Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-24
THE PAPERS OF PARIS.
They Have No News or Opinions, but
Abound in 'Spicy" Reading.

1
| Abound in "Spicy" Reading.
| J. W. Stevens in the London Mail.
There are scores of then, in Paris and
until you have wandered up and down them
for day or two 1t is impossible to find the
| news. In most of them. indeed. there is no
| news What they have is tucked away in
| half column or of small type some
| where toward the columns of advertise
! ments in the rear.
| First, Fashoda. You look at the first
leader. No: that appears to be about the
Dreyfus affair. The next-no; that also is
| about Dreyfus. The next-no; branch of
| the affair Dreyfus.
| AH-"LA CR1SE"'
| But that is about the ministerial crisis.
| Turn over. series of short biographies of
| the new cabinet-here it is, though-'Our
! kilograms" But only three of them-fve
| lires from Vienna, eight from Crete, one
| from Japan.
What can have happened? Have l been
| asleep even longer than 1 thought, and is
| the war over or the question settled? Mis-
cellaneous s-theaters-provincial intel
| ligence-and here ii is at last. About twenty
! lines of it, chronicling the movements of
| Marchand and Baratier.
| This is absurd. This paper must be ut
| terly worthless, utterly unnfiuental. Then
you take up another. and another, and an
| other-and always the same thing. one or
! two enlarge on the news from Cairo by re-
| marking that the government does not
| konw why Marchand left Fashoda, and the
| Ell glish papers don't, and they're sure they
| dom -aGd there they leave the matter as
| though Marchand were an irresponsible
| tourist who had gone to Cairo to post a
| letter. few of the graver organs print
| brief kilograms from London with particu-
lars of the new squadron that is apparently
| being commissioned. They point out the
| interesting parallel of the particular service
squadron at the time of the Jameson raid;
| but for anything that France appears to
| have to do with it. the ships might be going
out for target practice.
One or two quote extracts from the Lon
don papers, including the whole of the
| Daily Mails latest leader. For the most
part after the labors of translation, the
| weary publicist is content to add the COM
ment AFTERNOONS I'VE shall see" They
| add this impressive note apparently, to any
| news they do not understand. 1t gives the
effect that everybody concerned is very
| blind and foolish except the man who writes
Afternoons"
| That is all about Fashoda-lttle enough.
and hidden in parts of the paper that no
body reads. The Paris correspondents OF
London papers, trained to scent Such Things.
run these paragraphs to earth, and send
| them over to London. 1t is their duty so to
do. And when we see them in prominent
print in the front pages of our newspapers
we say, French feeling is a little better
today
You have only to see them in their native
newspaper to be sure that there is no
French newspapers may not represent
very serious public opinion. but | fancy
they do represent very fairly what public
opinion there is. The man on the boule-
ward knows nothing about Fashoda or the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. and-except that he has
general idea that Albion is grasping and
perfidious-cares less. Whether anybody al
all in Paris either knows or cares cannot
tell you. Perhaps the ministry does, but
then, until today, there has been no min
istry. Perhaps the foreign office clerks do,
but then they must not say.
But in the meantime, what is in the pa
| pcrS? OF course the affair-the revision
| the Jews-what Dreyfus did or did not say
| to Capt. Lebrun- Renaud-nothing but the
| affair, and the affair, and then the affair
| again. The details of the affair are of no
particular interest to me or to you, but the
manner in which it is dealt with abounds
| in charm The headings suggest the style
| of argument at once. "Reptiles.'' is the til
| tie of one article; "A Criminal or In
| famous Men are comparatively mild.
These titles apply generally to anybody
who is not on the side of the writer. Drey
| fus and Esterhazy are, of course, fair
game; the one is a traitor and dirty Jew.
| the other the Chlan and a protected bandit.
But everybody is equally under fire. Judges,
cabinet ministers, generals, the very presi
dent-one can imagine the glow with which
they open their morning papers to see what
new insult has been found for them today.
And what magnificent command of Ian
guage the Partisan polemist enjoys. NJ.
DerOule0e-Ofly. or course, they omit the
! MIS- "a surrenderer before the enemy, a
professional swallower of Frenchmen," an
| eX-hireling of Rothschild, either forger or
traitor NJ. Rochefort is IAN incredible
accumulation of disgraces, a prodigy of
corruption. both in his public and in his
| private life, with thirty years of lies, de-
| bauches, pots of wine, diffamations. cal
| umnies.' behind him. NJ. Cavaignac-thnk
/ of 1t: the piouS CavaignaC-iS the heir of
two generations of assassins;'' he dreams
aloud of massacre. accumulates lies and
| forgeries. NJ. Dupuy-the mild Dupuy,-
| is half cleansed of the murder of Carnot
| accomplice in the Dreyfus trial. organizer
of the Madagascar butchery. accomplice
| with Hanotaux in the determination of the
! Armenians."
There is much more of it Toward the
| end the gentleman becomes almost epilep-
| tic with enthusiasm and quite unquota BILE
| in our Chas;er tongue, and underneath the
| completed work he signs his honored name
| But it would be unfair to go and not
| give the other SIDE chance.
One turns, naturally, to the works of M
lTumont. Today appears to be All Souls
| day-the day of the dead-and NJ. Drumont
| improves the occasion. AT the beginning
he enchains the reader with the non-com-
| hitting reflection Life is short" by the
| end he has established that this melan-
| choly fact is mainly due to the Jew. The
| Jew with his crooked fingers the unclean
| Jew who traffics in everything. who buys
| up ministers and judges wholesale" 1t APP
! pears the love of death and the lust of
nothingneSs-whatever that is-are the only
| things he believes in. The Jew knows he
| is shortly to be chastised again; mean
while he amuses himself by killing by de-
| stroyins; he tastes the pleasure of death.
He says, with horrible grin as he thinks
of bleeding France, Another people smit-
| ten by the right hand Of Israel -
| That is only a specimen of NJ. Drumont's
more phiosophc style. When it comes to
| saying what he thinks of people on the
other side he can hold his own with any
| body. The gnoble press of the syndicate
of treason, the shriekers of the lie du Di-
able IS ore of his gambits; the lies of
Bard" one of his titles. The other day he
dealt with the early life of this apparently
well-meaning magistrate; 'he vomited into
a provincial newspaper things perversive
of the Christian faith. and the synagogue
rewarded him with Office
| But that is enough for the morning 1t is
| afternoon now and the evening papers will
| be out. l must go and see what The
Rights of Man and The Anti-Jew' say.
SHAVING IN PORTO RICO.
No Use for American Razors or the
Customary Soap.
|