The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-20
CLEMENCEAU RANKS
AS A GREAT PATRIOT
Took Reins in France at Mo-
ment When Clouds Were
Blacklist.
MARRIED AN AMERICAN
Came Here as a Young Man
and Was a Teacher in O
Seminary.

Georges Clemenceau. physician. Jour
nalst, orator and statesman. has been
continuously a member OF the Chamber
OF Deputies since 1902, but 1T is only
since the beginning OF the end OF the
great war that he has been fully recog-
nized as among his country's greatest
statesmen and patriots.
His principal claim on fame and the
homage Of posterlty will be that canct
to the Premiership of France in her
darkest nour when the troops were sunk
In gloom at the front and the civil
morale had been weakened to all but
the breaking point by incapacity In high
places and the insidious poison Of de-
featist propaganda. he reused his ma
ton TO full sense OF her peril and her
duty and guided her from the depths OF
dependency to victory.
TT IL the country which can endure
through the last quarter OF an hour
which gains the victory" he said. and II
is conceded that France pulled through
the last quarter hour because she trusted
the man at the helm.
NJ. Clemenceau Is II years old. having
been born at Moulllerou in La Vendee. a
province on the Bay of Biscay. Septem-
Der 2s. 1s41. He IL of noble ancestry
lily in direct descent to adopt the pro-
fession OF medicine.
Came to America In Youth.
He knows this country well. having
come here, self-exiIed, as n young man
after he had been imprisoned for radical
acts and speeches AZ home. He lived
here four years. For a while he was
instructor in French at a seminary for
young women at Stamford. Conn. and
took back to France as his bride Miss
Mary Piummer. the daughter OF a
physician of Springfield, Mass They
lived tremendously for twenty years
when suddenly in 1892 Nine. Clemenceau
applied for and was granted a divorce.
His first political once. II II could be
called one. was that of Mayor of Mont
martre when the French republic was
proclaimed. He sat as a member Of the
republics first National Assembly and
was member Of the Chamber OF
Deputies from 1873 to 1898. He was out
Of ONCE from 1893 to 1902. when he was
again elected TO the Chamber. OF which
he has remained a member ever since
He has been Prime Minister once before
from 1905 to 1903.
To Clemenceau Frenchmen credit the
constitutional reforms Of the early sos
which so clipped the powers OF the
President OF France as to make him
little more than a flgurehead and placed
the responsibility OF government With
the Premier. whose tenure OF Office 10
only at the pleasure Of Parliament.
When the great war began Clemen-
ceau was strong enough TO be made
chairman of the Senate Committee on
Foreign Affairs and of the Senate Army
Commission. For years, either as owner
OF some newspaper or contributor to the
French press, he had been a potent
force with his pen. Early in the war
he founded another newspaper, LHomme
hbre. and with this as his medium, he
to'led to bring about those reforms and
enterprises which he was unable to see
realized fully through his activities in
after another OF the Ministries which
were not satisfactory to him he practl-
cally brought about the falls of'viviani,
BRAND. Ribot and Palnleve
President Poincare called him TO the
Premiership in 1917 after the fall OF
Painleve. He accepted, but declaring
that he did SO with reluctance.
II do not want to take power" he
wrote in his newspaper, but l have
been criticising every one else who dared
take It am not afraid 10 take what
ever any one else has taken"
His Long Working Hours.
1t has been said that from November
IT. 1917. when he took office until the
hour OF the armistice he worked nearly
twenty hours every day. He was almost
"a often at the front az he was in Paris
When he spoke in the Chamber OF
Deputies about the fighting forces and
| the necessity OF backing them up ne
was generally fresh from TIE trenches
and had his facts first hand.
He IL responsible for the Interallied
Conference which met at Versailles soon
after he hscame Premier and through
| which the forces against Germany were
| aligned under a single command with
| Gen. Foch "a Generalissimo. All the
| world. including Germany. now knows
| that from the hour Foch took supreme
command the defeat OF Germany set in.
| Clemenceau's work at the Peace Con-
ference has been notable and incessant.
but until the conference shall have ended
| II Is too soon TO put a name upon his
achievements there. Perhaps all in all.
| nothing more graphically describes him
| than his nicknames: THE Tiger" THE
Tartar" The Destroyer of Ministries, "
| THE King Maker" 1.-The Stormy Petrol
Of French Politics" "The Red Indian"
md THE Yankee Schoolmaster