The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-11-25
The Tiger Passes

Csaorees Clemenceau, war-premier OF France
aq.,..,r If victory" anG Titan among European
statesmen lies dead at the grand old age OF 80
s,crapper almost from the day he was born ms
death was characteristic of his life Despite MS oocVorS
,,~eJictons he refused to die until he only had not
completed his job statesman, but just hao pun
be last period after the last word of the last chapter
OF his written works ...,
This done he laid his manuscript by nurrnure0
We 6oie,edry and passed on. Even as he was dying
he cent his women nurses from the room, that he
rs,oht die among men" and left orders thaI he oe
buried standing up, a fighter should.
In q vital and exposed position before Verdun
IN that terrible spring of 1916 French detachment
had been raked and pounded for two days without
cease So terrific had been the barrage that the
French trenches were all but obhterated II hdo peei
possibe to reach the tattered band with either 1000
mr. reinforcements. The situation seemed hopeless
Then came the German attack. The last survN-
sng officer. young sub-eutenant just out OF ST. CYL
49, french west Point saw it coming. His own head
as bleeding through its bandage made of the sleeve
ri his rnud-soaked shirt, but in an instant he was
on TOP of the parapet waving his bare arm ana
shriekng:
..Debout les morris! En- avant!
.TJp vet dead men, and forward"
1slectrifed his wounded, almost hfeless followers
.nrang I'D cheering and met the attackers by al
lacking. Surprised, The German line waVereo' Ofohe
and fell back The day was saved.
In much the same fashion Georges Clemenceau'
Tiger Of France saved his country and with 1t the
allied cause
Frances darkest hour came in 1917 She believed
herself at the end of her rope-exhausted her LOSSES
had been terrific and no one over there beneVea
America could train an army and get it across the
Atlantic in time to do any good Victory seemed
impossible.
Moreover. defeatest drive was in full swing Its
slogan was: .vhy keep it up? Wen never win. Let's
r,ola the hest peace we can with Germany"
RoIo Pasha. adventurer; certain editors, members
If the chamber of deputies and others we're accepting
German money and preaching defeat While urea
France listened to the siren song of an early peace
couicxlv sensing what was going on, the grizzly
cemenceau then n years old and retired from active
notifies ieaped into action Back in his chosen WORK
Of editing a newspaper, he fired broaosloe ah'er
broadside into the then French government Tor per-
Knitting such reasonable activities to go and soon
the clamor became so intense that the cabinet Tell
and Clemenceau found himself once more premier OF
France.
First putting all the defeatists he could lay MS
hands on in prison-by many called the braVeSt act
of the war'-he took his country firmly in hand and
turned her face forward. Like the wounded, ex-
hauSted soldiers IN the paAleTeu lItHCleo DciOIC
dun the people of France rose and followed their
new leader to victory.
To disagree with Clemenceau always was easy. He
and President Wilson clashed time and again in the
making of the peace of Versailles. 1t was natural
for him to want everything for France and he fought
for what he wanted like the tiger from which he
got his nickname.
At the same time however there is Just much
room for enthusiastic admiration for this Frenchman
who certainly must be ranked among the greatest
statesmen of the times. He was to France what Bis
marck was to an earlier Germany, different though
their methods
His ever was the spirit of the young lieutenant
Who made the dead" stand up and follow him.
Should America ever come upon such days our hope
is for Clemenceau, faults and all, to prod us on
TO our duty.