The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-06
varks of the social system as now consti-

" years ago would have been merely hint
ed at in the most vague manner, even if,
indeed, referred to al all, are now shout
ed IN stentorian tones from the very
housetops with a revolving abundance of
detail. A large portion of the newspa-
per-reading public likes to learn evil about
It's nelghbors, its friends and its aequaint-
anees, and things have come to such a
pass that the worse the scandal the more
valuable 1t is looked upon as a piece of
news for the press. Politics and the or
binary intelligence, domestic as well as
Iorelgn, are restricted, save in the case of
the Temps and the Debats. to the smallest.
and most unobtrusive corners of the paper,
while items calculated to show up this or
that particular grade of society in an es-
peclally bad light occupy the main portion
OF the sheet. Finally, one becomes so ac-
customed to look for scandals in the
french press, and to find them, that the
impression unconsciously grows upon one
that they constitute the only news in a
Farlsian newspaper, and that there is
nothing good that can ever be recorded
OF French society, but only evil
Yet If we were to take the files of a
Partisan newspaper for 4 period of twelve
months and count up the financial scan
dals related of men and the indiscretions
and dramas in which the fair sex have
played the leading role, according to press
accounts one would find that the people
thus held up to popular Reproduction do not
comprise more than 100, or let us say
at the very most 200, persons occupying
a place IN the aristocracy, in the official
world in ia Finance" or among the we'll
TODD bourgeoisie, the same names occur
ring over and over again, nearly 50 per
cent. of them belonging to foreigners. For
II Is only necessary to recall the fact that
Baron Reinach and DR.. Cornelius Herr.
the two principal culprits in the Panama
scandal, were of German birth, while the
princess whose divorce and subsequent at
tempts to appear at the Folies Bergeres
theater in living pictures have been at
tracing so much attention in the press.
is an American. Yet it is on the strength
Of the misconduct of this relatively in
intestinal number of individuals. some
French and others foreign, who are thus
held up to public obloquy in the press that
the entire French nation, with a popula-
ton of 100000, is branded as so corrupt
and so lacking on the score of morality
that the word French" here in America
mas come to be regarded as synonymous
with indicate"
Police experts and those who devote
their time to the study of crime and of
social problems relating thereto do not
hesitate to express the very decided opinion
that there is immeasurably more social
corruption at Berlin, at Vienna at St
Petersburg, and even in Stockholm, than
herself an undesirable pre-eminence over
all the other cities of the world as the
principal source of all the literary filth
which Beelzebub inspires degenerate
scribes to write for the contamination of
innocence and purity. But every one of
these capitals just mentioned makes a
point of observing the maxim of De La
Rochefoucauld, and keeps, as far as posi-
bic, veil of mystery over its misdoings.
the scandal which is printed in their
newspapers relating exclusively to occur
rences abroad and to foreigners. a dis
Greet silence being observed in connection
with those happening nearer home. One
may search the Berlin journals and those
OF Vienna in vain for any unsavory Cos
SIP concerning the German aristocracv or
ABOUT the Austrian great world. But Won
VIII ma In their columns the fullest de-
talls concerning the scandals of the hour
IN Madrid, London, Paris or ST. Peters,
burg Parlslan newspapers, on the other
hand, are apparently never so happy as
when fouling their own nest and holding
up the moral shortcomings of their own
countrymen, in an exaggerated form and
IN a far too highly colored light, to the
gaze of the entire world.
IL VIII doubtless astonish many people
IN America to learn that nowhere in En-
rope does responsibility count for so much
as among the French middle and lower
classes, while the fashionable world of
france attaches equal Importance to what
IL describes as Correctness" of conduct
speech and manner. If Felix Faure and
before him Casimir Perier and Sadi-Car-
not were elected by the suffrages Of the
countrymen to the chief magistracv of
the republic, it was mainly because. Of All
the candidates for that high office. they
were held to come nearest to the national
IDEAL Of responsibility and correctness -
These are two qualities which are invaria-
by preferred by the French to brilliancy.
TO wit ana to smartness of intellect, and
nowhere are Irregularities of conduct visit
tea with more serious consequences to a
public man or viewed with greater severi-
ty by the people at large than in France.
That was, indeed, the cause of the lamen-
table failure and fall of President Grevy.
The fact that his domestic relations prior
to the fall of the empire had not been of
altogether regular character-a fact of
which no one was aware al the time of his
election as chief magistrate-was forever
being brought to bear against him, and
1t was solely due to similar causes that
the late VI. Challemel-Lacour, the clever
est Frenchman who ever held office under
the third republic, was on three separate
occasions defeated by overwhelming ma
jorities in his efforts to secure the presi-
dency.
This high price set upon responsibility
is to be found in every class of French So
ciety. and it is but year ago that a re-
tired revenue officer who, like his father
and grandfather before him, had been de-
corated with the Legion of Honor, and
pensioned off after nearly twoscore years
of subaltern service to the state, was
shown to have murdered his reprobate son
in consequence of the young mans having
brought disgrace upon the honor of the
name OF a family which though humble
had been noted throughout three genera
tons for its respectabllity.
In conclusion, let It be said that strict
observance of the marriage ties Is the rule
in French families and not the exception,
as people here seem TO believe. Indeed, the
family relations are perhaps even more
close and more intimate in France than
In America, owing to the fact that there
Is infinitely less independence on the part
Of the wife, the daughters and the sons.
The latter even when grown up and gray
headed, cannot contract a marriage with
out the parental sanction. and the fact
that no one should have ever thought OF
modifying the law upon the subject shows
conclusively the extent 70 which the dlial
sentiment prevails In France.
New York IS not America, nor Is Paris
France Both cities are infinitely too cos
mopoltan 70 serve as a sample or stand