The Washington herald., 1911-09-24
THE PREMIER OF FRANCE

1 birth but mainly so by temperament.
1 His lively speech. his rapid mode OF
| thinking, his howery expression, all
his gestures proclaim him as such. But
all this only in private life. In public
he is very different man. He is then
silent and discreet. He appears but
seldom in Parliament, and he never
! takes part in any discussions outside
his department. He has sufficient con-
| troll over his emotions to allow himself
to be attacked with injustice or with
violence without replying or losing his
temper.
He is Of about middle height, some
what stout, and squarely built. His
piercing eyes are hidden behind large
glasses A gray mustache covers but
does not quite conceal the wide and full
| lips. His nose is fat and heavy. The
jaw is very heavy. Some call 1t a fowl"
The forehead is wrinkled and the brows
are bushy. His aspect is just one to be
| fancied by CartOonists. He is seen reg
ularly at the Comedie Franchise. His
preference in dress Is the English cut.
Premier Caillaux affects an altogether
Partisan style Of clothing, tight-fitting
coats and pointed shoes, and all that.
Delcasse wears his coats in the loose
INl4llS 4LDHuOn IdSnlOn. Even MS DOOIS
are Square-tOed bulldogs" He rarely
carries a cane and never has a bouton-
Mere
Delcasse as rule works eighteen
hours each day. He takes his luncheon
at his desk without taking time to leave
the office. Formerly he was a stanch
vegetarian, but lately he has abandoned
the fad. A tendency to obesity he fights
by means of long walks and dumbbells
. hnr far
France, barely stones throw from the
Spanish frontier. in the department of
Ariege, in a small village in the Py-
renees mountains. There he dwells when
at leisure. with his wife. son, and daugh-
ter. His name. in the dialect Of that sec
tion, means made Of oak" When among
the natives he rushes hither and thither
with his neighbOrs, gesticulating with the
best of them. He seems to know the en-
tire pOpulace, and there are still quite a
number of his schoolfellows living,
though DelCasse is almost sixty. No one
ever has come within miles OF defeat
ing him at the polls there. He is for
ever returned to the Chamber. as a mat
ter Of course.
The end of the war with Germany
found him a youth OF nineteen. with a
degree from a provincial college and a
plan to devote himself to philosophical
studies. But he was without means He
went to Paris and there wrote articles
upon the general political situation which
no one wante1 to print. In sheer des-
peratiOn-the concierge had told him that
he could wait no longer for the overdue
rent-he forwarded one to the Republique
Francaise, a publication edited by Gam
betta. Then the miracle occurred That
q u-aG
in the paper that Delcasse sent another
and vet another. and within a month
he was a member of the staff of that
paper which was destined to WELD so
great an influence in. the diplomatic
world later.
This is Delcasse; this the ladder upon
which nc assembled to fame. And yet it
must De confessed he Is a dangerous
leader, and the Kaiser was absolutely
disinterested when he warned the Rou-
vier cabinet OF the mans tendencies,
which, by the way. Rouvier had the
good sense not to slight. Delcasse and
men like him of the Gambetta school
place revenge against Germany above
everything else. They call that patriot
ism. 1t may be such. but OF a brand
that would make a graveyard out Of a
prosperous country just to have the sat
isfactiOn to get even with an enemy;
Of a kind that would destroy the COM
mCrce and the common veal of an entire
nation, the peace of it's millions Of in
habitants: that would, in case Of a ca
lamity, load poor out spunky France
with another debt OF millions, II not mill
liards, by way Of indemnity: in fact,
that would stop at nothing just to salts
fy their craving for revenge. This is not
the class Of men which France of to-day
needs. The Kaiser is right, and what Is
more. France has learned to see II in
the same light. FLANEUR-
Copyright 1911 by Court Gossip syndicate.)