The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-03-21
FRANCE.
The Rage for Gold and the
Craze for 0verturning
Things.
Art and the People.
Especial Correspondence. u
PARIS, Feb. Is, 1882.

ing death and destruction around
moralists are at work probing thu
seat of the disease, and prescribing
remedies about as efficaci0us as sper
maceti to an inward bruise. The
drift of all the opinions is, that
society in general, and France il
particular. is degenerating. No one
is content with that position 1 life
IN which it has pleased God to cal
him. Probfty is becoming only a
name; honor has lost its fine edge,
and colossal rogues cease to be
viewed as vulgar criminals; in a
word, as with the Spartans, sin il
you like, only do not let it be dis
covered. The thirst for gold, the
fever to become suddenly rich, the
ambition to outShine your acquain-
tances and friends, to dazzle the
public, to astonish the natives, have
of late become more intense as the
epidemic extends. Everything is
universal; suffrage, fraternity, poll
tics, finance, luxury and deception
The noble wishes to be financier
the financier, noble; the civilian to
be militaire, and the militaire
civilian; the governed to be the
governing; the employed to be en-
ploYer; the employer to be legis-
lator, and the legislator statesman
and president. The general desire
is to become rich without work; to
abandon professions and careers to
win fortunes on Change; to have
an Unsuitable appetite for lux ury.
In France. while the nobility aim
to increase diminished incomes by
marrying the daughters of wealthy
tradesmen, the sons of the latter en-
deavor to secure social position by
seeking wives in high-born but rela-
lively penniless families.
To Judge of the extent Of the re-
cent financial disasters, and which
are far from being terminated, it is
only necessary to visit Tattersals to
note the number of horses and
equipages for sale, or the public
auction mart where the most stump
tuous furniture is piled. And all
these articles change hands with as
tonishing rapidity, and as a matter
of course. In speculation, sudden
poverty on one side implies sudden
poverty on the other. The new plu-
tocrats, however gaudy may be their
outfits, still possess a borrowed
mark-the daw with feathers not
his own. But the fortunate care
nothing for such drawbacks. Once
in possession of unexpected wealth,
the husband purchases horses and
vehicles for display at the Bots, and
the wife, jewelry and laces to ex-
hibit at the opera. Their mansion
is a museum, furnished to daZe their
guests at their first S0iree. 1t is not
a home, but a club or spectacle.
The luxury has no hall mark; it is
incapable of creating the feeling OF
grandeur; it is simply Every success
full" as is said of a play well
mounted.
Two public characters are at this
moment in hot water-Zola and
Donate. The former, refusing to
change the name of a barrister in
his loathsomeIromance"POt Bouille,'
now being published, and that
happens to correspond with
that of member of the bar Of high
standing, has appeared in court,
where cOmplainant'S council admin
istered terrible caStigation to lola
for his immoral productions. lola
calls all the gods to fight for him,
but ordinary mortals display no
sym oathy for his mental torture
and lacerated heart" Donate has
been coming since four months, by
magnetiZing-the newer term foT
meSmeriZing, his medium Mile. Lu-
Gle, and occasionally private lndi-
vidualS. One Carmelli, with his
ward, executes the same phenomena
as Donate. assuring the audience
beforehand they are for mans lllu-
sion given. The point at issue Is,
plunging a needle into the arm with
out the medium experiencing any
pain. Doctors here. as usual, differ
some allege there are places where
the absence of nerves allow OF the
operation being painlesS-llke the
extraction of teeth perhaps; the
others again maintain, the pain lies
ever in the inciSion of the skin, cut
ting into muscles and bone, not
being worth a moments sympathy
The municipality is so rich that
it has 5O,00O,O00 francs to its credit
in the treasury. AS the minister OF
finance will allow no interest on
that little balance, the municipal
council intend wiping out IN adj
vance, three years interest and re-
demption instruments OF the city
loans, and with the discount oil
100000 francs obtained. ameliorate
still further the educational facilI
tie: of Paris.
The great ambition of retired pic
ture dealers is to possess a private
gallery. N. &c mes Petit has the
latter, though not retired from bust
ness: he is too young, too enamorec
of art to remain idle. He has In
herited not only his fathers wealth
but taste, judgment and probity a:
a dealer in pictures, where there eX
lists generally as much rOguery as il
selling horses. As fine arts auc
tioneer, Georges Petit, before he re
tired, inspired such confidence, tina
collectionneurS placed themSelve:
unreservedly in his hands. Twenty
years ago many wealthy families
that possessed only a few pictures