The New York herald., 1921-11-17
BRAND WILL DENY
MILITARISTIC AIMS
French Premier Would Refute
Charges of Imperialism Made
Before Congress.
by GEORGES LIE CHARTER.

BY GEOHGES LIE CHAHIIEH.
Correspondent Of the Journal des De-
bats, Paris.
Special Despatch to THE NEW YoRK HERALD.
New York Herald Bureau.
Washington, ID. c., Nov. 16.
The statement OF NJ. BRAND at the
second session OF the conference Tues
day morning has centered interest on
the question of land armament.
'"The question will be raised" said
our Premier-'it has been raised, gen.
tlemen, and II there Is a country that
desires, that demands that the question
Of land armaments should be raised, it
Is France. 1t will come in due time be-
fore the conference. and l hope ] shall
enjoy the opportunity and that l shall
be able to state publicly in one of the
meetings Of this conference what the po-
sition of France Is so that the United
States and the world may fully know.
And when / have tried to prove this.
when you have listened to this demon
stration, am quite sure that you will
be convinced. gentlemen. that France.
after the necessities of safety and life
have been adequately secured. harbors
no thought whatever Of disturbing the
peace of the world"
Speaking so frankly and clearly, 1t
seems that our Premier had two aims IN
view. First he obviously wants to re-
flute the accusation of militarism and inn
perialism which has been publicly
brought against France for the first
time by ex-President Wilson In an ad-
dress to the Congress in March, 1920.
and a second time during the last ses-
sion Of the present Congress by Senator
Borah. when he spoke Of the debt OF the
Allies.
The second aim of NJ. BRAND in his
address of Tuesday seems to have been
| to show his readiness to fix. with the
| appreciation of the United States and OF
| the conference, on what basis France
could reduce her army without jeopar-
dizing her national safety.
! On the first point II Is to be assumed
that M. BRAND will expose In all frank
ness the position of France at the pres
ent time. 1t Is not impossible that he
| should allude to the accusation which
| seems to be rather freely accepted in
! certain financial circles over here. ac-
| cordipg to which France Is asking too
high a price from Germany for her
| reparations and reconstruction, by
which demand France proves herself
very inconsiderate. since Germany. be-
ing unable to pay what Is asked from
her and being obliged to yield to the
threat Of military force. is bound to Il
| financial failure, and so France, at the
end. will not either by force or by any
other means get anything from her.
1t Is at present quite unlikely that NJ
BRAND desires to enter into discussion
that he knows will be quite unwelcome.
being one of purely European politics,
to the United States. and especially to
! the majority IL not the unanirnity of the
! Congress. which is watching the devel-
! opments of the conference and which
would undoubtedly not allow il to leap
over the limits which have been care
fully and wisely outlined once for all.
II is much less improbable that NJ.
| BRAND. holding to the second point, win
insist that the French army has already
been reduced and that further reduc-
tions are to be soon accomplished. He
will likely reiterate that France is de-
cided and ready to go. for any new re-
| duction, to the limit where her safety
/ shall still be assured. He might, Incl
dentally but only for illustration. point
out that Germany is supposed to be
disarmed and militarily out of commits
sion, but Germany has her factories in
tact and In full work: she has all the
products she needs and. with sixty mill
lions people of which II is almost i'm
possible to say now what the real aspi-
rations and national desire are, she
| may become again and at very short
notice an irresistible war power.
At last NJ. BRAND, following the lead
so gracefully shown last Tuesday by
! Mr.. Balfour. may outline the map of the
world. and in that map point out to
the United States "solid, impregnable
self-sufficient, all its line of communica-
tion protected. doubly protected, COM
pletely protected from all conceivable
hostile attack. with a population OF
10000, 900 the wealthiest country In
the world, with a geographical posi-
ton such that she IL entirely immune
OF the particular perils to which. from
the nature of the case" France Is. sub
ject.