The morning call., 1892-05-01
TIE DAY OF TERROR.

People in Europe will rise from their beds
this morning in tlepidaticn, for il has
been proclaimed far and wide that the an
archist element proposes to demonstrate to-
day in a manner which will convince gov
ernments of their power Tie labor organ
izations Of France and Germany have been
in the habit of celebrating Mayday as
special festival of labor, and it is feared
that the demagogues of whom Ravachol
was the type may thrust themselves to the
front and try to involve the h0liday-makerS
in collision with the police. IL is stated
that the municipal authorities in the cities
have made ample preparations for the
preservation Of order 1t is also remem-
bered that nothing happens but the unfore-
seen, and that popular outbreaks rarely
occur when they are expected. At the
same time considerable uneasiness prevails,
and people viii 90 tonight to their beds
with a sense Of relief If The day passes over
without disturbance
NJ. Loubet, the French Secretary of the
Interior. says that the members Of the Gov
eminent are suffering from the faults of
their predecessors, who allowed everything
to be done and said under the guise of lib
eriy.' This is plausible but il is not the
exact truth. The fact is that for a century
the authorities of Paris have been most en-
ergetic In repreSsing sordeT, and yet that
by reason Of the lukewaTmness of the
masses their efforts have frequently failed.
There has always been in Paris and in such
other French cities as Bordeaux, Lyons and
MarseilIes an incurably disOrderly element.
which has broken into periodical revolt.
This element has always been a small
minority, but the maturity, consisting of
quiet. well-dispOsed citizens, has never had
the pluck 10 keep it under control They
have left that job TO the Government. and
it has not always been done. The two
NapoleOns showed at the outset OF their re-
spectiye careers that they were ready to
NOW down riOtors with grape shot, and the
consequence was that there were no riots
in their time. But under Louis XVIII and
Louis Philippe, both of whom gave France
a fairly good Government, outbreaks were
Of yearly occurrence, and the same fate be-
fell the republic Of 1913; the fact being that
during those epoehs the masses of the peO-
pie shiTked the duty Of maintaining order.
and devOived il On the authorities. Even
during the old revolutionary period there
never was time when the National Guard
could not have crushed the clubs and the
Jac0bins if they had had the grit. Butthey
had not
OF course, this inertGess Of the people Of
French cities which contrasts so wildly
with The behavior OF American, English and
German ctiZens-is the fruit of long years Of
oppression and submission to paternalsm.
The FreHchmaE OF the old regime was
educated 10 believe that lie ought to lean
upon bis Government for everything, and
that il was no part Of his duty to protect
himself. When a band of jailbirdS broke
the pence and threatened life aud property
he called for the gendarmes, when an
American, or an Englsbman, or German
would have turned out with his neighbor by
lis side and made short work of the rabble
without b0thering about the police. Oflate
years Frenehmen have been gradually
emerging from this condition of helpless
ness, but it still prevails to a considerable
extent
To-day the first danger for French cities
springs out Of the weakness Of the Jury in
the Rayachol case. ii that jury had fol-
lowed the example set in the Fieschi and
Orsini cases there would have been much
less chance OF trouble to-day. is, the
dangerous class in Paris, who call them
selves anarchists, bet who really are moth
cOmforted by precedent which fixes life
imDTis0nment as the extreme penalty for
wholesale murder. That penalty has no
terrOrS for men Of violence. They do not
appreciate the long agony Of a life in
prison. Nothing frightens them but the
cold keen edge of the guillotine's knife.
And, as they are intelligent enough to uu-
derstaud the reason which inspired the
RavachOl verdict they are embOldened by
the perception that they have sympath!zers
among those whom they ought to fear.
France is~suheTing from the want Of
moral stamina among the respectable classes.
Things are not as bad as they were in the
days when one Tuftiln with three hundred
foil wers took a thousand political prisoners
out Of the Jails and murdered them ia The
courtyard. without even protest from tile
people at large. But from the fact that
there has not been one public meeting in Paris
TO denounce the RayachOl verdict, nor one
article in leading Paris paper branding
the cOwardice Of the jury. it is easy to dis
cern why anarchists flourish, and why the
Partisan gets up this morning with a cold
sliyer along his SPINE.