Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/132

 1 1 6 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Quinzaine, edited by M. Fonssagrive; Le Correspondant, the beautiful Liberal Catholic review; and La Reforme sociale and La Science sociale, two periodicals which defend the sociological theories of Le Play. Some of these periodicals have a large circu- lation; Le Correspondant, for instance, prints 15,000 copies, and La Quinzaine 8,000. The last two of the above-mentioned have a very small circulation. Les Etudes and La Revue thomiste are rather abstruse in their treatment of political subjects, and philos- ophy occupies a large share of their space. Le Correspondant and La Quinzaine are periodicals of general interest which devote much attention to the politics of the day.

The shades of opinion of the parties are sometimes so little differentiated and so numerous that it is difficult to estimate the number of their adherents. The total number of Catholic Con- servatives, Social Catholics, Nationalists, Anti-Semites, and "Rallies" may be roughly given as 2,325,000.

The Liberal Republican or Progressist Republican party is wealthy, composed, as it is, principally of rich manufacturers, merchants, financiers, and big landowners, who for traditional or other reasons cannot belong to any of the other factions of the great Liberal party in formation. Naturally enough, all those depending upon the great capitalists follow them in their political opinions. The membership of this party may be estimated at 1,675,000. It is, above all, conservative. It is quite willing to improve the conditions of the workingmen and the peasants through protective labor laws or a tariff, but it has no wish what- ever to undertake any of the great social reforms which the Socialist Radical and Socialist parties demand. One may say that the only difference between the Progressist Republicans and the Catholic Conservatives or " Rallies " is that republicanism is of older date with the former than with the latter.

The Progressist Republicans possess a number of influential papers, such as Le Figaro, Le Journal dcs Debats, La Libcrte, Le Soir, and La Republiquc fran^aise. Le Figaro, edited by Gaston Calmette, has now lost the importance it formerly had. Its political influence would be a negligible quantity, were it not for its numerous foreign readers, who still see in it what it once was,