At about the time that Poincaré decided to step up to the Senate and back from ministerial life, significant changes were taking place in the nature of the French parliament and in the role of the député in particular. Though only in his mid-forties and still young in relation to the average age of parliamentarians at the turn of the century, Poincaré's conservatism, upper-middle-class values and fifteen or so years' parliamentary experience did not dispose him favourably to those changes. The first of these was the democratisation of the député. Until the 1902 elections they had been recruited from the middle and upper middle classes, the notables. With the beginning of the so-called ‘Radical Republic’ increasing numbers came from the lower middle class, even below. With a greater dependency on their parliamentary salary, reelection became more important and professionalisation of the député's role increased. As Robert de Jouvenel put it in his classic La République des camarades in 1914, ‘whether one is moderate, radical or revolutionary, one is above all a député’. With this came a certain esprit de corps symbolised by the increasing use of the informal ‘tu’ form of address among députés, especially after 1910, and which the very formal Poincaré never took to. Absence of a private income or an alternative profession soon led députés to seek a rise in their parliamentary salary which leapt from 9,000 francs a year – the same as in 1848 – to 15,000 following a vote on 22 November 1906.