Evening star., 1939-01-05
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.
PARIS. France, Dec. 1e38.-


PARIS, France, Dec, 1885,
Neither the French government
nor the French people are unduly
concerned over the manifestations
from across the Alps The italian
people are making grave mistake
if they believe that France is going
to give up an inch Of her national
territory under the threat of force.
France is determined to defend by
arms all her possessions against any
menace from whatever quarters"
This was Premier Edouard Da-
LADDERS answer to the shouts of the
italian press and the Italian Parlia-
ment for the annexation Of Tunis,
Djibouti, Corsica and number of
towns in South of France.
The French war ministry is housed
in an old gloomy building, dating
back to the 18th century. The Pre-
mier and the minister of national
defense live there. In accordance
with the French custom. the republic
offers its important cabinet officers,
besides fair salaries, handsome resi-
dences with much tradition and at
mosphere and few bathrooms or ad-
equate heating.
Daladier Gloomy.
Daladier is, If possible, even more
gloomy than the building he inhab-
its. Behind desk laden with doc
uments and papers which represent
over a billion and a half dollars
new expenditure for the French
army. aviation and navy (he is the
co-ordinator of the three services)
the French Premier has a lost gaze:
his Munich gaze, say his political
opponents. Heavily built, tough
looking, the French premier repre-
sents, or used to represent, the aver
age Frenchman of today. A British
politician described him recently as
"a man with the frame of a bull and
the soul of a cow" This Is not en-
tirely true. Daladier is not chickens
hearted.
The son of a baker from Orange
County in Provence (south of
France, he is, like the great majori-
ty Of the present French political
leaders, a self-made man. He is a
lawyer by profession. fought in the
World War, not on the general stan,
but in the trenches. and reached the
rank Of captain in the infantry.
Went whole-heartedly into politics
soon after the war as a member OF
the leftist Socialist party and was,
with Leon Blum, one of the CO.
makers of the famous Front Popu-
laire-the French new deal which
nobody can yet say has brought
France either close to ruin or to
social appeasement.
Lost Old Ease.
That Daladier is a sad man, there
is no doubt. He used to be easy going
and had all the characteristics of
the Southern temperament-he was
loquacious, smiling, effusive and
happg-go-lucky. He has lost all
these.
He went to Munich because he
could not help himself. France to-
day, from the point OF view of her
foreign policy, is hanging desper-
ately on the coattails of John Bull.
And when it became evident that
Mr.. Chamberlain could not possibly
ask his people to support France in
a war against Germany to save
Czecho-Slovakia, he bowed to the
inevitable and suffered what he
terms 1.-The Munich humiliation.
More confident in the strength of
the French Army than his collea que
at the foreign affairs. he realized all
the same that Germany's quick ac-
ton against the Czechs would make
a war to save that country impos-
sible. 1t would have taken at the
best three months for the French
to break through the Siegfried Cthe
Lime as the Germans call it, line.
BY that time there might have been
no Czecho- o-Slovakia left. He bowed
to a superior reason of state and
did something which he personally,
had he not been in Office. would have
urged the government to turn down.
He signed the Munich pact. And in
doing this Daladier had to part
company with his friends in the ex-
treme Socialist camp-friends with
whom he fought for years to bring
to power the Front Populaire. Mu-
mich and the betrayal" of his own
political friends are the cause of
Daladier's continued nostalgia. OF
course, he could not do otherwise.
Labor Weakens France.
A few weeks after Munich the
Federation of Labor organized a
political general strike. This strike.
if permitted to take place, would
have crippled France for long time
and would have defeated the very
purpose on which the foreign policy
of the Front Popular is based: An
eventual showdown with the to-
talitarian states. AS a member Of
the Blum cabinet, as minister of
national defense, he knew better
than anybody else that at the bot
tom of Frances military weakness
was the selfish policies of the Con-
federation Generate du Travail with
their 40-hour week when the Ger
mans and the Italian workmen
were required to work 60 or even 65
hours week for national defense.
He knew better than anybody else
that during the three months pre-
ceding the September crisis the
German output of airplanes reached
some 750 month, while the French
factories were happy to produce 26
planes month (only three of these
were heavy bombers). He also knew
that the average French worker was
fed up with political strikes which
made him idle for time and made
holes in his pocket for a still longer
time.
Daladier decided to break the
strike with determination is
to say, with the help of the army.
Hence the hue and cry of his former
colleagues that he had dctatorial
intentions and the shouts Of Joy of
those who are looking for such a
person. Here is our man. Here is
%l,n f,,t,,rn fof ~ Tyro To-