Northcliffe Lauds The French Army

New York Times 100 years ago today, February 16, 1913:
Says Cavalry and Artillery Are Finest in World — Germany Now the Weaker Power.
STRASSBURG HOAX BAD SIGN
English Newspaper Proprietor Sees Great Hope in the Revival of National Spirit in the Republic.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    PARIS, Feb. 15.— Among the many prominent foreigners who are quietly studying present-day conditions in France is Lord Northcliffe. During his stay in Paris, after visits to other important French centres, Lord Northcliffe has been giving attention to many live questions.
    In a long conversation with THE NEW YORK TIMES correspondent this week Lord Northcliffe gave some impressions he has received during his stay.
    "I have been greatly struck," he said, "by the evidences all around of a new spirit. I find that it is much more apparent at the present moment than it was months ago, plainly indicating that the national revival was not merely a passing phase stimulated by the Agadir incident, but a new lease of life, which no other nation can afford to ignore.
    "Of the army I need say no more than that in the opinion of the highest military authorities of England (I prefer not to mention names) the French artillery and cavalry are beyond question the finest in the world.
    "As far as I have had the opportunity personally of studying the military question, I have convinced myself that the British War Office is justified in its high opinion of the material and moral efficiency of the army of our partner in the Entente Cordiale.
    "I fully believe that were the French and German armies to come to grips now, the result would be different from 1870. The Strassburg hoax is only one of many signs that there is something wrong in Germany.
    "What can be said of army commanders who do not know the whereabouts of their supreme war lord when every little newspaper faithfully records his every movement? To obtain an idea of the temperamental make-up of the average German, you have only to consider the frame of mind of the high authorities who could for a second time allow themselves to be bluffed by the most transparent of hoaxes.
    "The French people, I am sure, will never cease their preparations until they have endeavored to win back the lost provinces. In any little bookshop can be found a picture postcard telling its own lesson. Here it is. It represents a soldier on sentry duty in a wood. He is musing, and faintly etched in the background is the vision of Alsace. Alsace is in the simple sentry's mind, and Alsace is in the mind of the patriotic men forming the great bulk of France's population to-day.
    "I notice, too, that the night life of Paris has lost its attractiveness for Frenchmen. These are stirring times for the Republic, and more serious things to think about than the pleasures of Montmartre — the army, the great feats of French airmen, and even their modern athletic efficiency."
    Lord Northcliffe agreed that M. Poincaré's election to the Presidency was a good thing for the country, and said that he had been greatly impressed by the fact that men of all shades of political opinion were united in approval of the National Assembly's decision at Versailles.
    Lord Northcliffe has been following the motor bandits' trial, now proceeding in Paris, with the keenest interest, and was one of the spectators in court the other day. He said that what struck him most in the prisoners was their totally different appearance from the average man's conception of the criminal. They were not the low-browed, vicious-looking types of fiction, but neatly groomed, inoffensive looking persons, whose sole bent might be to turn an honest penny in an unimaginative way. Lord Northcliffe added:
    "They use long words in the dock and study Turgenieff, Tolstoy, and Kenan in their cells, but are at the bottom poor creatures. If education can do no more for men than it has done for these people, then education is not worth the time spent on it. But, of course, they are abnormal types, and have only half-learned the lessons of life.
    "What their exploits have plainly shown, however, is that the modern criminal is far ahead of the police in the application of scientific methods.
    "Incidentally, many people think that there is room for reform in the French procedure at criminal trials. In the rôle occupied by the President of the court, which is somewhat similar to that of the prosecutions attorney, the prisoners do not seem to get a fair chance, however impartial the Judge may be. Both the English and the American methods are calculated to give the prisoner a better measure of justice.
    "Again, the man Dieudonne, accused of shooting down a bank messenger and cabman, may be sent to the guillotine merely because the latter formally identifies him as his assailant. But the cabby has frequently seen Dieudonne's portrait in the newspapers and read statements that it was Dieudonne who shot him. It is possible, therefore, for the cabby to be mistaken.
    "Now, at a recent English murder trial the prisoner's head was enveloped in a hood so that no photograph of him might be published, and the evidence eventually given of his identification was thus beyond doubt."
    Lord Northcliffe then touched on business matters.
    "We in England," he said, "are not without a touch of pride that we are doing better than ever before, and enjoying a period of unexampled prosperity, "We do not brag — that is not our way — but we have the cream of the world's affairs in our hands.
    "Let other nations say what they may, England is England yet, and in the future we are going to hold our own in business just as we have held it in the past.
    "Of course, prosperity is world-wide just now, and I think it will continue. Certainly it will in Great Britain, where the general conditions are eminently favorable for a much longer spell of good trade than we have already had."