Romain Chatton

Romain Chatton

Romain Chatton (born July 6, 1876 in Romont , † January 7, 1941 in Friborg in Üechtland ) was a Swiss politician and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

Live and act

His parents, Isidore Chatton, former municipal mayor and notary, and Marie Antonie Léocadie, born in Romont and Avry-devant-Pont, were Catholic by birth. Raboud, from Les Glânes, housewife. Romain married Emma Alice Pauline Musy, von Grandvillard, daughter of Alexandre Nicolas, in 1911.

After attending primary and secondary school in his hometown, Romain Chatton moved to the Kollegium St. Michael and then to the University of Freiburg , where he obtained his licentiate in law in 1900 . In the same year he began an internship with his father, who was also a clerk at the Glane District Court. From 1903 as a substitute for the court clerk in Romont, he also worked as a notary for the Vivisbach district .

Also in 1903 the young notary became politically active. He was elected to the local council, where he was responsible for the city schools. Appointed Ammann in 1907, he took over finance management and thus got to know the administration of public finances.

When his father was appointed commercial director of the Montbovon power plant based in Romont in 1908, Romain succeeded him as a clerk without giving up his activities as a politician and notary. In 1909, after the death of former Conservative National Councilor Louis Grand, he became President of the Glane District Court. In 1911 he had to give up his municipal offices due to this accumulation of offices.

In the general election of 1916 Romain Chatton was elected to the Grand Council. To everyone's satisfaction, he presented the important report on the tax reform there. Because of his undisputed abilities, he was elected to the Council of State in 1919 when Jean-Marie Musy became Federal Councilor and took over the finance department from his predecessor.

Chatton served as a State Councilor for 22 years until he died in office in 1941. Two major tasks shaped his five legislative terms. Right at the beginning he tackled the huge budget deficit of the state and tried with all his might to live up to his motto “No new expenditure without new income”. In May 1923, for example, he submitted the draft law to reduce the wages and salaries of state officials and employees. The Grand Council passed the bill to the great regret of the state staff, who, however, refrained from protesting.

The second major action involved the conversion of two bonds. The first conversion of a loan of 20 million francs from 1919 took place in 1929 and resulted in an improvement in the budget of 75,000 francs, which was considered to be considerable. The second conversion was for the loan of 25 million from 1929, the interest rate of which was reduced from 40% to 3% in 1938, a result that was considered "wonderful" in the press.

Romain Chatton, who headed the government in 1923, 1929 and 1936, died unexpectedly on January 7, 1941 at the age of 65. The government press praised him as a "skillful and cautious financier".

literature

• Georges Andrey: Chatton, Romain. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .