The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-29
Tie Miseries of Reconstructed Paris.

NJ. JULES FAvRE ON THE PREFECT OF THR SEINE.
The renovation, reconstruction, Hausmann-
ization of Paris has again and again been Sc
verely criticized from almost every point o.
view, but never with so much effect as by M.
Jules Favre in his speech of the 9th instant
in the Corps Legislatif. Close observers have
remarked as a singular coincidence that when
ever a new boulevard was to be opened, the
line ran directly through property belonging
to the friends and relatives of the Prefect of
the Seine. NJ. Hausmann has also been made
the subject of strong animadVersion because
of his ruthless demolition of some of the most
venerable historic buildings of ancient Paris,
in utter disregard of sentiment, association
and archaeology. But NJ. Jules Favre strikes
deeper than this. He demolishes the author
of the "demolitions'' with figures that are
harder missiles than the fragments of brick
and stone from his wide ruins.
Not only has the ornamentation Of Paris
proved contagious, causing all the cities and
towns of France to emulate the squares, foun-
tains and monuments of the beautiful capital,
and thereby greatly increasing the local bur-
dens of taxation, but the taxes of Paris have
increased from AZ millions of francs, paid by
| $50, 600 inhabitants, in 1852, to l35 millions,
paid by ], 1925, 900 inhabitants in 1867; or from
an average OF 4S francs to an average of so
francs Upon all articles of prime necessity
such as coal, iron, meat butter, oil, the duties
have been most oppressively increased, and
| pauperism has SHOWN a most painful augmen-
tation. The report of the Bureau de Bien-
faisance, in the Thirteenth reimbursement
| Chat in which the famous tapestry and carpet
mandatory of the Gobelins is situated) gives
the number of INDECENT persons therein whose
names have been registered as 5000, repre-
! senting 5000 families, while a famished multi
tude of 10000 were clamoring to be entered
on the registry. In the Eighteenth arrondisse-
mn inclndinO ha hpiObta nd
known windmill of Montmartre) there were
925S paupers, as compared with $3.50 few
years ago. In like manner the Twentieth
arrondissement of Menilmontant gave an in
crease of from 1000 to 6OOO.
Nor was this all. The total number of
houses torn down for the improvement of new
| Paris was Is coo, and the buildings which
replaced them fell far short of furnishing
cconmOdation tor the occupants who had
been turned out of doors. The consequence
was that hOrdes OF werkmen ''may now be
found encamped beyond the Notifications,
sleeping on the bare ground, or in novels
made of rough bricks, deal plank, or even
tarred paper" We do not wonder that state
ments like these were received with Outcries
in the Corps LGRislatii, and that the parenthe-
ses OF 'uproar" shUuld be frequent in the
official report, aud loud 'exclamations" and
"apPlauses" might well follow such a perora-
tiOn as this:-
AFTER all this you say that the present il
not political question. Such an assertion
could only have been made in tine of confu.
sion, frivolty, and anarchy like the present
} The situation Of a city of two millions of in,
habitsnts in respect 10 one individual is emf.
, nently political matter; and the man in oues
tion is not the Prefect OF the Seine, but the
, Emperor, who is responsible by the Constitu.
, tion which you cannot misinterpret. (Uproar.
, And you, Monsieur le Ministre, can only olsen
gage your responsibility and save your port
folio by exposing the sovereign, and leaving
, him face to face with the Justly offended Pari
, sians!" Cloud applause on the left.)