the law published 12 August1941, there are eleven commissioners under the direc-tion of a commissioner-general. Their duties are tostudy and propose measures for improving the workof the administrative services, to receive complaintsfrom the public against the services, to detect andeliminate abuses, and to see that orders of the cen-tral authority are carried out in the spirit of theNational Revolution. They have all powers necessaryto perform these duties, including that of suspendingpublic officials. They are, in effect, the policeover the administration.

.,Provincial or other governmental units(1) The Department under the Third Republic

(a) Autonomous functions of the DepartmentAlthough the Department was anadministrative division of the central government, italso had autonomous functions of its own. Upkeep ofsuch public buildings as police stations and courthouses, maintenance of certain second-rate roads,narrow-gauge railways, and streetcar lines, supervisionof public health, the care of the poor, the needy sick,the aged, the orphans, the feeble-minded were all de-partmental functions. To carry out these functionsthe department was endowed with legal personality:

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it could own property, make contracts, buy and sell.It also had the right to levy taxes for its ownbudget. In terms of the full range of governmentalactivity, however, these autonomous departmentalfunctions were pretty insignificant.(b) Chief departmental organs

i. The PrefectThe chief departmental execu-tive official was the prefect. Since he was essen-tially a political agent of the central government,his functions in that capacity have been previouslytreated. However, in a good many matters affectinghis department the prefect acted not on instructionsfrom Paris, but on his own judgment. In the firstplace, he appointed a large number of local officials

-- elementary school teachers, welfare workers, pub-lic works employees, and petty functionabes engagedin the administration of the penal, postal, and tele-graph systems. In many instances, to be sure, theprefect's appointive power was more nominal thanreal. He was subject to much political pressure,particularly from Deputies, in making many appoint-ments; while the selection of elementary schoolteachers was really in the hands of the consultativecommittees on primary education.

A second area in which theprefect exercised considerable discretionary powerwas in the administration of matters pertaining tothe assessment and collection of direct taxes, penalinstitutions, public works, and military recruiting.Third, the prefect had to passon acts that affected the public domain. Fourth,as guardian of the public, interest, he had considera-ble responsibility and authority in preventing theabuse of power by local officials. He could suspenda member of a municipal council, for example, orannul a decree of a mayor on grounds of illegality.Fifth, the prefect had responsibilities for themaintenance of order, and was empowered upon occasionto call out the armed forces.

ii. The chef de cabinetThe chef de cabinet was ap-pointed at the pleasure of the prefect. There wereno set qualifications for this pos, which was com-

monly regarded as a steppingstone to the positionof sub-prefect. The chef de cabinet was a sort ofprivate secretary to the prefect and at the same timehe was the prefect's principal agent in dealing withother officials and the public.iii. The secretaire general

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who in many cases had little to do. Sometimes theywere charged with supervision over the variousbranches, or divisions, into which the staff ofthe prefect was organizediv. The bureaux des prefectures

The various functionariesin the office of the prefect were organized, accord-ing to the needs of each particular department, intobureaux. The particular set-up in each departmentwas ordered by decree of the prefect, but had tobe approved also by the conseil general and by theMinister of the Interior.v. The inter-departmental councils

In 1926 twenty-two inter-departmental councils replaced the conseils de pre-fecture that had formerly existed in each department.Each was composed of a president and four councillors.In addition, the old prefectural council for thePrefecture de la Seine at Paris was retained. Thislatter was a more sizable body consisting of a presi-dent, two sectional presidents, and ten councillors.Each inter-departmental council was administrativelysubordinate to the prefect in the city where it waslocated. These councils had become primarily courtsof administrative law, although they retained certainadvisory functions with respect to the prefect.

vi. The Conseil GeneralThe General Council was therepresentative assembly of the department. Its

members were elected by universal manhood suffragefor terms of six years. Half of the total numberwere chosen every three years. Each canton had onerepresentative on the General Council, so that thetotal number of councillors varied from seventeento sixty-seven. General councillors were requiredto be twenty-five years of age, and theoreticallywere supposed to maintainaresidence in the depart-ment; but as many as a quarter of the membershipcould be composed simply of taxpayers. The GeneralCouncil had two regular sessions annually -- onebeginning the first Monday after Easter, the otherin August at a date set by the Council itself. Itcould also be summoned to extraordinary sessions atthe behest of the central government. The GeneralCouncil usually sat for only a few weeks out of theyear, and members received a daily fee plus a trav-ellihg allowance.The functions of the GeneralCouncil were fixed by act of parliament. They in-cluded the apportioning of direct tax assessmentsto the various arrondissements, the voting of depart-mental loans, the upkeep of such roads and build-ings and institutions for the orphans, the destitute,

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and the feeble-minded as were within its jurisdiction.The General Council was also required to give anopinion on matters referred to it by the centralgovernment, and it could pass resolutions on.non-political subjects.The General Council was notsupposed to be a political body, but because memberswere entitled to vote in the election of Senators,seats on the Council were of real political value.A sizable majority of the presidents of the Councilwere usually either Senators or Deputies. Yet theGeneral Councils were'not so much enmeshed in pol-itics as to lose their reputation as dispassionateand hard-working bodies.

vii. The Commission departementaleThe departmental commissionwas a standing committee of the General Council.It was composed of four to seven members and was re-

quired to meet once a month. The General Councilcould delegate any of its powers to the departmentalcommission except the fixing of the tax rate or theborrowing of money.The departmental commissionalso had certain powers of its own which were par-ticularly related to the checking of the financialadministration of the prefect. It was required toexamine his budget proposals and his monthly finan-cial statements; it also had to approve contractsnegotiated by him.

(c) Amount of supervision exercisedover local governmentsIt has already been seen that theprefect was charged with the appointment of manylocal officials and that he likewise was given ex-tensive authority to prevent the abuse of power bythem. As a further check, the prefect was empoweredto suspend for one month mayors, deputy-mayors,and municipal councillors. He likewise had the rightto veto certain resolutions, to issue orders formaintaining public health and security, and to im-pose local taxes. He had supervision over communalbudgets, accounts, and certain types of loans. Hiscontrol over local authorities was, in short, veryextensive.

(2) The Department since 1940The routine jurisdiction of the depart-ment as a unit of local government has not been muchaffected, so far as is now apparent, by the Vichy"reforms." To the new regional divisions have beentransferred mainly emergency powers over such mattersas labor, agriculture, and rationing.

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- 31 -The prefects were always politicalwatchdogs. In their files were kept elaborate rec-ords on officials of all kinds -- school teachers,policemen, magistrates. The departmental as wellas the new regional prefects have now been grantedlarge powers for rendering summary "justice."Early in 1941 the prefects were authorized by M.

Peyrouton, at that time Minister of the Interior,to place anyone, simply upon suspicion, in a con-centration camp or in jail. This is called adminis-trative internment.The most significant changes in depart-mental organization concerned theelective assembly(the Conseil General) and its standing committee (theCommission dep

civil affairs handbook france section 2

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