Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-29
M. Brands Premiership.

NJ. bTlanu Premiership
No Frenchman could be called to the
helm at Paris so sure Of American SYM
pathy and regard as Aristide BRAND,
whom President Doumergue has in
duced to form a government in success
sion to Premier Poincare. An old hand
at the tortuous French parliamentary
game, M. BRAND is now building his
twelfth cabinet. Such a record does
not denote as much antiquity as 1t
would seem, for cabinets on the Quai
C'Orsay are often as fleeing as the
suns rays. M. BRAND, like other French
statesmen, has on occasion reigned for
only week, so capricious is majority
in the Chamber, whose continuous favor
alone Is the guarantee of q cabinets
tenure.
A BRAND premiership is of immeas-
urable value to France, to Europe and
to the world at this critical iuncture OF
international affairs. AS the firmest
supporter of M. Poincare in the hectic
Mellon Berenger ratification fight just
ended, the new minister-PreSident on
the Seine comes into ONCE at the pre-
else moment when France must take
the next step looking to European sta
bilization - approval of the Young
reparations plan by Germany and her
creditors.
Interlocked with the Young plan vs.
the burning issue Of evacuation Of the
Rhinelapd by allied soldiery. M. Bril-
and heartily favors both the ratification
of the reparations agreement and the
withdrawal of troops from German ter
ritory. He faces hostile groups in the
French Chamber on both questions.
Whether he or they triumph when the
hour of decision is at hand will deter
mine how long the twelfth BRAND
premiership is to endure.
OF special interest to the United
States at this time is M. Brands en-
thusiastic support of the movement for
further reduction Of naval armament.
The banks of the Potomac still echo
with the memories OF Brands golden
eloquence at the Washington Confer
ence in the Winter of 1922. Though
he spoke In his native French and most
of his auditors in Memorial Continental
Hall could not follow him, they caught
the fervor Of his appeal and the genu-
inc sincerity Of his argument as they
fell under the spell Of his compelling
personality. BRAND identified himself
cordially with Secretary Hughes pro-
gram for naval curtailment, though
later France and Italy found themselves
unable to accept limitation Of auxiliary
craft. The man now premier Of France
led brilliantly the fight in the Washing
ton Conference which baked any at
tempts to affect land ornaments.
Much water has flowed beneath the
bridges Of both the Seine and the Po-
tomac in the intervening seven years.
Locarno and the Kellogg pact have
come into existence. At the Hague
conference on August 6 there is every
likelihood that the Young plan, under
M. Brands leadership. will emerge rati-
fed. The League Of Nations, in which
the premier is full-f1edged believer, Is
proving sound European bulwark. As
for Franco-American relations, in the
progressive solidification of which M.
BRAND is bound to be whole-hearted
factor, these relations start out under
his premiership by an interesting CO.
tncidence-regularized on practically a
brand-new basis.
AS President Hoover has just pointed
out, the Mellon erenger settlement "in
effect wipes out the entire American
Indebtedness Of France, which arose dur
ing the war period, and simply provides
for the payment Of advances to France
after the Armistice." Thus the slate is
cleaned, at the hour Of M. Brands re-
accession to power, OF the question
which has agitated and aggravated the
Franco-American situation for years.
1t is happy augury.