The Syracuse Journal, Volume 20, Number 37, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 10 January 1929 — Page 2

L , /Imerka’s First _ t /JBPI ' > fill >y' I

4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON

F BENJAMIN FRANKLIN were alive today . . . ! While it mas% perhaps, be idle business to speculate upon the results of such an event as stated in the foregoing, in these modern days of American participation in world affairs and with a new administration facing the solution of important

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international problems, it might be particularly advantageous for this country to have a modern Benjamin Franklin as an “ambassador of good will” ;n helping solve them. For Benjamin Franklin. America’s first “ambassador,” in fact, even if -not officially entitled to that distinction, was one of the most* skillful diplomats who ever represented the United States abroad. As January 17 approaches to mark the anniversary of Franklin’s birth, Americans are likely to remember him principally because Thrift week, which begins on that date, recalls to their minds the fact that Franklin, through his ‘Toor Richard’s Almanac.” was the first American apostle of thrift. The printers and newspaper men of America will remember him then because January 17 is the beginning of Newspaper week and recalls liis great service as a pinoeer in the journalism of this country. And such was the versatility of this man that various other groups will have occasion to remember him because he was an inventor, a scientist, a philosopher and a writer. But few of us know much about him in another role—that of unofficial “ambassador” to France whose accomplishments were of incalculable value to the cause of liberty and hut for whom the struggle to gain that liberty might not have been successful. For that reason the appearance of a new book is particularly timely. It is “Benjamin Franklin of jf’aris. 1770-1785,” written by Willis Steell and published recently by Minton, Balch and company. When Franklin was selected in 1776 as one of three commissioners of equal powers in France to amrie for aid for the revolting colonies, a post which called for the most sagacious kind of handling of delicate international questions, the choice was a happier one than the Continental congress realized authat time. For this was not Franklin’s first visit to France. He had been there in 1707. As a philosopher and a scientist, he had been welcomed by the “best minds” of the time in France and had been invited to become a member of the School of Economists. Doctor Quesnay, former physician to the famous Madame de Pompadour. but more noted as “The Apostle of the Economists,” wrote a note to Mirabeau which said “Doctor Franklin has just left me . . . he is the sage we pictured, that and more, humorist, philosopher, old regime gentleman, a miracle out of an uninhabited country . . .” He was presented at the court of Louis XV ahd made friendships which , were destined to be of great value later. Again in 1709 he returned to France, after an extended stay in England where he served as agent for Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts and had beeif looked upon as a “colonial ambassador” at a time when the first storm' clouds of the Revolution were beginning to loom up on the horizon. On this visit Steell records: “The old friends ran to him in crowds and brought others by their panegyrics. .Mile. Bihuron modeled him in wax. popular artists asked him to sit and if he declined, sketched him from memory. The Economists held a special session in his honor. Dupont, Dubourg, the Count and Countess Maurepas devised entertainments with Franklin as the guest of honor. Now. in fact, and to his satisfaction. Franklin made the acquaintance of an exceeding number of ‘good ladies.’” The popularity of this man, who had once been a penniless boy in Philadelphia, and a “wandering printer” in England and who, when he was later chosen as a commissioner to France, described himself as a “fag end,” because his name came up for consideration in the Continental congress as an afterthought, in Paris, the center of the most brilliant, sophisticated and intellectual social and diplomatic life in Europe, is explained by Steell as follows: » ' When Franklin came to Paris and met the men and women of society, with their graceful logic, their enticing vices, he came not to judge but to accept with open mind all the views and standards of a rationalistic civilization. He had no pride and no reserves; all men Interested him and he could interest any man. He had early learned how to choose the right words to say exactly what he meant to express or to hide

Small Fishes Helpful in Fight on Mosquito

All the pools and swamps in Barbados, West Indies, are stocked “with swarms—-‘‘millions” —of tiny fishes that feed on the larvae of the roos quito. The health board of Antigua, being convinced that these do a valuable missionary work in the consumption of mosquito eggs, some time ago arranged for their systematic distribution throughout the ponds of Antigua The Jamaicans also have utilized

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what he did not; without great originality (in fact, charges of plagiarism brought against him for some of his most famous “pieces” have never been fully disproved), nevertheless his table talk and his letters are as delightful now as they were in his day. Urbane, cheerful, aware of the sun though It might be hidden behind a cloud, this n|an haj by ) nature the gift of social ease. This is a trait to which all French women aspire and one they most admire in their men. Their brothers found him responsible, deliberate, thrifty, all French traits. Is it surprising that they received him as one of themselves? Knowing these facts then, it is not surprising to learn of the ovation which Franklin was given when he arrived in France in November, 1776. In commenting upon that reception Steell draws an interesting parallel with a modern incident. He says: When the news (of Franklin’s arrival) reached Paris, the city turned out en masse. On every tongue sounded the name, "Franquelinl Franquelin!” And an ovation was prepared- for him such as the town had never before arranged for any stranger. Franklin came back not to a small coterie of the intelligentsia but to the whole French people, who had never heard of his former presence among them. The excitement, too, included every class of society, the aristocrats, the bourgeoisie, the workers. “Franquelin!” came from a people sharing a new land with the Red Indians, a land from which the hereditary enemies of France had drivep har settlers and a people which was now engaged in a struggle for life or death with the hated English. In the latter thought may be found a partial reason for their enthusiasm, but only a part. That an oltj, man (the French had added some years to Franklin’s soixante-dix) had left his quiet hearth, braved the winter seas to come to teach them the true rights of man, warmed the universal heart and inspired in each person the' strong desire to see for himself this man—this embodied dream. The aged man, weak from confinement, scarcely able to walk, craved only a quiet inn where he might rest for a few days preparing for the land journey. But 'it was not to be. People crowded round him, to touch his hand, to feel his garment. The huzzas of the crowd kept him from slee- 'ng. A great feast of welcome was made ready for n at Nantes. ... A modern instance (Lindbergh’s arrival in Paris in 1927) saves this description of the wild enthusiasm by the people of Paris for Franklin from the charge of exaggeration. It is the single example of modern times to reach the Franklin climax and it should be interesting to compare the two. Portraits purporting to be faithful likenesses of the Sage appeared on the street the day after his arrival, artists who had never seen him taxed their imagination for a picture of the man who drew lightning from the clouds, and these were artlessly accepted as faithful likenesses until Doctor Quesnay placed a portrait of his friend in the. Itands of engravers and Mile. Bihuron had copies made of her wax effigy. Meanwhile every sort of commodity was put in shop windows labeled “Franklin.” But, despite this tumultuous welcome, the job winch confronted Franklin was no sinecure. Upon the invitation of Ray de Chaumont, Franklin established IviS headquarters in the Hotel de Valentinois in Passy, a village on the outskirts of Paris, and although the Hotel de Valentinois was looked upon as the “American embassy,” Franklin’s status as an ambassador was not officially recognized. The Comte de Vergennes, minister of foreign affairs, made it plain when he received Franklin and his fellow commissioners, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, that “he saw them not as ambassadors, but as gentlemen to whom he wished to show respect.” This Vergennes, however, while telling Franklin that his king, Louis XVI, had warned him to preserve neutrality, “for impoverished France would fall without cause if she broke with England,” was the same Vergennes

the fish in this way: the tanks of one hotel in Jamaica are full of them, and the secretary of an agricultural society in that island reports that there has been a marked diminution of fever round about, the millions evidently accounting for the mosquito larvae. The British authorities have suggested that these useful fish be given a trial in the malarial districts of

Africa. Some specimens have been taken to England and imported into malarial districts with happy results. It should be added that near Frankfort, in Germany, there has been discovered another small fish called the “blue-eyed,” which feeds on mosquito larvae. At the request of the Italian government, consignments of them have been sent to the Gampagna, where malarial fever ts a scourge. Soon as a bore can Interest you, he Is no longer a bore. ,

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“who closed his eyes or looked the other way when cannon was surreptitiously removed from royal arsenals and loaded on ships with an uuknown destination!” Nor was Franklin’s work made any lighter.by his associates. However, Deane, though “honest i but totally incompetent and blundering in his relations to the French government,” was soon recalled. Lee, an “envious eaten up with jealous hatred for Franklin,” certainly was more of a hindrance than a help, until Franklin “brushed | him asidh as he would a wasp.” i JJbhn Adams, who succeeded Deane, was a man of greater caliber, j but “he had strong prejudices and he did not like | Franklin, whose head was turned, he thought, by admiration and flattery.” Not only did lie tell Franklin that lie disapproved of all liis coriduct, j but Adams constantly wrote letters hack to Amer- j ica, criticizing Franklin and apparently doing all j he could to discredit him at home. Fortunately, | however, congress had enough confidence in Franklin to allow him a free hand and so, despite 1 all the difficulties, he finally triumphed—in the j treaty of alliance with France, the loans of large | sums of money and the aid of French troops, all . of which contributed so materially to the success , of the Revolution. Although the story of Benjamin Franklin, “ambassador,” in Paris is the more important j story in American history, the story of Benjamin Franklin “the man,” has a greater, element of j human interest. It is doubtful if the world ever l before, or since, has seen the like of his career—this simple, unaffected American colonial winning the hearts of a whole nation as did he. Steed's book is full of this story—of Franklin's friendship for the great men of France at a time when she was producing great men—philosophers, economists, statesmen and scholars. And perhaps most human of all is his conquest of the hearts of the ! “good ladies.” For there is no denying the fact ! that Benjamin Franklin “had away with him” j when women were concerned. The record of his j friendship, based on mutual admiration for those qualities of mind-and heart shown by both parties to the friendship, with the blind Madame du Deffond, famous for her love affair with Horace Wal- i pole and her friendship with Voltaire,’with Mnte. Helvetius, with Mme. d’Hondetot and with a host of other brilliant women forms one of the most f romantic pages in the history of human society. And certainly it is all the more to his credit that the attention which he received from such brilliant women did not turn his head. A lesser man than Franklin probably would have, under the circumstances, furnished another shining example of “women making a fool of a man.” In this regard Steell’s comment is interesting. He says: The list of French men and women who admired and courted him might he enlarged so as to include every personage of fashion or fame then living in Paris.... Franklin was acknowledged by "tout Paris” to be a great wit, when this capital appreciated wit above all else, and his genius for friendship would have kept him in remembrance had he no other claim. -In his tighter, as in his more serious mood, in his “philanderings,” as in his business contacts, the man Franklin is always i there, never to be mistaken for another who lived. ; wrote and talked in his time. He worshiped sci- ! ence—natural history in the lead; he loved good ; talk and all the other good things of life; he ad- ; mired great men: and he doted on pretty women. I To both sexes he was an intelligent and under- | standing friend. Without being a statesman, a leader, or even an I organizer, what be accomplished for his country ; with the gifts he had remains unexampled in hu- ; man accomplishment. His political institutions were not based on long tradition and a life-long study of precedent; better than wide reading and broad culture they reveal sane thinking and sound j judgment. A man must Indeed be great who, courted by women, does not appear ridiculous; but having weighed all that Envy and Scandal can say, if we then regard Franklin thus surrounded, we see even plainer the kindly qualities of his mind and heart.

The Hardy Old-Timer About the time the hardy old-timer gets pretty well started on the hard winters he put in when a boy, lie begins to sneeze, and one of his daughters,' 1 wearing 13 ounces of silk, has 10 telephone the janitor for more heat. —Kansas City Star. Sage Counsel What’s the use ot trying to make things worse? Let’s find things to do and forget things.—Kipling.

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' ■ — £S EITHER DO OR DON’T First Chollyboy—“Do you ever at-

*■ ■ ■■ tempt to kiss a girl?” Second Chollyboy—“No—either do or don’t/* Out of Stock. The patient saleswoman brought out the seventeenth hat. The customer seemed impressed, but her doting husband spoke up with decision. “That hat does not become you, my angel.” The saleswoman produced another. “And that certainly Is not worthy of you, my angel.” “I fear wt cannot suh your, angel,”

said tae saleswoman, finally. “We have nothing in tlm way of a halo.” Poetic. The young man was prematurely gray, and proud of it. “Looks quite poetic, don’t you think?” he asked the girl lie had met on the pier. ■; “It does remind me of a certain poem,” she said. “And what is that?” “When the frost Is on the pump kin.” s - v