(3 of 3)
". . . Right now the representatives of the two Governments have desired to underline their desire to create between them . . . conditions favorable to effective collaboration . . . and they have agreed to begin associating their efforts so that credit and confidence may be restored in an atmosphere of calm and security."
Observers interpreted this to mean that both France and Germany realized that this time an agreement must be reached; that it was no longer possible for France to leave Germany completely to her fate.
Both French and German delegations took the same train to London. Public smiles were even broader. Swarthy Laval waved a newspaper over his head and laughed out loud to the delight of photographers. German Foreign Minister Curtius had something real to smile about. Word had just reached him that he was for the first time a grandfather. But gloomy was Scot MacDonald who opened the conference that night. Said he: "If we cannot find a solution to the present crisis it will be difficult to stay the flood before it has overwhelmed the whole of Central Europe, with consequences—social, political and financial —which no one can estimate. . . . Time is against us. Every day adds to the risk of a collapse which will be outside human control."
"France was the only power to make a suggestion," said Premier Laval tersely to French newshawks. But let no one think that "we have come to London to discuss disarmament or revision of the peace treaties."
*Customs are the favorite U. S. security when lending money to Santo Domingo, Haiti, Nicaragua. *Prince von Bismarck, first Chancellor of the German Empire, was in Paris as a conqueror when the German Empire was declared. When he entered the city he was merely Chancellor of Prussia.