The record-union., 1897-08-02
CRUEL CRITICS OF FRANCE.
EDMOND DEMOLINS' AND JULES
LIE MAITRES ADMISSIONS.
Why the French Are Weaker Than
the Anglo-Saxons-So Gus
toms Responsible.

has ever been printed than that con-
tanned in the remarkabl book just
published by the well-known French
author and scientist, Edmond Demolins,
and which bears the title Reasons for
the Superiority of the AnglO-Saxon
Race" 1t is a book which, wonderful
to relate, is arouSing no anger or frri-
tation on the part of the countrymen
of the writer. On the contrary his
statements are accepted as true, though
sad, and the Partisan press, abandoning
for once in the way its brilliant frivol-
| ity discusses the book with an alto
gether unusual sobriety and earnest
ness, declaring that no matter how
painful the perusal of it's pages Will be
to patriotic Frenchmen, it is the
bounden duty of the latter to swallow
to the last drop the unpalatabe dose
contained in NJ. Demolins' cup of bitter
ness.
The things that NJ. Demolins tells
US, writes Jules Lemaitre of the
French Academy, in the Paris "Figa-
re" we knew already; and if we did
not know them, we at least suspected
their existence. But he has assem-
bled them together, and given concise
expression thereto, and from his es
say, which is as convincing as it is dis
tressing, We are placed face to face
with our own weakness and our own
| 1nferiority as compared with the i'm
mense social, political, commercial, in
dustria1, financial and moral superior
ity of the AngloSaxOn race. For it
is not the acknowledged superiority of
our cooks and of our playwrights which
| will ever save us, and it is probable
that our superiority in all artistic mat
tiers is nothing more than mere use
| less luxury
| The eminent Academician agrees
with the author of the book that one
of the main causes of this superiority
is the fact that the French Nation is
a communal organization-that is to
say, an organization where every one
| relies upon his neighbor instead of him
self, whereas the Anglo-Saxons are a
race Of particularistic formation-that
is to say, a race each member of which
| relies upon himself instead Of upon
anybody else. Another reason is to be
found in the schools, which, according
to Messrs. Lemaitre and Demolins, turn
out nothing but Government officials in
France where in the United States and
in England they turn out men in the
full sense of the word. "Our system
of education tends to impair the growth
of the pOulatiOn. For, inasmuch as
Government offices are not sufficiently
remunerative to constitute a means of
livelihood, the parents are compelled to
save as many Independent fortunes as
they have children. Not only does
this lead them to have as few children
as possible, but likewise has the eff
feet of withdrawing from trade and in
dustry money which would otherwise be
used for the development thereof, in
stead of being invested in bonds and
stocks that are often those of a for
eign government, and of no produce
tiveness whatever to France. In
America and in Great Britain, on the
contrary, schools prepare the pupils for
the struggle of life, and for enterprises
of an Industrial, commercial and agri-
cultural character, rather than for I'M
derpaid Government service. The
consequence is that money, instead of
being boarded, circula ties, that there is
no dread Of an abundance of children
and that the home lacks that tendency
toward avarice which is a feature of so
many of the families of the middle and
lower classes in France"
BLIGHTING INFLUENCES OF POL
ITICS.
NJ. Dernolins and his eminent review
er, the ''Academician Lemaitre," then
go on to show that the preference OF
the French for public service over ag-
ricultural industrial and commercial
pursuits results in the absurdity Of
having a national Legislature composed
of 100 former Government officials. the
balance being composed of journalists,
| lawyers and doctors, who for the most
part are far from being the cream of
their respective professions, which they
would not have abandoned for politics
had they achieved success in their va
rious callings. Compared to this the
English House of Commons is com
posed to the extent of four fifths of
great land owners, manufacturers and
merchants, men representative, in one
word, of the trade, the industry and the
agriculture of the Empire.
| 1t is thanks to this and other analo-
gous considerations enumerated by the
author of the book in question that the
| United States and Great Britain are
| more free than any country from So
cialism and from the most reactionary
and backward of all organizations, the
organization, which, of all, is the most
| fatal to activity, development and to
/ individual dignity
No wonder, then, that the Anglo
| Saxon race is destined to become be-
| fore long the master of the world It
has supplanted and subjected all other
races in North America, in India, in
Australia, and in Africa, and the re-
mainder of the word-that is to say
South America and that portion of
Asia not comprised by India, through
it's commerce and its industry That
is why the conviction is held that no
matter what the outcome of the pres
emit imbroglio in the Orient it is the
| Anglo-Saxon race which will profit the
most thereby.
| WHAT SHOULD BE DONE BY THE
FRENCH
| What are we to do, asks the author
| of the book, in order to remedy the
| condition of affairs in France? And
| the ''Academician" replies: 1--WE must
acquire those qualities which we for the
uous in the Anglo-Saxon race We must
| develop our viii power, our reliance up
on our individual selves, our spirit of
initiative and our personal energy
Then, too, parents should understand
| once and for all that they need not
save and hoard for their children. and
that they owe to their offspring nothing
else than a first-class and useful edu