The San Francisco call., 1897-05-09


been merely limited at in the most vague man
ner, If indeed referred to at all, are now
shouted in stentorian tones from the very
! housetops with a revolving abundance OF
detail
large portion of the newspaper reading
public likes 10 learn evil about its neighbors.
its friends and its acquaintances, and things
h ave come to such pass that the worse the
scandal, the more valuable it is looked upon
as piece of news for the press. Politics and
the ordinary intelligence, domestic as well as
foreign, are restricted, save in The case OF the
Temps and the Debats. to the smallest and
most uno btrusiye corners of the paper, while
items calculated to show up this or that par
ticuar grade of society in an especially bad
light occupy the main portion OF the sheet.
Finally, one becomes so accustomed 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 Partisan paper and that there is nothing
good that can ever be recorded OF French So
ciety. but only evil.
Yet if one were to take the files of a Partisan
newspaper tor a period of twelve months and
count up the financial scandals related of men,
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 re probation do not
very most 200, persons occupying a place in
the aristocracy, in the official world, in finance,
or am ong the well-to-do bourgeoisie The names
occurring over and over again, nearly 80 per
cent OF them belonging to foreigners. For it is
only necessary 10 recall the fact that Baron
Reinach and DR.. Cornelius Herr, the two prin-
cipal culprits IN the Panama scandal. were of
German birth, while the Princess whose
divorce and subsequent attempts to appear at
FOljps Thpatar in
have been attracting much attention is an
American. Yet il is on the strength of the
misconduct of this relatively infnitesimal
mum Der OF individuals, some French, and the
other foreign who are thus held ND to public
obloquy in the press, that the entire French
nation with population of 100000 600, is
branded as so corrupt, and SO lacking on the
| score OF morality, tina t the word French" here
in America has come to be regarded as
synonymous with "indelicate."
Police experts and those who devote their
time to the study OF crime and of social prob
lens relating thereto do not hesitate to ex-
press the very decided opinion that there is
immeasurably more social corruption at Ber
lin, at Vienna, st. Petersburg, and even in
Stockholm, than at Paris, while Brussels has
| achieved for herself an undesirable promi-
nence over all the other cities of the world
the principal source OF all the volume of liter
| ary filth which Beelzebub inspires degenerate
| scribes to write for the contamination of inno-
cence and purity. But every one of those
capitals just mentioned make a point of OBJ
serving the maxim of De La Rochefoucauld,
and keep as far as possible veil of mystery
over their misdolngs, the scandals which they
print in their newspapers relating exclusively
| to occurrences abroad and to foreigners, dis
Greet silence being observed in connection
with those happening nearer home. One may
search the Berlin journals and those of Vienna
in vain fer any unsaVory gossip concerning
the German aristocracy or about the Austrian
great world. But you will find in their col
umns the fullest details concerning the scan
dals of the hour in Madrid, Vienna Paris or
st. Petersburg. Partisan newspapers, on the
other hand, are apparently never so happy as
when fouling their own nest, and as when
holding up the moral shortcomings of their
own countrymen in an exaggerated form, ana
in far too highly colored light, to the gaze Of
| the entire world.
1t will doubtless astonish many people in
America to learn that nowhere in Europe
does respectability count for much as
among the French middle and lower classes,
while the great world of France attaches equal
Importance to what it describes as correct
ness of conduct, speech and manner. If Felix
Faure and before him Casimir Perier and
Sadl-Carnot were elected by the suffrages of
their countrymen to the Chief Magistracy of
the republic, it was mainly because, of all the
rival candidates tor that high office, they were
held to come nearest 10 the national ideal of
| respec:ability aud CORRECTNESS" These are
two qualities which are invariably preferred
by the French to brilliancy to wit and to
| smartness of intellect. and nowhere are ir-
regularities of conduct visited with more
serious consequences to q public man, or
viewed with greater severity by the people at
large, than in France. That was indeed the
cause of the lamentable 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 fact of which no one was aware
at the time of his election as Chief Magis-
trate-was forever being brought TO bear
against him, and it vas solely due to similar
| Causes that the late N. Challemel-Lacour, the
cleverest Frenchman who ever held Office un-
der the third republic, was on three separate
occasions defeated by overwhelming m jori-
ties in his efforts to secure the Presidency.
This high price set upon responsibility is to be
found in every class of French society, and it
is but a year ago thata retired revenue officer,
who, like hls father and grandfather before
him, had been decorated with the Legion of
Honor and pensioned off after nearly two
score years of suhaltern service to the State,
was indicted for having murdered his repro
bate son in consequence of the young man
having brought disgrace upon the honor of the
name of family which though humble had
been noted throughout three generations for
its respectability.
In conclusion let me state that strict obser-
vance of the marriage ties is the rule in French
families, and not the exception people here
seem to believe. Indeed, the family relations
are perhaps even more close and more init.
mate i'll France than in America, owing to the
fact that there is infinitely less independence
on the part of the wife, the daught ters and the
sons. The latter even when grown up and
parental sanction, ana the fact that no one
could have ever thought of modifying the law
upon the subject shows conclusIvely the ex-
tent to which the fliaI sentiment prevails in
France.
New York is not America, nor is Paris
France. Both cities are infinitely too cosmo-
politan to serve as sampl. or standard of the
character of their respective countries. And
if the French were to know little more of
America than they do at presented America
that lies beyond the limits of New York. and
if on the other hand the Americans were to
possess a more extensive acquaintance ,,f
France than can be derived from French
novels, plays, newspapers and from brief
visits to Paris. we should no longer find the
words ''bien Americain" used in France IN
designate things that are indelicate, nor the
latter described in this country as $50 very
FRENCH Ex-ATTACHE.
With YOUR COFFEE
How far is il to Paradise?
T. goi,L