Evening star., 1920-03-06
FRANCE F0RESEES
ABANDONMENT BY
Island ENGLAND
Policy of Solid Alliance With
Anglo Saxon Countries
Now Undermined.
BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER.
Cablegrnm to The Star and the Chi
cnEo Daily News, Copyright. 1920.


PARIS. March "a question of pro-
found gravity is gradually arising in
France. To what extent can France
| intruSt her future TO the good will
Of her present Anglo-Saxon allies >
And if Britain and America turn from
her definitely whittier shall she turn
AS yet these disquieting doubts have
scarcely found utterance In every
public discourse Frances solidarity
not only with Britain. but even with
America. continues to be proclaimed
but in their hearts French leaders
feel that they must face what seem
to them to be sad facts.
The instinct of self representation is
as strong with nations as with indi-
viduals. II Britain and the United
States seem to fail her France cam
not afford to sit passively ewailing
her fate. She must perforce look else
where. The corner stone of Premier
Clemenceau's policy throughout the
peace conference was the establish
ment of a solid alliance with Brit
ain and the United States. In return
for promises of support from rep
reSentativeS of these nations France
abandoned other projects which seem
ed to her to be almost essential to her
future safety.
Now Sees Abandonment.
Now having abandoned these other
projects under the pressure of Brit
ish and American arguments France
is beginning to feel that both Amer
ica and Britain are in turn abandon
ing her. The United States Senate
has not vet ratified the treaty of Yer
sailles. and Frenchmen are every day
more and more convinced that the
American people desire to return to
their traditional policy of disinterest-
edness as regards European affairs.
In addition. the ink was hardly dry
upon the European ratification of the
treaty before a powerful movement
swept over Britain in favor of treaty
revision.
OF the depth and strength of this
movement L became fully aware dur
ing the week l recently passed in
London. France is the last nation to
regard the treaty Of Versailles as
holy writ. Its defects are as obvious
to France as to any other country.
but France considers that the treaty
having been formally adopted no real
revision can be countenanced until
Germany has at least given convinc-
ing proof of good faith in attempting
to carry out the terms Of the treaty.
See German Evasion.
The present French government
and the people are convinced that the
evade it's solemn engagements. The
questions of the war criminals, the
coal indemnities and disarmament are
adduced as proof of this conviction.
If under these conditions the United
States not only does not adhere to
the treaty. but Britain demands its
immediate revision. France considers
that the entire treaty must soon col
lapse. leaving her in disastrous
economic situation.
1t will be recalled that at the be-
ginning of the peace conference
France tried her utmost to bring
about the temporary preservation OF
the organizations for interallled dis
tribution and control Of food and ma
terials.
THE United States" said France.
has the wheat and cotton and Britain
has the wool and coal necessary to
our reconstruction. Moreover, the
United States and Britain now control
most of the worlds merchant ship
ping. While we were building cannon
for ourselves and our allies. including
Serbia. Greece, Russia and even the
United States. the last named and
Britain were building ships. Our guns
won a common victory. but they are
useless in time of peace whereas the
British and American ships built dur
ing the war are even more useful now
than they were then
French Claim Refused.
Britain and the United States not
only insisted that the interallied or
ganizations must be dissolved in the
interests of commercial freedom. -
but united TO reject the French claim
to an abundant share in the sur
rendered German shipping. How,
then. are we going to reconstruct our
country" asked France. And Britain
and the United States replied. Ger
many must pay"
Frances Present Situation.
What is Frances present situation?
| Everything the French economists
foresaw has happened. Britain and
the United States are in a privileged
position through their control OF the
worlds rawstuffs. and French ex.
change, owing to Frances financlai
sacrifices during the war. has fallen
so low as TO make the purchase OF
essential foodst uffs and raWstuffs al
most impossible Britain. for exam
Pile. sells coal to France at price
nearly four times its cost in Britain.
The United States refuses to ratify
the treaty or join in any 1nteralned
| scheme for bettering the European
exchange. And now Britain wants
to revise the treaty In the sense ap-
parently of diminishing the indemni-
! ties due to France.
The United States. although doubt
| less profoundly disturbed as the re-
! sllt of the war, is still perfectly SOL
vent Britain. through her control
! Of rawstuffs and shipping. has recent
I ly almost succeeded in restoring her
( commercial balance and can prob
/ ably soon begin to repay her foreign
J debts. France has a colossal interior
/ debt and foreign debt of nearly So
! Gno, 100000 francs tnormally. S10.-
i 600 900 .OOOb. ruinously adverse ex-
! change rates and continued excess
+ of imports over exports De-
/ to obtain help from the American gov.
ernment, French representative recently
! French representatives recently went
to London with the hope of OBJ.
tanning real aid Of Britain. The,
/ independent of the Franco-Americar
guaranty pact. They asked the righ
to occupy the left (wes) bank Of tn,
Rhine and even the Ruhr basin. i
necessary long enough to make tn,
payments guaranteed to France un
finally they asked for economic
assistance.
Defend Financial Policy.
To the first request Britain SEEM
to have replied "1t Is useless; to tn,
second, that 1t would "endanger Flu
ropean peace" and to the third. tina
no aid would be given until Franc
had tSta DilSheG a real HndnClal pro
gram" THIS criticism of the Frencl
financial policy was constantly mad
by the Anglo-SaXons during the peac
conference as a retort to the Frencl
plea for aid. and few things make TIL
French more angry. Their financia
policy. they affirm, is entirely justin
able and they regard the criticism
as a mere bubble to enable the Anglo
Saxons to escape from what tn
French consider their obligations a
allies Tie divergences of opinion
which I have tried to explain. ar
serious and very real. II the existing
NJ lNances Cease tn satisfy the inafi N