Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-11-19
FRENCH DECADENCE.
EXPLANATION OF 1T BY A
FRENCHMAN.
Had Eject on Pablo Life-He Saws
BalHsc And RabeIais Were True SOns
of the Vine. Caustic, Fiippant and
UnkInd-Satire DepIored.


Unkind-satire DepIored.
France Is In trouble about her soul.
She is filled with vague and unrealized
desires, says the London Mail. Not
content with her wealth and capacity
for happiness, which might inspire
envy in the breast of the most AFRO
CANT Anglo-Saxon, she still signs for
what she has not, and dreams OF an
empire across the sea, as though her
own country were heritage not worth
the keeping. She feels the need OF ex-
pansion, SO say her philosophers, and
she cannot satisfy her need. The al
lance with Russia proved for awhile
an assuagement of grief, but the i'm
perial bond is bssoming irksome, and
the voice of France is once more raised
in lamentation. Paris is destroying
the provinces, says one, by attracting
all the talent Of the country to her
boulevards; the Jews are destroying
the whole country, says another, by
putting all her money into their gaping
pockets. But never did pessimism dis
/ >N'NA OF blidnSc d CODpld d6 lu0l
set forth by M. Demolins in his recent
book, LES Francois d'Autourd hui"
For this professor has made a study
of the modern Frenchman and declares
that he is ruined by the fertility OF his
country's soil.
That, indeed, though he would no.
allow 1T, is the conclusion of his argu-
ment- France, says he, is heading
straight for decadence; she is follow
Ing Greece. Italy, and Spain into the
night OF hopeless obscurity, and she
owes her failure to the baleful effect
OF generous soil upon her character.
He has examined the provinces one.
by one, and wherever his travels have
led him he has found only one ominous
content. The English, unable to grow
their own corn, are wont to deplore the
sad condition of the farmer. NJ. De-
molins travels into Touraine or Gas
cony and sheds tears of bitter grief
over the fertility of the vineyards. The
vine, he declares, has ruined France
and depraved the French character.
Not that he brings a charge Of
drunkenness against his countrymen;
they, at least, are not driven by an
Indictment climate to the solace of the
bottle. No, the vice of the grape is
far less obvious than the teetotaler
would suppose. In the first place, it
yields handsome profit for small
outlay, and that is the beginning of
its wickedness. Once the vine is plant
ed it goes on year after year filling
the pocket of the peasant in return
tor a modest investment and little
labor. Moreover, its cultivation may
be undertaken by small proprietors.
who need neither be exploited by cap
italists nor undone by the purchase,
of complicated machinery. So that.
under its influence France has become
the country of small holdings and has
thus achieved without any intervention
the beneficent result which years of
legislation have failed to effect In 9TH
er countries
But, says NJ. Demolins, the result il
not beneficent at all. As the vine
may be grown and pressed without
elaborate machinery its cultivation is
bad for trade" And its immoral in
I
perity renders the family unstable and
converts the young into monsters Of
cruelty. The old men are thrust out
and their wealth UNANIMOUSLY stolen,
until every village in Touraine pro-
vides the material for another tragedy
of Lear. Again, an easy livelihood
produces leisure, another vague dream
of the legislator. and leisure brings
In its train improvidence and luxury
NJ. Demolins asserts. though we can
hardly believe it, that in the Herault
the women cover themselves with orn-
aments. And if this indictment be
true, 1t is clear that the grape is
Frances worst enemy. an good
years." says this extraordinary phil
osopher. 1.-THE vine gives considerable
profits and this is sufficient reason
to deplore its existence!
But the worst is not yet told. The
vine exercises, also, a debasing inliu-
enee upon public life. 1t makes for
equality and those democratic virtues
, for which we have been told the blood
of France was shed and for which a
! king lost his head upon the scaffold.
1t is droll enough to hear French
: man deplore the spirit of equality; it
J is droller still to hear it ascribed to the
cultivation of the grape.
J In literature the same unhappy eff
feet is visible, Rabelais and Balzac.
] born in Touraine, are true sons of the
, grape. and they were both caustic.
: fiippant and unkind. In fact. they
| looked upon the bitter side of life and
, though the world has regarded them as
men of genius. NJ. Demolins deplores
i their satire. and believes that IL only
| Toursine had enjoyed an ungrateful
J soil these heroes might never have
/ been born. In fact, what we have
: always believed the glories of France
, are her shame, and 1t is only when the
9 grape is turned into brandy that M
5 Demolins admits its excellence. Fol
4 the manufacture of brandy requires
: machinery, and machinery demands
co-oneration And II is by eo-oDera.