The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-12-17
TRENCH IF :. : DE DECADENCE. {. !: 4 ] y II
EXPLANATION OF 1T BY A
FRENCHMAN. ,5+:>~
bad Eject on Public Life-Ho Says
Balzao and Rabelais We're True Sons
of the Vine, Caustic, Flippant and
Unkind--Satire Deplored.

France is in trouble about her soul.
z 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 arro-
giant Anglo-Saxon, she still sighs for
what she has not, and dreams Of an
empire across the sea, as though her
own country were a 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
perial bond is becoming irksome, and
the voice Of France is once more raised
in 1amentation. 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
cover so strange a complaint as that
|set forth by NJ Demolins in his recent
book, tLes Francois dHAujourd 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 not
allow it, 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
might of hopeless obscurity, and she
iowes her failure to the baleful effect
Eof generous soil upon her character.
lHes has examined the provinces one
10y one, and wherever. his travels have
lied 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. M. De-
molins travels into Touraine or Cas-
eony 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 charge Of
drunkenness against his~ countrymen:
they, at least, are not driven by an
hnclement 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 a 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
for modest investment and little
labor. Moreover, its cultivation may
be undertaken by small proprietors,
who need neither be exploited by cap
1tallsts nor undone by the purchase
of complicated machinery. So that
under it's influence France has become
the country Of small holdings and has
thus achieved without any intervention
the benefcent result which years of
Legislation have failed to effect in 9TH
Ter countries.
But, says M. Demolins, the result is
not. benefcent at all. AS the vine
may be grown and pressed without
elaborate machinery it's cultivation is
'"bad for trade" And it's immoral in
tluence is still worse. An easy pros
fperity 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 it's train improvidence and luxury,
!. M. 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, it is clear that the grape is
Frances worst enemy. 'In good
years. says this extraordinary phil
osopher, "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 inau-
lence. upon public life. It makes for
equality and those democratic virtues
for which we have been told the blood
iof France was shed and for which a
king lost his head upon the scaffold.
h 1T is droll enough to hear French
man deplore the spirit OF equality; it
fs droller still to hear it ascribed to the
cultivation Of the grape.
In literature the same unhappy ef-
feet is visible. Rabelais and Balzac,
born in Touraine, are true sons Of the
grape, and they were both caustic,
fippant and unknd. In fact they
looked upon the bitter side of life and
though the world has regarded them as
men Of genius, M. Demolins deplores
their satire, and believes that if only
Touraine had enjoyed an ungrateful
soil these heroes might never have
s been born. In fact, what we have
always believed the glories Of France
are her shame, and It is only when the
q grape Is turned into brandy that M.
. Dem0lins admits its excellence. For
the manufacture OF brandy requires