FRANCE
Cleveland to Paris
It was largely due to a man from Cleveland that the panic did not extend so far that the whole population would have left [Paris] and the Germans marched in. —Lord Northcliffe
"The man from Cleveland returned last week to Paris aboard the chic, sumptuous S. S. Paris of the French Line. Landing at Havre, he was welcomed by the Mayor. Stepping off his train at the Gare St. Lazare, he was embraced by the Military Governor of Paris, sleek General Henri Joseph Etienne Gouraud. French throngs jammed the station, crying "Vive L'Ambassadeur! Vive Herrick!" Not often does France welcome so tried and sterling a friend as the U. S. Ambassador, Myron Timothy Herrick, who returned, last week, after a long, treacherous illness at his home in Cleveland, to Paris, his other home. . . .
Accompanying the Ambassador were his son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Parmely Herrick. They beamed as he cried to the crowds: "Merci! Merci! Mes amis!" They sped with him to the U. S. Embassy, where he was welcomed in behalf of the American Club of Paris by its President, smart expatriate Percy Piexotto. Followed a two-minute reply by Mr. Herrick, who seemed not fully convalescent and leaned heavily on his cane. Said he ". . . One thing is certain! No matter what are the prevailing differences between France and the United States, ... a way to satisfy both countries will inevitably be found. . . ." Unable to attend the official luncheon of welcome, former Ambassador to the U. S. Jules Jusserand sent a message: "Should the President attempt to remove Mr. Herrick from the Paris post, treaties or no, France will declare war on the United States forthwith." Laughter.
Loomed before Ambassador Herrick, last week, the grave "differences" to which he referred: 1) The high French import duties upon U. S. goods have been lowered only provisionally and await final negotiations; 2) The Briand-Kellog conversations looking to a peace pact have virtually deadlocked although Mr. Herrick himself said, last week: "I am anxious to see negotiations for a lasting pact with France outlawing war completed as soon as possible"; 3) the Franco-U. S. debt funding agreement is still unratified by France, a fact which Mr. Herrick tactfully dismissed, in speaking to French correspondents. Said he: "You do not hear anyone mention that subject on either side of the Atlantic just now."
Friends of Myron Timothy Herrick were confident that he would deal with these problems in a characteristic manner.
Culturally Ambassador Herrick is Franco-American. Patriotically he is straight U. S. As an upright lawyer and a banker of authentic vision, he is cream skimmed from the Western Reserve. Complex, he interests. Last week his many admirers, loyal, enthusiastic, dwelt again on the five major steps in his triumphantly surprising life:
Youth. Born 73 years ago on a farm in Lorain County, Ohio, child Herrick was not even then so remote from France and culture as to escape frequent readings aloud by his father of many a "standard work," among them those of Victor Hugo.