CARTEL

during the last decade before the world war, in germany and in other countries cartels were gaining greater importance. they were by no means confined to the so-called heavy industries, which are most suited for the formation of cartels owing to their large scale; industries with smaller units, especially the textile industries, were also in- creasingly organised in such groups. the increasing formation of cartels in merchanting, partly under the influence of the great industrial cartels, may also be mentioned. during the war the govt. of the german reich made use of cartels for supplying the enormous requirements of the army. as the output capacity of the individual undertakings was known, it was possible to allocate orders amongst them in a satisfactory way. it is true that the sudden demand, even apart from the scarcity of raw materials which soon set in, necessitated the grant of higher profits, but the price increases were often much higher where application had to be made to individual firms. many cartels, especially the so-called contracts cartels, were formed during the war for the exploitation of urgent army re quirements, and, later, associations of traders were formed to exploit the increasing scarcity of goods; but the great and well: known cartels were moderate in their price-fixing. the fixing by the state of maximum prices was not so often necessary in their case, and was, in any case, more easily effected. nevertheless the govt. soon found themselves compelled to intervene in the cartel system, because many cartels failed to show proper con- sideration to consumers. the textile cartels in particular were compelled to reduce prices to the consumer. state interference—but state interference with the cartels went further, as a rule in the form of maintaining existing cartels or of compulsory amalgamation. it was recognised that dis- solution of the cartels and return to unregulated competition was economically undesirable, and would render impossible the economic utilisation of raw material and labour. following the precedent created in the case of the potash syndicate, which in 1910 was compulsorily reconstituted in order to prevent its collapse, the german govt. have created compulsory syndicates, especiallyin mining. underthethreat of such action the rhenish- westphalian coal syndicate was reconstituted just before the contracts expired. the state justly feared that if this great 546 cartel organisation fell to pieces, the maintenance of a regular supply to | cause against the fierce foreign competition expected after the the consumers and a uniform control, both of export and of internal consumption, would not be possible. the industrialists have for the most part not been opposed to such compulsory cartels, because the accompanying rationing of production, raw materials and marketing also facilitated future monopolistic combination. herein, however, lies! the danger of these methods, which the state endeavours to counter by granting the consumer and also the workers certain rights in these organisations and by consulting with their representatives. the power of the state in relation to industry, which had grown extraordinarily during the war, was still further strength- ened in germany when the socialists came into power after the collapse in 1918, and demanded the socialisation of these indus- tries. in practice, however, the existing compulsory syndicates for potash, coal, and iron were merely further extended, and far- reaching powers for the regulation of prices were given to the federal coal council and the federal potash council, on which workers and consumers were represented. jn the iron and stecl federation (eisenwirtschaftsbund) state intervention was not carried so far. on the other hand, in the electrical industry, where the so-called ‘‘ mixed undertakings”? (whose capital was raised jointly by public and private bodies) had played a great rele in the production and delivery of power over large areas before the war, the attempt was made to increase the influence of the reich and of its constituent states. trusis in germany.—even before the war cartels were by no means the only form of combination of several undertakings. after the strong cartels in coal-mining had come into being, it was more advantageous for the large iron and steel works to possess their own coal mines. the so-called ‘“ pure” rolling- mills, which had to buy their raw material from the combined steel works, which were also their competitors in the sale of the manufactured products, were likewise at a disadvantage.: thus the association of raw material producing and manufacturing concerns in a single undertaking became increasingly common. great combined undertakings arose, above all in the mining industry and in the electrical and other metal industries, which extended far into the finishing industries. the term “ trust’ made its appearance; but real trusts—the amalgamation of a whole industry into a single monopolistic undertaking—these were not. such trusts only arose in a few specialised industries, thus in the dynamite trust in association with english undertakings, in the amalgamation of all german rice-mills in a holding company, and also in the accumulator industry. with the increase in the number of joint-stock companics in many industries, the tendency to fusion and still more to the acquisition of participations in other industries was very active. in banking, the linking of provincial banks to the great berlin banks had been going on for a long time. participation and the formation of subsidiary companies was most extensive in the electro-technical industry and in large constructional undertak- ings. a substitute for cartels is provided in a smaller category of undertakings by the iunteressengemcinschaften. these consist chiefly in a pooling of profits to secure an equalisation and distri- bution of risk; they are mostly formed for long periods, and practically exclude competition between those concerned. as a rule there is also an interchange of directors and members of control boards (lufsichtsrdte), and often participation by the acquisition of shares. after the crisis of 1goo0 the first important interessengemeinschaft was the agreement concluded in 1902 for 20 years between the two largest german shipping companies and the international mercantile marine co., which ended at the outbreak of the war. the chemical industry.—of still greater importance were the two great interessengemcinschafien formed in 1904 in the chem- ical industry. the first, between the hiechster farbwerke and the firm of cassella & co., took the form of an exchange of shares, the second, between the badische anilin und soda fabrik, the elberfelder farbenfabrike and the berliner a.g. fiir anilin fabrikation, took the form of pooling profits in the proportion of 43:43:14. in 1916 these groups combined to make common | war, and two other large factories also came into the combine. cartels after the war.—in the post-war period, with its eco- nomic insecurity and its colossal inflation, financial forms of organisation became more prominent, while the cartels lost for the time being in importance. with the shortage of goods and the apparent prosperity due to inflation, high prices could be obtained without cartels. these played a larger rele in local industry and trade, where it was important to make prompt adjustments to the daily price increases. in large scale industries, however, certain traders and speculators took advantage of the opportunity of buying up whole groups of undertakings with cheap credits. there arose the great vertical combines (ken- zerne), such as had already existed in the electrical and mining industries, whose scope was now greatly extended. by the dissociation of the lorraine and luxembourg works many of the greatest undertakings had lost their economic basis and had to be completely reconstructed. thus hugo stinnes created in the siemens-rhine-elbe-schiickert union a close interessengemetnschaft of three great mining undertakings with the electro-technical siemens-schiickert-konzern. at the same time he built up a great private combine with a number of very distinct undertakings. other mining combines also, such as the ph6nix, kleckner, lothringen, etc., were further extended. in the potash, cotton and cement industries great vertical combines were also created. the penctration of wholesale trade, which had made very large profits during the war, into industry is worthy of note; often even very large undertakings suddenly came into the hands of a large trader or speculator. in many cases undertakings were thus grouped together which stood in no organic relation to one another and which were only kept united by the financial transactions of the founders. in 1926 about 75°% of the german coal output, 75% of the coke output, and about 79% of the steel output was produced in the great vertical combines of the mining industry. with the stabilisation of the mark in 1924 and the great scar- city of capital consequent on the destruction of all liquid capital, many of these artificial combines broke down with great losses for those concerned. on the other hand the shortage of capital and the unfavourable economic outlook demanded a great re- duction of costs and the most efficient technical and commercial organisation. thus many new amalgamations came into being, mostly in the more rational form of a complete fusion. these would have attained even greater importance but for the quite indefensible tax on fusions, although its burden was eventually reduced. the complete fusion of the seven chemical firms al- ready mentioned as being associated in an interessengemeinschaft is noteworthy. they were absorbed by the oldest and largest of them, the badische anilin und soda fabrik, which increased its capital for this purpose from 176,000,000 marks to 646,000,000 marks, and took the name of interessengemeinschaft farben- industrie a.g. this group had already a monopoly position in many products, so that here we may speak of a real trust. an equally great concentration of capital is found in the pro- jected union of several of the greatest vertical combines of the rhine-westphalian iron and steel industry, namely, the pheenix a.g., the thyssen undertakings, the combine of the gelsen- kirchen and german-luxembourg mining co., to which the bochum cast steel union also belongs, and of the rheinische stahlwerke. this gigantic combine, whose capital and type of fusion remained to be determined, had not a monopoly position; it maintained its participation in the various cartels of the coal and iron industry. the continuance of the union of the gel- senkirchen with the siemens-schiickert group was not certain. in spite of these great amalgamations, the number of cartels has not become less; the desire of employers to restrict competi- tion is further increased by the severe economic crisis. the saying that cartels are children of necessity holds good. the cartel court —for a long time a cartel act was demanded in germany. in july 1922, a cartel advisory committee was formed, including members of the reichstag, the reichsrat and the federal economic council. on nov. 2 10923 the govt. cartoon—casein issued an “ order against the misuse of monopoly power.” a cartel court was erected which can be set in motion by the govt. as well as by the contracting parties. the chief provisions are as follows:— section 1. “‘ contracts and regulations which lay down obliga- tions in regard to production and marketing, conditions of business, the nature of price fixing or price lists (syndicates, cartels, conven- tions and similar agreements) must be made in writing.”’ verbal contracts and the like are invalid. section 4 is the most important: “ if a contract or regulation of the type described in section 1. . . endangers the economic system as a whole or the well-being of the community, the federal minister of economics can (1) appeal to the cartel court to declare the con- tract or regulation to be invalid . . . (2) decree that all parties to the contract or regulation can at any time cancel the contract or withdraw from the regulations, (3) demand the submission of copies of all agreements. the welfare of the community is to be regarded as endangered when production or marketing are restricted in an economically unjustified manner, when prices are raised or kept high, or when price increases are made to cover the risk of currency de- preciation, or when economic freedom is inequitably restricted by embargoes on purchase or sale or by discriminating prices or con- ditions.” . these provisions are only permissive, since power is merely given to the federal minister of economics under certain. cir- cumstances to apply for a declaration rendering the contract null and void. section 8 goes much further. it runs:— “ contracts or regulations of the type described in section 1 can be cancelled without notice where an important reason exists.” an important reason is always to be held to exist if the economic free- dom of the cancelling party is inequitably restricted in regard to production, marketing or the determination of prices. section 9 runs: ‘guarantees may not be demanded, nor embargoes or similar prejudicial measures be imposed, in virtue of contracts and regulations of the type described in section 1, without the con- sent of the chairman of the cartel court. those concerned can appeal within a week of the decision to the cartel court.” hitherto sections 8 and 9, which are directed against the so- called exclusive contracts (obligations to trade exclusively with members of the cartel, boycotts, embargoes on delivery and the like) have been mainly enforced. but in the summer of 1925 the govt. resolved, in connection with its endeavours to bring about a fall in prices, to proceed more energetically against the cartels, and a number of them have been dissolved, while others have been compelled to alter their trading conditions. bibliograpity.—s, tschierschky, zur reform der industrie- karielle, (berlin, 1921); das problem der staailichen kartellaufsicht (mannheim, 1923); r. liefmann, kartelle und trusts und die \veiter- bildung der volkswirtschaftlichen organisation (6th ed., stuttgart 1924; also in french, swedish, dutch, russian and fapanese transla- tions); h. v. beckerath, krefte, ziele, und gestaltungen in der deutschen industriewirtschaft (2nd ed., jena, 1924); lehnich-fischer, hausmann, hollander und tschiersky-isay, konimentare sur kartellverordnung. see also kartellrundschau, berlin, (1903 ff.); sammlung der entscheidungen und gutachten des kartellgerichts herausgegeben von der kartellstelle des reichsverbandes der deutschen indusirte (berlin); also the berichte (reports) that are issued by the same institution. cr. ln.) cartoon.—the word cartoon is now used so diversely that it is necessary to be more precise in definition in order to get an appreciation of the art of cartooning in the best sense. the highest order of cartoon is educational or propagandist, but un- recognisable as such. it is not a mere drawing of some episoile, condition or situation of life, but conveys a message, by reason of the purpose, thought and spirit underlying the drawing, for which the situation as depicted is merely a cloak. cartoons of this class, however, need not be only what are known as “ politi- cal cartoons,” which are obviously propagandist in structure. they can be so subtle in form as to convey propaganda and sway moods or opinions without the cause being detected. this is the highest form of cartoon and is an immense weapon in what- ever direction it is used. cartoons have a larger scope of appeal in a shorter space of time than equivalent education coming by a literary route. they can reach all classes and be either serious or jocular, provided the necessary hidden quality is present. the technique of the drawing—though of course the better, the more pleasing—is of secondary importance. the psycholog- ical strength emanating from the cartoon is the most important feature. the best artists are not necessarily the best cartoonists. 947 the usual political cartoon is of a positive nature. a situation, apt and symbolic in form, parodied by the artist, deliberately states a point of view; the cartoonist endeavours to educate ob- servers thereby or to satisfy the ideals of observers whose judg- ment is already formed. far deeper and more potent is the car- toon which by means of its own peculiar and subtle statement of life causes the observer to find unconsciously a point of view, this process being the education intended. it is easier to por- tray the wishes and policy of a party or a nation by cartoons than to express the culture and civilisation of a nation or an age in such a way as to help in the bringing about of a change— an achievement wrought by hogarth, amongst others, who was quite possibly unaware of the education that a study of his piercing cartoons afford. there are some who can, by placing their personal outlook on paper, be great and unconscious car- toonists. they can achieve the highest form of the art of car- tooning—the distribution of acceptable propaganda in arresting form. (see also caricature.) (b.b.) cartridge: see ammunition, cartwright, sir richard john (1835-1912), canadian statesman (see 5.435), died at kingston, ont., sept. 24 1912. caruso, enrico (1873-1921), italian singer, was born in naples feb. 25 1873. ile was early apprenticed to a mechan- ical engineer. he began to sing in the choirs at naples when he was eleven years old and later studied under guglielmo vergine. he made his debut in 1894 in l’ amico francesco at the teatro nuovo, naples, and first won marked success as marcello in la boheme, at milan, in 1898. from 1899 to 1903 he was at st. petersburg (leningrad) in the winter, and in the summer at buenos aires. he appeared also in many cities, including mos- cow, warsaw, rome, paris and london (covent garden, 1902). in america he first appeared in 1903 at the metropolitan opera house, new york, where for 18 years he was the leading tenor. caruso had a very extensive italian and french repertory, but never appeared in wagner’s operas. he won special success in aida, carmen, huguenots, l’ elisir d’ amore, pagliacci, rigo- felio and samson and delilah. he died aug. 2 1921 at naples. cary, annie louise (1842-1921), american singer (see 5.438), died april 3 1921 at norwalk, connecticut. casablanca, morocco (see 5.440), had a population in 1921 of 101,790, including 48,890 moslems, 15,136 jews, 21,579 french, 16,185 other europeans. the two chief thoroughfares in the city are the boulevard de la gare, from the place de france to the station and industrial quarter near the port, and the grand traverse running east and west. a new native quarter lies southeast of the city, near the sultan’s palace. health condi- tions have been improved, and extensions of the water supply undertaken. large electric power works, to be utilised for the railways in the flatter parts of the country, were finished in 1924. there are railways to the phosphate ficlds of el boruj district (near which a valuable iron-field has been found), to fez and rabat, and to marrakesh (171 m.). metalled roads link casa- blanca with the principal centres. a daily air-service connects casablanca and toulouse, and a bi-weekly service, casablanca and oran. an outer harbour, consisting of a jetty 2,050 metres long, with a transverse pier of 1,600 metres, was completed in 1925. further extensions of the harbour works were taken in hand in 1925. a superphosphates factory has been built outside the town. other industrial establishments include brick, cement, lime, biscuit and printing works and foundries. casein.—an albumin occurring in milk, as a lime salt in a very finely divided state, giving the milk an opaque appearance. it is manufactured from cow’s milk, which contains about 3% of casein. pure casein is a white, amorphous substance without taste or smell. it is a weak acid, readily soluble in solutions of caustic alkalis and of the carbonates, borates and other salts of the alkali metals. water dissolves casein only to a very small extent, but causes it to swell. casein is converted by the action of formaldehyde, or formalin, into a hard material quite insoluble in water. this result, of great importance in connection with 548 the use of casein in the arts, was first obtained by chemische fabrik auf akizen (formerly e. schering) of berlin and is described in british specification no. 23,585 of 1894.! casein is non- inflammable. its specific gravity is about 1-25. commercial casein of good quality is a dry, friable, white, or slightly brown powder; casein of inferior quality has an unpleasant smell and is usually moist and dark coloured. processes of manufacture —three of the commercial processes for making casein depend mainly on the precipitation of the casein from previously heated skim or separated milk by means of an acid. these processes are: (1) the rennet process; (2) the process in which an acid, e.g., dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, is added to the milk; and (3) the self-curdling process, in which the milk is allowed to rest until it is curdied by the action of lactic acid formed from the lactose or milk-sugar of the milk by the activities of a bacillus (b. acidilactici). in the united states, the substance precipitated by the action of rennet is commonly called paracasein, the term casein being reserved for that pre- cipitated by acids. two other processes of exceptional interest have been used in france. in one of them the milk is run into a closed vessel provided with agitators and is subjected to the action of great pressure; the precipitation of the curd may be hastened by introducing carbonic acid gas. the second process is electrolytic and has been carried on at the casein factory of aigrefeuille, charente inferieure. the details of the process are secret, but it is said that a very high quality casein is obtained. in all these processes, the precipitated curd is separated from the whey, washed with cold water, passed through a press or a centrifugal separator, broken up, and dried by currents of dry air or other means. the dry casein is ground and packed for sale. uses of casein.—in many countries casein is produced on a commercial scale and a large amount is used in the making of confectionery and special foods of which sanatogen, lactorin and plasmon are examples. casein preparations are also used as media for administering quinine, lithium salts, iodides and other drugs and medicines. casein preparations are used for printing on calico, sizing yarns and sizing waterproofing, and coating in the paper industry. formalin-hardened casein has been employed in making photographic films, and it has been proposed to make from such casein fibres to be spun like artificial silk. casein is used largely in the production of cold water paints and distempers, of cements for porcelain and glass, and of glues for use in bookbinding, wood-working and aircraft construction. the production of casein plastics intended to imitate ivory, tortoiseshell, amber, horn, ebony, agate, malachite, celluloid and other substances is important. the casein is made plastic by being thoroughly mixed with colouring and filling materials, according to the nature of the substance to be imitated, and moulded into blocks or other forms which are hardened by exposure to the air or by means of formalin. casein plastics can be turned, carved, or otherwise worked. they are good electrical insulators, hard and insoluble in water, but can be softened to some extent in hot water. see robert scherer, casein, tts preparation and technical utilisa- tion (1921) and e. l. tague, ‘‘ casein,” in a. rogers’ handbook of industrial chemistry (4th ed., 1925). (te...) casement, roger david (1864-1916), british consular agent, was born near dublin sept. 1 1864. after serving in the niger coast protectorate he entered the british consular service. in 1910 the british govt. commissioned casement to investigate certain charges brought against the anglo-peruvian amazon co., and for the adequate performance of this service he was knighted (1911). from about 1912 casement seemed to develop an intense hatred of england. on the outbreak of the world war he went to the united states and thence, in nov. 1914 to berlin. during 1915 he published various anti-british pamphlets, and attempted to form a brigade, for service against england, of trish soldiers who were prisoners of war. he planned to aid a rising in ireland for easter week, 1916, and on april 12 sailed for ireland in a german submarine, which was accompanied by a vessel laden with arms and ammunition. the latter was cap- tured by a patrol boat. casement landed in a collapsible boat, casement—castellorizo but was captured on april 24 and brought to london. tried for treason before the lord chief justice, he was convicted and sen- tenced to death on june 29, being deprived of his knighthood on the following day. his appeal against conviction was dismissed on july 18, and on aug. 3 he was executed at pentonville, london. cassatt, mary (1855-1926), american artist, was born at pittsburgh, pennsylvania, a sister of a. j. cassatt, president of the pennsylvania railroad. in 1875 she went to europe to study art, spending some time in spain, afterwards proceeding to paris, where she was greatly influenced by manet, renoir, degas and the impressionist school. her first exhibition of paintings in paris was in 1893 at the gallery of m. durand-ruel, where in later years her works were frequently exhibited. she also contributed to the various exhibitions of the impressionist school, but never to the salons. wer work was warmly appreciated in french artistic circles. mothers and babies or children were to her the chief subjects of inspiration, and her pictures are dis- tinguished by great firmness in drawing and boldness of tone and colour. asa pastellist she attained high rank. exhibitions of her works have been held in new york and pittsburgh, and she is represented in the public art galleries of the united states and in private collections. she died in june 1926. see achille legard, un peintve des enfants et les meeres: mary cassael, illustrated (paris, 1913), cassel, sir ernest joseph (1852~1921), anglo-german financier, was born at cologne march 3 1852, the son of a small banker in that city, and at the age of 16 became a clerk in the banking firm of elspacher. in 1870 he went to london and entered the foreign banking house of bischoffscheim and gold- smid. there he attracted notice by his skillful disentanglement of the accounts of the khedival loans. in 1884 he set up for himself and became interested in south-american finance. he re- organised the finances of uruguay, and issued three mexi- can loans, as well as acquiring the royal swedish railway and financing enterprises such as vickers’ absorption of the maxim- nordenfelt co. and the building of the centra) london rail- way. he also raised a chinese loan after the war with japan. his principal achievement was, however, the financing of the nile irrigation work, and in connection with that the founding of the national bank of egypt. during the war, though he had long been a naturalised british subject, an unsuccessful attempt was made to have his name removed from the privy council. sir ernest retired in 1910 and died in london sept. 21 1921. his daughter married mr. w. w. ashley, m.p., minister of transport, and their daughter, who inherited much of her grand- father’s great wealth, married lord louis mountbatten. cassel, gustav (1866- ), swedish economist, was born at stockholm oct. 20 1866. he began his career as a mathe- matician but became in 1904 professor of economics in the hdgskola at stockholm. he was consulted by the govt. as an expert on taxation and budget matters and his memorandum on ‘the world’s monetary problem ” at the brussels conference in 1920 attracted great attention. in another memorandum to the league of nations finance committee in sept. 1921 (printed together with the first under the title of the world’s monetary problems. two memoranda, 1921), he discussed the questions connected with the financial crisis of 1920. cassel was attached to the swedish delegation as a financial expert at the 1922 genoa conference and was a delegate at the meeting of international chambers of commerce in london in 1921 and 1922. among cassel’s published works are the nature and necessity of interest (1903); theoretische sozialekenomie (1918); money and for- eign exchanges after 1914 (1922); weltwirthschaft und geldverkehr unter besonderer berticksichtigung des valutaproblems (1920); funda- mental thoughts on economics (1925). he also wrote articles in the economic journal (london). (see exchanges forreign), castellorizo, the ancient megiste, an island of the dode- canese. it was included by the turks in the privileged group known as “ the dodecanese ” (q.v.), but did not form part of the italian “ dodecanese,’ occupied during the libyan war of t9gr2. the outbreak of hostilities against turkey during the world war gave the italians an opportunity of adding castel- lorizo to their dodecanesian possessions, after the french had castelnau—catalysts occupied it on dec. 27 1915, and articles 122 of the treaty of sevres in 1920 and 15 of the second treaty of lausanne in 1923 provided that “ turkey renounces in favour of italy all rights and title . . . over the island of castellorizo.’’ thenceforth the chief italian authority in the southern sporades styled himself first ‘‘ governor of rhodes and castellorizo’”’ and then ‘‘ gov- ernor-general of the dodecanese and castellorizo.” disputes arose with the turks over the ownership of some islets between the island and the coast, used by the islanders for purposes of fishing. castellorizo has a small harbour but no exports, and the inhabitants engage in the sponge-fishery. its liability to a sudden attack from the adjacent coast (actually said to have once occurred since the italian occupation) may be set off against its utility as a base for the italian penetration of the mainland. its population is entirely greek, and the neapolitan domination (1450-1522) is the only precedent for its present ownership. bintiocrapuy.—g. gerola, ‘un piccolo feudo napoletano nell’ egeo (l’isoletta di castelrosso, ora kastellorizo)”’ ausenia, vol. 8 (rome, 1915); a. 5. diamantaras, ' ‘ieropia ris vacov kaoreddopitov {1821-so],”’ in aearlov ris ‘ioropexfs xat ‘e@voxoyixjs ‘erarpelds ris ‘eaaados, vol. 8, (athens, 1923) and articles in vol. § and 6; a. s. dia- mantaras, ‘h vacos meyiorn (alexandria, 1893); charles hedercr, lille du chdteau-rouge (1924); peace itandbooks, vol. 11, no. 64; the turkish islands (1920). (ww. m1.) castelnau, edouard de curieres de (1851- i french soldier, was born at saint-affrique, aveyron, dec. 24 1851, third son of the marquis de curieres de castelnau. he entered the military school of st. cyr, near versailles, in 1860; and during the franco-german war took part in the loire cam- paign. captain in 1876 and commandant in 1889, he was ap- pointed by general de miribel in 1893 to a post in the chief department of the general staff; later as head of the department he built up the vast system of french mobilisation. in 1910 he became general of division, and in june rorr assistant to the chief of the general staff. on the outbreak of war he commanded the ii. army in lorraine. after the french offensive was driven back at morhange in aug. 1914, general castelnau in turn successfully repulsed the germans at the trouee de charmes and the heights of the grand couronne. on sept. 18 the it. army was moved to the west between the somme and the oise in the abortive attempt to outflank the german armies—known as the “‘ race to the sea.” on june 13 1915 general castelnau took command of the group of four armies which constituted the french centre, and directed the sept. offensive in champagne. in the following dec. he became chief of the general staff under general joffre. he was next sent to salonika on a tour of inspection, returning by way of athens and rome. three days after the opening of the german attack at verdun on feb. 21 1916 castelnau was sent there on an emergency mission, with full powers, and appre- ciating the danger gave orders that the right bank of the meuse should be held at all cost; he returned to chantilly only when the position was secure. on the appointment of nivelle in place of joffre, castelnau was sent on a mission to leningrad in jan. 1917. on his return he was given the command of the group of armies in the east with a view to directing the large-scale opera- tions which were anticipated in nov. 1918, and which the arm- istice happily forestalled. after the war general castelnau entered the chamber as deputy for averyron; he acted as presi- dent of the army committee, and allied himself to the group known as the entente democratique et sociale. see victor giraud, castelnau (1921).