Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-29
After POincare?
France May Have Dictator or
Revolution If Present
Government Falls.
BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

has with regard for tradition described
| as a combination Of AL the talents
actually represents all the incompatl-
bles brought together by O common
| danger. In the personnel OF this cabi-
net may be found all the men whom
| the French public, with a certain
| measure of Justice. holds Responsible
| for the present crisis, and they rep
resent all the parties which have at
| tempted disastrously to solve the
| financial riddle individually.
In reality the Poincare cabinet Is
| cabinet Of panic; it IL a Anal recos-
milton by all the parliamentary rivals.
who as recently as fortnight ago
were assailing each other. that pubic
sentiment has gone beyond groups
and individuals and turned against
both the pa parliamentary system ana
| the leaders In the present ChamDer:
| If this cabinet fails, France may well
have either a dictator or revolution,
or both. And in either case there viii
be small future for tho men who nave
controlled from 1919 to 1925.
Actually, then, we are seeing some
| thing of a stand Of the "old guard Oh
! the French Parliament. Much Is
! Poincare hates Tardieu, and Brland
| despises both, deep as is the gun De
| tween Barthou and Herriot, between
| Marin and Painleve, the point mas
! been reached where political Sarety
! for all can only be obtained in com
| bination. They are mighty close 10
| the position which Ben Franklin out
| lined when he suggested that otner
politicians must hang together or De
| hanged separately"
! But even with this concentration OF
! all the leaders, save those OF the ex
IRENE Left, and of all the considerable
parties, except the Socialist, escape
from disaster Is not going to be easy
diyidually and collectively have played
politics while French credit ana
| French finance went to the dogs have
now to persuade the nation TO pear
burdens which 1t can rightly ascrioe
| to their folly and blindness II not 10
their downright selfishness.
Broadly speaking. we have had
since Clemenceau left ONCE, two very
| clear efforts to govern France, tne
| first by the Conservatives LED oy Mile
rand and Poincare, the SECOND py tne
| Radicals headed by Herriot and Pam.
ieve with Leo Blum, the Socialist
chief. in the background. The nrst
| ended with the debacle following the
| failure of the Ruhr, the second col
lapsed with the franc. -,
| 'rhe third phase has been that OF
BRAND, who came to power represent
ing the Radicals, but continued In OF,
Ace during the period when control
gradually shifted from the Raolcat 10
the Conservative side Of the ChamneI'
! Brands mission has been the oin'
cult and thankless task OF hololnS
!
or the people and their rising passion
has led to the present solution.
| Rut Poincare and his associates
roust now go to the mass or the
! French people and confess that par
liamentary government by all parties
| has heen so great a failure that the
neople must bear new burdens and en-
dure fresh sufferings. Sterilization Is
a. remedy which has very we'll estap'
lished circumstances. or these nlgn
prices, unemployment and generai
economic depression are the most con-
spicuous.
The single important question today
and tomorrow is whether the French
I neople will consent to liquidate by
their own pains the mistakes, ana
worse. of their leaders. IL they do we
shan see the franc stabilized and
France brought back to normal eco
nomic life, as Germa ny has been. BUT
IL the people refuse TO pay the price OF
political folly, then the consequences
for France, for Europe and even Tor
the world may be very grave.
OF course. 1t Is quite obvious that the
politicians in France. as elsewhere
will not confess guilt. nor can they. now
that they have combined in mutual
salvation association. blame each
other. That il precisely why the
storm against the United States. which
is steadily rising all over Europe, Will
probably continue to gather.
To get the credits necessary TO
save the situation Poincare will prob.
ably have 10 have American assist
ance. But It Is excessively doubtful
IL in the present situation he can
persuade the French people 10 &C.
cept the Berenger-Mellon debt agree
ment without some amendment Whlcn
insures France against the conse-
ouences of German default. But a
! refusal by Washington to permit
loans, which might be followed by the
real collapse in France, would In the
minds Of all Europeans fix upon the
United States the responsibility for the
, collapse.
| And, as I have said before in my
articles. the French collapse would
not be an isolated phenomenon. Its
effect upon Germany, Italy and Bel
GUM would be enormous and the et-
feet of such a general continental
crash upon the British in their pres
ent situation, would be hard to ex-
aggerate. Moreover. every political
leader in Europe must seize upon
American responsibility as the single
alibi for their own faults.
! As far as France is concerned, 1t
is. in my judgment. touch and 60
whether there can now be any es.
cape from the supreme disaster.
France has at last got a government
which can govern: the period of par
liamentary paralysis is over for the
now with new hardships in sight, is
bound to feel that it has been he
trayed by it's leaders and exploited by
lits wartime allies.
Moreover. we have travelled q con-
! siderable distance since 1919, wher
| the people OF all countries were ex
hausted and desired only peace and
| the Smallest bit of comfort. The
German problem was simple by com
parison with the French. because when
! the Dawes plan was applied the Ger
man people were still plunged in ex
treme misery; they were at the bot
} tom of the curve. But the French PEG
, pie have, for three years at least, beer
enjoying general if deceptive pros
perity Things with them must be
come much worse before they i'm
prove and the whole problem lies In
their willingness to submit.
Meantime London, Berlin and Rome
! quite as much as Paris continue tt
: Ak upon Washington the respon sibiiity
for the French crisis, AZ q datail in the
general European prostration. And
as the French crisis must in the ne
| +,,rn nf thin0a continue Par q Inr