The Scarlet Epidemic

"It used to be that half the passengers on the Metro wore the Legion of Honor," crack Parisians. "Now the only ones who still bother to wear it are the conductors." Today, some 300,000 Frenchmen and several thousand foreigners are entitled to the Legion's lapel emblem, and Charles de Gaulle, who as President of France is Grand Master of the Legion, is anxious to make the list more exclusive. De Gaulle has recently approved a decree reducing the number of annual awards by 20%. Through normal attrition, the government hopes the Legion will have dwindled to 125,000 in ten years.

Everyone Bites. The order was founded by Napoleon in 1802 to reward those who "by their knowledge, their virtue, their talent" upheld the glory of the Republic, in which all titles and honors had been abolished. "People call them baubles," said Napoleon of the awards. "Very well, it is with baubles that you lead men. There must be distinction." But the trouble was that the Legion of Honor soon lost its distinctiveness. Miners and postmen, shopkeepers, policemen, and even the official Elysee Palace silver polisher were garlanded along with poets, generals, industrialists and diplomats.

In 1887 the President of France was forced to resign because his son-in-law was selling Legion appointments foi $3,000 apiece. One Premier of the Third Republic, Pierre-Maurice Rou-vier, casually made his mistress' husband a Legionnaire because "of the special services rendered to me by his wife." Once when he was having bad luck fishing, legend has it, Author Henri Murger (La Vie de Boheme) baited his hook with his scarlet ribbon and said: "Now they are sure to bite. This is something everyone likes."

Money Is Better. As the "scarlet epidemic" spread, it became more distinguished to reject than to accept the award. Degas, De Maupassant, Clemenceau, Gide, Sartre and Camus all allegedly turned the Legion down. Offered the medal in lieu of payment for his famed requiem commissioned by the government, Composer Hector Berlioz snorted: "To hell with your Legion of Honor. I want my money." But a refusal cannot be worn in a buttonhole, and thousands of other Frenchmen still openly court the award.

To restore "to our first national order the prestige it should have," De Gaulle's government last week formally established a second-ranking decoration known as the Order of Merit. Hence forth, the Legion of Honor will be awarded only for "eminent service." Merely "distinguished service" will be rewarded with the new Order of Merit, whose lapel ribbons and rosettes will look like the Legion's, except that the color will be blue.

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