The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-23
HEREOF POLICY
 SEEKS ACCORD
 WITH TEUTONS
Close Economic Agree ment Is Basis Of SO-
 cialist Program

PARIS, Nov. 22.-Farreaching changes amounting to practically complete reversal of. policy have been accomplished in foreign relations in the few months since Edouard Herriot sue ceeded Raymond Poincare as premier of France.
 A close economic agreement with Germany is the basis of the new pro gram. While Poincare acted entirely on the assumption that the treaty of Versailles was the new charter of inter- national relations in Europe, Herriot is trying to get back to the state of things which the war interrupted. This is es- pecially true of French relations with Germany and with England as well.
 While waiting for the first material results from the execution of the Dawes plan, the biggest task facing the Her riot government is the negotiation ot treaty of commerce with Germany to replace that ended by the war. He must take into account the modiflca- tion of the commercial relations between the two countries by the transfer to France of Alsace and Lorraine.
 Coal Plays Big Part
 Coal and iron play as big a part in this question as does oil in the game of world politics. It was owing to their importance that Poincare thought he could force the Germans to come to terms by his Ruhr policy. Herriot IS tackling the matter from another angle.
 One direct result of the war and the devastation of the northeast of France was the decline of Agriculture and the rise of industries. Vast areas of the devastated regions will never go back to cultivation because the former ln- habitants have migrated to the cities and have taken up industrial pursuits. The French metallurgical industry has received a tremendous impetus by the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine, but, due to Frances lack of coal and coke, the French "steel barons' can never hope to place their country on the same high plane of development which Ger many had reached ten years ago. They are, in fact, dependent directly on Ger many's coal and coke supply to keep the Alsatian and Lorraine blast furn- aces running. They have the ore, but they must buy the coal and coke, and they prefer to buy from Germany n- stead of England, where the exchange rate is ruinous for the French importer. The economic cooperation of French and German industries, especially metal lurgy, is thus inevitable.
 Uneasy Over Future
 Realization of a commercial accord is all the more important in the eyes of French industrialists, because they look into the future when Germany, ac- cording to present plans, will be paying heavy annual tribute to the repara- tions fund and may balk at it, refusing to continue to carry out the conditions of the Dawes plan. In that case a commercial treaty would be the only method of saving the situation.
 As long as Herriot remains in power with the tacit support of the officia! socialists, this will be the handspring of his relations with Germany. But the coalition on which the existence of the present French government depends is loose. Already the socialists are de lining their attitude toward the bloc of the left" with more precision than they did before the elections in May. They are insisting on the fact that they are first and foremost a working class party" and the "class war" is their slogan.
 Internationalism and consequently agreement with Germany is part of the socialist program. Herriot cannot re- main in power without the socialists 1; therefore, he may be expected to push the new foreign policy to the limit.