Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-30
lfis Too interested in
sermany's Fall to Bother
With Treason
PEOPLE AWAIT RESULT
IlSfmer Premier's. Influence
6s Disappeared.in in View Of
Military Success .
1Geclel Cable to Evening Public Ledger

~ C0SNwtoht, 1918. bv Nco York Times Co.
Paris. Oct, 80.
ssN ire long-heralded Caillaux trial be-
( sonn yesterday. There has not been a
Sf1nple Of excitement in Paris in antici-
hp4kion Of what. in normal times. would
n ~ 4 great event But the times are
fAr from normal. This is a cause celebre,
I with all it's celebrity worn threadbare
before II began.
\ There Is interest Of course. in the
eutoome. rather than in the trial itself
;. bsst Il Is entirely dispassionate, although
mixed with sorrow and humiliation that
i man who has been Prime Minister of
4 France must be tried on charge OF
5 hieh treason against his country while
tAt war. But that about sums up pub
4 No feeling toward the trial. There Is
no chance of any new political issue or
4 Alignment growing out Of what may
now happen. ,Cailiaux and the public
are entirely disposed to take both the
verdict and the punishment with calm
with all France about to be rid Of
IN enemies In the fighting of whom
usF3IIons of men have been sacrificed.
sthere cannot he much interest in the
fSfe of one man. even though an ex-
premier. Caillaux's name has hardly
sbeen mentioned in the Paris papers for
sweek. and his case has been entirely
crevdcd, out of boulevard conversation
- tha- excitement. of the great military.
vsu<ories and the intense interest in
that may come of Germany's begging
for an armistice.
Out OF Public Mind
The great victories of the Allied arm
No. have brushed the Caillaux case
oyt Of the public mind. not oniy pe-
cause of their own Importance but aiso
N.cause with the coming victory the
vsrv thing Caillaux himself stood Tor
heensnes as II It never had existed he
80 above everything else. a defeatist.
SSl- politics were the politics or de-
SS14,srn and the question for the court
-; Did he, In furtherance OF that
rniloy. commit the crime OF high trea-
Senf u. ~. cou.
,Ssr record leading up to the present
"ss-.tion NAV be most accurately stat
.1s.. that Of a materialist who could
~ appreciate and did not take into ac-
u;s.nt the idealism and moral force
81 MA own country. As member OF
e.<sret governments, even as prime
,5jnister which post he held until just
Rsfore the war began. his policy was
tkAt france should do anything neces-
saFy to advance her material ana com
-,.sc,sl interest in her relations with
ss-m.nv. He was willing that France
Snss,lA' he hum,liated politically by Ber-
i<ss a. he Thought commercial advantage
lid be gained thereby.
# believed France Could Not Win
III. principle in that respect did not
aRer with the beginning Of the war.
sY4km the outset he was convinced tnat
nance could not. win. ne. harped on
IL theory that France. being re-
I4huc. could not defend herself sue
ess..fully against Germany's military
ys,svs,a rchy. He endeavored to create a
nShic for fear in French minds. His
S1,rno.e was to end the. war on any
fSrms for the sake Of. the mere eco
notmic fehabihtation of France, regard
leas Of everything else, as soon as pos
eikle. ~'.,'.,
It was out Of such a defeatist policy
that came the situation which led TO the
srrnst Of Caillaux on a charge of hav-
~ communication and dealings with
fke enemy. Although Caillaux was the
\ Ieader of the radical party before the
var. the following he has left in France,
n any, Is entirely personal. Defeatism
has been forgotten in victory. and its
chef apostle would have scant influence
~ this moment. even were he free
IAN. without the charge of treason
hanging over him. -
III In a bit OF irony that the CaillauS
Z 6Ffai. which had been locked forward
% a. the big eliminating event in the
4 saries that began with the Bonnet
Rouge cases. should attract less atten-
4 lion than those preliminary affairs and
4 u Navy case.