The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-04-28
now THEY MANAGE IN FRANCE.

The trial.of :Ravachol at Paris ended. of
course, in his conviction; but the sentence
=. VIII: strike Americans as extraordinary
File man had previously been convicted of
murder He admitted that he had at
tempted to commit several other murders,
and that be had actually killed an old man
fQr' tie sake of. his money. and had robbed
him after giving him the fatal blow. He
made no secret. that he had been guilty Of
murder in the. first degree, Gnd yet he was
only sentenced so life Imprisonment. This
appears .tO>AmeTicans as gross a perveFsi0n
of. justice as lle.escape Of criminals in this
county through manipulations Of the jury
system aud the eQAivQcation.o OF witnesses.
:. WeaTe bound: 10 account for ii or the
theory that. Paris. is passing through an
other reign of terror, and that the officers
OF justice. are. afraid TO punish crime for
fear .ofthe Y6ngeapce of the accompliceS of
. the criminals. This Is a most unsatlsfac-'
tory condition; for society to have reached.
Ills only; one step from the anarchy which
=: prevailed at.the close Of Robespierre's term
: Of power, when the people of France ac-
cepted military deSpotism which could
-. maintain order in preference TO popular
government which eouldnot. Thags now
seem to. have reached q pass when the
worst and most ignorant of the population
assert the right to, defy the law, and society
shrinks from Furnishing them for fear of
.reDrisais by their confederates. When
s'comuiUnity reaches that stage society is apt
to resolve Itself into its original elements,
and every man defend his life and property
:; with bis own weapon.
%. Ravach0l defended himself, and likewise
mad lawyer OF eminence to speak for him.
Tie latter contented himself with claiming
extenuation for his clients crime. He said
that Rayachoi wanted to help the poverty
. stricken class to which be belonged. The
PUBLIC. prosecutor very correctly pointed out
that Rayacho's political theories did not
alter the fact that he had taken human life,
and that it was fer that he was On trial
But the TetOrt does not seem to have car
. ried weight with the jury. Ravachol him
self said that his object was to establish
: anarchy, in order to subvert existing social
order, and TO convert mankind into a mob
III which all property should be held in com
mon. 1t is very sad to hear that such nom
sense as this should not only have obtained
"a patient hearing 10 so enlightened a city as
= Paris, but that it should have influenced a
D.. Jury to mete 10 a wholesale assassin no
.. grayer penalty than is allotted to the thief
.. who breaks into a dwelling house TO steal
.. the silver.
1t takes many kinds of people, it ia said,
to make up a world. The United States
grew a Guiteau. But it is disgracefnl to a
> civilized country to possess such defective
machinery of justice that when these moral
monsters are discovered they escape pun
. 'ishment. That calls Tor remedy If civilized
society is to endure. No nation can afford
e to live under the despotism of a band of
miscreants whose only claim TO authority is
the possession OF a few dynamite bombs.
The trouble with the French is that while
their soldiers are true as steel on the bat
tlefield, the average citizens are lukewarm
in their duties to the Government.
Throughout the history Of the revolution,
the reader is struck with the passive torpoI
with which the mass of the people submitted
to the thrall OF small bands OF audacious
p. lsurpers. MailIard had but 300 followers
with these. in view Of all Paris, he massa-
cred 1000 innocent inmates Of the prisons.
Robespierre never had 5000 men behind
him; but he executed 1900 people by the
gulloline in Paris, and caused the death OF
hundreds of thousands in other parts OF
France. People cursed him in their hearts,
but dared not lift a hand against him. Sc
now, the Ravachol band cannot number
over few hundred men; yet they blow ur
building after building, take lives and par
alyze the Government. and when they are
caught, and the evidence against them i,
complete, jury cannot be found with
nerve enough to sentence them TO the
supreme penalty.
Political education is so widely diffused
in this country that there is no fear of any
such moral collapse here. Americans sub
NIT TO be robbed by political knaves, and 4
takes long time to rouse them to rebellion
But, then, nothing is at stake but dollars
When. as at Chicago the dynamlters try u
make life troubled dream here, there ar
always found judges and juries with courage
enough to enforce the law, iuspite of threat
of vengeance.