The age-herald., 1900-04-23
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS
 WHICH ARE PITIABLE
Little Do the Masses of One Nation Know of the Peoples and Habits
 of Another

Max O'Rell in New York Evening Post.
 When, by and by the achievements of the nineteenth century are duly appre- ciated, it will be acknowledged that civ ilized nations enter the twentieth cen tury, after discovering practically every thing that ought to lead to their comfort ana happiness-steam, electricity rail- ways, telegraphs telephones, phonographs, pioeraphs,s clnematographs, sanitary inn provements, marvellous progress in science and art, grand productions in literature. and the drama; but these nations remain, as before, in utter ignorance of one an- other, and l may say that, among others. so far as the masses of the people are com cerheu, the two foremost nations of Flu rope England and France, living twenty one miles apart do not know each other better today than they did in the dark aees. And yet nowadays people read and travel. But what do they read?
 The intelligent portion of these two com munltles read books, but the masses read newspapers. which seem to make if their duty to keep their readers in complete ignorance of the character of their neigh DOTS. The press is entirely responsible for that ignorance-in democracies especially where newspapers cater to the lower in- stincts of the masses. The worst price ihat VIC nave lO pay TOT the blessing Of living in democracy is the liberty of the press that is to say, the immense power of the press to excite bad feelings be- tween nations that are made to respect and love each other and be useful to each other. O great dowager empress of China, how I admired thee the other day when thou didst decree the suppression of all the papers of the Celestial empire! What a pity it is that good Queen Victoria has not the same power in England, and that France is not now governed by a good, sensible Catharine of Russia, who might do the same service to my country
 I understand that the Americans who belong to nation about a hundred years old only, wish to know how their won- drous achievements strike foreigners The Australians ask you what you think of their new country. In every little Austra- Han town I had to visit the town hall, the postoffice, the court house, and the school of arts. Better than that, I had to write out my impressions on the visitors book, and I did it. Considering the age of this town" I would write, "f think this is one of the most promising schools of arts that I have seen." This was my stereotyped impression of three rooms, one with a table, two benches, and a blackboard, an- other with a map of the southern hemis- phere, and the third with glass cases con- taining stuffed Australian birds.
 But how is it that old England should ask the foreigners what they think of her, and be interested in their opinion? She does. Every remark passed on her, not only by distinguished foreigners, but by the worst halfpenny rags of newspapers, is duly chronicled and reproduced by the leading organs of the English press. That desire to produce a good impression the world is not as thought at first, natural craving of the young. Angol-Sax- on communities, proud of achievements natural craving of the young. Anglo-Sax- Saxon characteristic trait to be found in old as in young.
 Now, the French do not care a straw about what foreigners write or say or even think about them. They are not in the least concerned about it., I am not aware that book written by a foreigner on France or the French ever was a suc- cess in France, or read, or even heard of. We are a modest nation (like the British; we are satisfied with the opinion that we have ourselves-an opinion which is good When foreigners visit us we show them what we have got but we ask them no questions; we are kind and considerate; we save them the risk of making fools of themselves. It is mistake to suppose, however, that we despise or hate foreign CTS. Not at all. We sometimes think it highly entertaining that people should not be French and yet be apparently com fortable happy, and satisfied with their lot. We do not despise those people; we ", ka them, and we pity them from the bottom of our hearts. We are really kind.
 With such ideas, one can easily imagine the value of the opinions that the French have of the English. There are a great number of English people who believe that the French live on snales and frogs and a respectable number of people who 'know,, that Englishmen can dispose of their wives on the Smithfield market. We be- leVe in France that the fog is so thick in England-and that all the year round that when several people go out together they have to fasten their coats together so as not to lose one another
 Now, repeat 1t, our knowledge of Eng land and her people is conveyed to us by our newspapers. The two following ex- tracts may give an idea of the value of that teaching. Q). MT. (sic) Cecil repre- sents in the house of commons the con stituency which his father M. de Salis-s| bury, represents in the house of lords"
 c MT. Campbell Zimmerman yesterday