PC_FrWWI_0140

PC_FrWWI_0140

Early French political cartoon/caricature postcard depicting President of France, Émile Loubet, carrying a panama hat.

Émile François Loubet (1838-1929) was President of France from 1899 to 1906.  The reference here is apparently to his earlier tenure as premier and minister of the interior, which began in February 1892 and ended in November of that year as a result of the financial scandal following the collapse of the French Panama canal company, the Campagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique, though for a short time he continued to serve as minister of the interior under his successor, Alexandre Ribot.