The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-09-29
FRENCH FORGET
REPUBLIC DATE
War Has Moved Them From
Republican to Radical.
Lloyd George Trick.
(6y WILLIAM IVY, Paris Core
spondent Consolidated Press Asso.

| aponuont NonsoUuateu TTobu Abso'
| ciation.)
People who can make a Joke OF any
thing had plenty OF fun over the
French governments postponement OF
the fiftieth anniversary Of the Third
Republic. It should have occurred on
Sept. 4. II will take place on Armis-
tice day, Nov. IL.
| The ways suggest that II would
now be appropriate to change the
name OF the Rue du Septembre ac-
| cordingly, and call II henceforth the
! Rue du IL Novembre.
There was, of course, one very
| legitimate reason for the postpone
ment-namely. the health Of the pres
| ident. Had the fete been held on the
proper day and the president been
absent, the effect on public opinion
would have been bad for NJ. pescha-
mel. But II Is plain that this reason,
eagerly seized on. was a convenient
pretext.
The fact is that republicanism is
| dying in France. as nearly every
where else. The ranks of the mod
crates or liberals are Ginning. The
dizzy whirl of the world these last six
years has thrown some men one way,
toward reaction: the rest the oppo-
site way, toward revolution.
Meagre Celebration.
Exactly one Paris newspaper ceie-
brated the jubilee OF the republic
L'Oeuvre, which is determined to be
the last republican in France. Some
| merely ignored II, but a good many
| frankly said, in effect. that repub-
lican manifestation would simply stir
up factionalism, hurt the feelings of
many good patriots who had suffered
by the 1870 overturn. and serve no
good purpose. On Nov. II, date Of
| the official celebration, the republic
will hardly be mentioned--it will be
the anniversary of victory
The same phenomenon is apparent
in England. The old liberal party that
made England. "the greatest republic
in the world" has been swallowed UP
In the coalition, except for the frac-
ton that has revolted and gone out
right to labor. The so-called inde-
pendent liberals have about as much
influence as the farmer labor party In
America.
There is moro liberalism In the
and in the French senate than in the
chamber. The upper houses. so con
stituted as to form an element Of
conservative continuity, to prevent
abrupt changes, have, In fact, resisted
this latest change. Once won to mod
Grafton, they do not readily swing
back to the extreme fright" as the
lower houses have done.
LLOYD GEORGE WINS AGAIN
Yet Lloyd George, winner OF the
"khakl'' election on the issue OF hang
the kaiser and make Germany pay"
can still say without a smile that 1.-THE
secret of all successful government Is
conciliating moderate opinion" What
moderate" opinion, one wonders, has
been conciliated by the present Irish
force law?
The justification urged for the ultra
conservative tendency OF present day
governments Ia the frankly revolution
airy attitude Of the labor extremists.
To the Sim Fein demand for uncon-
ditional independence the only proper
retort seems to be absolute military
subjugation. When labor cried with
Hamlet, "Oh. reform It altoEetherr the
impulse is to retort, Don't reform II
at all!'
Moderates who have managed TO keep
their heads in all this turmoil may well
ask whether such n policy is not play
ing directly into the hands OF Moscow
on the one hand and of Sim Fein or
the other. Does not the establishment
Of military rule in Ireland amount,
after all, to the recognition that state
OF war exists? And ia not that pre-
cisely the contention OF the Sim Fem
ers? On the other hand, are not the
repressive measures of governments
against labor lending a great deal Of
FEASIBILITY to the propaganda of Le-
vtn fhaV
OF the theory OF class war. on which
all revolutionary socialism rests7
FRENCH FINANCE UNDER FIRE
French share Of the Anglo French loan
at a rate close to 10 per cent was the
occasion OF much comment In France
Some papers reflected that after al
there was a chance for big French
profit in the tranSactie enS oo6 O hI yranea
lust now; when II 10 repaid, II may
only cost the French government
little over 100000. 0O0--supposing the
exchange gets back to normal In the
meantime.
because the French government does
not get 1900, 100000 francs out OF this
new loan, nor even 10 francs-H.
purely refunding operation. But u Is
true that in refunding the loan France
the exchange win be better than 1t is
Other papers are bitter. Ten per
cent! That Is how our rich allies
treat usl They ask us to 10 easy on
Germany: they call US "militarist"
when we try to exact our Just due
and then they act like usurers when we
ask for n little more time to pay our
war debtsl -
one paper was fair enough 20 note
that the transaction In question had
nothing to do with the United states
government or the American people.
The Anglo French loan was fioated byl
states entered the war. As for the