The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-08
Anglo-Saxon Superiority.

II is many years since a book dealing
with economical and social questions has
attracted so much attention in France as
the volume entitled "a Quot Tient la Su-
p6riorit6 des Anglo-Saxons," by EDMOND
DEMonrNs. The author, who is the editor
Of the review named La Science Soctale,
begins by pointing out the worldwide ex-
" N of tho Anglo-Saxon race, and then
"a AXES to define the causes of It's In
able ftnessf for colonization. About
10 expansion there is, of course, no doubt,
ZEN In the minds Of Frenchmen, weak as
eey are in geography. In North America
ae Frenchman has been su%pplanted by the
~nglo-Saxon, and the same thing 10 true of
India, Of Mauritius and of Egypt. TIL
AnKlo-Saxon now controls the New World
by means of the United States and Canada;
Africa, by means of Egypt and the Cape
Colony; Asia, by means of India and Bur
nah; Oceanica, by means of Australia and
New Zealand; one may even say that he
controls Europe and the entire world be-
sides, by means of his manufactures n
his commerce.
It IL true that other nations also, like
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have
colonies; but these. for the most part, are
made up of public functionaries. Those
nations dominate certain tracts of country,
In q military sense; they do not fill them,
they do not transform them, they do not
plant themselves in them as do the Anglo
Saxon c~olonists. Two other empires,
Russia and China, occupy regions Of vast
extent, but these are, In a large measure,
deserts and likely to remain shut against
civilization for a long time to come. On
the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon world is
to-day at the head of the most active and
progressive civilization. 1t seems to be
enough for this race to fix itself at any
point Of the globe in order to transform It
by introducing, with prodigious rapidity,
the latest acquisitions Of Western Europe ;
indeed. these young communities often
outstrip their elders, and, with a sort of
disdain, refer to Europe as the Old World.
To Frenchmen like NJ. JULES LEMAITRR
the book In question Is singularly painful.
The truths of which NJ. DEMoLINs speaks
wereNknown or suspected by them before,
but he brings them out with remarkable
force. He has succeeded in convincing his
countrymen of the enormous social, politi-
cal, commercial, industrial, financial and
moral superiority of the AnRlo-Saxon race,
and of the comparative feebleness and
nulllty of the French nation, which the ex'
c~ellence of Its playwrights and cooks will
not avail to save. NJ. JULES LEMATTRE not
only acknowledges the fact, but admits
that nothing else could be expected, for the
reason that the French are a people OF
Scommunistic" formation; that Is to say
q formation In which everybody leans upor
somebody else; the Anglo-Saxons, on the
contrary, are a people of particularist for
nation, a formation in which each indi
yidual counts ON himself alone.
What are the causes of A~nglo.Saxon su
perioritya hat Is the question which NJ
DEMoLINs essays to answer. Great i'm
portance is ascribed by him to the aim ant
scope of the English national school sys
tenn. He maintains that for the most par
the French scSeol system creates bureau
Gratis, whereas the English school system
creates men. He shows how the forme
mode of education reduces the birth rate
owing to the fact that the father of a famil.
10 obliged TO provide for all his children
and to amass as many fortunes as he ha
daughters. He shows how the deliberat
and systematic sterility practiced in Franc
leaves Professionally a great deal of none
for Investment, and how these savings ar
kept out of trade and manufactures an
converted into unstable and depreciatln
Stock Exchange securities. He shows mex
how Anglo-Saxon education fits one for tn
struggle for existence, impels one to agr
cultural, commercial and manufacturin
enterprises, and consequently leaves no reI
son to dread a sup%erabundance Of children
TO say nothing of the fact that the Englis
home, which, by comparison, Is free froI
Aordid syatce and comfortable even In th