Édouard DALADIER (1884-1970) statesman, signatory of the Munich agreements. L.S., Paris November 29, 1938, to Léon BLUM; 4 pages in-4 dactyl. on the letterhead of the Presidency of the Council. Long and scathing letter in response to Blum on requisitions, retorting that he himself had initiated and used them under the Front Populaire. [In November 1938, Daladier, president of the Council, takes decrees which return on certain measures of the Popular Front, in particular the law on the 40 hours; important strikes are provoked; the government requisitions then transports and sends troops in front of the entry of the factories]. Daladier, at first, recalled and detailed the spirit and scope of the decrees he had taken, then vehemently replied: "Will you reproach me for giving the Law of 1877 the scope that you yourself gave it when you asked me to take the decree of June 6, 1936 to carry out requisitions of gasoline, and when by application of this same initial text the under-secretary of State for Public Works asked me, in agreement with you, to requisition, in accordance with the Decree of June 6, 1936, with their personnel, barges to ensure, on October 13, 1936, the supply of coal to the Paris Region? The same intervention was followed on many occasions, without raising the slightest criticism, to proceed with the requisition of industrial establishments and their personnel. I will only cite as the most characteristic example the requisition of the FOUGA Company's factory in Béziers, with its personnel whose activity was almost entirely devoted to the manufacture of railway equipment, on July 29, 1938, a requisition that met with the full approval of the Populaire. At a time when the latter newspaper was publicly accusing me, on several occasions, of violating the law, and of taking illegal requisitions in matters of railways and public or conceded services, did I not have the right to recall the texts that had given me the power to act, and to refer to the interpretation that had been adopted, when you were President of the Council, with your approval and even on your initiative?...