The New York herald., 1921-10-16
FOCH Will CAND'DLY
PLEAD FRENCH Case
ATPARLEY ON ARMS
Not Likely to Recede Even
if He Fails to Please Amer
leans, Says Gibbs.
CAN'T FORGET GERMANS
Europe. in Marshais Belief.
Wiz Net Re Freed From
Menace of War.
HE WILL DEMAND SAFETY
Must Be Convinced That Sal
vation Is on Economic and
Commercial Lines.
HE WILL DEMAND SAFETY
by SIR PHILIP GIBBS.

by SIR PHILIP GIBBS.
Special Cable to THE New York HnaALp.
Copyright. 1891. ty THE New YoRK HERALD.
LONDON, Oct. 15.-The presence Of
Marshal Foch at the Washington con-
ference for the Limitation of arma-
ment, which at present seems certain.
should be Of far greater Importance
than mere ceremonial appearance,
signifying the desire of official
France to cooperate closely with the
United States in shaping a world
policy, provided French interests and
security are not endangered.
When Marshal Foch speaks before
the conference on the possibilities of
disarmament or when he expresses
his views in private conversations
with American statesmen he will do
so without diplomatic craft or sub
tlety, but with simple candor and
without mental reservations. He
will represent the French Viewpoint
as 1t is fixed in certain convictions
and principles. and ne will not bulge
one hairbreadth whether they please
or displease American opinion.
His mind is as sharp as a sword,
as finely tempered as a Toledo blade
and as clean as steel, and his charac-
ter has fine simplicity which has
no guile. But he is limited to certain
lines Of thought that are rather
narrow. He sees the world policy
from one angle Of vision, which is
the future safety Of France from
German aggression or revenge, and
believes that what he gained by the
sword may be held only by the sword.
Can't Toresce German Change.
Foch has little faith in German
change Of heart, and less perhaps in
the possibility Of any political or
philosophical changes among Euro
pean peoples likely to eliminate. the
menace Of war. He is hard. practical
and realistic in his outlook and he
will not surrender anything that
seems to him to be essential to tho
safety and powerof France for vague
idealistic dreams or ideals which to
some Of us seem the best, indeed the
only. way to safety for France and
all of us.
In his own country, like all great
men, Marshal Foch has enemies and
critics. They are mainly advanced
democrats and liberals who believe
that Marshal Foch used his influence
to maintain the militaristic and re-
dictionary policy of the French Gov
ernment. I was startled and scan
dalized when Frenchman said to
me:
"Foch, my dear sir, has the soul OF
q grocer. He measures up life with
a bit of string"
Credit Due to Toch.
For Foch as a soldier I have un-
bounded admiration, and if any one
man may be said to have saved us
all it was undoubtedly Marshal Foch,
especially at that desperate and criti-
cal time when the full weight Of the
German offensive fell against the
British lines with 14S divisions
against forty-eight. Foch himself
came to our lines, as I saw him then,
cool and unruffled.
To Gen. Plumer, commanding the
British Second Army, worn thin and
hard pressed, he said:
How many French divisions do
you want?"
And when Plumer answered Focb
wrote note in little pocketbook
and handed It to Plumer. 1t was an
I. o. U. for certain French divisions.
There was no hesitation, no red tape.
no grudging conditions, and for three
days afterward the French roads
were white with dust and blue with
endless columns of marching poilus
that promise scribbled in
Foch's notebook.
Foch skinned his own front to
the British, though he
knew that before long the German
army would strike at him. When
that attack happened he withdrew his
blue men from the British lines with
the same quickness of decision and
lightninglike rapidity of action with
a margin Of only twenty-four hours
between that movement and IRE
trievable defeat. At that time when
the Germans had broken through the
French front, Paris was threatened
again and all of us were in deep
gloom Foch sat at his headquarters
Withou a eiou ~ ,arxoue ox.os..