The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-05-24
MINISTERIAL CRISIS IN FRANCE.

It is perhaps no wonder that the English
say that NJ. Casimir Perier was riding for
fall on Tuesday. There was certainly no
necessity for him to force the issue on
which he was defeated by a majority of
fifty in a house of 500. The question be-
fore the house was on the proposition 10
permit Government railroad employees TO
attend a congress of railroad men. The
question has been ND twice before, once
in 1889. and once in 1898; on each occas-
sion the Government feeling it imprae.-.
cable to decide it atfirmatively. and at the
same time shrinking from antagoniZing
the labor organizations by deciding it
negatively, lodged the issue. 1t was
sprung on the house on Tuesday by two
socialist members whose object was to
embarrass the Ministry and who proposed
two motions with that view. Realizing
their purpose NJ. Perier went out OF his
way to proclaim his opposition TO both.
and went down with his colors flying. He
was probably we'll content to shake off the
thankless task of administering the al
fairs of the republic.
The grandfather of this Casimir- Perier.
who bore the same name, was A cOnserva-
tive Republican under Charles Y. At the
revolution of 1880, ne allowed LATTE and
Lafayette to persuade him that the Duke
Of Orleans was the best of Repu blicans,
and he never forgsye himself for the mis-
take. He bore himsalf maDfully in his
endeavor to inauguraie a representative
parliamentary regime; but his success was
so slight that when the cholera broke out,
death was grateful. His present name
sake is not imbued with such lofty notions
of self-sacrifice. He disceUned some time
ago that the Chamber was drifting into
its frequent condition of disseDsiOD, and
he awaited himself OF the first decent Op-
portunity to transfer the conduct of bust.
ness to other hands.
The French will always live in danger
of disruption of the Government and of
possible revolution until they learn that
they must not split up into half dozen
a ctions, each INDEPENDENT of the other,
and all prepared TO combine when the
silly season comes to overthrow the Gov
eminent of the day. Successful free gov
eminent cannot be attained Ia such a
scramble as that. No statesman gives his
best work to the country when his tenure
of Office depends on the forbearance of his
antagonists. Ambitious public men will
consent to take Office for the glory Of the
thing; but so long as they are liable 10 be
upset any day by a coalition of nOn-assim-
iiatiYe elements. they will not put their
heart in their task. The better they dis
charge their duty the more liable they are
to provoke antagonism, and to stimulate
com binations among parties which agree
on nothing except that they court minis
terial crisis, with its possible cOntin-
gencies.
What saves France from the evil con-
sequences Of its present system of chronic
changes of ministry is the practice of con-
fining the changes to the heads Of the
Government. No matter who is in power,
the chiefs Of bureaus and the officials who
really conduct the public business remain
the same. rnus the country can always
rely upon having a body of trained and
experienced administrators to manage pub
lie affairs. There is no such thing in the
French bureaucracy as rotation in Office 4;
if a public official does his duty faithfully,
he can rely on retaining his post until he
vacates it by resignation or death. Thus
the public affairs are generally better
managed In France than they would be if
the whole body of office-holders were liza
Die 10 I6uOhdl W uGu IAClA Cu4Clo NHub Out
of Office.
The natural life of French Ministry is
a few months. There have been more
Ministers of the Interior since 1871 than
the United States has had in the whole
course of its history. 1t is hardly neces-
sary to add that few of them had learned
their business by the time they were
called upon to step down and out. Every
Frenehman who has influence enough in
his department to get elected to the Cham
Der, and who possesses the gift of oratory,
expects to be Minister of State, and many
of them realize their hopes. The plan is
commendable as creating a wholesome
stimulus to political ambition, but it can
not but promote legislative cabals for the
purpose of overthrowing ministries to fur
Their the interests CT numerous asprants.
In this country our best men are kept in
the field by the hope of the Presidency; in
France, in the hurly-burly of political
strife and with the constant leap of IN
known men to the front, few men, how
ever able, can fix firm gaze on the CORE
spending post as the goal Of their am
bition.
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