Evening star., 1925-04-26

more experiment in radicalism,
! which failed because of the inability
of the chief figure to play the great
role assigned to him. Herriot has
gone down. like Ramsey Macdonald
| before him, because in the end he
lost the confidence of the country,
| which saw, with unconcealed alarm.
| the gradual march toward uncontrolled
radicalism. What the Russian episode
was for Macdonald the proposal of
capital levy proved for Herriot.
Like Macdonald, Herriots brief
tenure of office was not without
measure of success in the foreign field,
relations with Britain and even with
Germany were improved; France escap
from a certain measure of interna-
tional suspicion, but at home condi-
tons were plunged into a complete
and rather sordid muddle. Herriot
himself, well intenuoned man. but
weak, proved unequal to the task OF
controlling and restraining the various
more or less incongruous elements
which made up the Cartel des
lGauches. the combination which sup
piled the necessary votes in the
Chamber.
Forced President to Quit.
! Called to power by France which
was anxious for peace, eager to avoid
the semblance of chauvinisuG or
militaristic purposes, Herriot knew no
other way TO promote peace than 10
substitute domestic strife for foreign
disa agreements. The first step OF his
supporters once the election OF last
Nav had given them power. was 20
force the President of the repubHc,
M Millerand, to resign. becauZe he
had transcribed the precedeHt and
issued an election address hostile 10
! Herriot's group.
This action was not only clearly
unconstitutional, but IL preclpltated a
struggle which, so far as HerrIot Is
concerned. has only just terminated
with his fall. A willing Cha01ber was
ready to back Herriot in his attack
upon the President, an attack which
was in reality not Herriots, but that
| of some of his supporters. but the
country stood aghast at TINS act OF
| violence, and the Senate robbed the
victory of any profit by lnstallng
its own candidate. NJ. Doumergue, ana
not Herriot's, NJ. Painleve, in the
Elysee Palace.
! Herriot's next act of violence was
! hardly less appalling than the first In
deed it's consequences were more
serious. because, at the behest of the
Socialist wing of his combination he
reopened the fight between church
and state. He did this by setting ASIDE
the truce which had been arranged in
Alsace and Lorraine. the newly re-
gained provinces of France, where the
Roman Catholic Church retained its
hold upon the affection of the people
and upon the schools. This battle at
once extended all over France, but 1t
! is hard to think of any more untortu-
nate scene of struggle than these
newly won provinces in which there
was every reason that France should
give heed to the wishes of the popu-
! lation.
University Outbreak.
But Herriot. having provoked tins
struggle, marched merrily on his way.
To provide a place for a candidate Ia
vored by the politicians the professor
indicated by the competent educa-
tional authorities was passed over,
il and without warning there broke out
something almost approaching re-
bellion among the students of the
| great French University rebellion
&. which extended TO the provinces and
to all branches of the university, cul-
minating in the suspension of the dean
of the college in Paris and the 1ntru-
sion of the police.
Having quarreled with the President
and done violence to the constitution
to unseat the President having quar-
relied with the church and done vio-
, lence to the feelings of the people of
Alsace-Lorraine, having reused all the
J professors and the students TO rebel
lion and strike, Herriot continued on
his way by naming as a teacher ma n
who had served as a German agent
and editor of the notorious Gazette
des Ardennes. the journal printed by
the Germans in the occupied area dur
, ing the war to undermine the loyalty
of the French populations.
One might go on and enumerate a
hundred more only less grave blunders
and worse of Herriot and his asso-
; ciates; the men who had made the
war and the victory were pushed aside
to make place for the men who had
been defaitists. Pardons and restora-
tions Of civil rights were granted to
those who had been associated in the
| public mind with the evil days and
deeds which preceded the coming of
iClemenceau.
. Fearful of Shadows.
More than all this France felt un-
comfortably the sympathy and more
which existed between the extreme
| Left---that is, the more radical wing
of the Socialist supporters of Herriot
and Moscow. sense of apprehen-
sion and of lack of security crept into
one opponent of Herriot's explained
but we do fear the shadows lurking
behind you: yes, the red shadows
Meantime, blunderingly, optimistic
|, ally, Herriot was faring on his way.
Confident of the permanency of Mac.
, Donald he went to Geneva and staked
French security on the certainty of
the adoption by Britain of the proto.
col. only to find too late that Britain
would have none of it and that the
British Labor government had given
way to a new Tory regime. The fall
of the protocol was in reality the
proof of the complete failure of Her
riots foreign policy.
Meantime he had opened converse
tion with Germany, and France heard
with growing anxiety that under Brit.
ish impulsion the French premier was
listening to German proposals which
involved the sacrifice of French allies
= of Poland and Czechoslovakia, with,
out any real or substantial guarantee
! of ultimate French security, aside
from the word of Germany, which
. was still held with degree of light
ness in France and in Belgium.
Financial Crisis Intervenes.
Muddle at home. danger abroad
I this was the situation which was
. gradually leading toward an explosion
, when the financial crisis interviewed
. A year ago the financial crisis had
been terminated by prompt and dras
tic measures of Poincare. taken. to be
sure. tardily: but now France felt il
self on the verge of far more Sc
rious crisis. and the best that the
; Radical Socialist ministry could hold
out was form of capital levy to-
, gether with temporary resort to in
f1ation.