THE REOCCUPATION OF NORTHERN AFRICA 337 
tendency to reduce it to a colonial status. For instance, 
the Chamber of Deputies has established a single committee 
to deal with Algeria, the colonies, and protectorates. Pro- 
fessor Girault and others, emphasizing the importance and 
desirability of uniform legislation for Morocco, Algeria, 
and Tunis, advocate the creation of a Ministry of North 
Africa; and the French colonial circles openly favor the ab- 
rogation of the open door in Morocco so that that country 
may be assimilated to the tariff policy of France and be made 
an economic dependency.! It is therefore an open question 
whether Morocco will in the long run succeed in maintaining 
its political and economic individuality. 
On the other hand, the success of the Protectorate Govern- 
ment and the greater independence enjoyed by the admin- 
istration has stimulated all the demands of Algerians and 
Tunisians for decentralization and for the local determina- 
tion of more numerous and more important questions. 
Further, the French colonies have not wholly escaped 
the world-wide aspirations toward self-determination, 
and even in France there are those who point out the objec- 
tions to the economic and political assimilation of colonies. 
The pacification of eastern Morocco and the establishment 
of commercial relations with Algeria have now led to the 
institution of North African conferences of which the second 
was held at Rabat in April, 1924. At this conference the 
Governor-General of Algeria and the Residents-General 
of Morocco and Tunis, with their staffs, discussed measures 
in which at least two of the three countries might advan- 
tageously coiperate, and laws or ordinances which could 
profitably be established upon a uniform basis in the 
three jurisdictions. The subjects discussed related to 
sanitation and medical treatment, the policing of the 
t Cf. United States Tariff Commission, Colonial T. artff Policies, pp. 
206-07.