South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-04-14
Famous Kansas Editor Says Paris
and France Offer a World 'Peace
That Passeth All Understanding"

financial interests, the bankers and
capitalists Of one sort and another
pay regularly some sort Of tribute
10 the press in France. a sort Of rob-
Der tariff. and in return for the trib-
ute the French financial interest
control the financial pages Of the
French newspapers absolutely. This
Of course would account for a Ger
tain degree Of silence in the French
press about the danger that lies
ahead for France But perhaps
there is more safety in silence than
in red headlines. after all. Imagine
the Hearst press playing with the
French dynamite. There are two
sides 10 the question. An American
seeing the French press practically
without advertising, and subsidized
by the government, is inclined pat
himself upon the back selfTighteOus-
~. But results after all are more
important than methods. And so
far as the French press produces re-
suits, 50 far as il Influences life in
France. its influence is rather more
wholesome than is the influence Of
Nttf anAAAfA AAtAAl DANEos anu do Ut-
tween ownership of the public ser
vice corporations and government
subsidy and capitalis;ic blackmail-
it's a debate between the pot and the
kettle
But here's a story that will illus
trate something Of the kind of diff
ference there Is between the French
and American press. The French
press has had a number Of entertain
ments for the foreign press. These
entertainments have been concerts
concerts wherein classical music. and
In one case folk dancing prevailed.
The other night d group Of the Am
erican correspondents were enter
tanned at the circle Volney. a club
much like the Century club in New
York, except that several of its
members had not reached the cen
fury mark At the entertainment
the Americans had a simple dinner
of three or four plain courses. They
knew exactly what they were eat
ing and it was good Afterwards
they listened for an hour TO some
obAtAluAh NAlclAA ltkueAI DAdlOs Il
cello and a clariOnet, playing a
Beethoven trio, a Chopin nocturne
something from Mozart and a mod
ern French musician. In New York
if we had the French press 10 en-
terrain, we would set them down 10
a long dinner of mushy unintelligible
food, with much white gravy on it.
-. L -
And afterwards we would have a
key Of beer. a souse Of punch, and
a barrel of champagne on tap. along
with the mOnolOgue artist from the
"Follies." the high kicker from the
Winter Garden and a shady lady
with shady stories. showing too
much backbone and too little brains.
And yet we have some sort Of a fool
ish notion that the French are a
devilish people whose life is just
one risque episode after another.
Some French are Prudish.
The truth about the French is that
in many ways they are more prudish
than the Puritans. The Vie de
Partisan" will not circulate in the
Americans mails. But no French
newspapers devote anything like the
space 10 crime that we devote TO
crime in America, and the Petit
Parisian.' which circulates in mil
lions of French homes. once refused
TO take a we'll known American nov
el for serial purposes because in the
story the hero was living with a wo-
man 10 whom he was not legally
married. 1t may be just as well for
US TO remember that while it is true
as the school reader has taught us
that the French are a gay people
! fond of dancing and light wines,
! they also have their serious
side. Indeed one may say speaking