The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-03-10

Bonhomme ia almost certain to breathe
his life away under his own roof tree,
with his own kindred about him, it
would seem as though any substantial
comparison between tho peasantry OF
France and the farm laborers OF Eng
land were quito out OF tho question.
That thelFrench peasants themselves
are m~easurably cnutept with their lot
is shown in numerous ways, One proof
OF il 10 afforded in tho ComplacenCy
with which they look upon government
al affairs. L. is not IN clustering ham
lets that French revolutionlsts are bred,
but in the close, ferYid atmosphere OF
great cities. Far from being AaIeyotu-
ZIONIST the French peasant Ia not even
a politician. 1t used to amaze us that
the popular vote, drawn SO largely
from this class, could change SO soon
from its emphatic endorsement OF Ma
poleon III. to its equally emphatic
countenanee OF existing Republican
forms. on the face OF it, this would
suggest vncCttation and rural unrest,
but as a matter OF fact il indicates the
opposite OF all this, 1t shows, when
one gets an inside view, that French
peasants take little interest in
such thiHRs, that they are Who'll
ly wrapped up in tho hum-drum
life OF tho vineyard and the
farm, and 30 absorbed in making a liv-
ing, and laying by a little for old age,
that elections mean to them little more
than an acquiescence in whatever form
OF governmentmay happen for the time
to be in power. Anything seems TO
suit them politically so long as it allows
them to 90 on quietly with their ordi-
nary pursuits. When Napoleon asks
for their support, thoy think Of nothing
beyond saying Yes" and when Paris
and other centres, having overthrown
the empire, ask them to indorse n
republic, tho response naturally is the
Same. This at least is how it hes been
in the past, though one cannot help
thinking that twenty years OF pros
porous republican rule must have
awakened in many OF these rustic
Frenchmen a pronounced liking for
this simpler form Of government, and
that the Increased enlightenment these
years have brought will lead them here
after to increased political activity.
D%EPoPULATIoN.
In France, MS in other nations, the
complaint is common that rural dis
tricts are undergoing a slow process Of
depopulation. In two respects, how
ever, France differs in this matter from
both Germany and England. We have
not heard that in either OF these coun-
tries there Is any scarcity OF births
amongst the rural populationi rather
the contrary, whereas in France the
birth-rate is as low in many Of the rural
districts as in any OF the centres OF
urban life. and the average Of children
per family nc higher in some parts than
In the exceptional town OF Roubaix,
where the last census puts it at one.
Not only so, but we are assured BY d
writer in the Nation that in man cases
the ascertained cause of this is the de.
sire Of parents to better their own con.
dition; ip other words, French thrift.
Another point to be noted is that
while the country districts OF England
and Germany, especially the latter, are
being largely drawn upon by foreign
emigration, France is suffering from
this cause, scarcely at all n fact, by tho
the way, which speaks suggestivcly OF
the superior contentmGnt Of the French.
The great drain in France is, not from
that country to some other, but from
the rural districts towards the great
cities, especially towards Paris. With
increasing education there has sprung
up in the'furRi breast a feverish craving
for enlarged opportunities. 1t is dis.
covered, too, that cities offer an increased
wage, and without thinking how much
that is beyond price they must give up
in the exchange OF farm life for factory
life, great numbers Of tho younger
peasantry, infatuated with this pros.
peCt Of higher pay, arc gravitatlng
yearly to the actual, and too often, the
sad realization OF what. it means. I'm
fortunately, too, the universal con.
scription for military service has
a depicting effect upon country
life; that too not only in the fact
that it takes young men oil for three
years Just at the time they would nat
urally be settling down to family life,
but in the further fact that it weans
them from country attachments, and
makes them at homo afterwards only in
such scenes OF hustle and pleasure as
the big city offers. This Is the com
plant in France, and the facts to which
1t has reference are decidedly sugges.
tive, showing as they do that in our
%present.dhy civilization city lie Is more
than a match for country lilo in its
power to dazzle and draw, even when
farm life can offer, as a special Rttrac-
ton, the possible ownership of a small
strip Of land.
TWO CLASSES.