Coolidge Criticized

When Premier Herriot fell from the grace of the Senate, last week (TIME, Apr. 13), for secretly pursuing a policy of inflation, U. S. President Calvin Coolidge took what was called an "unprecedented step": he paid tribute to the fallen Premier.

The gist of his remarks was that M. Herriot had achieved much in coming to a reparations settlement with Germany and that he should feel great satisfaction therein. The President went on to say that he had read with sympathy the view expressed in the newspapers that the Premier's financial difficulties were inherited and not of his own making.

Almost unanimously, the French press resented the U. S. President's "interference in the domestic policies of France"; naturally the Opposition papers were loudest.

La Liberte, which supports MM. Poincare and Millerand, said:

"A constant and safe rule of international life is that Governments must not mix in the domestic politics of other countries.

"Therefore, we have a right to be surprised that the President of the United States does not follow this rule.

"Mr. Coolidge is the head of a conservative Government. Over there he fights against all that M. Herriot represents here.

"However, we can understand Mr. Coolidge's motives when he shows his preference for the fallen Minister. Anglo-Saxoon money still fights against

Poincarism; and even if the franc is to follow the route of the. mark, they seem to prefer to let France stew in her Socialist juice for a while."

L'Edair, supporter of M. Briand: "The French public will receive with surprise such a statement by President Coolidge. It is entirely without precedent that the head of a State should intervene in such a manner in the political crisis of another country."

L'Oeuvre, a Herriot newspaper: "This declaration surprises us, for we cannot remember the chief of a Government, so mixing in our domestic politics."