Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-07

the London meeting. and France and
the other countries were invited to Lon
don to be asked to sign on the dotted
line.
French Increasingly TOuchy.
The French have been increasingly
touchy about their prestige as world
power since the Rapidan conversation
between the President and the British
premier. Now again, we gave them
the impression, by informing them on
the eve of the announcement of the
Hoover debt holiday proposal, that we
had fixed up everything with the
British and we were asking France, the
most interested country in the repara-
ton question, to sign on the dotted
line.
The action OF the President has been
completely misunderstood in Paris and
in certain diplomatic quarters here =;
the French felt sighted. The state
ment made by Secretary Stimson a
few days after the Hoover proposal was
officially known that I'VE can not con-
sent to any conferences and the matter
of accepting the Presidents plan is a
matter of great urgency" was also in
terpreted in Paris as kind of an ulti-
matum. This was certainly not in the
Secretary's mind when he made that
statement.
In any case. the French for senti-
mental as we'll as economic reasons
rendered the conversations extremely
difficult and by the delay caused by
the inumerable exchanges of views be-
tween Mr.. Mellon and the French
government weakened considerably the
moral effect of Mr.. Hoover's proposal.
The spirit of international co-opera-
ton would have been splendidly illus
trated by a quick action on the part of
France. 1t is freely conceded here
that the French are more interested
than any other nation in the German
problem, and that they should have
been consulted before the plan was
announced, possibly long before it was
announced. But on the other hand, the
situation in Germany moved with dra-
matte rapidity and there was no time
to waste in private consultations. Had
the President not made his official
statement on Saturday, June 90 there
is no doubt in the minds of our Treas
ury experts that the Reichsbank would
have closed its doors on the next Mon
day.
LavaIs Hands Tied.
Our action. however. was interpreted
by French public opinion as a dicta-
lOlldA IlONC VII bllC kJdII VI ILlC AllS ~
SaXons, and while it is understood that
Premier Laval was inclined to act with
more rapidity, his hands were tied by
the French Parliament. That body IS
the jealous guardian of Frances pres
tige as a world power. and had the
prime minister decided to take an &C
ton in contradiction to the wishes of
the Chamber, he would have been
thrown out of Office in less than "a
hours.
The Laval cabinet was compelled to
maneuver for more than two weeks be-
fore it agreed with the spirit of Presi-
dent Hoover's proposal. and even now
when an agreement was reached, it is
full of technical reservations. Moreover
the French government in their an
nouncement of an agreement with the
America government, managed to in
sert a paragraph which can be given a
political Interpretation. That paragraph
reads: France reserves the right to re-
quest of the German government indis-
pensable assurances concerning the
utilization for exclusively economic pur-
poses of the sums freed to the Reich
budget" But one must remember that
the French have always in mind that it
is only the Rhine that separates them
from a sturdy neighbor
Copyright, 1880.