The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-28
BRIAND, POLITICAL PILGRIM AND ssFRANGE'S ROOSEVELT g YEARS OLD TO-DAY.

g YEARS OLD TO-DAY.
 Aristotle Briand. fcrrner Premier of France, and now the Roosevelt of that republic in that he is the leader of a new party wfth9a platform somewhat gressive organization. will celebrate his hfty-second birthday to-day. hav- ing been born at Nantesfon March 2s, 1882 II. Briand. consigned to the shelf by the party Of which he was formerly the leader. has followed the example of Roosevelt and launched a political movement, popuIariy called
 sBria dist, : which is playing prom inent part in the campaign now being waged in France. The parliamentary elections to be- held next month will sdemonstrate the strength or weakness of the Briandists. But at present the x-Prenier is the man of the hour in
 his native land. No less than 105 Republican senators and deputies join
 ed with Briand as charter members of others have hitched their political wagons to the Briand star. Five former cabinet ministers are among those who have chosen Briand as their leader.
 M. Briands like Col. Roosevelt has khad much to say about political ma chimes, patronage and graft, and his announced object is to free that gIor-s ious France from it's slavery and sub-
 jection to political bosses. who thrive and flourish by doling out patronage to local statesmen. : In his political purity propaganda M. Briand is oppos- ling Clemenceau's cham pionship Of the. present system a nd the methods of the -cailla autIns.v . as the Radicals, under the leadership of Joseph CaiIIaux. liticaI warfare M. Briand, like Roose- welt, has made his most powerful ap- peal to the shopkeepers. farmers,
 small capitalists and the weH-to-do middle class generally. and is oppos- ed by the Socialists and Radicals on the one hand and the ClericaIs and Royals on the other.
 In his campaign speeches M. Bri- and has urged the necessity of putting the good of France as a whole before the considerations of local politics. and he declares that the Radicals. kept in power only by splitting the country into warning factions. and building up local political machines held together by patronage. instead Of trying. to unite the country in a lconcerted endeavor to realize repub- lican ideals. He charges that M Cail-s
 laux sacrificed Frances foreign policy to his personal political ends, and lays
 at his door all the woes and mfsfor- tunes Of Europe and northern Africa. l Briand began his political pilgram- age as g socialist. eClimbing to pow CT on the backs of the workingmen, las his, former -.comrades' now de- scribe it. he forgot his socialistic prin- ciples as soon as he had tasted power.
 Born and reared in humble cifcu1n- stances, he became lawyer, and was sent to the Chamber of Deputies as a socialist. An orator of great ability
 he talked his way to the forefront of l affairs, and acquired a high reputation
 for states1na nship by his conduct of I France. From that bitter political warfare he emerged triumphant. and
 in 1909 he became premier During I his first ministry he adopted such
 methods in suppressing the great rail- way strike as to alienate his few re- maining admirers among the social ists. After nineteen months his min
 istry fell. and Briand went into tenn ] porary eclipse, but early last year he
 again headed the cabinet.l His lead ership was brief, and he retired from I office to begin the organization of his tnew conservatfve-pro progressive-r adical-
 and -a-trifie socia1isttc party. Person
 ally M. Briand bears striking resem-
 blances to Lloyd-George, and his po- Il litical principles are somewhat akin to
 those of the eminent Welsnman- In-
 deed. there has been a large element
 of similarity in the careers of Briand, I LIoyd-George and Roosevelt, although the American ex-president cannot
 boast of having risen from such hum
 ble circumstances as surrounded the | youth of the French and British
 statesmen