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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1927-10-06, Page 3Raymond -Poincare Master of finance More Powerful Than Ever, . He I -las Unshaken, Confidence In His Country's Will to Overcome All Difficulties FORTY YEARS OF SERVICE By • Sisley Huddleston ---Paris foo*Lsistentaccurse of l3:aYmond Poiu- After forty .years of Parliamentary 'care, Comparisons are odious, and it life Raymond •Poiaaeare ins' more power- i, is not nay purpose to belittle any ser- ful thee, ;ever; more powerful than , vent of France; but it is necessary an man has been of reoent • years in • to make it clear that in the terrible France. His has been an aetondshing ; emergency of last year it was impos- career. Always has he been called j sible to name a single man who had at difficult tinges, and always has heI such unquestionable ability, such an, Surmounted •tile successive crises, !unblemished career, and who was so One would have thought thet'he could 'universally trusted as Poincare, have risen no higher than to the post of President of the Republic. Yet he has discovered higher posts. French Presidents, upon leaving of - That is why even his political op- ponents admit that he is the Master of France. He has not attained this 'supremacy by methods of terrorism, . flee, usually go into retirement, con- 1 has .not used, his power brutally, has sidering their career •.elo'sed.- Ray- not shown personal ambition or en deauor to impose himself, .after -the manner of certain dictators that France and other countries have known. He is what he is and where mondPoincare could not 'consent to re- linquish the service of his country. ° Exactly a year ago, when France.seem- ed doomed to disaster—for if the franc had fallen to zero there would" un-, he is by sheer merit, by general re doubtedly • have been the gravest 'cognition of his indispensability. social upheavals—he, a former Presi- dent, became Prime"Minister. He be- came net merely Prime Minister --he became master of France. Early Success. Not a Party Man. Not a single party can boast that Sir Arthur Keith Poincare is its man. They are all President of the British Association displeased with him because he does of Scientists meeting in Leeds. He not play their game. The parties of is an eminent professor. From 1887 to 1927—what a world of the Right are often angry because he i history .has been made since at the does not favor them. The parties of age of 27- the young man of Lorraine, the Left cannot claim him as their who had seen the Prussian invasion leader. Yet the Right dare not over - of 1870, first entered the Chamber of : throw him and the Radicals acknowl- Deputies! There were the Legion of i edge that they have noboby big en - Honor scandals which ied to the re- � *ugh. to put in his place, Even the iSocialisto, when they vote against him, do so onlybecause they are sure their votes will not upset him. The parties wrangle among themselves,, but. Poincare 'they put on a higher plane. The Future. signation of the President, Jules Grevy. There was the election of Gen- eral Boulanger; who -appeared to be a new Napoleon, a blond -bearded man. on .a • black horse, the idol of the crowd. There were the earliest First of May -manifestations. There was the assassination of President Sadi- Carnot. There was' the outbreak- of anarchist crimes, including the throw- ing et a bomb among- the •Deputies- of the Palais-Bourban. There was the unprecedented agitation about the Dreyfus, affair, which sundered friends ante divided families and was carried •on for long, bitter years. And then there was.the .great.strug It is possible, of course, that be- fore the general elections next year they will actively resume their -strife and, ignoring the needs of France, will place one of their members in office to prepare the ' elections. Yet even this is doubtful, for the people would not -forgive • any party that .interfered -with the work of Poincarenbefore•.he has consolidatedthe results of the gie that brought about the .separation year's- direction of publicflnances. of Church and State. There was Memories•are •shortlived, but It is •the tremendous incident :of Agadir, when war with Germany was 'narrow- ly averted. "'There was, a few years later, the German declaration of war. And all thrcugh the violent vicissi- tudes of fortune Poincare calmly pre- . sided over the destinies of his coun- was shattered. The fiduciary issue of try. until American aid turned the the Banque de France had been in - scarcely necessary te recall=the chaos produced by a series of Finance Minis- ters who were threatening to confisc- ate capital or were menaced by politicians whose doctrines called for confiscation of capital. Public credit scale. There was the Peace Conference opened by Poinoare. There was the occupation of the Ruhr, which it is now easy to criticize, but into which Poincare was forced by circumstances. There was the appointment of the Dawes. Committee, whose conclusions were accepted by Poincare. There was the Locarno policy, in which! Poincare acquiesced. Then a year ago carne the collapse of French finances and the appeal to Poincare to save France ffom complete shipwreck—a task which he has accomplished triumphantly, and modestly. A Wonderful Record. It would be hard to .discover a re- cord which can even be compared with the record of Poincare. Through- out all these events he 'has remained precisely •the same Poincare—dispas- sinoate, conscientious, caring nothing for popularity, industrious, high -prin- cipled, unshaken in his confidence of French resiliency, exceptionally in- telligent. He has never indulged in histrionics; has never struck atti- tudes. He has been the exact op- posite of the popular conception of the Frenchman, for the popular concep- tion of the Frenchman is of an excit- able, flamboyant individual, and is forgetfulof the qualities of logic, order and method which were taught by Descartes, whose work constitutes the 'basis of French education. A High Type. In my opinion the politicians in France often represent the worst ele- ments of the- French Nation, and against some: of them—even against some who t,iave risen to great heights —the breath of suspicion ,Jtas been directed. Bait against 'Poincare there bas never'been breathed' the slightest suggestion of scandal. His family life hag been exemplary; his moral inte- grity is acknowledged; his intellectual honesty is above, reproach. �. Like every -other politician, he has had to make concessions •to his ad- versaries and to kis supporters, but he has done so while keeping his own, position intact. For example, the majority in the present Pariiatnent. wished 'to change the electoral 'law. Mr. Poincare was' personally opposed to the change; • But hi the interest of national union, and latent on liis own financial job, he agreedto stand aside and let Parliament decide far itself. He kept his own view, but, regarding it as secondary, subordinated it to his more important task. One is not always obliged, in season or out; of season, to fight for' minor matters,(but ono is obliged to preserve one' judg- mentand to agree to disagree. This is the only kind of surrender of which Poincare has ever been guilty. Above All Others. No wonder that Frenchmen should look upon Poincare as standing 'head• and shoulders above' all other states- rnen. Other etatesxhert• have :gifts that aro not to be ,despised., but none of; than can put forward claims to any tbhig like the long and varied 'expert- ante, the uttbroken liter of devotion„ to the ptiblie treel, the utiewervieg and creased by 17,000,000,•000 paper francs, and it was obvious that successive Governments, unless something were done, would have no alternative to the further printing of paper money. In consequence there was a panic, and the franc, which used to be five to the dollar, was rapidly becoming worth nearly fifty to the dollar. In the 'coffers of the Treasuryn, thelre was not much more than a million dol- lars, and the grave question arose whether France would be able to pay its way. Bankruptcy was immin- ent. People were withdrawing what- ever .money they had and sending it abroad. 1926 Success. Angry mobs began to clamor in the streets. But the moment M. Paha care took office in July, 1926, alarm was' dissipated. Quietly, without ostentation, he performed a miracle.. Like all miracles, it was performed by the simplest means—confidence, industry, method. He imposed new taxation and nobody ventured fore - fuse his demands. He bale-ncec the budget. He gradually built up re- serves for the French State, which to- day has a billion dollars in 'gold cur- rency. With its gold holdings the Banque de France is entirely master of the rate of exchange of the franc; and in- deed other 'countries have shown some apprehension at the strength of the Banque de France, which is capable .of embarrassing them. Hence the re- cent conference of bankers in New York. The State has pair off a good proportion of its borrowings from the Banque, and will continue to make an- nual payments. an experienced Senator of his depart- ment said in presenting 'bim to the electors: "Vote for this young man! I know him—he will be one day Presi- dent of the .republic!" At the age of 33 he was Minister of Education, of Beaux Arts and of Religion. It is recorded that when he was made Minister .Poincare said to his_ distinguished brother, Lucien Poin- care, afterward rector of the Univer-, sity of Paris: "I am sorry, but your career will be checked. You must ex- pect no advancement while I am Minister." He has always _ been scrupulous — perhaps 'excessively scrupulous. Later Success. Poincare's forty years have been thus allocated: Deputy more than fifteen years; Senator more than seventeen; President of the republic,; seven. Pour 'tii es.:has.he been 'Prime : Minister and eight times Ministed., Twice 'irreas.Eduoation'Minister three, times Foreign -Minister,-.three• times Finance Minister. He has • actually been in power formore-than fourteen years. But he 'has been virtually in power for a much longer period. Ofter Poincare is misunderstood. In my contact with him I was not long in discovering that he is, despite all his accomplishments, despite all the courage he , dispalys, essentially a timid man. It is this timidity that makes him appear cold and brusque. At heart he is exceedingly sensitive and bas a strong vein of'sentimental- ity; but poor psychologists have only seen the defensive armor of apparent insensibility. He is an indefatigable worker. He even writes to -day, in his own handwriting, letters that have in any way a personal flavor. Recently, for example, I saw in his characteristic caligraphy his courteous reply to a painted whom he had never met but who desired to paint his portrait. Hard, Worker. He loves to study for the sake of study, and is never idle; he appre- ciates the most 'difficult 'problems, and makes his decisions only after full deliberation.' Every day he calcul- ates precisely what efforts he can make and arranges his timetable to the second. Such is the man who is credited with having saved his coun- try, financially and socially.—N. Y. Times. Business ideals are the sign -posts of business .conduct. No Heir Yet. Japanese'Prayers for imperial Heir ;Were Not Answered Not an heir to the throne of Japan but a scoond daughter has came to' the horreehold of Hirohito, the Em- peror. For more thena year all the priests of the temples had prayed for an im- perial heir, and the Japanese subjects sounded prayer bells and bought charms to give expression to the na- tional hope. • Then on Sept, 7 an announcement came from the Aoyama detached pal- ace that prayers were about to be an- awered. Throngs gathered and pray- ed again for three days and nights. The crowd was composed mostly of women, whose supplications are be- lieved, to be especially efficacious. On; Sept. 10 at dawn, accompanied by the booming of cannon, the birth of a child was announced from the specially constructed wooden birth - house outside the palace. But the child was a princess. Disappointment that the eagerly awaited babe was not to carry on the line of male descend- ants of the reigning house was dis- cernible despite rejoicing that the Em- press -was well and that a long period of mourning for the. late Emperor of- ficially ended with the birth of the child. The Emperor Hirohito saw his sec- ond -born an hour later. . However, despite the fact that the millions in .Tokio .and other large cities knew qf the tiny imperial arrival, she was not officially born until Sept. 14, when the Emperor dispatched formal announce- ment of the little Princess's arrival to the nobility and aninperial Prince Of ;the blood . connected with the sa- cred ancestral shrine at Ise hurried to that southern point to announce the news to the gods. . Gifts and Felicitations. • Eminent Financier. But most astonishing of all is M. Poincare's method of dealing with the floating debt. There was ansimmense amount of short-term bonds : in exis- tence, and a run on the Treasury might have brought about ruin, A sinking fund has been instituted. Bonds for one month, three months' and six months no longer exist. One- year bonds are no longer issued. Two bonds bear only 5 per Dent. interest. Consolidation loans which- have been highly successful have converted a vast amount of outstanding loans al- most immediately repayable into loans redeemable fifty years hence. The franc now stands at about twenty-five to the dollar and could be vastly im- proved at a moment's notice if there Were not sound economic reasons for maintaining it at its present level. These things have been accotnplisheai, without the damage to French trade that was predicted by doleful prophets. Early History. Raymond Poincare was born in 1.S&0 at Bat -le -Duo, in Lorraine, not far from the French frontier. Have you ever nt Iced what a large proportion of the great !nen of 'every country conte from the border towns? At the' age of 26 he:was General Councillor forth,: Menge. The next "year' he -entered ,tied Chamber, It Is curious to note that at his • first candidature Flower Leis • Garlands Used by Hawaiians, To Convey Their Affection Pictures of the air .pilots who cross- ed the Pacific from San Francisco to Honolulu show tbem in Honolulu, gar- landed witb fragrant .Hawaiian flower leis; wreaths of tropical flowers hung around their necks, twined around their hats, even placed on, their ma- chines. Sharp contrasts meet in Hawaii., Twentieth century flying machines' stand out against the background of Primitive native customs, of which the lie is perhaps the most picturesque. "Aloha!" is the smiling greeting of the Hawaiian as he garlands the visit. Viscount Cecil or with fragrant leis of frangipanrti, Who resigned the chancellorship of piumeria and sweet-smelling matte' the Duchy of Lancaster, an office he vine. "Aloho oe" ("My love to you") is the last poignant refrain played by the Royal Hawaiian Band as the ship` sails away. The last memories of. Hawaii are the perfume -drenched' flower leis with which the returning visitor is^.- decked. Fragrant Sower, leis are hung around his neck and round his hat. They drape his arms.+ The lei holds within its perfumed blossoms the essence of Aloha—the love -gift of the Islands and all the lure of the South Seas. Not only the visitor, but nearly Haddon Hall, once the home of the every one in the islands as well wears lovely and daring Dorothy Vernon, is leis • made of . flowers, of . feathers; of now aglow with electric lights. ac-! the scarlet seeds of the will -will tree hone le with' plans to make it a or the polisifed black kukui nuts. Hats habitable, modern dwelling, the Duke are decked with •leis of sweet white of Rutland has thoroughly renovated the handsome old place, which stood silent and untenanted for two cen- turies. It was recently opened to the public upon the occasion of a charity has held since 1924. Haddon Hall Modernized Later, announcement of the birth summarily ordering -them -to the capi- tal, the peers of the island realm gathered with their felicitations and gifts. Each bore a hundred eggs tied in ar, long.atraw• casing,- omens., of good -luck. With the eggs, came;: ailks and brocades andivory carv4ngsa warrior dolls; ceremonial swords,.bags.of.rice, jugs of wine; -fowl- and -fruit. Every gift, ..no- matter: how trival, •no . matter how valuable, was accompanied by a ;fish. A.papier-mache dog, a distorted and bulky figure with a hideous face and large, bawky eyes, was the most important gift. It is supposed to bring good fortune. Consulting priests and seers, the Regent pondered a name for the baby Princess. Her time of birth, the sea- son, the position o fthe stars in the lilevens, all must be taken into con- sideration. Perhaps the new child will ' be named Hiru—pawn. This would be her palace pet name until she • is formally named, and she would retain it through childhood. Ceremony will lag in the imperial nursery for the next thirty-three days. The -child then will be taken to an im- perial shrine, perhaps the main one at Ise. There will he pageantry and cere- monies. She will learn to sew, to embroider, to pour tea with the thousand and one intricate gestures, to play upon the koto, the Japanese piano; to write verse, play games, read and write Japanese, Chinese, English and one or two other Western languages, and she • will have to study politics Her mar- riage, when time for that comes, must necessarily be to a minor imperial Prince. Meanwhile, perhaps, she might travel„,but imperial Princesses of the blood seldom get off their own little island.. Battleship or statesmanship? Home Made Famous by Dorothy Vernon is Now in Step With Modern Thought ginger blossoms or have flat hatbands of yellow, .scarlet or gray iridescent feathers. Along the streets 1n Honolulu, on the docks, in the market, rows of na- bazaar and garden fete held in the tive fiowerwomen sit on the: ground, spacious. grounds. baskets before them heaped- with frag- The Duke, whose title dates back to rant leis. Their broadbrimmed native 1641—when a grandson of Dorothy hats are garlanded with blossoms and and John Mannus succeeded to the earldom of Rutland—now oocupies the hall with his•family.. Little has been changed in the interior of the hand- some ivy-covered mansion that so richly reflects the grandeur of old ;England. The flne•.panelling:has. been restored and the • .old•: furniture re- covered either • with antique . -.:brocade or withtextiles faithfully reproducing old patterns. The charm of .antiquity has. even, beenpreserved iu the elec- tric fittings that take the form of silver scones. The work of renovation and repair was entrusted entirely to local crafts- men. Some of the old fireplaces had to be removed, but they have been re- placed by copies made in the nearby village of Bakewell. All the intricate ironwork has been reworked by hand. Haddon Hall had its beginning in the eleventh century and is one of the oldest residences in the British Isles, A Norman touch is still visible in the chapel and in the Peveril tower at the northeast corner. The banqueting hall, in which aponderous seventeenth century refectory table still stands, and the enormous kitchen adjacent date from the•fourteenth century. The ballroom is•early.seventeenth century.'', The present. -arrangement of the ter- races and gardens dates from the same period. -..To Haddon belong,sonae of the most famous and beautiful taperstries in England. The Flemish ones, hang- ing. in. what Is -now •a writing. room, are 400 -years old; others date from the sixteenth and seventheenth cen- turies. "I once knew au artist who painted a - cobweb so realistically that the maid spent several hours trying to gat it down from the ceiling.” "Sorry, dear, I just don't believe it" "Why not? Artists have been known to do such things." "Yes, but not maids" "ADAMSON'S ADVENTURES"—By O. Jacobson. Welt HSI Should Worry l there are flower -wreaths about their necks. Wreaths of scarlet seeds and ber- ries of polished black kukui nuts or glistening brown pandonus, of rare 'white shells from the outlying islands or the tree -shells found on high moun- tain 'trails adorn the dresses of the girls who. take the rainbow - trail up green lelanoa . Valley or stroll under the tall trees. Troubles of . an Island Eden Another Pacific Eden has lapsed into a state of discontent and unhap- piness. That part of the Samoan Island group which came under the mandatory rule of New Zealand at the conclusion of the world war is trou- bled and the New Zealand Government has asked for the appointment of a royal commission to investigate eondt- tions and propose remedies. Trouble is not generally accepted as having' its habitation on these delectable is- lands, where life was supposed to pass evenly and serenely without worries and with no shadows other than those cast by the ever -bountiful breadfruit trees. The latest news had of the Samoan Islands was that brought by members of an around the world cruise party that stopped at one of the chief ports. Where,. they had, expected to see a realization of the romance and beauty of South Sea stories they found "be- trousered men > and, women in long skirts so: dour that they would not act as their guides or sell them native fruit because it was Sunday." But at the same time the party was told of the progress made by the natives in the arts of civilization. This im- provement is referred to in the last report made by the island adminis• tration. The water supplies had been increased, medical campaigns had been successful in lengthening native life and there is every indication that "the 40,000 Samoans will doable their numbers:" The implication of an un- official observer of conditions, that "efficiency has been overdone in deal- ing with the native population," is not embodied in this report. A correspondent of the London Times -says that "it is alleged that much of the native opposition is due to prohibition." That the natives should not have' access to liquor was In the terms of the mandate, but, says the correspondent, -"in order to tacit', tate-,the 'administration the New Zea- land Government has include!' all Europeans in the prohibition." The result la t'a•at• in .the. Samoan Islands `,'home brewing has become a highly developed art;" The opposition to the present order ,of things, which seems to be centered in a league Claiming to represent i0 per cent. of the peo- ple of the island, includes the Gov- ernment stand on prohibition as one of its grievances and an act of auto- cracy which has "been greatly instrtt mental in causing unrest among the Samoan 1et5ple." The New Zealand Government, however, is not convinc- ed that this is really responsible for the present disaffection toed it hast resolved upon an inquiry "to find out how bast to mitigate the inflamed state of feeling that undoubtedly exists." The vicar of a sporting parish drew consistently entail congregations. One day after service, an old gentleman asked the parson why It should be so. "Alt, well," explained the preacher, "I only expect them to come 'weather permitting' you know." "But," ab- jected the parishioner, "take to -day for eitaniple fill stere it le beautiful. ly Rao' and clear." "Just. so," Raid the. clergyman sadly, "this is the ,sort o4 weather .'that^ doesn't permit, Ws se s'ood for goliliait "r . .1