Mr. Albert Sarraut is a French statesman who during this period was in charge of coordinating the French foreign administrations across North Africa.

The news from Paris informs us that the French government met on Saturday for the sole purpose to conduct a review of all political, social, economic, and fiscal matters in general including those issues from the Maghreb countries (North Africa). The National Council decided to confer on the Senior Minister, Mr. Albert Sarraut, the mission to supervise and coordinate the activities of the higher authorities in charge of the North African territories. Mr. Sarraut is well known in the French ministerial circles as a former President of the National Council and on a number of occasions was the Minister of the French Colonies. Hence there is no doubt that he is well versed in the issues of the countries under the France's administration and that he has a global vision on how to address them. For quite some time, he toyed with an idea of having a separate department whose mission covered all the countries under French mandate including the Maghreb countries. This concept was realized in early 1934 under the government of Mr. Dalldier with the creation of the Department of France Overseas. But this initiative was not well received by the Moroccan people and its higher authorities. The department was cancelled soon after Mr. Sarraut's short term by Mr. Doumergue who succeeded him. Morocco's supervision was back under the old department in Quai d'Orsay.

According to the Parisian official circles, the oversight and coordination of the Department of North Africa under the supervision of Mr. Sarraut does not bring into question the authority of the Minister of Foreign Affairs with respect to (the protectorates of) Morocco and Tunisia, no more than it lessens the authority of the Minister of the Interior over (the colony of) Algeria. According to these same circles, the National Council is willing to favorably consider the legitimate grievances of the North African people and would leave their government's authority and power untouched.

For our part, we abstain on commenting on this important development until we have better information on the direction of the government's policies with regards to North Africa. We certainly have total confidence in the members of the current French government, who like us, are aware of our situation and the reactionary campaign against us. However we do not wish to be either optimists nor pessimists. We must wait and hope that Mr. Sarraut's efforts benefit and serve the interests of both countries. We must wait and hope that the French National Council will welcome our just demands with fairness to permit their resolution. Then the Moroccan people can look forward to the future with optimism and view France as a democracy that respects the rights of other nations and is willing to protect their interest. The Moroccan elite know this and differentiate the intentions of France from those of the colonialists.