The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-12
THE REAL FRANCE.
Reply OF a Paris Newspaper to Charges
by Foreign Critics.
From LIE Temp3

NJ Frederic Loliee one Of the editors OF the
Revue Bleue. in the course Of an interesting
investigation which he is making into the
state OF the French press, makes known
to us the opinion on this subject which prevails
in the United States.
Our American confreres are rather hard
on us. True. they pay rs many compliments
upon our literary qualities. but they We
hementy accuse US OF knowing nothing out
side of our own country. and OF giving atteh-
tioh to frivolous matters only
They overwheln us with their special
wires" their hundreds Of thousands Of francs
worth of kilograms. the superabundance OF
their items Of news, the number OF copies
they print of their papers. their columns
Of advertising and the number OF pages
in their editions. By way of contrast with this
cyclopean press, our American confreres
represent the French press petty. Ill in
formed, filing its four miserable sheets with
empty prattle about incidents OF the days
occurrences as is the case when ii is unfortu-
nately necessary to address an ignorant and
frivolous public.
And that judgment is not specially Amcri-
can. Most of the foreigners III Europe. as
slider us a population of vaudevillists. to uss
the expression of u distinguished foreign iady
In one of Meilhac's comedies. and we French,
men are SO naif that many Of us are tempted
But nothing could be further from the
truth, nothing could be more unjust. nothing
more absurd than this stereOtyped picture;
No, we are not the foolish. superficial ana
out -of-date people that we are represented
What ground is there. for instance. for
the assertion that we know nothing outside
Of our own country? 1t is true that we print
fewer kilograms In our daily papers But
what matters it whether We utter greater
or less number OF words provided we make
fewer mistakes. and keep ourselves informed
rptp mil tyt,f, nrfa n
The truth is that no nation takes greater Seter
interest in foreign thought than we do. What
produced abroad that correspond 70 Vol
Of # nslsh literature" n. d. rqcanYey,illes
Who inauglrated the Russian novel'
Frenchman. n, de Vogue In what , SSonntry
the Italian d'Annunzio been more read and
more commented upon than in France!
What country but srsnre hqI peen sGf nb
losophy, German criticism and German phi
lology? Far from being ignorant of other
countries, We have gone to the other extreme,
our admiration of them has been extravasant
and we have initiated them often inaprro-
priatey. ,-,-,,...
what boulevard sheet could compete in that
respect with a certain American journal,
which we shall leave unnamed. that pack;
lie dinners, balls. fashionable sor6es and
great sporting events, and tells us every day
with the create st wealth Of detail whether
polo is being played NJ Cannes or golf at
Dinard, and what The Countess y. wore M
Biarrit2 or the Marquis of 2. at Maloja. The
Frenchman is sociabe and quite given to
social functions. but, truly, fifteen pages Of
society news" would not prove sufficiently
intellectual nourishment for him
The number OF French snvants is not
smaller than the number Of French vaude-
Assistant in the laboratory Of pathological
physiology in the College Of France. recently
wrote in reply to an inquiry from the Her-
cure. the'folowing lines which every French
man might do well TO learn by heart
The principal biological sciences are,
chemistry. comparative anatomy. ,paicontol-
ogy zoology. embryoGeny. histology, ply
siology and microbioloEy. Now. a French
man established hemistry-lnvoisier, A
Frenchman brought out comparative annt-
omy and acknowledgement, French
man introduced philosophical zoology
Lamarck a Frenchman revealed emhry-
ogeny-GeofTrey Sant-fiilair". French
man founded histology -Bichat A French
man established physiology Claude Bernard.
and Frcnchman discovered microbiooey-
Pasteur.
Thus we see that the creators of biology,
the Srandest conquest of modern science,
were all Frenchmen,
But IN one important matter we stand abso-
lutely inferior to other nations. We DO not
know how to govern ourselves. We are
utterly wanting in political wisdom But
we are the only sufferers from that defect.
and as outsiders profit by i, they surely have
no reason to complain.