Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-11-10
BRAND, Premier of France,
Architect of Own Career
&reat French Orator
Considered Savior
of Republic.
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.
BY RAYMOND G. Carroll

T
BY RAYMOND G. CARROLL
NEW YORK, Nov. 1O.-A truly great
nan, Aristide BRAND, Premier of France,
low is at the National Capital. In his
Swn country he is known as BRAND
he Brilliant"
We of America know very little or the
personality of NJ. BRAND, the tall, slight
b stopped man with heavy matted hair
Ind burning dark melancholy eyes over
In amiabIe smiling mouth, who once said
% himself:
81 am always called in to mend the
rockery."
In appearance he suggests our own
Yohn Sharp Williams, Senator from Mis-
hssippi. The NJ. BRAND is the greatest
orator France has produced since Cam
BETA, being the pOssess0r Of mellow,
musical. penetrating voice audible IN
It's lowest tones at the remotest corner
u the French Chamber Of Deputies
Fhers I first heard him speak in the
rear before the World War.
He was born in Nantes, Brittany. AT
the beginning Of the present year NJ.
BRAND formed his seventh ministry, the
record achievement at cabinet building
IN the French annals of premiership.
A man Of profound imagination, the
sole architect Of his own career, his
superb courage and his extraordinary
. ssiIl power, this Frenchman of celtic
origin comes to the Washington con-
ference in his fifty ninth year at the very
apex of his mental richness.
I write of him from behind his mask
II unconcern about the opinion Of others
Ind of his known dislike for personal
publicity, for a relative Of NJ BRAND
for a time in Paris acted as my jour
nalistic assistant. Educated for the law,
NJ. BRAND passed fifteen years Of
wandering life in France as barrister,
as Journalist connected with such rabid
SOCIALIST journals as L'Humanite. La
Lanterne and La Petite RepubliQue. as
trade unionist, as orator. political or
ganizer, and in 1902 as deputy, at which
time he was secretary of the French
Socialist party and the closest friend
of the late Jean Jaures, who was after
ward to become his bitterest enemy and
who was assassinated at the start of the
war.
At one of the New York theaters IS
running a French play called 1.-THE
Claw" by Henri Bernstein. and some
how fits central figure suggests the ca
reer Of NJ. BRAND up to the time he first
became premier, and the diversion is
where the Bernstein character crashes
politically BRAND never, fell but to
make his feet again in roots Of greater
altitude
It is doubtful IL the American political
system could produce a BRAND, the
prestidigat who in the broad beams Of
the open sun changed his position from
head and front of the socialist party TO
upholder Of the dignity and power Of
the French government against his
former associates. That was in 1910,
when. q premier. he broke the strike
OF railwsymen by calling them to the
colOrs on the occasion when he faced just
such a strike as he had always advocated,
replying to taunts of traitor and
'turncoat" by declaring: ct have not
changed at all; 1 am just tho same as
when 1 fought the battle OF the people
on the left; but I am now president du
Sonseil, tie responsible head of the state
md so not subject to any party"
His petition Tas upheld - the cham
Der Of deputies By a vote Of 81 to SSS,
and to the great middle class he became
the savior of the French Republic. Then
and there was crushed sovietism in
France, BRAND putting the welfare of
his country ahead of casting his lot for
an epoch similar to what Lenin and
Trotski established in Russia.
When ". BRAND on one OF his MANY
excursions back into the French premier.
ship took the helm Of State in 1915 again
20 snow that he was a statesman OF in
mite resource, he found the war. after the
oartIe or the Marine, in an extremely
critical state. The Socialists were shout
ing for peace and the clouds were dark
NJ BRAND crystallited a new national re-
sistance for he possessed qualities neces-
sary to bind the national together. and
conduct 1t into the path Of victory. He
detained against a German peace and
was the first to recognize officially the
need Of cooperation amongst the allies
His slogan was when we make peace II
will be because we have won the war;
and he held the plow to the furrow rrtil
France needed a new stimulant. which
came In the person Of NJ Clemenceau. in
the guise Of patriarch. Since Georges
Clemeneeau, France had for her pre-
miers; N. Millerand. NJ Leyues and
now 81 BRAND again, for economic re-
construction Of the world upon a perna-
nent peace basis.
NJ BRAND is a bachelor and compare
lively poor man. His town home is q
modest little fat in the Avenue KIeber
telephone which has become a modern
necessity. He has q small farm where
ne passes his week-ends at CocheraI. in
the Eure. a department of Northwestern
France. formed from a portion OF the old
Aprovince Of Normandy There he raises
WOultry and cattle and tills the land. which
latter his friends say, rules the heart
OF the real BRAND with the permanent
fare Of wife. His theories on agri-
culture come from actual knowledge Of
the soil and keep him in step with the
peasants who are the backbone Of France
He Is an ardent angler. a good shot with
rife, and fair yachtsman.
Most Of his speeches he thinks out
when reclining on a sofa. He is dull
only when he reads aloud a report In
speaking he cocks his head on one side
like Lloyd George. He is at his best in
oratory when taken by surprise and
reused to effort by a sudden call The
reason that NJ. Clemenceau is so much
hntfer known N l.