Evening star., 1924-08-13
What Europe Is Saying
About America
FRANCE.--I.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

PARIS August 12.-When the
writer previously arrived in Paris, it
was in the triumphal train of Wood
row Wilson. 1t was on that immortal
18th OF December, 1918, when France,
and especially Paris, threw them
selves at the American Presidents
feet and welcomed him as the Mes
siah who had crossed the Atlantic to
pilot Europe into a new era. No
greeting in history was ever more
tumultuous. Every ounce of Latin
temperament and capacity for demon
stration found exuberant expression
In the frenZied cheers of the Paris
multitude were mingled gratitude and
hope-gratitude for the victorious
military effort of the United States
and confident hope that Woodrow
Wilson and his people would see that
The peace France had so dearly
bought would be safe feguarded for her
Faris shrieked itself hoarse that joy
Gus day and night. and sang and
danced and drank and jubilated gem
orally, because it saw in America the
omnipotent guarantor of French as
pirationS in peace it gladly recog
nized in her the rescuer of French
fortunes in war. That was six years
ago.
Today would tell a different and
aadder story. If the President of the
United States were to drive through
the Avenue deS Champs Elysees or
the Place de la Concorde or the boule-
wards this summer, there would be no
palisades of frantic thousands cheer
ing him along d Via Triumphalis.
There might be crowds. but their
emotions would be those of curiosity
rather than enthusiasm. Their de-
meanor would be that of respect and
curiosity, no doubt, for the French
Stil a l. ilyh
chanted people, and polteness has not
ceased to be among their cardinal
virtues. But there would be con-
spicuous lack of passionate warmth
or any real semblance of affection in
the greeting they might accord to our
Chief Executive. Their disilluSion-
ment since the peace conference has
been too complete and too disheart
ening to permit them to shrek Vive
lAmerIQue with anything remotely
SaVoring of the fervor with which
they greeted President Wilson.
Lose Dreams of IdeaIists.
France, in December, 1919, envis-
aged Uncle Sam as the worlds su-
preme idealist. France, in 1924, is re-
1uctantly and regretfuIly inclined to
look upon that bewhiSkered old gem
tleman as a stony-hearted money
lender. with little else than money
lenders interest in the worlds affairs
that lie outside Of his bulging bags of
gold Within few days of the time
this dispatch is written France has
had what she considers a classic ex-
ample of our money lender point of
view. The American bankers, sup
ported by Secretary Hughes, have in
sisted that if the United States is to
contribute half of the Dawes plan
100000, 900 loan to Germany, France
h. H., ,-;x-, 1, ~ l.
Independent action in her own inter
est. in case of German default in
carrying out the Dawes reparationS
scheme. Security for herself. but
none for France-that is what France
reads into Americas uItimatum on
the loan proposition.
1t is not pleasant to record these
things 1t is particularly disagree
able for A whole hearted sympathizer
with France to do SO, especially at d
moment when delightful hospitality
is being showered upon large num-
bers of representative Americans in
France. Following their festivities
in London, both the American Bar
Association and the American adver-
tlsing delegation came to France.
Paris took the lawy erS, as we'll as
the publicity experts, to her bosom
with heartineSS that left nothing
to be desired. There was no whisper
of debt cancellation, or any talk about
our desertion of Europe or any con-
troversial discussion of any kind. A
pleasant time, in fact, was had by all.
Nor is there in the official relations
of the two countries the slightest
suggestion of a strain. Myron II.
Herrick continues to be the most be-
loved foreign ambassador in Paris.
His courage and his devotion to the
cause of France in the dark hours of
nLn1, Al rt-io
the hearts Of the French people. Sec
retary Hughes, in his contacts with
Premier Herriot. both in London and
Paris, and with all of the French
leaders in Paris was the recipient Of
unfailing and punctilious courtesy
Even his recent London speech, with
it's warning to France not to endan-
ger the security of eventual Ameri-
can investments in Germany under
the Dawes plan. did not damp the
ardor of his official welcome in Paris.
Only External Views.
But all Of these things are exter-
nalities. They are the proprieties and
nioeties that prevail in the relat
They do not get down to the bed
rock of those relations. To reach
that stratum one has to dig. These
impressions of the French state of
mind about the United States are the
result of a persistent and sincere ef-
fort to get to that bottom. where
facts abound They can be discovered
easily by any one who looks for them.
The plain and fundamental fact in
the situation is that the French think
we quit our job in Europe before it
was finished. Around that simple as
Sertion ranges the whole cycle of
their complaints about America Very
ms hn
theory that we saved France" Their
theory is that they saved themselves:
that the war with Germany was our
war just as much as it was theirs,
and that we only 'came in two years
and d half after they had been fight
ing our battles for us. Having come
In" tardily. as they contend we did.
the French charge us with having