The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-08-27
French Are Stable And I'm
affected, Says Rheta
Childe Dorr
AMERICA HAS A
DEFINED QUOTA
Theorists, However, Fooled
In Their Efforts To
4. Thwart War Aims,
(Ry RHETA cHILDE DoRR.)


~ France, who has done SO much in
a few short months to unity his ma
ton and to bring the allied armies
together under one commander-tn-
chief, is no exception to the rule.
He has with him in the Chamber OF
Deputies the solid vote Of the right
and center. the conservative and
. moderate vote, and he has also some
of the left or radical vote. He is OPP
posed by the radical socialists only.
4. Some of the radicals with whom l
talked In France urged me, If were
to under stand the French mind, to
:, see and talk with the leader Of the
opposition. Albert Thomas. So one
z morning l went, by appointment, to
the modest apartment in the neigh
borhood of the chamber Of deputies
= which Is the home Of M. Thomas
8 and the center of activities Of the
radical socialists Of France.
o. Accompanying me was Mile. st.
Rene Taillandier, Of the French for
eign office, young woman Of eX-
ceptional intellect and an accomp-
.lished linguist. Speaking English as
well as her native French. Mile. st.
Rene Taillandier agreed to go with
: me to interview Mr.. Thomas, lest
: any shade o meaning in what he said
to me might be lost.
M. Thomas speaks no English, and
! ], of course, have but an imperfect
knowledge of French. Whenever /
failed to understand some idlom or
figure Of speech l halted the con-
versation until it could be interpret
ed into English.
Groua Of TdeaIiste.
:. I wanted to be fair to NJ. Thomas
! and his political group. My previ-
:. ously conceived admiration for M.
+ Clemenceau made me all the more
= anxious to understand exactly why
] he was so vigorously opposed. We
talked for nearly an hour. and when
/ was down in the street again,
= walking along the glittering Seine, I
/ said to my friend: I'VE have them
: like that in the United States. hon
! est, sincere, intelligent idealists;
with binders In
Judging from what saw and
heard in the apartment Of M. Albert
Thomas that morning, France must
have a considerable group of such
idealists. We were early for our
2 appointment and waited for ten min
utes in the reception room, which
= was more like an office, with long
i, table strewn with socialist literature
and propaganda pamphlets, and
5 around the walls a row o stiff, cane
seated chairs.
little girl in a black cambria
pinafore attended the. door, which
3 frequently opened to admit more WIS.,
itors. During my talk with M.
q. Thomas the same little girl appear
4 ed half a dozen times bearing cards
and notes. There Is no doubt that
, M. Thomas is the leader of a strong
group.
Says French Are Stable.
The head Of the radical socialists
In France Is a man of forty some
thing, short, thickset, with blue, in
telligent eyes behind steel trimmed
/ spectacles. He has rather long
I brown hair, a beard of a lighter
s. His speech is quick and animated
! with a little too much oratory in 1t.
Every question I asked him was an
e swered by a speech. It made me
q think Of Gladstone Of whom Queen
, Victoria said: He addresses me as
Z If were a public meeting"
I asked M. Thomas to tell me the
spirit Of the French working people
during the war Were they whole
of the industrial unrest that had
made itself felt in England.
Our French working class is more
, stable than the British" he replied.
EVERY French man and woman
worthy of the name wants the al
lies to win the war. In the cham
Der Of deputies there have been on
q " three men who have not shown
themselves genuinely patriotic
These three went to Switzerland
and discussed the was with certain
I Germans. Their act was denounced
by all other socialists as we'll as by
THE bourgeois deputies. The men
have absolutely no following"
"Is the French working class solid
Ely socialist, or has it a majority of
Z socialists"
Socialists Powerful.
at has not majority in num-
bers, but the socialist element is
very powerful, much more powerful
than surface indications show. In
time of strikes the party always
-wields great influence. 1t is impos-
$sible for stranger to understand
the extent of socialist opinion
throughout France. Reading the
newspaper would not convey the
facts to the stranger, because unfor-
tunately the press and the people
here are not together"
rs your socialism revolutionary
I asked.
mo, it is more philosophical than
revolutionary" was the reply. 1.-THE
opinions of your President Wilson
are almost exactly ours. His war
aims as stated by him find absolute
echo in the French popular mind
Much more so than in the mind of
the government" This with q flash
and gesture that spelled "Clemen-
ceau" very clearly.
we are not BoIsheviki, we are
French" ne added with emphasis.
wish you would explain to me,
1f you are solidly in favor of a peace
with victory for the allies, why your
group, and especially you as leader,
wanted to go to the Stockholm con-
ference and discuss peace without
victory with the Germans"
III, Thomas demuTred a little at
my way Of putting the question, and
right here began to notice the blin-
ders.
For Stockholm Meeting.
1T is true that I was and am
warmly in favor of the Stockholm
conferences" he began. Il regret
very much that Mr.. Gompers and the
American Federation Of Labor have
misunderstood my attitude and my
object in wanting to meet in Stock
holm Representatives OF the workers
Of all nations. They seem to think
that my object was to fraternize
with the Germans. Not at all. MY
object was to tell the whole German
people the aIIies' war aims, and their
atea terms OF peace.
The German people do not know
these aims The imperial government
keeps the people in ignorance. The
press censorship is so complete that
tlle real terms on which we are willie