The New York herald., 1920-01-25
DEFEAT OF CLEMENCEAU, DUE
TO COMBINATION OF ENEMIES,
PLEASES BERLIN AND MOSCOW

and should he succeed Millerand as Pre-
mier. il will end the revivng hopes of the
Vatican politicians, who have not forgotten
the subsidies formerly granted to Church
authorities under, the Concordal and who
prefer the loaves and fishes of n gilded
subserviency in tie state to the freedom
and Independence enjoyed by the Church
in England and America. a recent de-
spatch from Rome declared the belief pro
vailed that under the moderate policies
OF President-elect Deschanel re-cstab
lishment of relations between France and
the Hcly See would not be difficult Of
accomplishment" Thus another element
opposed to Clemenceau is revealed
CIemenceau had other enemies as we'll
D'AnnunZio in messages brought from
Fiume by airplane calls him "a head
strong old chief" 1t was very narrow
nineteen votes out of 49,
by which Clemenceau was defeated in the
preliminary caucus of Senators and De-
puties held on the eve of the Presidential
elections But this is fully accounted for
by the few Unified Socialists in the
Chamber who escaped defeat in the cleo
tions last November, when nearly three
fourths Of the Deputies chosen belonged
to the famous non-Socialist Blue Ma
tional.
final motive for ostracizing Clemen-
ceau was probably owing to his stern, un-
bending character which little understood
the caioleriss of the practical politicians.
Like Aristides "the Just" many doubt
less voted against him because they had
become tired of hearing his name on every
tongue. Those who chiefly rejoice at his
fall, however. are the Socialists. The
Humanite, their chief organ, said last
Sunday:--"One of our most determined
enemies is struck down and a feeling of
relief throughout the Socialist organiza-
tions will be general"
ReQa riding the attitude of France toward
the decision to feed Russia as means of
meeting the Bolshevist menace, it is
known that Clemenceau agreed to it only
with the greatest reluctance. The pro-
posal came from Lloyd George, who, it
will be remembered, was original sponsor
for the Prinkipo conference proposal put
forward a year ago last Thursday by
President Wilson which met such an in
glorious end. The present idea seems to
be that the Russian civilians can be fed
without the food supplies forwarded be-
ing used by the Soviet government for the
army.
That depends entirely upon how i1de-
pendent are the cooperative societies
through whom 1t Is proposed TO distribute
the food. There are said to be 5000 of
these societies. with membership OF
% COO 900 householders. affecting more than
60 100000 persons. They are of three
classes:-Consumers' societies. producers
associations and credit unions. They
were originally an offshoot of the Zemstvo
organization and when the Tsar's gov
ernment failed to provide for the troops
at the front they leaped into the breach
and helped the Russian fighters with food
and supplies until the fall of the Kerensky
regime.
Their financial centre is the Moscow
Narodny Bank and they have representa-
tives in New York. London, Paris and
many other large cities. They claim to
be non-partsan and to be the only or
ganization in Russia not controlled by the
Bolsheviki, although they are forced to
submit to Soviet rule. The proposal 10
lift the blockade and distribute food
through their agency has been bitterly
attacked and strenuously defended on
both sides of the Atlantic. Here Mr..
Hoover is enthusiastic in its favor; Mr..
Root seems to prefer sending ammunition
and money to pay the anti-Bolshevik
troops. The best that can be said of the
plan is that it is an experiment of which
no one can predict the result.