THE FRENCH ANARCHIST.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 501, 18 September 1912, Page 6

THE FRENCH ANARCHIST.

The crimes of the French Anarchists have drawn official attention again to the operations of the men and women who believe that society should be permitted not to possess any organisation and that all rulers are criminals. Paris and its suburbß contain about 10,000 Anarchists, according to the police precords, and other groups of the order are scattered all over France. But most of the members are mere theorists, inspired by a vision of world-wide peace and brotherhood, and quite incapable of committing dangerous crimes. They preach anarchy by means of lectures and pamphlets and conduct newspapers and lending libraries. Anarchy becomes dangerous at the point whare it tDuches the criminal classes, who find in the creed of the social war an excuse for their ill deeds. The assassinations of public men are usually the work of monomaniacs,' who may not belong to an Anarchist order at all. The most interesting Anarchist in Paris is M. Fromentin, an eccentric millionaire who has practically placed his purse at the disposal of a small army of agitators, dreamers and mere loafers. His favourite companions are found among a group of young artists whose pictures, it is said, are nearly as startling as their patron's political ideas. Naturally these painters do not find it easy to persuade the picture dealers that their canvases are worth money and this difficulty is a common subject of debate in the studios where the "Anarchists" gather to drink beer and absinthe and talk of revolution. M. Fromentin takes a leading part in the discussions, and according to a Paris newspaper he has one set speech that is always popular. "When the day of the grand smash arrives," he says, "each one will have to combat the abuses with which he is acquainted. I, for example, who am a connosseur, shall go off and hang the picture dealers, one after the other at their shop fronts." The sentiment is hailed with rapturous applause. Probably this millionaire Anarchist need not be regarded as a very dangerous member of society.