Chatting amiably and informally last week, Prime Minister Raymond Poincare answered a correspondent's pert question: "Mon cher Président* why don't you declare yourself a Dictator? Moi, j'aime les Mussolinis, les Primo de Riveras, les Pil-sudskis!"
"It is plain," smiled M. Poincaré, "that a representative government operates less smoothly when it has to lay heavy burdens on its people than when it has only to please them. And France," he added ruminatively, "France has much to bear."
"Then why not a dictator?" cried the correspondent, "it would be splendid! You would be splendid!"