Evening star., 1923-09-14
By THE MARaU1sE DE FoNTENoY.

n
Eduoard Herriot, who is arriving in
New York today on board the French
liner France. is one of the most Ina
portant French statesmen ef"the day,
has been for eighteen consecutive
years the mayor of Lyon,s the second
chief city of France, and her repre-
sentative in the national Legislature.
He is recognized as one Of the fore
most statesmen OF his native land and
as the most dangerous foe of the
Poincare administration.
His advent to power in the place of
Premier Poincare would mean a COM
plete understanding of France with
soviet Russia and the return to public
life and to Office of ex-Premier Call
laux. who, as everybody knows, was
the bitterest foe of the entente during
the war and the champion of Frances
understanding with Germany, at the
expense of her allies, including the
United States. Herriot is, in one
word, the acknowledged leader of the
radical party, which still looks upon
CailIaux, despite his conviction, and
sentence by the senate, sitting in its
capacity as the supreme court of the
nation, as the most resourcefIl of its
statesmen, especially in the matter Of
finance Not that Herriot ever identi-
fed himself with CaiHauS'S pro-
German. and pacifist intrigues during
the great war, in which the mavor
of Lyons rendered Invaluable @serv-
ices to his native land. .
A former university professor OF
rhetoric at the University of Lyon.
Herriot was elected in 1904 to the
municipal council of that city. A
the despotic DR.. Augagneur, was
rather Unexpectedly appointed to the
lucrative and important governor
generalship of Madagascar, and Her
riot, who was only thirty-six years
of age at the time,\ became his sue
cessor in the mayoralty.
BY his pleasant and cordial man
ners and by his originality and in
itiative, he soon acquired a. popu
larity among his fellow citizens that
annals of the chief magistracy of the
ultra-radical city Of Lyon, and in
1909, while still mayor. he was
elected senator eff the department of
the Rhone-that is to say, for the re-
gion of. which Lyon was the capital
He next took the active leadership
in the organization of a wonderful
international exposition at : Lyon,
which he converted into a phenomenal
success in the face of almost insuper-
able obstacles, and that, too. almost
on the, eve of the war This ex
hibition has become something of a
permanency and a powerful agency
for the marketing of F.rench indus
tries and of French 'cUnnmerces abroad.
4 4 T. =
1t is alleged that the chief object
of his visit to the United States.
which is to extends over q period of
Ave weeks. is to promote and still
further develop the success of this
worlds fair at Lyon.
But 1t was not until the outbreak
of the great war that Herriot really
became a great national figure, owing
to his remarkable talent for organiza-
tion, his success in getting things, ac-
cornplished and by his contemptuous
disregard for bureaucratic precedent
and red tape, which are the curse of
public life and everything relating
to the government in France.
He founded at Lyon the flrsta great
institution in the country for the
physical re-education for soldiers
crippled and permanently disabled by
wounds. and originated a number of
other equally useful measures adopt,
ed by the government. while. the war
was in progress. Indeed, ii was in
response to popular demand that he
was appointed minister of transport
and of military, naval and civilian
victualling during the war, accom-
plishing miracles and overriding in