Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03


electoral college in each department All
other offices, judicial and administrative, go
by appointment, the fountain source OF
which is in the ministry. The ministers are
named by the president of the republic, but
are responsible to the same deputies, who
have all power and patronage, and who
elect the president themselves. The depu-
ties control the ministers, the ministers
Of the salary of bishop or a country
priest. All priests and pastors are govern
ment clerks, all school teachers and all
the employees of several railway lines.
what patronage this gives may be I'M
aginei.
Under the parliamentary regime min
listers are so short-lived that in the prov
inces projects species of governor of n
Department., subprefects, commissaries
Committing magistrates), and all their
underlings are only able to keep In office
by siavishly obeying first the deputies and
then the senators of their departments.
By judcious application of the whip the
deputy once in may keep up great en-
thusiasm for himself.
Must Have n Pull.
So there is no machine in our sense
Of the word. There is a practical machine
lit is the civil service. From the humblest
citizen v no wants a government position or
advancement, on up to college professors,
army officers and prominent citizens there
is a scramble for place, promotion and
decorations.
From. the point of view of practical poll
tics 1t is 2 scramble, in which those who
can best hang together in a majority COM
pose the government" And the elected
deputy who stands In with this majority
can regularly only be put out of office
through the secret influence of that major
ity when 1t desires another man to put in
his place. To keep ones place without
this government influence is almost in
variably to have an exceptional constit-
oh l;.,fA Nr1n an 20
be ps.rt of coalition in the chamber, CO.
alition not for the government, but against
1t, but ready on great occasions to rally
with the working majority.
With the government assistance the
deputy's reelection is regularly smooth and
easy sailing. Among the peasants. ctudi-
dates had something like this to go
through ON the election following Pani-
ma.
Peasant: Welcome back, Monsieur lie
Depute; you must have made your pile this
time III Paris
DEPUTY: "I-what do you mean:"
Peasant: How much did you get out of
that affair of Panama."
Deputy: II swear to you, l was offered
money and refused it!''
Peasant: Il think I will net vote for you
again. A man who is too foolish to look
out for his own interests will not be able to
look after the interests of his constituency
Then, having spoken his mind and proved
his Independence. the peasant would cast
ural shrinking from resistance to authority.
The Use of Money.
When the government candidate is
beaten 1t is regularly through coalition
or pool of all the opposing scattered can
didates-there may be five or six-or on
some local cry, or by reason Of a rival can
didate's big barrel, or because his rival is
q man of great distinction, such as a sci
enlist or novelist or ncbleman Of ancient
lineage, of whom the district may be
proud. Then there are districts which are
always against the government" religious
districts or districts dominated by great
landholders of the old nobility-"rhe priest
and the chateau" as the radicals say Bit
terly In such districts the struggle, when
there is one, is like squabble in family.
A deputy in Brittany got round the pro-
hibition to pay money out for votes in this
way. To every voter in the village of
which he was q bit uncertain he gave n
hundred of his election notices to distribute.
For this service he paid each one of them
five dollars. Every qualified voter OF the
village WAS handing round the electioneer-
ing tracts. They had to give them to their
wives and daughters. They kept 1t up con-
scientiously for one whole morning. being
anxious to really earn their money. Then
when election day came round, they voted
as they had distributed.
In every case the first duty Of the poll
tician who presents himself as candidate
in the country districts is to make the ac-
quaintance of his constituency. This is
particularly necessary, when. as often hap
pens he does Lot himself live In the dis
trict he wishes to represent. For any voter
not a bankrupt or otherwise ineligible can
run for office in any part OF France he
chooses to elect Curious incidents arise
from this state of things.
One August Afternoon an ofhce-seekinS
young count arrived in a farming hamlet
belonging to the district where he had pro-
Lt,~aea ali zrn1iI nfa NJ
was so democratic a count Before the
single wine shop of the place he had
drum beaten, and soon the harvesters came
trooping in from the fields. He laughed and
talked with each and all until 200 bottles
of beer and wine had been consumed. Then
he made a plain little speech. promising
what he would do for the district should he
be made their deputy. He appealed to them
directly:
Now, my friends, you will all vote for
me, will you not?'
The workingmen looked at each other in
silence Then the Oldest man among them
said:
Monsieur lie Comte, we'd like to. but we
can't. You see we're only Belgians over
here to help at harvesting"
The influence of Newspapers.
The absence Of two parties with well-de-
fined platforms and close organization ap-
pears to have a curious influence on French
newspapers in>politics. 1t is, true that GER
tain papers are always radical, just as the
present government majority has con-
tinued radical" for twenty years. BY this
is meant the radical tendency, which is to
root religion and religious influence out of
state affairs, even from the schools and
hospitals, and to more and more cut down
the senates power, or finally abolish that
aristocratic body. Other papers are con-
sentative, socialist, Bonapartist, royalist,
anarchist and what not-that Is to say, they
cry their principles aloud. and In the cleo
ton times they shout against all candidates
who are not of their faith. But they have
little influence on elections. They are capa-
ble of Topping and dogding in the most mys-
terious manner, and then bobbing up again
serenely with their old war cry as soon as
the election smoke has cleared away.
To illustrate the helplessness Of French
newspapers when dealing with the local
politics of France, take the example of pro-
lection and free trade The great majority
of all French journals IS for what would be
practically free trade. They arrive at their
convictions on theoretical grounds. Yet one
man and one newspaper-the Deputy Me-
line and his "Republique Francaise'-have
been able to persuade the government to
keep on In its high protection policy for
years. STERLING HELLO.
THE STATE OF HER MIND.
1t Was Lucky for Her Husband That