New Berlin Man

The Cabinet of Premier Pierre Laval met last week and nominated a new Ambassador to Berlin. Andre Franc,ois-Poncet. Pierre de Margerie, France's present 69-year-old Ambassador to Germany, is retiring, as punishment for not warning his Government of the imminence of Germany's economic crisis four months ago, for not foreseeing the probable results of Chancellor Bruning's historic visit to Ramsay MacDonald at Chequers.

Andre Franc,ois-Poncet will be an ornament to Unter den Linden. His shirts, his hats, his trousers are always of the latest cry. He has been listed with the smart-chart author Andre de Fouquieres, wasp-waisted Marquis Boni de Castellane and silk-stocked old E. Berry Wall as one of the four best-dressed men in Paris. His little mustaches that curl gracefully to his nose and his dapper manner remind old U. S. playgoers of the late Sam Bernard in The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer.

There is nothing Hoggenheimer about dandy Franc,ois-Poncet's ability as a politician, his suitability as Ambassador to Berlin. Only 44 years old, he has had a rocket career. He became a Deputy only seven years ago. Since then he has won his way into the good graces of Briand, Tardieu and Premier Laval. He took a post in the Laval Government as Undersecretary of State for National Economy. He speaks German and English with only the slightest trace of an accent, for he was educated in Germany before the War. In 1923 during the Ruhr occupation he served as chief of the French press section at Dusseldorf. Most important, he is one of those who believe thoroughly in the rapprochement of France and Germany. Germans hailed his appointment with gusto.

In Berlin Ambassador Franc,ois-Poncet's first job will be to prepare for the coming of Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and Premier Laval, first visit of a French Premier to Berlin since Germany became a unified nation 61 years ago. That visit, long in prospect, was still very indefinite last week. First announced at the time of the Bruening-Laval conversations in Paris some six weeks ago (TIME, July 27), the matter was dropped when French nationalists roared in protest. As soon as the Bruning Government won the Prussian state plebiscite against the Hitlerites (TIME, Aug. 17) the Laval visit came up again. This time it was definitely announced for the end of August. Again there were objections. Again the visit was postponed, this time because of old Brer Briand's health. Latest news on the Laval-Briand visit last week was that it was to take place immediately after the League of Nations Assembly next month.

Meanwhile French editors who had earlier blamed Laval for "going over to the enemy" and only fortnight ago accused him of being in "too great a hurry" last week had a change of heart and blamed Laval for not going to Berlin weeks ago. They raked up Andre Tardieu's scathing description of Briand's foreign policy, "Messieurs, he does nothing! It is the policy of a dead dog floating down a stream."

Urging immediate personal exchanges between the heads of the French and German Governments, Economist Lucien Romier wrote in Le Petit Parisien:

"Peace, that is to say normal relations between peoples, is no longer founded on idealistic sentiments or on abstract definitions of the rights of each. It is founded on an exchange of interests and on the compensation of reciprocal needs."

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