The New York herald., 1922-06-11
tole France. One good turn de-
serves another" They agreed

And France adds: 1.-THE nobleman
and the anarchist were elected on the
same day and by the same votes. 1t
was quite shameless" And there is
just enough Of truth behind this flip
pant account Of it to give pungency
to the anecdote, though, of course.
the Academy could not have kept
Anatole France out if he thought it
worth while to, come in
While he has always avoided
actual participation in public affairs
as much as possible, he has never
hesitated to come forward personally
when the occasion demanded it. He
took no small part in the Dreyfus
affair. ably backing up Zola with his
powerful pen.
France has often been condemned
as a "skeptic'-as' if that were a
term of reproach. He has even been
accused Of carrying his skepticism to
the point of a philosophic nihilism
He is, indeed, a skeptic in the sense
of the term which implies a refusal
to believe things that he does not
know to be true, and therein he is
also an incarnation of the spirit Of
modern critical-and eventually con-
structive-thought. 1t is a spirit
which refuses to bow to authority,
which denies the validity of ancient
prejudices and has little respect for
mere reputation and no patient ac-
ceptance of venerated stupidities He
is of the great race of skeptics in
France which includes Rabelais, Mo-
here, voltaire.
But there is nothing of Mephisto-
phelian maIevolence in his philo-
sophie skepticism; nothing of der
Geist der stets rerneipt for the sheer
malicious joy Of the negation. There
is no Indifference in his attitude;
rather it is one of pity and desire to
help. 1t is truly upbuilding, forward
looking; not merely destructive of
sham and cruelty. Speaking Of
Jeanne dare France has said: IF
the judges had been skeptical
philosophers, instead of pious fa-
natics, they would certainly never
have burned her. The conclusion
is -. that skepticism prompts
the most humane sentiments and
that in any case it prevents crimes"
Such skeptieism as that of Anatole
France is a prophylactic that may be
there are many signs of the growth
of dangerous spirit of intolerance.
a stupid retrograde movement that
threatens seriously to affect our
whole social, economic and political
life and is already manifest in edu-
cational theories and in some of the
churches. M. Gsell reports an out
burst by France that is important
enough to quote at some length:
Skepticism, said he. This word
is made synonymous with negation
and impotence. Yet our great
skeptics were sometimes the most
affirmative and often the most
courageous of men. They denied
only negations. They attacked
everything that fetters the mind
and the will. They struggled
against ignorance that stupefies,
against error that oppresses.
| against intolerance that tyran-
nizes, against cruelty that tortures
and against hatred that kills.
They are accused of having been
unbelievers. But first we must
| know whether belief is virtue
and whether genuine strength does
not lie in doubling what there is
no reason to believe. a.ia
Rabelais, a buffoon full of Sc
riousness, proclaims the majesty
of tolerance. Montaigne
invokes pity against the -ferocity
of religious wars and the barbarity
of judicial torture. Above all, he
pays homage to the sanctity of
friendship. Moliere inveighs
against the passions and weak
nesses which make men hateful.
In his widest capers the
unbelieving Voltaire never loses
sight of his ideal of reason, knowl-
edge and kindness.
All of these great, ennobling quail