The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-01-29

Politicians in Power in
Paris Reckless, Says
Marx Sullivan.
WOULD BLOCK
ECONOMIC AIMS
America Unable To Give
Assurance of Aid to
: Sister Nation.
By MARK SULLIVAN.

government toward Germany, to-
ward the coming Genoa conference,
toward our own Washington con-
ference. and toward ths world Ssn.
orally 10 30 full Of complication IN
which America cannot avoid being
involved that ills important to con-
slider the subject. -
The state Of feeling which arose
about the French and on the part
Of the French here at the confer
ence seemed to be. divided about
equally between trivial incidents
and matters Of real nitionai Import.
ance, A good deal Of what happen
ed seemed TO Be OF the nature OF
what would be called IN intereourse
between individuals merely social
sights.
seated Afssss Csraer.
This sort Of thing bs1sn on the
day OF the opening session Of the
conferences. When BRAND came iato
the room ana sought his seat he
found u NOT at the TOP. side Of the
table. but just around the corner on
the right, All the seats AZ the head
table were occupied by the Amerf-
can :, and British delegates. We
thought we observed something less
than gratihcation ON the dark and
heavy features OF the French pre-
mier as. be noticed this. Also VIZ
observed that three ,days later. at
the second session, and a. ali the
tsubsequent sessions. there had beep
3 new shpnrnE Of sests. One Of the
pushed around the corner to the ieft
| In order n nnate a a>,f a. go t.n
Es.s!s tc5s tbsv hssa II The French
tss,ss,S g; s;;siiss SalssF;aBgsiIsst ~;
nSpsAchShQ.S Hafhes sEamirk led AfSt
tbasmqehssas copies Of the, Pred
dept's speech, siready printed both
IN Engiish ~ well a. in French, had
been distributed on the tables in
front Of the delegates, he presumed
IL would not be necessary 70 have
the Translator repeat the speech In
French. ~
areniss It To svIsnA,
Having completed this explana-
ton. Mr., Hughes turned to Brfand
and asked: will that be all right,
M BriandT The. interpreter re-
peated in French What Mr., Hughes
had said. and when BRAND took Il
In he replied, with . manner of
grudgingness which, apparently, he
did not care wholly TO conceal, that
tnasmueh as the printed translations
\ had already been distributed, and
inasmuch as II was desirable to
save time. he would not insist on a
translation in French on this occa-
sion.
But we observed that Hughes
never again, after the first day,
made any suggestion about waving
the repeating of the speeches in
French. None of us know whether
the French had spoken about 1t In
SO many words or wAether Hughes
had merely taken aahint from Bril-
ands manner. All that we noticed
was that thereafter there was never
any waving OF the punctilious repe-
tition Of each speech in French. i
consumed q good deal Of time for
the delegates and bored most OF the
audience. The reporters used 20 call
this punctiiious repetition OF each
speech in French Telling It to
BRAND"
sensibilities Near Surface.
This sort OF thing was typical of
what seemed a perpetual French
sensitiveness about their national
dignity. French has long been the
ofncial language of diplomacy. To
make It the ofiiciai language for the
present conference would be alb
surd. The present conference Is on
the soil of an English-speaking ma
tion, and the English-speaking peo-
pies represented at the conference
are about l71,o0e,0o compared to
Frances 4e.oeo.oeo. Nevertheless
France seemed to cling with watch
fui care to every prerpgative of this
kind. The gossip Of Washington
was at all times full Of stories of
the display of French sensitiyeness
about the precise position they were
given at onicial and private dinner
tables and the like. One Of the
French delegates seemed to be In
such continual state of wounded
feelings that a humorous reporter
referred to him as "Peevish Papa
Peetingill."
In a broader sense than these
minor masters the French delegates
had other experiences likely to
propre. All the principal work of
the early days Of the conference had
to do with the naval ratio, and the
naval ratio was treated as q matter
for Great Britain. Japan and the
United States. Tbese three were the
only nations specifically mentioned
by Hughes In his proposals for the
reduction Of capital ship tonnage.
These three were treated as K. In
regard to naval matters, they be-
ionged In q class apart
> Resents Inferior Place.
On the basis Of actual naval
strength, this 10, Of course. literally
true: but the French did not enjoy
having their relative. infsfiority
rubbed in." 50 to speak. During
the war against Germany there had
been an gnderstanding between
Great Britain and FRANCE under
which Great Britain WIS to attend
to. the, sea end and France was to
concentrate her Efforts on land war
fare.
The result was chat for the past
ceased the building Of new ships.
sas. H FL. war o. sr. &c 9t a,Is sSs
her. shipbuilding. So also did Japat,
and the United States. Thus the
end of the war found France In 1
weaker positiont on the sea than
modern sea power bsFsf. Amonx
the nations Of the wofid she wis Z
VEN. weak feetth Fhs zap eetsesn
her strensth ana that u - Of the
other three was so great That she
was In class apart
Under these cifcdmstahces II wxs.
natural that Hughes, when he be.
gan to deal In terms Of sarma.
ment. mentioned only the three
great naval powers and ignored