Evening star., 1935-11-20
BY WALTER DURANTY.
Special Dispatch To The Star.

bI NAL1Eh DOnAN T.
Special Dispatch To The Star.
PARIS, November 20 IN. A. N A).-
France today Is doubly in the shadow.
France shares the fear Of war with the
rest of Europe, but in addition to that
there is another, perhaps deeper, fear
of civil strife within her borders, and
a third fear besides these two. which
is particularly atrociouS to the canny
French whose has de laine," the
money saved in the sock or hidden in
the peasant mattress. has become
proverbial-the fear of further de-
valuation Of currency, which will mutt
late the national savings.
1t is reckoned that more than a
third of the French currency issued.
which approximates 83,o0o,o00, 900
francs, Is held tight by the population
in the form of savings. tied up in the
sock or hidden in the mattress. This.
too, is threatened today, with the re-
suit that France Is a prey to nerve
straining uncertainty and to pessi-
mism. A prey also to fantasy. The
widest rumors run rampant down the
boulevafds, and, although few believe
them. no one knows. because it is felt
that anything may happen.
Distinction Made Clear.
In attempting to analyze the French
situation, it is necessary to make q
distinction between foreign and home
affairs. OF course. the former. as
everywhere, depend largely upon the
latter, but I propose to put the cart
before the horse and discuss in this
message the French foreign policy. re-
serving internal considerations for
subsequent article.
The Quai D'Orsay-the French
foreign offlce-will tell you exactly
what Laval has been saying in his
speeches at Geneva and elsewhere,
that France is loyal to the League and
has the highest regard and respect for
England's rigid determination to keep
the League af1oat. without. however.
forgetting a tender affection for its
Latin sister, Italy. Furthermore, M.
Laval, as the Quai D'Orsay will echo,
hopes. and is doing his utmost. to
smooth away the unhappy friction
which has arisen, recently, between
Italy and England.
Such soft soap cannot disguise the
naked and unpleasant truth that
Anglo italian interests are antagonis-
tic. and that, in trying to reconcile the
two, Laval has a harder task than
Blondin performed when he carried
a man on his back along the tight
rope over Niagara. Laval is shrewd
tight-rope dancer-no one doubts that
but Egypt and the route to India
are far more than pawns in the
British game and the colossal British
assembly of naval force in the Medi-
terranean was not merely prediction
bluff.
Odds Against Amity.
Whether Laval likes it or not, the
time is coming when he may have to
choose between England and Italy. To
avoid that choice, he naturally tries
to bring the two together. If he can
do it, well and good. but the odds are
cruelty against him. For the moment,
however, Laval is France, and there Is
little doubt that he is so heavily COM
mitted to the Italians by his agreement
of January retrospective Of secret
clauses, if any, and what may or may
not have been subsequent dealings be-
tween the French and Italian general
staffS-that he has no choice save to
dance his tight-rope.
There are two ways of covering news
in Europe. One is to go to the for
eign offices and TO obtain interviews
with high placed personages, like, for
instance, M. Laval himself, and to
write what they care to tell you. An
other method IS to talk with people
who are less directly interested-with
business men and bankers, with ones
fellow reporters, with diplomats be-
low the rank of ambassador (because
ambassadors must observe caution) i.
and finally with the man or woman in
the street. I prefer this method. and.
in the light of such talks, I am now
attempting to explain the foreign
policy Of France, as follows:
Laval is playing a personal policy at
present. He is committed-who knows
how deeply-to Mussolini. He is
committed to the League Of Nations
and to England. He has a commit
n,ent, which he himself undertook last
Summer-not perhaps overwillingly-
toward the U. s. 8. r. There are
also the alliances with Poland and the
Little Entente. That Is the fore
ground Of the picture, and over 1t, in
the background, looms Germany like
thundercloud, not yet ready for its
storm to burst but rolling on and
growing darker.
The key and pivot and fundamental
basis Of French foreign policy today is
the certainty in French minds that
Germany intends to demand a further
revision Of We treaty Of Versailles.