Stupendous Prestidigitations

Stupendous Prestidigitations

Reluctant but extraordinary tributes were paid last week by Paris' most blase correspondents to Premier Pierre Laval, the shrewd, earthy "Honest Broker" of the negotiations to make peace at Ethiopia's expense. Cabled the New York Herald Tribune's James M. Minifie: "By his policy of obstructing the League's attempts to bring the aggressor nation to its knees, Premier Pierre Laval has gained more personal popularity in France than he has enjoyed for a long time. . . . The average man does not want to risk a fight. France is the average man, and Laval reflects France."

Although the New York Times is loudest in editorially deploring the "honest broking" of the French Premier, P. J. Philip, its longtime Paris man, felt obliged to radio: "Even in France, which has had a long succession of astute statesmen and politicians from the days of Richelieu and Mazarin to Thiers and Briand, Pierre Laval seems likely, on the present showing, to have a niche to himself.

"During the past month especially his prestidigitation has been almost stupendous. Italy and Ethiopia, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, the League of Nations, France's finances, her patriotic leagues-- he has been keeping all the balls in the air.

"Every one is asking how long it can last. But Mr. Laval proves the truth of the proverb that threatened men live long. Some say he is lucky, but his luck has recently been that of a man who thinks quicker than his opponents and is always one move ahead."

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