seat, which is made in virtue of the highest average and not the
quotient, will be explained further on. It will be observed that L,
who receives only 9,500 votes, is declared elected, while D, with 13,-
500, is unsuccessful. This apparent anomaly is explained by the
theory that party principles are of more importance than persons.
D's votes count towards the success of his list, which obtains two
seats while L's has only one, and there is no obligation to consider
the personal feelings of D.
As above mentioned, the proportional system is tempered in France by bonuses offered to majorities. Any candidate polling more than half the total votes cast is elected, and in his case there is no question of quotients or averages. Consequently, if all the candidates on one list obtain more than half the total votes cast, the list is elected en bloc. This happened in some 20 constituencies when the first general election took place under the new law in 1919. If any seats are left over after the quotient operation has been worked out, they go to the lists having the highest average. In the example given above, the Conservative list has the highest average, 14,000. It, therefore, obtains the fifth seat, and C is de- clared duly elected. This provision sometimes produces surprising results. In a department returning six members, each of the three lists may have the quotient once with a large number left over ; and if the average of list No. I be only a single vote more than that of list No. 2, No. I list gets all the three seats left over. This was illus- trated in the department of the Gard, where the Conservative list ob- tained 4 seats and the Radicals only I, although the latter polled nearly as many votes as their adversaries.
When a candidate on a list obtains an absolute majority, this is so much net profit for his list, as his votes continue to count for the average. When there is only a single candidate, he may be elected either on an absolute majority or if he has more votes than are cast for the candidates elected on the strength of the quotient. It may also happen that two lists may each get three times the quotient although there are only five seats to fill. In such a case the seats go to the highest average. In the Haute- Vienne, a list which obtained the quotient three times did not get a single seat. Three candidates on the other list were elected by absolute majorities, and the two remaining seats went to this list in virtue of the higher average.
In addition to the bonus to majorities, and the maintenance of the absolute majority (thus facilitating coalitions which the law was designed to prevent), the French system contains another anom- aly the maintenance of the old system for by-elections. These are decided exactly as they were before the law of 1919, with a scrutin de ballotage if the first ballot does not give an absolute majority.
France had not yet in 1921 accorded the vote to women, although the Chamber of Deputies, in May 1919, voted a bill recognizing the full political rights of Frenchwomen. At the annual Women's Suffrage Congress, held in Paris in May 1921, the reports from all the provincial organizations showed that public opinion was moving steadily in favour of the change.
Church and State. After an interval of 17 years, diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See were resumed in May 1921, when M. Jonnart, the French ambassador extraor- dinary, presented his credentials to the Pope. It may be useful here briefly to relate the circumstances which attended the estrangement between the Church and its "eldest daughter." M. Loubet, President of the French Republic, paid an official visit to the King of Italy at Rome from April 24-28 1904, with- out taking any official notice of the Holy See. On April 28, Cardinal Merry del Val, Papal Secretary of State, protested against the visit of the head of a Catholic State to the Quirinal. The first news of this protest was given by M. Jaures in his paper, the Humanite, on May 16, and on the aist the anti-clerical premier, M. Combes, who probably had a good deal to do with the disclosure, recalled M. Nisard, French ambassador to the Vatican. On July 30 the Government also recalled its charge, d'affaires, Baron de Courcel, in consequence of utterances by Mgr. Geay, Bishop of Laval, and Mgr. Le Nordez, Bishop of Dijon, which showed that certain provisions of the Concordat were interpreted differently by Church and State. The relations between France and the Holy See were thus broken off by the French Government acting in the exercise of its prerogatives. The position was unchanged at the time of the outbreak of the World War, but there had long been a growing conviction in France that the estrangement was not only unnecessary but harm- ful to French interests, and that, if only in virtue of the principle expressed in the saying " Les absents ont toujours tort," it was a mistake for France, who still considered herself the protector of Catholic missions in the East, to be without admission to so unequalled a political observatory as the Vatican. This feeling
was strengthened in the course of the war by the attitude of the French clergy, who espoused the national cause in the most whole-hearted manner. Thousands of priests of military age served in the ranks and set a magnificent example to their fellow soldiers. The diocese of Lyons alone lost 147 priests and divinity students. The French bishops, especially in the invaded area, showed great courage and fortitude under the most trying circumstances. Amid the perils and hardships of war, innumer- able French citizens, combatants and non-combatants alike, discovered that the consolations of religion were not an empty phrase. When the war came to an end, anti-clericalism as a political force had ceased to exist in France, and, after the elec- tions in 1919, there was no longer any valid reason for adhering to the policy of M. Combes. In March 1920 M. Millerand's Cabinet brought in a bill for the reestablishment of the French embassy to the Vatican. The bill was voted by the Chamber of Deputies on Nov. 30 by 391 to 179. Up to the beginning of June 1921 the bill had not passed the Senate, but the Govern- ment, headed by M. Briand, felt justified in acting upon it without further delay and resuming the relations broken off by his predecessor in 1904. By a curious coincidence, M. Combes died on the very day on which this was done.
Apart from considerations of foreign policy and expediency, there were two strong arguments in support of M. Briand's action. The motive for the recall of the French ambassador in 1904 was the protest raised by Pope Pius X. because the Presi- dent of the French Republic ignored him during his official visit to the Quirinal. The Pope's successor (Benedict XV.) stated on May 23 1920 in his encyclical " Pacem Dei munus pulcherri- mum " that henceforth no protest would be raised against visits by heads of Catholic States to the Quirinal. The primary cause of the conflict was thus removed. The second cause resided in differences of interpretation of the Concordat, but as this instrument was abolished by the separation of Church and State in France, there could be no such differences in future.
Education. During the period 1910-21 the State educational system remained uniform throughout France, varied only by the changes in the programme which take place about every 10 or 12 years in accordance with what are considered to be the requirements of succeeding generations of scholars. Many French experts re- proach the university authorities with an excessive tendency to lower the level of secondary education in response to the desires of parents, who, in general, seem to favour a shortening of the period of study and the hastening of the time when their sons will be able to begin their careers. There is some reason to fear that the intel- lectual level of the country may to some extent be sacrificed to utilitarianism. In the years immediately following the war, the leaning towards the modern science side of instruction was very marked. At the beginning of the 1920 winter term the only va- cancies in the Paris lycees for boys were on the classical side.
In addition to the ordinary degrees, French universities are allowed to grant diplomas in special subjects, such as applications of science and commercial science. Certificates for knowledge of French are also issued to foreigners who have gone through a course of study of the language. The special certificates granted by French universities in 1920 were: Paris, 172; Aix and Marseilles, 12; Algiers, 4; Besancon, II ; Bordeaux, 37; Caen, 31; Clermont, 6; Dijon, 6; Grenoble, 517; Lille, 12; Lyons, 143; Montpellier, 50; Nancy, 160; Poitiers, 9- Rennes, 10; Strassburg, 19; Toulouse, 127.
(G. A. ; G. A. R.) AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY
Agriculture. Agriculture still remains the main occupation of the French. At the outbreak of war over 60 % of its labour was mobilized and invasion robbed the country of the resources of the richest agricultural provinces. These causes, together with shortage of phosphate manures, brought about a very serious falling-off in production. Table 6 gives the statistics of the chief crops :
TABLE 6. Principal Crops (in thousand quintals).
1913
1916
1917
1918
1919
Wheat . .
86,919
55,767
39,488
6i,435
48,438
Maslin (mixed rye and
wheat)
1,490
1,079
879
959
927
Rye ....
12,714
8,471
6,993
7,349
7,070
Barley ....
io,437
8,33i
8,980
5,982
5>H3
Oats ....
51,826
40,223
34,462
25,619
24,429
Maize ....
5,430
4,225
4,118
2,479
2,990
Millet . .
1 86
153
319
89
125
Sarrasin (buckwheat)
5,664
2,739
2,272
2,242
2,675
