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Gaston Doumergue's career has been simple. Born at Aigues-Vives in Card 70 years ago, he served in the colonial service in Cochin-China, first entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1893. In the past 40 years he has popped in & out of various Cabinet posts, was Premier for a brief period (December 1913-May 1914). He first became an international figure in 1924. Amid a cyclone of charges and counter-charges Alexandre Millerand was accused of having interfered in party affairs, was forced to resign the Presidency. Politicians turned instinctively to the round little fellow who had never been connected with any political scandal, a bachelor, a Protestant, and after a lifetime in politics, still a poor man.
On the side lines, as President of France, Gaston Doumergue acquired a vast disgust for the French political game of which he had been a part for so long. As head of the State, he had a chance for the first time in a generation to appreciate the layman's point of view as governments fell, week after week, month after month, with nothing done. But. like most Frenchmen, honest "Gastounet" is at heart extremely conservative. He may adopt such simple superficial reforms as commend themselves to his cautious Gallic mind. But anyone who expects him to remake the legislative and political machine of France, to rid it of blocs, to break with deep-rooted traditions, is likely to be disappointed.