THE FRENCH DEMANDS

Mr. Abbott's article on the Conference published in this issue of the CRIMSON is one of the most interesting of the series. When the press suddenly announced last week that, after the naval ratio of the Big Three had been finally settled satisfactorily, France had turned the whole business topsy-turvy by asking for an increased navy, the news came as somewhat of a shock. All progress at Washington seemed to be in a fair way of being checked. The feeling of optimism that had spread over the country gave way to one of blank amazement. What did the French demands mean? She cannot pay for the navy she wants, said some; she is driving a bad bargain, said others. Many doubted her sincerity.

As Mr. Abbott points out, their doubts and fears are not warranted. What France did was the result of a mental habit entirely different from that of the other nations at the Conference. Where they have been only too glad to reach public opinion through the newspapers, she has given the press correspondents no idea of her true position. Where they have eagerly put their problems before the readers of the country, she, because her newspapers are different, thought her "case could wait until it was presented by diplomats to diplomats." The extraordinary role that the public has played in the proceedings at Washington is a little beyond the ken of continental France.

No wonder then that the press blazed away with the sensational news of her naval demands. It did not understand the French and their ways, while the French did not understand the press and its possibilities. Mr. Abbott's article restores our previous optimism. France is not insincere and she does not intend to block progress. She has made an unfortunate mistake by misunderstanding the environment that has done much to accomplish things in Washington; let us not make an even more unfortunate mistake by misunderstanding France and her motives.