Evening star., 1927-11-13
FRENCH FEARS AROUSED
BY BERLIN PEACE STAND
Coming Elections in Germany Awaited
as Test of Faith-Opposition
Is Stirred Up.

over the new. And with that old
Germany even liberal and pacific
France believed peace impossible, con-
ciiiation and cooperation an idle
dream.
For whole year. then. one must
note that there has been steady
and increasingly violent French re.
action from Locarno. There has been
a recrudescence of the fear and sus.
picion. And in this state of mind
there has been q very definite ending
of present possibilities of any carly
evacuation of the occupied Rhineland.
The question cannot be reopened
while the Nationalists remain in the
German cabinet.
1t would be a very great error to
see in this French state of mind any
return to what have been SO often
described as rnilitaristic ideas or
policies. AS l wrote last week, all
the movement of French domestic
politics is away from the parties
which represent either the ideas Of
the soldiers or of the extreme Ma
tionalists. Unless all signs fail. the
next election will see victory for
the Radicals and the Socialists. for
precisely those groups which have
been responsible for the French ac-
ceptance of Locarno and have so far
been able to maintain BRAND at
Geneva.
Hope of Peace Strong.
The desire OF France for reace
continues to develop to an extent
which actually defies exaggeration.
Even the wish for a real adjustment
with Germany is just as vital today
as year ago at the moment OF
Geneva and Thoiry. What has hap
pened has been that German events
have-riGhtly or wrongly-persuaded
the ma jority of Frenchmen of every
political party that such readjust.
ment is today quite impossible. Bal
ancing in his mind the two Germans,
the old and the new, the F'renchman
today has come to. tho conviction
that the old is again in the ascend
ant, with all Of peril that this as
cendancy means for him.
Thus one may say with a certain
exatitude that until the forthcoming
election in Germany, unless before
next Spring the present German coali.
tion government collapses, French
| opinion will preserve q waiting atti.
| tude.
| If, as seems well-nigh inevitable,
| the next German election marks n
victory for the Republican parties and
| recoif for the Nationaists. while at
| the same time the Radical-Socialists
win in France, it is still not only
| probable but almost certain that tina
| work of Franco-German readjustmeas
will be resumed. For in both coun.
tries the desire for an ending of the
| old nightmare supplies the basis OF
| the foreign policies of the Liberal.
Radical parties in France and the Re-
publican in Germany.
| Disaster Threatened.
There was perhaps danger at one
| moment that the German National.
lists might play into the hands OF simi-
lar groups in France. Hal this
| proven to be the case. had there
been possibility for the old bloc Ma
tional in France to regain power and
confront similarly uncompromising
Natoinalistic ministry in Germany.
then the disaster for Europe would
| have been great and perhaps complete.
Fortunately this has not happened.
| Control Of the French Chamber re.
mains actually in the hands of the
| French Radicals. although they have
momentarily resigned certain things
to Poincare and his Nationalistic asso.
clates in the present non-partisan
! cabinet, framed to meet the financial
crisis. And the tide has, so far as
one can Judge from the outside, con.
| tinued to- run against the extreme
| Nationalists. against the bloc Ma
| tional.
Nevertheless. 1t would be a mistake
not to point out that while political
| cooperation between France and Ger.
| many has been halted, economic CO.
| operation not only continues but de-
velops, as the recent Franco-German
| tariff treaty has demonstrated q bit
| nnpleasantly to Americans. And in the
same way, social relations between
the two countries are increasing. Ger
mans now come to Paris as freely as
before the war, French artists and
scholars appear before German au-
diences. Thus il the political eXten.
sions OF Locarno have been checked.
the economic and the social continue,
And the gain here is too patent to re.
quire emphasis.
Returning to France, then, after a
year, while I am strongly impressed
with the change of tone, with the re-
currence OF doubts and fears so IA
milfar in all the first years after the
war. while there Is disillusionment and
cynicism, while Locarno Is more often
referred to as a trick than as a prom
ise, there Is nothing yet in this reac.
ton which warrants permanent pes
simism.
tCopyriRht. 1927