Evening star., 1922-03-19
France SHOCKED
|. BY us. DEMANDS
Necessitates Close Study of
Failure to Ratify Treaty,
Tardieu Holds.
SCORES ARMS DELEGATES
Declares French ENJOYS Ill Elk
pressed Views on Militarism
at Conference.
BY ANDRE TARDIEU,
Former French High Commissioner to
America.

1
America.
By Cable to The Star.
! PARIS. March 1S.-To me it never
has seemed so difficult to talk to
| Americans about France as 1t Is to-
! day. Our problems have become SO
confused and embroiled on both sides
i that 1t is hard to make clear ones
meaning. however clearly one tries
to speak.
| There are three questions around
which misunderstanding exist. SO let
US try to understand each other. First.
there is the question of our debt.
Second, comes the problem Of the oc-
alleged militarism.
| Never Dreamed Of Default.
| Concerning our debts you probably
have read Premier Poincare's cate
gorical statement confirming what
myself repeatedly have cabled-that
| France never has dreamed OF de-
faulting the three billion dollars bor
rowed from America during the war.
| We count upon American friendship
I merely for reasonable terms of pay
| ment. No American will protest such
| request. therefore there is no es-
sential difficulty on this score
! The unfortunate development was
| the address of Former Minister
Loucheur. in which he said the exact
opposite Of the above. Our amba ssa-
| cabled that effect of this statement in
the United States was disastrous.
myself ..lore 1t. But. on the other
| hand, Americans have no right to hold
| France responsible for NJ Loucheurs
| declarations any more than we would
1 hold America responsible for every
thing that Senator La Toilette says.
| houcheur simply is deputy and often
has been mistaken. as, for instance.
when he said. said three S.aa years ago ',',ta, that
gold marks annually. Loucheur COM
! mitted a stupidity. Here it is reg-et-
| ted. Let Americans put their minds to
| rest about 1t.
Wnr Costs Delicate Question.
! The question of American compensa-
| tion for expenses of its army of Oc-
! cupation is more delicate. but 1t must
be discussed. Germany owes the United
States for its occupational expenses by
virtue of the armiStice provisions and
the German-American peace treaty.
Nobody denies this. What Is the cause
of the misunderstanding? Last week
the allied finance ministers were dis
cussing. not Germany's debt. but the
division of the first billion marks cash
paid by Germany The division OF this
money raised many fine legal points.
What panied US was that without
warning your representative. Mr.. Boy
den. abruptly presented a claim which,
taken literally, would mean that the
United States suddenly had objected to
all of the agreements reached among
question. repeat, OF priority. and
necessitates close study. considering
the failure of the United States to
ratify the treaty OF Versailles.
shocked by Action.
The form and time Of Mr.. Boyden's
action shocked us far more than the
action itself. During the war / myself
culties concerning the use of money
borrowed from America, but an agree
ment always was. reached. 1t Is GER
tain that a conciliatory spirit is needed
on both sides 1 say frankly that I
don't think it has been lacking on our
side in the present instance.
AS to the alleged militarism. can
only suggest: Come. see. for your
selves" With our colonies we are a.
nation Of 100000. 900 people. and we do
from those colonies. That is tho
whole extent of our naval militarism.
We are a European country that has
been invaded twice in fifty years. We
desire an assurance that this will not
! happen again. That is the extent of
our land militarism.
Viewpoint Ill Expressed.
Our viewpoint upon these questions
was Ill expressed at Washington. 1t
| is too bad. But you are too inte1li-
gent to make us forever responsible
for the blunders of our delegates. In
| 1919 we assented to intrust a large
part of our security to international
agreements in the league of nations
and defensive treaties. These agree
ments having failed to materialize,
we have been forced to fall back upon
material guarantees, occupation and
military force. But even now we are
preparing to vote a law cutting military
! service to half.
There is the truth. I ask our Amer
ican friends to consider it calmly,
good
! 1000