Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-07-23
BY WILLIAM HARD.

LONDON, July ZE.-oSCAc. AohAoA'
The Savoy. And Claridges.
Occasion: The International None
tary and Economic Conference.
Character: The Meditative Reporter
Why do the French delegations al
ways stay at the Savoy?
It's SO convenient to the railway sta
ton for the trains back to Paris. Back
to Paris Is their steadiest idea.
No use looking for any OF them IN
the bar They don't really drink
Cool. calculating. unpushable people.
Wine-and-water people. Very obsti-
nate.
An! There's that French journalist
with the black beard. who looks like
q Latin quarter poet. He wants to
know If Mr. Roosevelt would be willing
to agree that the dollar shall not de-
preciate lower than $40 to the pound.
I inform him that in our country,
when we once get started. the sky's
the limit" He exhibits distress. He
demands international monetary ex-
change security for France. decline
to give 1t to him. implore him to
have an adventurous spirit. like Eng
lishmen and Americans. He refuses.
He says he wants to know what q
white-b bread roll IS going to cost.
tell him that 1t was for such reasons
that william de Morgan said IN one
of his novels that the French are the
most incorrigibly foreign Of all peoples.
He replies that it is well known IN
France that all EngliShmen and all
Americans are slightly-Or more than
slightly-mad.
But there's Bizot. must speak
with him"
BLOT. Let there be q conservative
government in France. Let there be
radical government IN France. Let tne
government of France be for high tar
IFS. Let it be for low tariffs. Always
at international conferences, for France,
there Is Bizot.
Dark. Fairly tall Well built. Strong.
Very alert. Very clear-eyed. Always
knows exactly what he wants. And
says it. He's now the director OF the
general movement Of funds In the
French treasury.
France must have monetary Sc
curity."
recall Aristide BRAND, foreign min
lister of France, at Geneva. l recall
the laugh he raised at big luncheon
there when he said to the lunch
eoners:
II will surprise you with q word
Frenchman. I will now pronounce 10
you the word security
He pronounced it SO playfuny that
the room rang with appreciation.
And it's still security.
At political meetings OF. the League
of Nations the French want political
security. At meetings Of the Disarma-
ment Conference they want military
security. At meetings OF monetary ana
economic conferences they want none
tary and economic security. They
never want blue sky or blue SKY
rockets.
Troublesome people.
All! There's Georges Bonnet. He's
the head of their delegation now.
Hawk-nosed fellow. Intense fellow.
Talkative fellow. wonderful at press
conferences.
In fact. almost all Of these French
statesmen are wonderful at press con-
ferences. French delegations at inter-
national conferences are almost always
lust about the only delegations from
which you can get absolutely detailed,
precise, ineligible accounts OF what
has happened.
Their style Is:
I attended q meeting OF such-ano-
such q committee this morning. So
and-so said a, b and c. So-and-so
said m, n and o. said x, and z.
The committee voted II to Q. The de-
cision was to proceed at once to take
action in the direction northeast by
east.
Most other delegations In the same
circumstances would say:
Yes. I will admit that the committee
did meet this morning. think I can
say that progress was made. can also
say that the committee will meet again
tomorrow.
French propaganda" is mainly that
you can usually learn from the French
delegates-or from the French Journal
lists, who get it from the French dele
gates-what's actually happening. The
relations between French statesmen and
French journalists are the most demo,
cratic in the world. Additionally, and
anyway. the French have no genius Ior
yagueness. They are q finite people.
Deliberate infinite roamingness Is an
idea they cannot grasp.
Oh! There's an American banker.
Old friend. I must ask him.
What are you doing at the Savoy.
Lobbying with the French?
Not quite. But the French must be
taught that Roosevelt Is right. We've
got to have higher prices. We've got to
have higher prices everywhere. The
French must come along.
Well! You stay here and make them.
You explain to them that II they don't
know what q white bread roll Is going
to cost, they will be happier. In the
French Revolution they didn't know,
and in 1924 they didn't know, and they
thought 1t was worse than Waterloo or
Verdun. War is only war, but inse-
curity is hell. That's the way Gen.
Sherman's statement would be put in
France. You stay here and try to make
France Anglo-Saxon.
Yes. Taxi. Claridge's.
Sa~ond Nonr In C1arid0e'G Secretary