Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-03
FALEOF CLEMENCEAU
REGIME MAY BE NEAR
Tiger" Is Blamed by Both Socialists and
Conservatives Of France for Results
of Peace Conference.

BY FRANK H. sfMONDs.
TINE crisis in the French gov
eminent which very nearly
brought down the Clemenceau
government ten days ago has
indicated a weakness which in the
minds of most French observers fore
shadows the speedy fall of the present
French ministry. and supplies one of
the most striking Indications. IL not
of the ingratitude of republics. at
least of the bfevity of the popularity
which any politician may endure.
It is still less than year since
Clemenceau was hailed in the cham
Der. returning from the scene of mill
tary victories become decisive, with
an armistice in his pocket which re-
stored Alsace-Lorraine to France. The
greeting given to Clemeneeau was
perhaps unprecedented in French po-
litical history. It was not greater
than the wonderful old man who had
made victory possible deserved. but it
seemed to insure him popularity and
power just as long as he chose to
remain in public life. BY contrast it
has been apparent Nor nearly six
months that C1emenceau was rapidly
losing ground in France, and for at
least three months 1t has been plain
that the sole reason for his continu-
ance in power was the reluctance of
any rival to assume responsibility for
conducting peace negotiations which
were bound to be unpopular. In a
certain sense Clemenceau's opponents
have been steadily, waiting until the
treaty Of peace should be made and
the burden of unpopularity this peace
involved squarely fixed upon Clemen-
ceau's shoulders to Dust the Tiger.
France at Time Of Armistice.
To understand the present situa-
ton 1t is necessary to go back for
a little and examine the conditions
which existed at the moment when
the Germans gave up the fight in
November of last year. Victorious
as France was at that time, she was
exhausted and she was terribly
wounded. When the moment of en-
thusiasm over the victory had passed
there ensued a depression which in
some degree survived and at no dis
tant time began to grow. Indeed,
the increase was in no small degree
occasioned by the ever-growing post
ponement of French hopes OF speedy
peace, satisfying treaty and a re-
sumption of before-the-war condi-
tions.
. It is well for Americans to note
that, while this condition in France
is accumulated by many local circumL
stances and marked by certain Pc
culiarly French characteristics, new
ertheless the larger fact of unrest,
dissatisfaction, resentment, Is COM
mon to every European country, and
in the minds of. not few well in
formed advisers points toward dis
order and, not impossibly, revolution
in the future. -
Clemenceau had come to power at
the moment when treason was at
its height and the allies had all but
courage. his steadfast confidence just
sufiiced to save the allied cause in
the critical days Immediately pre-
ceding and directly following the
great German bid for victory in the
west. No one but this wonderful old
man could possibly have reused
French spirit again or kept it stead
fast in the terrible months between
March and August, 1918, when the
enemy shells fell in Paris and Ger
man troops again reached the Marine.
But when THE war was over, in a
sense not only was Clemenceau's
task completed, but the new labor
that lay ahead was one for which
he was on the whole almost as i'll
qualified as he had been supremely
capable for that work which was
now completed. 1t may be doubted If
any Frenchman. living or dead, could
possibly have satisfied even the legiti-
mate demands Of his fellow country
men, both as to domestic and foreign
policies. There was demanded an ad-
ministrator with Napoleon's gifts to
start the wheels Of French life again,
and there was required diplomat
with all the art of Talleyrand to pro-
cure for France in the peace confer
ence the things France as whole
desired.
Clemenceau Never Constructive.