Smyrna times., 1855-07-11

OF this Improvement; and this is the treatment
provoked by their audactv
"Strlkes among worknen seem at present
to be quite the order of the day. A number
OF workmen were arrested the day before yes
terdav at Lyons, for attempting to induce their
comrades to leave off their work and demand
higher wages. The men thus taken into Gus
tody assign the exceedingly high price of pro-
Visions as the motive OF their conduct, their
present wages, they declare not being sufficient
to enable them to support their families
OF course, they will be tried and convicted
IN due season; but who can wonder that bar.
rlcadcs 90 up and thrones toppIe down in
country where such law Is dealt out to hun
gry Poverty, peacefully endeavoring to convert
labor INTO adequate bread!
France annually produces more elegant and
tlst"Ful fbrlc> than any other country; vet
her 'sopl are coarsnly clad: she largely grows
al ~. uutacinres Silks; yet the great maiorl-
T. oi Aar ,nap.ai.on, and even OF her silk pro-
GaCsr>, cauuot dturd To wear them: She cX-
ports rare and costly furniture to the ends Of
the earth; yer the homes of the great mass of
her people contain only IA few rude and clumsy
articles, inferior III cost and convenience to the
cont tnt> OF onr newest iOg-Cablns: but she pro-
duceS also vast quantities Of Wine, and of this
though muCh OF the best is exported, far lar
ger quantity Is CONSUMED on her own SOIL
the Poor seldom possess elegant Furniture
nor wear costly Fabrics; but few Frcnchmeu
are 50 poor not TO drink Wine. The day
laborer. whose entire subsistence must be eked
out Of less than eighty dollars year in coun-
Try whore the cost of food is usually twice as
high as IN America, washes down his dinner of
dry bread with half Il pint OF red liquid which
b,s lpFu ~. 1g
Wmc-rm ordinaire they call it, and rery or
dmary Judge it must be. The work-glr llv-
ing on her hard-carned franc day in her mis-
cradle Partisan garret, buys bread and shelter
with her wages, while her youth and comeli-
ness endure, she WINS clothes and fnerv, balls
and wines, in another manner, less creditable,
and moro ruinous. Wine, Wine! In the Prov
mces, tho Nnc is the leading staple of Agr-
culture; III the cities Wine is the great basis
OF commerce. | estimate that Marchand de
Wins Is written over the doors of one-fourih
OF all the places of trade IN Paris; certainly,
there Is no Other sign half so common as this.
| may eXaggcrate III Judging that one fourth
OF the cultivated land in France aud an equal
proportion OF the rural labor are devoted to the
Vine: bat the proportion is so great as to seem
incredible in "A country like ours.
Louis Philippe once replied to temperance
advocate, who had explained to him the Total
Abstinence movement in America, that the sue
cess OF like movement in France would ruin
the Kingdom-that both it's Industry and Com
merce were based upon the consumption Of
Wine. | submit, on the other hand, that my
impartial aud keenl y-observlng American friend
was right-that the Vine Is the chief scourge
of this fair land, perpetuating its Poverty and
deepening its Vice. If the drafting away bv
COnscripilon of half the youthful energy and
spirit of France INTO the Army, there to waste
seven years in nonproductive uselesSness, be
general evil and loss-as who can doubt it =
then the drafting away of another and larger
army from the production OF Food and other
substantial goods to employ them IN producing
that which maddens many and strengthens
none, must inflct still greater and wider in
| Jury. France needs, in at least seven e Thth~
of her homes, ampler and better furniture, more
substantial and nourshlng food; she might have
these (other things remaining as at presently
were it not for the devotion of so large Il share
of her industrial capacity to the production and
distribution OF Wine. Poor and ill-pGid as her
laborers are, they might he far better fed and
sheltered did they not eXpend so large a share
of their earnings for "that which is not bread"
which stimulates but does not nouriSh. If
cask empted INTO the ocean. | know that this
country would thrnceorth increase in wealth
and comfort with rapdty hitherto unknown.
As To the Temperance of wine producing
Nations, and OF this one in particular, great
deal has been boastinglv said which IL not ha If
consistent with the facts. Ii Is true that the
people OF the warmer portions of the temperate
zone are less addicted TO mtoXcation than are
those of sevaror climates that there is less
druuk kenncss III Sicily than in ScOtIand-in
Lyons or Rome than IN Moscow or Edinburgh.
1t Is likewise true that the mllder and MOI re ma
tural stImulants, like VINE or beer, do not in
toxicate or madden SO readily nor sn commonly
as do the fiery products OF distilation. But
that Wine WU mtoX icate-dOeS ntoXicate-
that there are confirmed drunkartis in Paris and
throughout Francois also notorious and unde-
nable. You can hardly open French news
paper that does not contain some account oi
a robbery perpetrated upon some person stupe.
fed by Over-csrlnkmg-a police case growing
out of a quarrel over the winc-cup-or u cul.
prit, when asked TO say why the sentence ofthc
law should not be pronounced on him, replying
=" was drunk when this happened, and know
nothing of the matter" That ournevmcu arc
: quite commonly less fitted for and less inclined
to work on Monday thaa on other DAYS of the
week, is as notorious here as it ever was in an,
: rum-drinking city. That the French character
male and female, would stand higher in Tn,
general estimation if Wine were unknown
here, is very plain to all who look through un
cnlored glasses. And that the love oi Win,
often ripens here into fierce thirst for NOR,
fiery potatIOns Is as certain as that cider-dTInk
ers ever become rum-drinkers in New Eng
:, land. In two or three thronSed Partisan To-
: calities, fashy grog-shops have recently beel
n opened, under the general designation o
"Amercan Buffet" where mint -juleps, sherry
h cobblers and such like delectable compounds
c are dispensed at franc per tumbler; and an
o assured that thousands of Frenchmen, no lon
l. ger satisfied with tho mllder stimulaDts t.
s which they have been accustomed from child
c hood, are here ripening into habits which thei
wine-drinking friends cannot regard withou
i alarm. | need hardly add that the dlstill,tio