| Show WHO'S i. i NEWS NEWS THIS j. j WEEK By LEMUEL F. F PARTON Consolidated Features Features Service EW YORK This reporter was NEW N in Washington in June 1931 when Pierre Laval made his visit to to President Hoover in the Interest of a debt ad ad- adIn adIn it i i In rn a Small World M. M MIts Its It's Only a Short Laval quite Trip to o Hollywood t I y handed us a anice anice nice little nosegay of a story The story withered and died because its publication might have been tactless at the time when with psalter and harp we hymned a new international brotherhood Today however the story seems pertinent to toM M. M Laval's accurate appraisal in the Europe which we see through a glass darkly The newspapers were were making quite a fuss over M. M Laval and his pretty daughter Josette When a grand limousine called to take him to the White House he was done up in a morning suit and an ascot tie There had been a mix up In La Lathe Inthe inthe the chauffeurs chauffeur's orders and he be had arrived far ahead of sched ule vie How Ilow much time have we ye before we are arc due at the White WhiteHouse House Douse asked M. M Laval LavalA LavalA LavalA A little over two vo hours re re- replied replied plied the chauffeur That is time enough for a drive Is there any any- anything anything anything thing that you oU would particular particular- particularly ly Iy like to sec see M. M Laval pondered this a mo mo- moment moment moment ment and then said Well if U Uwe we have bare all that time I certainly certainly certainly would like to see sec Holly Dolly Hollywood wood M. M Laval's ideas of geography may be more important now than they were then As vice premier of France Prance he throws his weight with the Axis powers p which he frequent frequent- frequently ly has done in a general European hegemony under Germany M. M Laval's ideas of geography may have remotely influenced his decision Its It's a small world world only only a short drive to Hollywood And by the grace of Chancellor Hitler Hitter he may be Frances France's next strong man It will be noted that M. M La La- Laval's Laval's vals val's name is reversible in spell spell- ing So is his career His lis transi transitions lions from left to right and back again have been easy and fre fre- frequent frequent fre- fre frequent quent but mainly from left to right The swarthy thick-set thick time one-time butchers butcher's boy and hack driver of the hill country of Auvergne Au- Au Auvergne vergne always shrewd and dili dili- diligent diligent gent squirreled enough odds and ends of learning without formal schooling to send him in inin InIn inIn in his early twenties as a bel bel- belligerent belligerent bel- bel belligerent Wing Left-Wing union labor lawyer He De entered politics with witha a Soak the rich outcry which advanced him rapidly planted him in Paris as a wealthy and successful su lawyer and made him thrice premier and foreign min min- ister inter He De did not serve in the army during the World war then tagged lagged as a radical and Malmy 1 minister of the interior was accused of pro because he be failed to have Laval arrested for criminal ism It was In the war post-war years that Laval took his sharp swing to the right moving along with Flandin Tardieu Poncet Francois-Poncet and oth oth- others others ers of the powerful and comite des forges groups which sought financial accommodation with Germany before and after the advent of Adolf Hitler O p D the U Greek minister at Washington takes calmly the news of Italy's as as- assault assault assault sault on Greece This is perhaps un- un Greek Minister his 35 Washington in the theTo theTo theTo To the Long 0 service of or his country he has encountered not only wars but periods of exile and jail with everything coming out all right in the end at least so far as he was concerned His occasional jail and exile trou trou- troubles troubles troubles bles have been due to being tempo tempo- temporarily temporarily on the wrong end of arguments arguments ments involving the proper form of government for Greece He is a staunch royalist and a firm believer in monarchial government and is skeptical about the working of de dc- democracy in the United States or elsewhere But he makes it clear that he is not for dictatorship He thinks freedom thrives best under undera a king is an optimist Re Re- Repeatedly Repeatedly in interviews he has hasset hasset hasset set forth the unity and fellow fellow- fellowship fellowship fellowship ship of the Balkans Rumania Turkey and Greece have been to him a solid front of brotherly interests which not even Adolf Hitler will ever be beable beable beable able to break He has denied al allegations al- al allegations allegations legations that Premier John Me- Me Metaxas is a dictator Insisting that all of the traditional freedoms of the press speech and assem assem- assemblage assemblage blage are still zealously guarded In Greece with no invasion of personal liberties |
