Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-20
TIGER, TIGER!

LNVEN in the midst Of cheering crowds, at
~ the center of a welcoming uproar that
would have delighted a king in the days
when kings looked for the best that multi
tudes had to offer in the way Of spectacular
demonstrations Of fricndlincss. Clemenccau
has the air and manner of a very lonely
man. He appears to live IN the company
of memories and to resent intrusions from
the actual world that come in the form Of
routine queries relating to routine affairs.
What he will say in his address It Is easy
to foresec. What could man sny whose
mind dwells pcrpetunlly. in a sort Of fasci.
nation. not only upon the past and the
present Of France, but upon the uncertain
future?
Clemcnccau lived TO experience all the
shocks Of the two crueest assaults ever made
upon any race or nation Of people, and he
probably felt In his own heart every stab
and thrust directed first in 1870 and again
In 1914 at n country that wished above all
things to be sane and good -humorcd md
at peace. France Is still scared and
bloody. A people singularly endowed with
sensitive minds and gayety Of heart have
been selected by the Fates to be twice mar.
tyrcd. and there IL no assurance that they
may not be martyrcd again. Since Clemcn.
ceau is in no sense international. since he
~ uS IehCu rs tHP SbAi ITOUl WHICH lie uTcW
his life and his vivid spirit. and since he
has seen enough and felt enough to be with.
out any illusions, he will demand the rc.
prisals and the sort OF punishment for
Germany which he advocated with relentless
logic mt Versailles. And he can say with
some justice that the old crowd that was
the inspiration and the strength Of the
l!ohcnzollerns remains and is even now
offering itself as "thc only hope of the fu-
ture' at Berlin: that though the throne of
m!ltnristic Germany has gone. the power
and the resolution that were behind II are
but little changed
Meanwhile. as the Tiger must have felt
when he saw New York's sky line, the world
is changing. 1t Is changing in way that
no one could have foreseen. 1t IS gravey
concerned by thoughts of what hatred. in.
ternat!onnlly organized and supported by the
unprecedented devices and energies of mod
crn science, may do TO it in the future
Clemcnceau. isolated among his own grim
rrcoccupations. feels little of this. Life
has convinced him that pride and strength
will rule the earth while man survives. lie
may be right and he may be wrong Ger.
tninly all historical precedent IS on his side
Most people hope yet to find alternatives
for the philosophy that brought cataclysm
TO Europe--and even TO Clemenrea,l Gle
mcncenu will not be convinced that such a
thing is possible. So in the crowds he Is
still something Of n solitary. n proud and
defiant one. like m eagle or the jungle
marauder after which he is named.
Wherever the Tiger goes in the United
States he will he received with admiration
and affection without bounds People who
cannot share his philosophy will remember
that they have not shared his experiences,
and they vii! keep their peace. For Gle
menceau Is France, the France that always
has known how to use an airy cyniclsm to
hide immeasurab.c tenderness and laughter
to mask grief too profound for any words.
lie Is one OF the great men Of the world
1t Is worse than useless to complain If he
Is infleXibc Of spirit. For. II he were not
inlexible, II there had been in him less OF
the steel that cannot be bent or broken in
the days when he and his people were most
terribly pressed. there might now be an
entirely different story to tell. not only in
Europe but throughout the rest Of the earth.