South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-04-14

/ n
/ difference between Americans and
the French is tall talk: They talk
of a number OF interesting and
Y naughty things which they do not
I do: we do lot OF other naughty
and interesting things which we do
not talk about, People in this world
are not so much different. either in
homes or cities or nations or races;
a few marked traits differentiate
members of a family; few peculiar
\ tiles mark the folks Of one nation.
\ from the folks OF its neighbOrs. and
a few sharp characteristics OF very
/ few people make the differences in
races and nations the world over.
Mostly we are the same kind OF
stuff
But one thing the French do bet
ter than we do: They are better
/ propagandists. During the war and
since the armistice they have main
tanned splendid organization for
getting their view of the war to the
world. They waste little money di-
rectly in printers ink. Money spent
/ for printers ink for propaganda
generally is wasted. The worlds
/ fires are kindled with propaganda
1 literature, all unread. Printers ink
! is good for some things. but not for
/ convincing the world The Italians
have spilled fountains of ink: so
/ have the Greeks; so have the Dutch
But the French have played another
game. Week after week they have
run special trains through devas-
tated area hTed with newspa per
men. The reporters of the world
have seen how the Germans DELHI
I erately and without military need
have ruined the French mines. have
| destroyed the French industries.
have broken the French cities, and
turned to wilderness the French
| farms.
And these stories have gone out.
not as propa ganda but as news: and
the world has been convinced OF the
justice of the claims of France to
Alsace and Lorraine. and the coal
and iron in the Saar basin: more
over the world has seen the menace
to the world that Germany is to
France. so we have public opinion
| sustaining a neutralized republic on
the west bank of the Rhine And
France has won by propaganda
what she might easily have lost by
diplomacy. For as a matter of fact
diplomacy is not Frances strong
point Her foreign office is react
ionary and on the whole out of
touch with the worlds thought.
Are Great PrOpagandists.
/ Quai d'Orsay, as the French for
eign office is called, is like most state
departments filled with rich mems
sons who can't do anything else. but
whose wives have social hopes. This
q smi-monde Of diplomacy which is
a world wide fraternity OF the
short over and damaged" goods of
the great universities. is as remote
from the world and its rude ways as
a battalion of buffers, and about
/ equally sad. 1t never put an idea
over. An idea in Quai d'Orsay. eth
er in Paris. London or Washington,
would be sterilized before il was
| touched. Yet the French have most
beautifully impressed their aspir-
ants upon the world through their
propaganda and the worlds hat
should be off TO them.
Speaking Of ideas there is at the
able of the Peace conference a fine
old Welsh gentleman named Hughes.
premier of Australia. He has deep
primitive notions about diplomacy,
in that he thinks it is mostly damn
-. IL L. L n
equipment of deafness for his job as
/ representative Of Australia He
hears only what he wants TO. In
January he was greatly peeved be-
cause the Pacific Island colonies of