Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-26

elsn policy worthy of
" " our victory and our
dead"
ms pronunciamento of Frances
new president Alexandra Millerand.
may be taken for what it is worth
and that is just what he has said.
those in France who would under
mine the new executive and make
MS position one of a figurehead, have
neen served with notice that the new
president is going to take over
broader powers and that he will not
become mere answerer of calls, a
mere banquet speaker and bedecked
hunky to any government that may
be washed up during the next seven
years in the political tides,
Mlllerand not only intends to be
President of France, but intends to
be an active force in the developm ent
and carrying out of Frances foreign
policies. which are destined to have
far-reaching effect in shaping up
after thewar Europe. and-if Miller
and has his way-the future of
France will be even more brilliant in
prospect than any period in the ma
tons history.
1t took Millerand to frame and
cling persistently to a definite French
foreign policy in the treatment of
Germany and Europe's relationships
with Russia Heretofore French pol
icy was largely nodded by political
expediency and desire to compromise
with conflicting allied interests. Mil
lerand ushered in strictly French
policy at Boulogne, Wythe. Spa and
San Reno. where he participated in
deliberations looking toward the re-
vamping of European conditions. The
Millerand policy has been hammer
ed home and repeatedly has forced
Premier Lloyd George to give and
take during the course of negotia-
lions. At San Reno this was particu-
larly true.
Millerand,s Demands. ,-
Millerand sees France the eventual
dictator of the destinies of more than
fifty millions of people In eastern
Europe; at least he hopes for France
role as adviser. He demands that the
treaty Of Versailles be lived up TO
reIigiousIy by the Germans and that
there be no temporizing by the allied
reparations committee in further in
Fiction of what he terms just, IL, in
deed, they be onerous terms. He
stickles for the unfolding of those
terms which, If undermined, would
cause France to lose rewards for her
greyious sacrifice in the war.
Milierand sees that the destinies of
Russia must be placed in the hands
of a new regime, for Millerand knows
if a new era is realized the whole OF
Europe will be placed upon a more
stable basis.
And when Millerand believes a
thing, Millerand clings to it to the
= Those acquainted personally with the
doughty President of France know
of his indomitable courage, his per-
sistence in urging the things ne
ing devotion to principles. His bull
dog tenacity has been demonstrated
in the past twenty years of particl-
patton in French political life, even
though his career has shown grad
ual tendency toward a shift from the
ranks, Of extreme socialists to the
right, where conservatism rules.
Friends Of Millerand know that this
shift is not one of indecision or doubt,
but that. he has come more and more
to understand through the years that
realization Of fixed ideals is to be
gained only in those ranks not 'dfctat-
ed to by firebrnds -.--. 49,.
Socialist Opposition.
Thus it is not without reason that
political groups of France which are
antagonistic to conservative develop
ment of the nation and long for the
day of purely socialistic regime should
oppose the elevation of Millerand to
the presidency. 1t is but natural that
the enemies Of Millerand should
raise the cry that there must be no
constitutional changes whereby the
president is granted greter voice in
the affairs of the nation. But the
fact that Millerand received the third
largest vote ever cast for a president
BIZ the senators and deputies in a his
toric session at Versailles during the
past week, indicates that the people
of France are ready to trust their
destinies to Millerand even though it
should mean a revision of the consti-
tuition.
True, Millerand has promised that
the matter of constitutional changes
NAV be deferred for the settlement of
the pressing after-the-war economic
issues, but even in these the Millerand
grin undoubt edlY will be felt. and