The acknowledgment of subscriptions and contributions through the columns of the papers is theoretically for the sake of saving the labour and expense of correspondence and postage; and, when the names of the contributors are given by initials only, as is sometimes done, the device may stand for what it claims to be. But when, as too frequently happens, the names are printed in full, it is impossible not to suspect the editors of catering to precisely the same sort of vanity as that which lies back of bourgeois subscription lists.
These account columns are further utilised by the _camarades_—but here at least the taint is scarcely a bourgeois one—for the launching of pleasantries (more or less astute) and for the expression of sentiments, the affirmation of brotherhood, the declaration of principles, and the utterance of prophecies or threats.
In a recent subscription list of _Le Libertaire_ these signatures appeared: _Nemesis_, fr. 0.50; _L’Alouette_, 0.50; _Ni Dieu ni Maître_, 0.50; _Un Evadé du Bagne Schneider_, 0.50; _Trois Mètres de Corde pour le Roussin D——_, 0.50; _Un Va-nu-pied_, 0.25; _Un Coopérateur Communiste-anarchiste_, 0.30; _Trois Semeurs à Lille_, 0.25; _Après la Conférence de Sébastien Faure_, 2 fr.; _Trois Coopérateurs_, 0.30; _Un Miséreux_, 0.10; _Un Garçon de Café Ennemi de la Tyrannie_, 0.30; _Deux Trimardeurs_, 2 fr.; _Un Camarade Dévoué_, 1 fr.; _A Bas la Lâcheté Humaine_, 1 fr.; _Vive l’Energie Individuelle!_ 1 fr.; _Trois Copains Rochefortais_, 4 fr.; _Le Breton du Jardin des Plantes_, 0.30.
[Illustration: PIERRE JOSEPH PROUDHON[15]]
A recent device for raising funds, which is at the same time an additional means of propaganda, is the sale of anarchist pictures. Up to 1886 a portrait of Louise Michel was the only picture published under anarchist auspices. In that year _La Révolte_ (now _Les Temps Nouveaux_), having become convinced of the proselyting value of pictures, attempted to buy for reproduction such of the plates of the illustrated weekly _L’Illustration_ as had or could be given a revolutionary meaning. This attempt failing, it set about producing a series of pictures of its own called _Images de Propagande_, to be sold at prices ranging from ten to twenty-five sous. These _Images de Propagande_ are all genuine works of art by artists of renown, and the complete collection is much sought by amateurs. The _Temps Nouveaux_ has also turned to the advantage of the propaganda the illustrated postal card fever, and has prepared a series of anarchist pictures especially for children.