Evening star., 1924-07-13


Ruhr, on the Rhine and in the Sarre
basin around 10000 troops last No
vember, and in addition $4,000 in Sy-
ria, or roughly 100000 in Europe and
the Syrian mandate. But of this
number a considerable portion were
North African. Moroccan, Algerian
and Tunisian, while black troops from
French West Africa are kept in
France. To complete the tale France
has 100000 troops in her colonies,
chiefly in Algeria, Morocco and Indo-
China, in large part native or made
up OF European volunteers In the For
eign Legion.
See Danger In Cut.
A reduction Of the period of serv- /
ice now. before the Ruhr Is evac-
uated, would automatically down
the number of French troops in |
France by 100000. perhaps more. |
Such a reduction in advance of the
evacuation Of the Ruhr and at least
the beginning of the progressive re-
tirement from the middle and lower !
Rhine foreseen in the treaty of YER
sailles, seems to many Frenchmen,
of whom Maginot is the spokesman, |
a grave danger.
Naturally the whole situation would |
be modified materially were there |
some settlement of the question of |
French security, which is tantamount |
to repeating the old assertion that !
France will reduce her army further !
in proportion as she is promised aid |
from other nations in case of an at |
tack from Germany, an unprovoked !
attack like that of ten years ago. !
The old formula was that France |
would reduce. division by division, !
from her existing establishment as |
Great Britain or Great Britain and !
the United States agreed to keep |
ready divisions to replace those dis |
banded by the French in case of new !
invasion
What the Maginot episode really |
means, it may be guessed, is that the |
majority in the French chamber, dis
regarding for the moment the party |
lines established by the recent cleo !
tion, have chosen Maginot as a warn |
ing to Britain. Germany and the |
world that even under a radical min |
istry the question of security remains
paramount in France, and any discus |
sion of disarmament is idle, unless
the matter of French security is first
disposed of. And any discussion that
is to come must start with the ques-
ton not of reduction of strength, but
of maintenance of protection.
Cold to New ProposaIs. l.
In addition. all dispatches from
Paris in recent days have agreed that !
the Paris press and the French parlia-
ment were equally cold to the results
of the first Herriot- Macdonald dis
cussion at Chequers. Again the cold
ness may be traced in part to the
false report circulated just after the
meeting. that Harriet had obtained
from Macdonald a new treaty giving
France a British military guarantee. !
An emphatic denial of this rumor by
Macdonald left Herriot with the ap-
pearanec of coming home empty
handed and of having made all the
sacrifices to restore Anglo French
harmony
ANOT "SIe kHc iuoic ciitHu~ |
siastic over the explicit agreement
that at the forthcoming London con-
ference the matter of interallfed debts
will not be discussed, a decision which
must have been made. in part at least,
in Difference to the stand of the
American government on this mat
ter Surely we should not have con-
sented to be represented. had the de-
bate over the debt been permitted.
But, on the other hand, to the French
it looks dangerously as if one of the
things promised them by previous
British premiers. namely, a reduction,
a drastic reduction, If not cancella-
ton of their debt to Bfitain, to bal
ance their reduction of, their claims
upon Britain, was now quietly being
withdrawn.
Herriot had to come back from Lon
don with no assurance in the matter
of security and no promise in the
matter of inter-allied debts. From
the French point of view this was
failure which was hardly balanced by
the outward evidences of improved
atmosphere in Anglo-French relations.
And Paris took about as cynical and
unenthusiastic a tone as it had been
accustomed to take when Eriand and
his predecessors journeyed abroad to
meet Lloyd George and came back
with empty hands. also. All the cheer
ing over the London meeting. that is
the Chequers week end. was on the
British side of the channel, which was
a little unfortunate, to say the least.
Chamber Holds On.
1t follows quite logically that Her
riot will have to do better at the next
London conference or there will be
trouble. Proof of this is found in the
decision of the chamber not to ad-
journ until after the conference. 1t
means to stay on the job until Herriot
comes back and then sit in immediate
judgment on the results, with the OBJ
vious possibility that If the results
are too meager, Herriot may go, just
as BRAND went not after, but during
the notorious Cannes conference.
And just as it had been decided that
debts shall not be men
toned at London, so, by virtue OF the
action of the chamber in choosing
Maginot, it is now patent that there
is no chance of even side remark
about disarmament or even the reduc-
tion of armaments, despite the fact
that the British are acutely interested
in bringing about a reduction of both
the air and submarine strength of
the French.
In sum, then, while the recent
French election was q victory for the
ana the presanf nfirne min