New-York tribune., 1920-05-25

The evacuation of Frankfort, the re-
turn of the French troops within the
lines marked by the Treaty of Yer
sallles, should serve to silence for the
time being at least the familiar legend
that the miltaristic elements in France
are in control and are driving toward
the annexation Of German territory.
1T should serve, too, as a refutation for
the not less evil report that the French
are planning to use the failure of the
Germans to comply with the provisions
of the treaty to extend their area of oc-
cupation.
There is in France a party which
urges annexation. 1t is not as con-
siderable as the fraction of American
public opinion which advocates the use
of British debts to this country as the
basis for compelling the British to
cede tous the West Indies, Canada or
the Bermudas. 1t is not nearly as i'm
portant as the American group which
advocates the extension of United
States control from the Rio Grande to
Panama.
Jingoes Euerywhere
The declarations of this French
group of annexationists are taken in
foreign countries as the expression of
the will of the French people just as,
in South America and Mexico, the
views of an insignificant number of
A o,ic 1ot@ J.
tions of the purpose of majority of
the people of the United States. Brit
ish, German, Italian critics of France
seize upon these French utterances as
weapons made to their hands.
But the fact is still unmstakable.
For a policy of annexation there is
next TO no support in France The
mass of the French people are just
as much opposed to q policy based
upon annexations up to the Middle
Rhine as the majority of Americans
are against campaign of aggrandize-
ment, whether directed against Mexico
or Canada. The trouble with the whole
question lies in the fact that there is
still another element in the stuat on
growing out of the history of France
and the experiences of a hundred years,
marked by four invasions.
What the French people desire is
security, security with n the limits
fixed by the Treaty of Versa lies, which
are the limits of France as it existed
before the Franco-Prussian War and
since the fall of Napoleon. Were
there any human method of insuring
France against a fresh German as
sault, were there any reasonable evil
dence of remuneration by Germany of
her appetite for expansion at the ex-
pense of her neighbors, the question
of the Rhine barrier would disappear
automatically
The Rhine Barrier
The proof Of this fact lies in the
history of the peace conference. The
soldiers demanded for France the
Kline barrier as mlitary matter.
The word of Marshal Foch carried the
greatest weight in France on the NOR
row Oh victory. 1et when President
Wilson and Lloyd George offered to
France a substitute in the treaty of
Anglo-American insurance, Clemcnceau
took it without moments hesitation
and the French people as a mass ac-
cepted it without criticism
The reopening of the question of the
Rhine dates from the moment when
the United States Senate in rejecting
the Treaty of Versailles gave final evil
dence that it would not accept the
Anglo American treaty of insurance.
British guarantees fell with Amer
lean, because they were conditioned
upon American participation in the
Watch on the Rhine" Thus France
found herself again faced by the old
dangers, found herself as she was,
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