In savings they have been regarded as world-leaders.
When the stern reality of military necessity suddenly confronted France five months ago, there was the same old story of graft, fraud, and a deceived people.
But the war authorities gripped France with an iron hand.

The military traitors and grafters are in jail.

The weaklings in the official line have been cashiered.

The politically undesirable have been given foreign missions.
There was political as well as military wisdom in the return of the government from Bordeaux to Paris.

The French people were shocked when they learned that the boasted military defences of Paris, "the most extensive fortifications in the world," embracing 400 square miles, were unprovisioned and indefensible, that the government had fled, and that there was no army to save the city.
Indeed, the authorities had determined to sacrifice Paris to save France.