New-York tribune., 1908-08-04
W4TTERsON pRYING AT EN-.

After the Franco Prussan War, when the
Germans led by Bismarck and Won Noitke' mao
extinguished the little Napoleon and made d
deeoIatior of France. crushing the thlet-rdden
bureaucracy of the Third Empire like an egg
shell-when. set on by the lust OF conquest ail1
the memory of two centuries OF invasion ana
rapine they had girdled Paris by an unhroken
and exultant line of camp1res, shouting Die
Wacht am Rhein. and had proclaimed thelf
Kaicar and Tinted FatherIand from the great
Hall of the Grand Monarque at VersailleS-thefe
was hut other thing left to compete tLls
degradation and humiliation of the brave ana
CAV but degenerate. sciOns of Conde. Iorenne
and Napoleon, and that was the imposition OF
tribute From the Man of Blood and Iron mercy
was not to be looked for. The sum Bismarck
named appalled, the more generous sensibli1tles
OF the nations. Nor was the SOIL or lhe van
uushed Gaul to be rid of the mated leuton ufllii
every franc was paid. 1t stupendous and 1t
was cruel but-so argued the relentless Chan-
ce1Ior-it was lust Then a strange thing came
10 pass at once disclosure and an eXh1nlt1on or
patriotism, exhilaratng as 1t was pathetc-
There seemed TO issue from the bowels OF the
earth a voice CRYING Inc people ol NJ ldl1 tne4
others-shaIl pay the tribute NO pond-
dealing sharks foreign Shylocks-just the
French people should pay the tribute. They came,
these children Of the Loire and the Garonne'
Of the Rh6ne the Sa6ne and the Seine-these
little Savoyards" of the vineyards and the
farms to paw the tribute 1t was hard. but it
was heroic. It thrilled all hearts. 1t brought
tears to every eye outside the Bank of France,
two blocks down the Rue st. Honore, the line,
largely of old women and old men, in blue blouse
and white kerchief. extended from day TO DAY
until they had paid the tribute, franc by franc,
mark by mark, every sou. every pfennig OF II;
the poor. plain people of France.
That is a pretty good beginning for THE
Louisville Courier-Journals' appeal for contri-
buttons to the Democratic campaign fund. II
such learning and such eloquence, together
with the French IN the article, which we have
not room to quote, do not pry open the purses
of the Southern 'tightwads'' nothing will.
THE Charleston News and Courier's" hen and
gander will take the pip Of shame that their
virtues were not extolled by such a master.
But the bearing of this tear-cOmpelling his
tory? Why, longer than Louis Napoleon
ruled in France has Money Devil, equally
'unsparing. ruled in the United States And
Where shall the Democrats get campaign
fund.-" Why. the plain people of the United
States must go down in their socks as the plain
people of France, amid the splashing of the
tears of the world. went down in theirs to pay
the tribute to Bismarck. Who is the Man of
Blood and Iron in the present case the analogue
doesn't say but, whether he is Henry Waiter
son. Governor Haskell. William j. Bryan,
mercy is not to he looked for"
Will the plain people of this country be n
whit less self-sacrificng than the plain people
of France? Perish the thought-especially
when thev face the cannon of the Wattersonian
rhetoric, The plain people Of France paid $780,
100000 of tribute Who'll give the first dollar
to Watterson's S400,OO0000 campaign fund?