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Show ntENCU DECADENCE. EXPLANATION Or IT DV A PflENCHMAN. Had l"' "" I'ablle Ufa He ! lulits sn4 ItabalaU Were Tree Rons of IS Wee, Caaafle, Mlppant aa4 tallsa Satire !fploreL rsnee la In trouble about her soul She Is fllUtl with vai;iie and unrealized desires, ys the London MalL Not contest with her wealth ind capacity for bsipineM, which might Inspire envy in 'be brent of tbe moat ar.o-gaol ar.o-gaol Anglo-Sixon, ahe atlll algha for what she hoa not, and dreams Of an emplft Heroes the sea, aa though her own eouutry ware a heritage not worth the keeping She feels tho need of el-pension, el-pension, so aay her philosophers, and be cstnot satisfy her need. Tho alliance al-liance with HiiMla proved for awhllo an assuagement of grief, but tha Imperial Im-perial bond la becoming Irksome, and the voice of Trance la once mora raised In lamentation. Paris la destroying the province, says one, by attracting all tbe talent of tha country to hor bouletarda, tbo Jew aro destroying the whole country, aay another, by putting all her money Into their gaping pockets Hut never did pessimism discover dis-cover so atrango a complaint is that set forth by M Demolln In hi recent book, Ixa Krancals d'AuJourd'bul." Kor this professor haa made a atudy of the modem Frenchman nnd declares that he la ruined by the futility of hla couotry'a soil. Tbat. Indeed, though ho would not allow It, la the conclusion of hla argument. argu-ment. Prance, say he, Is heading tralaht for decadence; she Is follow. Ing (Ireecc. Italy, and Haln Into tho night of hopeless obscurity, and she owe her failure to tho baleful effocl of a generous soil upon her character. He has examined Ihe province one by one, md wherever hla travels havo led htm ho haa found only ona ominous content. The Hngllsh, unable to grow their own corn, are wont to deptoro tha sad condition of tbe farmer, II. De-mollns De-mollns travels Into Touralno or Gas-cony Gas-cony and sheda lean of btltcr grief over Ihe fertility of Iho vineyards. Tho vine, he declare, ho ruined Trance and depraved tho Trench character. Not that ha brlngi a charge of drunkenness agalnat hla countrymen-, they, at leaat, ore not driven by an Inclement cllmato lo tho aolico of tho bottle. No, tho vice of tho grapo Is far leas obvious than tha teetotaler would suppose. In Iho first place, It yields a handsomo profit for a email outlay, and that la tho beginning of Hi wickedness. Once tho vino Is planted plant-ed It goes on year after year filling the pocket of tho peasant In return for a modest Investment and little labor. Moreover, Its cultivation may be undertaken by small proprietors, who need neither be exploited by capitalist! cap-italist! nor undone by Iho purchase of complicated machinery. Bo that under Us Influence Trance tin become (he country of small holdings nnd has thus achieved without any Intervention Iho beneficent result which cars of legislation have failed to effect In other oth-er countries. Hut, aay M Demount, tho result Is not beneficent at all. Ai tho vino may bo grown and pressed without elaborate machinery Hi cultivation It ' bad for trade." And Id Immoral Influence In-fluence Is still worso. An easy prosperity pros-perity renders tho family unstable and ronverta the young Into monsters of cruelty. The old men aro thrust out and their wealth Infamously stolen, until every village In Touralno pro-! pro-! vldri tho material for another tragedy of Lear. Again, an easy livelihood produce leisure, another vague dream of tho legislator, and lelturo brings In It train Improvidence and luxury. M, Demollns asserts, though we.cnn hardly believe It, that In tho llerault the women coyer themselves with ornaments. orn-aments. And If this Indictment b true, It la clear that Ihe grapo la 1'ranco'a worst enemy. "In good ears," lay this oxtraordlnary philosopher, phil-osopher, "the vino gltr considerable profit," aud this Is sufficient reason to deploro 111 existence! Hut tho worst Is not yet told Tho vino exercise, nlso, n debasing Influence Influ-ence upon public life. It makes for equality nnd those, democratic virtue for which wo havo been told Iho blood of Franco una shed and for which n king lost hit head upon the scaffold It It droll enough to heir a Trench-man Trench-man deploro Iho spirit of equality. It It droller still to hear It ascribed to tha cultivation of tho grape. In literature Ihe aamo unhappy effect ef-fect Is visible Itabelals and Haltac, born In Touralno, aro truo sons of tho grape, and they were both caustic, flippant and unkind. In fact, they looked upon tho bitter side of Ufa and though tho world haa regarded litem aa men of genius, M. Dcmollna deplores their satire, and bellorei that if only I Touralno had enjoyed an ungrateful toll theeo heroca might never have I been born. Id fact, what wo havo always believed the glories of Trance ' are her shame, and It la only when tha grape la turned Into brandy that M. I Demollnt admlta Its excellence, Tor the mmufacturs of brandy rrqulrea machinery, and machinery demanda ' co-operation, And It la by co-opera- I Hon that Trance ihill be laved from tha consequence of her own prosperity. prosper-ity. Ilrlltany Is not cursed with tha vine, yet this province fare no better at I the bandi of M. Demollns. Tba Bra-'tons Bra-'tons grow cattle and catch fish, and 1 these simple puraulla aro Immoral, too. |