"Unanimous Desire"

"Uncle Arthur" Henderson, beefy British Foreign Secretary, is a Scotsman who stands by his friends. Only he of all the 20 Foreign Ministers gathered at Geneva last week went down to the station to meet Aristide Briand, just defeated in the election for President of France (see p. 23). Warmly Uncle Arthur and Br'er Briand clasped hands. Nobody knew then whether the Frenchman was still Foreign Minister or just Citizen Briand. His resignation was in the hands of Prime Minister Pierre Laval of France, but the Cabinet had issued an evasive communique suggesting that it might be withdrawn. Briand himself had said sturdily, "I resigned--it was my duty, wasn't it?" On leaving Paris, cheered wildly at the station by a French crowd in which prominent Frenchmen were conspicuous by their absence, M. Briand had accepted a large bouquet of red roses from a young woman, apparently of the working class. Her face was tearstained. Overcome by emotion she managed to gasp, "I--I love you, Monsieur le President!" For a moment the old, defeated man standing at the door of his Pullman did not reply. Then accepting the roses with a low bow, he said: "I would rather hear those words from you, Madame, than from the best qualified member of the National Assembly."* After the train steamed out, the crowd remained for some time, shouting "Vive Briand! Vive la Paix!" But even though news of this demonstration reached Geneva, no friend of cabinet rank was at the station except the Scotsman. "All That Is Best." It was said that M. Briand had come to Geneva only to preside as Chairman at the meeting of the Commission on European Union ("The United States of Europe") of which he is President. When the Commission met next day, the entrance of Chairman Briand was received by the representatives of 27 nations in dead silence. At this Uncle Arthur boiled over. Jumping up, he delivered extempore a Scotch tribute, restrained but vibrant with suppressed intensity: "M. Briand, in my humble judgment, symbolizes in his ideals, in his spirit, in his years of devoted and capable service, all that is best in connection with the League--and when we say that in these days, it means all that is best for the peace of the world and for harmony in international relationships. "In view of what has taken place it would be idle for us to pretend to each other that the position of M. Briand remains exactly the same as it was. ... I have risen for the purpose of expressing what I believe to be the unanimous desire of this gathering--as it would be the unanimous desire of a larger gathering like the Assembly [of the League of Nations] if that were gathered together--to say that M. Briand retains to the very full all the confidence any one of us or all of us ever had in him and in his work in connection with this League and the European Commission. "We can only express the hope that he may be long with us to guide us, lead us, advise and inspire us." At this roar from the British Lion, the other animals in the League Ark took their cue, applauded. Square Head? Dr. Julius Curtius, smooth-shaven German Foreign Minister --the man whose policy of Austro-German Zollverein (customs union) dealt such a blow to M. Briand's presidential chances --conferred privately with Chairman Briand before the Commission met. They agreed that neither would raise the Zollverein issue in commission, leaving it to be discussed by the Council of the League. Dr. Curtius then got it into his German head that he could keep this promise by talking about the merits of customs unions in general, not mentioning Austria or Germany. When he proceeded to do so, Chairman Briand, his nerves raw, may have thought Dr. Curtius was either a squarehead or no man of his word. Briand cut in: ". . . We must not attempt what it is forbidden to attempt!* . . ." This enraged Dr. Curtius, who seemingly thought he had been betrayed. "Monsieur Briand," cried the German, "has declared this plan for a customs union forbidden. It is not the business of this committee to decide that! That is a point for the League Council to consider." Figuratively M. Briand threw up his French hands--adjourned the session soon afterward to prevent more blundering. In Germany a large section of the Press was indignant. Germania, the Cabinet organ, flayed "M. Briand's astoundingly sharp answer to a calm and purely objective speech by the German Foreign Minister." French Plan. The Curtius-Briand quarrel brought United-States-of-Europe talk to an abrupt halt. It also weakened the slender chance that the League Council (which can only act by unanimous vote) would be able to get anywhere with its May agenda. When the Council met, two days later, two of its biggest jobs were: 1) to prepare for the (League) World Disarmament Conference, which may or may not meet in 1932; 2) to give a decision on the legality of Zollverein. Ordinarily the Council dodges important decisions, was expected last week to dodge by sending Zollverein to the World Court. To create a diversion the French delegation circulated a plan 50 pages long. In essence it proposed (as a substitute for bilateral customs unions) a pan-European pact for economic and financial cooperation. As France now holds the lion's share of Europe's gold, and as money talks, much may come of this plan. But on its face it looked only a trifle less vague than the "United States of Europe." Abruptly the League was startled by Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Maximovitch Litvinov. In an unheralded speech he proposed a Pact of Economic Non-Aggression between Russia and other States "for the peaceful co-existence of the Soviet and Capitalist systems." Russia, he said, would agree with Capitalist countries on a program of no dumping by anyone. "Let the States represented here," he shrewdly concluded, "adopt a general convention providing for compulsory sale of commodities in home markets at the same low prices which prevail in foreign markets."

* Which elects the President.

* France holds that Austro-German union of any sort, political or economic, is forbidden by the post-War treaties.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.