Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-14
BY LELAND STOWE.

" HERE also comes tide In mems
affairs which never should be
taken. At Versailles on May IS
i Aristide BRAND took such tide
and the next morning half Of
Europe was murmuring, Why did he
do 1t? Whatever did he want the pres
idency for. anyway? don't see what
made BRAND put his head into the
moose"
Few people did see why. 1t seemed
just that senSeless. Foolhardy, some
called IL. Others said unnecessary.
Even the enemies OF Locarno felt the
tragedy of it. So 1t was-the colossal
blunder of a political fox's lifetime. The
moment in one mans affairs when his
hairtrigger Judgment wavered. Aris-
tide Brands blind spot. And for how
many years and how bitterly his oppo-
nents had mournsd that he had nonel
But let us go back to that pre- election
week when the tide came which Lo-
carno (for they call him that as often
as by his name) never should have
taken.
Friends Advice False.
They we're friends who first coun-
seled the false course. To make his
policy of peace safe, they said. BRAND
must go to the Elysee Palace. 1t wasn't
true, but sometimes human wisdom Is
not strong enough for q man to refuse
to listen to his friends. For years
Brands fngers-slender and def as a
| magician's-had sorted out the chaff of
| friendly counsel with sureness: thrown
| 1t away, kept the good that remained.
| Always he saw further, with that mys-
| tic vision shafted out from under bushy
eyebrows. Always he knew better than
| they; better than friends or enemies in
! chamber maneuverS where the French
! political napier replaces the Anglo
Saxon political bludgeon.
But this once the skilled hand hest
tated. the pale blue eyes blurred. How
| long his superlative instinct has laughed
at the demi-sensibilitieS of other men!
BRAND felt in a flash what they SO
ploddingly tried to find out-but not
now. Shrewdest of them all, at the
last he was not sure. He waited, he
postponed the verdict-candidate for
President Eyes or no? There was here
no Coolidgean announcement, Il do not
choose to rum" BRAND did not choose
that was it. He did not choose, and,
waiting listened longer.
There were then but 48 hours re-
naming before the Versailles balloting
began. Friends whispered that his ten
| ure in the ministry of foreign affairs
was ending. AnschluSs had killed 1t.
Better leave now and take the preSi-
dency, where for seven years no politics
could shake him. Better play safe.
Here we're so many votes among the
Socialists and Radicals; there, so many
more.
Course Was Wrong.
1t was not the course for q man who
had said, He who would serve Ia paix
must fight many battles" But the Bit
ing condemnation Of his political asSo-
ciates for the naval negotiations fail
ure, for permitting the Anschluss, for
all had taken their toll. These and
the years. BRAND was SO in April. Was
he strong enough to stay at the Quai
d'Orsay and fight it out? LAS Presi-
dent Of France" they said, "your poll
cies will be safe" He should have
known that many spoke from. party
motives of their own He should have
remembered the dignity of Doumer's
candidacy. but he did not.
So BRAND decided at the last possible
moment to be, as the French say, lat
the disposition of his friends" Actu-
ally at the disposal of his enemies, as
well. Had he decided 10 days earlier,
everything would have been changed.
Now the Right hailed his candidacy as
another BRAND intrigue. He had watt
ed until he could count the pledged
votes. they said. He had violated-or
circumvented-hiS word to Doumer; it
mattered lite which was true. And as
they went to Versailles, Senators and
Deputies, to decide the issue, the semi
official Temps told all in a sentence:
M BRAND has listened to the sirens ="