New-York tribune., 1922-10-15
Paris News Letter
By Lewis Galantiero

: :
4, gion": and the more profound: "The
only salvation Of French patriot is to
) become German citizen so that he may
continue to demand the return Of AL
sace-Lorraine."
> am going to cry to translhts for
! you'll say try thinking Of the
J overtoncs in his writing--an article
which La Fouchardiers wrote recently
under the title, "On Subversive
Cry":
Following a scandalous incident, mn
old fellow named Rochard, to his
eternal shame, was thrown out Of the
Chamber of Deputies. This individual,
who, in his lost moments exercises the
profession of voter. had introduced
| himself INTO the lower house and had
given vent to seditious utteranccs. He
had cried, .vive la FrancsI Down
The incident occurred at moment
when the Chamber was occupied with
the business Of internationalizing the
Danube. Mr.. Raymond Poincare was
engaged In executing slow waltz to
the air Of "The Beautiful Blue Dam
ube." "It is proper" he was explain
ing to an audience as limited ns it
was hypnotized, chat the Danube be
an international river Ours arc the
national rivers; the Rhone, the Seine,
| the Somme and henceforth the Rhine.
We shall internarlonalize the
Danube by series Of international
arrangements. The Danube will have
rs ource in the Black Forest; it will
battle south Germany and Austria
hungary; it will separate Hungary
from Serbia and from Rumania, Ru-
mania from Bulgaria and from Rus
sia. after which it will be permitted
to go and throw itself into the Black
Sea, for it will then have proved suf-
ficiently that 1t is a meandering and
international river"
1t was at this point that there
echoed through the semi-circular arena
the ridiculous and supremely misplaced
cry:
Vive Ia France!'
| "Gesundheit,' replied Mr.. Poincare
politely, smiling at Mr.. Maurice
| Barres.
Mr.. Barres, genuinely astonished,
la France!' 1t must have been you"
But Mr.. Poincare, employing for
mula personal to him and gesture
borrowed from Pontius PLATE, pro-
tested, 81 swear / didn't do anytning!"
Then the scandal burst forth. Every
body knows that in our country only
Mr.. Poincare and Mr.. Barres have the
right to cry "Vive la France!" When
Deroulede died they took out the patent
which nobody dares contest. They
threw rapid glance to the Left
benches, and scrutinized attentively
the Right where might more probably
be found the person whose usurpation
of their functions was aggravated by
so evident an absence of tact.
| There sounded the second cry:
"Down with thieves!"
This time, from behind the desks
where they were hidden, thirty irritated
heads bobed up. "Do you mean that for
mel" each one cried.
An admirable and collective senti-
ment of indignation was seen in the
faces of the bearded gentlemen of
Panama days, the deputies who write
to the newspapers to prove that they
never took cent from the Banque In
dustrielle de Chine, and all those who,
having made a good deal of money,
had grown honorable as result. They
grew calm again when it became known
that the cry had come from a mere
voter, a fellow without mandate,
which is to say an individual without
Importance.
This person was hauled down to the
House Office and asked the reasons for
his unspeakable conduct.
,I yelled 'Vive Ia France!' because
that is my opinion" declared the man.
"He is drunk" said the gentlemen
Of the House Office. "a fellow who will
sing out 'Vive la France!' must be
drunk. Wait for the night of the Four
teenth of July, my friend,' when every
body is drunk and the police are in
dulgent. Then you may cry 'Vive la
France in the streets, and as much
as you please"
"And l hollered down with thieves ="
continued the poor Indian, "because !
happen to prefer honest people"
Hes crazy!" cried the gentlemen
Of the House Office. anybody must
be crazy to cry Down with thievesl'
at the Bourse or the Palais Bourbon,
because Immediately, the majority is
against you. He's crazy, and, what's
more, he's a rude person."
81 suppose that Rochard went mad
after reading history OF Franco"
continues La Fouchardiere. "The his
tories of France are filled with prac-
tical jokes. They tell us, for example,
that during the most brilliant period
in our parliamentary history the vot-
ers, fattered by the title of citizens,
laid down the law to the parliamen-
,arians. They made themselves at
home in the galleries. They bawled
their wishes and the Deputies
trembled. They held their representa-
tives to the strict observation Of
honesty and patriotism. They cried
'Vive la France!' and even 'Vive la
Republique!' and the Deputies, in or
! der to please the citizen voters, gull
/ lotined one another with ferocious
| ardor.
II suppose that these are all prac-
tical jokes. suppose that in every
age citizen voters have sent their rep-
resentatives to parliament and that
In every age the representatives, once
inside, have jovially thrown those
, they represented out of the door"