New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-02
DOsSIERS FOR EVERYBODY.

Unfortunately the knowledge comprised IN
these dossiers is not by any means restricted
20 the Prefect OF Police and to the Minister Of
the Interior AS shown above by the case or
Daniel Wilson, 1t is within the power of any one
nossessed OF a certain degree OF influence to OBJ
tain permission to take copies or notes OF this
or Of that dossier without any care being exer-
c,eed as 10 whether the information required Is
for some lawful purpose with the more or
binary object Of terrorism and backmail In
fact so great is the readiness OF the police to
furnish information OF this kind that any bank
or house OF business employing bookkeeper or
cashier. any firm engaging a manager or sales
man In one word nearly every employer pos
sessed OF any commercial standing. can apply
IN the Prefecture OF Police. II not for the dos
sier itself at any rate for what Is known as
the sommier that Is TO say, precis or list.
not merely OF the convictions. but even OF the
charges. often unfounded. that may have been
brought ever since childhood. against the person
concerned
That is to say. II an elderly man who for more
than a quarter of a century has lived In every
sense OF the word life that can be described
as straight and aboveboard has had the
misfortune in his youth to be arrested and fined
for drunkenness. or to have been even suspect
ed though not indicted or convicted. or any
offence II Is recorded against him. and the rec
ord or sommier is at the disposal Of his would
be employer: sometimes too. of a man who Ia
intent on doing him injury. At the Prefecture
OF Police at Paris there less than eight
million Of these sommiers. all classified with
such care that any information required can be
obtained in less than five minutes search. II is
not astonishing under the circumstances that
durinR the Paris instruction Of 1871 the very
first Of the public buildings to be destroyed by
the rebels who were mostly men Of questionable
antecedents was the Prefecture OF Police,
rather that portion OF 1t which looked upon the
Rue du Harlay and In which the dossiers
were kept on file. The result is that nearly all
the dossiers and sommers at Paris date
from the year 1871. those anterior thereto hav-
ing been compiled from provincial and foreign
records.
Although in the article have referred chiefly
TO the terrorism exercised by means OF these
dossers in France, yet the same system pre-
walls in other Continental countries. There.
however. the abuses in connection with these
records are less garing owing TO the fact that
the monarchica system OF government insures
a greater degree OF continuity In the service OF
the State and consequently more strictness Of
discipline than under the rule OF a republic
where the terms Of office are brief and there Is
consequently a disposition on the part OF the
INSCRIPTIONS to make hay while the sun shines.
But no matter whether there are abuses not,
the system OF dossiers. save in the case Of
criminals. is an odous at the best and
under the circumstances il must be a matter
OF congratulation TO all friends Of the French
nation that the French Senate should at the
present moment have under discussion n law
the increased secrecy Of police records and for
the exercise Of the utmost discretion and sever
ity in communicating to people not connected