The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-20
BLAMES GALLO
TEMPERAMENT FOR
FRENCH ATTITUDE
Sullivan Says "Desire to
Be Petted" Requires
Patience.
By MARK SULLIVAN. !


the applicant. washington says
good humoredly, ITS merely the
Gailic temperament" We don't
pretend that we wholly approve this
Gallo temperament. or~even under
stand 1t fully. bat we md IT useful
as kind of blanket explanation
} for things that are otherwise in
! explicable. In that role. the phrase
Is called into useful sse~ice rather
more often than can be regarded
as ideal.
The other day an entirely serious
writer in one Of the Paris papers.
replying to a foreigners comments
about the spirit of Paris. saIo,
France wants to be petted.' 1t
was rather unusual thing for a
mature person of the male sex TO
say about his country, but that
seems to 20 along with the rest as
= part 81 the Gallo temperament"
~Bores-, Conference Chiefs.
MP has caused a good deal of plain
about the French. I suspect the
AmeFieau disposition continues to
be Of good-humored patience. cou-
pied with hrmnessI Undeniably,
Mr.. Hughes and Mr.. Root and Mr..
Lodge are pretty elderly persons.
whose Guiding days are very much
in the pest. : II must bore them
mere than trifle to be called on
20 include among their Diplomatic
duties that of petting nervous
and excitable nation. with a fem
mime temperament
IL the prince Of cartoonists. ~. ".
Ding. should care to cover this re-
cent French episode. he could not
DO so more concisely than to picture
our most be-whiskered American
otheial. Mr.. Hughes. going dutifully
but reluctantly through the prob
abs. for him. awkward motions of
stroking the excited hair of that
much more be-whiskered French
man, Admiral he Bon, who seems to
have brought up this matter of the
French navy. and who happens to
be about the most -whiskered. the
most altogether hirsute. the most
gold-laced, and generally the. most
ornamental and ornamented son of
either Neptune or Mars that has
struck this town since the war
began.
French Masses Want Peace.
We all use the words France"
and French" as convenient COL
lective term to describe the French
government and the French officials
here at the conference. but when we
try to be more accurate we make
a distinction between these indi-
viduals. and. on the other hand,
those sturdy millions of the plain
people OF France. who have made
more sacrifices in war and are more
interested in ending war than any
sstner nation on the face of the earth.
The French people haven't lost any
OF the good opinion of America. but
II some of our American officials
and observers felt free to talk about
some OF the French politicians, there
might be some tolerably plain
speaking.
These French officials and poll
ticfans seem too niue. disposed to
interpret things on a personal basis.
Within a few weeks after the Wilson
administration had gone out of
rover. one of the Frenchmen at
tached to the Viviani mission that
came to America last spriag. spoke
publicly in exceedingly unpleasant
epithets about Mr.. Wilson and sew
eral of his associates who had
worked themselves near 70 death
trying to help France during the
war. If the French psychology
thought this sort of thing would
help them with the new admins
hot
ogy failed to go hand-in-hand with
American psychology.
Mistake "Red Ribbons
The French psychology is mac
curate again il IL assumes that the
red ribbons and other decorations
which they have distributed among
prominent Americans should move
the possessors from a strictly I'M
personal attitude in public affairs.
There are signs also that some of
the French have misinterpreted all
the college degrees and other hor-
ors we heaped on Marshal Foch as
signs of a Willingness on our part
10 give sympathetic support to
frances disposition to maintain a
lerf-e army and to her militaristic
aims generally.
some American officials who
must manage the intricate business
details involved in untangling our
alliance with France. might con-
ceiyably ind it difficult 10 reconcile
tho "Gallic pride"-which insists on
a larger navy that II can possibly
nav for-with some other aspects
of Frances management oil her
g.. financial affairs Seriously and
nointedIy. this recent action OF
france jeopardizes the present con-
ference no less than IL jeopardizes
the future economic conference
which the French are ardently try
ing to bring about.
Nevertheless, the net of IL all Is
that America is determined to con-
tfnue to make allowances for what
over France does as the not wholly
to be blamed actions Of a nation
not yet free from the hysteria of
war and fear. But while we re-
member this in extenuation of
Frances failure to be helpful In
our effort toward preventing future
wars, we ought not to forget the
fact that Great Britain, Japan,
Italy. and the other nations. have
gone the limit to be helpful, and
in doing so have remained silent
about many things concerning
which they might reasonably have
protested. Frances course has been
not only embarrassing to us, but
more so. almost. to Great Britain
and Italy When the whole story
- tnld II will he found thai Itar,,