The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-05-03
MAY DAY IN EUROPE.

European statesmen drew long breaths
yesterday morning when they got out Of
bed and ascertained from the papers that
all was quiet on the Potomac. They knew
none tetter-h0w close a call they had
had and that but for the massing of troops
in barraek and fort some of their surface
drains might at that moment have been
running with blood. A little neglect on the
part OF the authorities, little disaffection
among the soldiery, might have revived the
dark and dreadful days of 1913. There was
neither neglect nor dsaffection and the
statesmen got out of bed with their heads
on.
But what a life to leadi What fright
FULLY expensive victories TO win! And how
certain that a day will come when precau-
ton will be relaxed and vigilance shaken
and then, the deluge. How some of these
statesmen must long for safety-yalve
through which the explosive force Of dis
content may dissipate itself in air, without
tearing anything down!
1t is instructive to note the working of
the various degrees of popular liberty in
different places. In Paris and London there
is apparently as much personal liberty as
there is in New York or San Francisco,
and the man who leads an orderly life and
cues quietly dDOuL MS Dubluc5S Il
due amount of individual freedom, but the
institutions of Paris differ widely from
those of London. and the difference was re-
flected in the action of the mob in each city
on Thursday. In Paris, where manhood
suffrage prevails and the workmen may
alter the Government whenever they please,
the mob was noisy but good-humored, and
without purpose; boys crowded the streets
and tho UnOharnaS n ALWAYS
Will, and got knocked on the head for their
pains; but no disturbances occurred to in
terfere with business or to empty the thea
tiers. In London, on the contrary, which is
governed by a select constituency, and
where the workingman has no power to
amend the institutions or the laws under
which he lives, meetings were held in def
ance of the police, int1ammatory speeches
were delivered, and the memory of the Hay
market assaSsins was apOtheosized. In
Paris the crowds went home gayly, having
enjoyed their holiday, and with no fell in
tentionS for the future. IL London the
mob skunk away from the superior force of
police and soldiery which confronted it
with darkling faces and deep-set inten-
ton to get even some day with authorities
which they hate.
The working of policy of repression is
even more clearly discerned in Germany.
By a secret decree, the Emperor ordered all
employers of labor TO discharge every man
who absented himself from work on Mag
DAY, and not to re-engage him for two or
three weeks. The apparent effect was sat
isfactOry. Eighty per cent of the workmen
reported at the shops as usual. But he
must indeed be ignorant of the springs
which govern human nature who suppOseS
that these so per cent were satisfied,
and are going to be loyal subjects of the
empire hereafter. To deny to freeman
the right of enjoying a holiday at con-
yenient seasons is to invade his natural
rights; he may submit to 1t for a time,
through fear Of leaving his family hungry,
but he will remember the outrage, and
when occasion serves he will be likely to
avenge it. Such inyasiShs 81 normal rights
entail retributf55n, and all the bayonets III
the world viii not avail to prevent it COM
ing, sooner Oh later.
These European governments. which are
based on tie denial of rights that underlie
organized society, postpone the day of
reckoning by displays of overwhelming
force. But the device is shallow, and its
success cannot but be shortlived. The more
heavily the safety valve is loaded, the
greater the explosion when it comes. There
were occasions when temporary conces-
sions might have averted the rebellion of
the thirteen colonies; they were neglected,
the weights were increased, and the catas-
trophe wiped out British power On this
continent. So, now, if some of these Euro
pean governments had the bright idea to let
the workmen have their full swing, to say
and do all they chose, short of destroying
property, the danger which menaces order
might be less formidable than it is