The Indianapolis times., 1922-12-16

been today president Of the French
| republic.
The wrath of Marshal Fooh and
his formidable following was excited
/ all the more against NJ. Clemenceau
because the latter had, under pressure
! from the allies, gone back on the
agreed French policy about the Rhine.
can If necessary quote endless
! leading articles in French journals
and writings and speeches of French
politicians. Men of such divergent
| temperaments and accomplishments
as NJ. Franklin Bouillan and III Tar
dieu gave cOuntenance to the claim
that Germany should be amputated at
| the Rhine.
Poincare's Declaration
Later on. at a reception Of Marshal
| Foch when he was elected a member
OF the French Academy, NJ. Poincare,
turning at one moment in his dis
course to the Marshal, said in refer
ence to the veteran generals we'll
nown attitude on the peace treaty:
"Ah. Monsieur le Marechal. II only
| your advice had been listened to-"
Has he also gone back on opinion so
histrionically expressed? Let us hope
/ for the best.
! I know II will be said that al
/ though the boundaries of Germany
were to end at the Rhine. the prov
ince on the left bank was not to be
annexed, but to be constituted into
an Independent republic"
What ypaprar Of {odanandanra
what kind OF republic? All German
officers were to be expelled. 1t was
to be detached by special provision
from the economic life OF Germany,
upon which 1t is almost entirely de-
pendent for its existence. 1t was not
| to be allowed to associate with the
| fatherland.
The Rhine, which divided new
territory from Germany, was to
be occupied in the main by French
troops. Territories of an indepen-
dent republic were to be occupied
by foreign soldiers. lis young men
were TO be conscripted and trained
! with a view to absorbing them
! into the French and Belgian ar
mics, to fight against their own
cOuntrynen on the other side of
the Rhine.
The whole conditions of life Of this
free and independent republic were
TO be dictated by an accord" be
tween France, Luxemburg and Bel
gium. and. IN the words OF Marshal
Foch, Britain would be ultimately
brought In"
But I am told these proposals
did not mean annexation. Then
what else did they mean? You
do not swallow The oyster. You
only first give 1t an Independent
existence by detaching it from Its
hard surroundings. You then
surround It on all sides and alb
sOrb It into your own system to
equip you with added strength to
prey on other oysters. What In
dependence! And what repub-
lie!
1t would have been, and was in
| tended to be, a sham republic. Had
| the plan been adopted 1t would have
been d blunder and a crime, for which
not France alone, but the world
would have paid the penalty later on.
In the face of these quotations and
of these undoubted facts can any one
say that I illuminated France when
I said there was a powerful party in
that country which claimed that the
| Rhine should be treated as a natural
barrier of Germany, and that the
peace treaty should be based upon
that assumption?
Let it be observed that never
stated that this claim had the sup
port of French democracy. The fact
| that the treaty, which did not realize
| that objective, secured ratification by
an overwhelming majority in the
French parliament, and subsequently
by an emphatic verdict in the coun
| try, demonstrates clearly that the
French people as whole shrank