Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-10-28
AMERICAN TRADE In PARIS.
Grief of the FreUch ahOp.K aepoTs
Over the Absence OF Their neSI
Customers.

OEteI OF Nne frehcn NuOpsA ecpStS
Over the Absence of Their heSt
Customers.
Lucy Hamilton Hooper says in
her latest Paris letter:
Notwithstanding the pleasant
weather and the preparations for
the exhibition, and the number of
English that daily flood the boule-
wards and the Rue de la Paix, there
are wailings loud and deep on the
part Of hotel-keepers and trades
people. There are no Americans in
Paris, comparatively speaking, that
is to say, for the Rue Scribe is not
yet a desert, neither is the Grand
Hotel a bowling wilderness, but it
is an undoubted fact that, owing
either to the attractions of the Cen
tennial or to the financial pressure
in America, or to both causes com
bined, the influx Of travellers from
our country is far less than usual.
This is generally the great harvest
season for the hotels and shops of
Paris; American tourists are rush
ing around seeking for board !;
American ladies are buying their
fall and winter outfits American
gentlemen are ordering wines and
furniture. The Hotel Chatham.
for instance, at this season usually
presents the aspect of a Long
Branch hotel of a Saturday night
at midsummer. Last year guests
slept on billiard tables and on the
sofas in the reading-room, and the
servants were colonized out so that
their rooms might be rented to
travellers. Now there is space
enough and to spare in the biggest
and best suits in the most popular
houses. Dressmakers have become
meek and accommodating, and ac-
tually welcome q stray customer
with smile instead Of receiving
them with that lofty air which
speaks of possible condescension to
supply their needs, if those needs
be not simple and their purses be
long. MillinerS now need no en-
treaty to prevail upon them to
make a simple bonnet or to trim II
hat in three days. Business is bad
=" there are no Americans in
Paris, is the universal cry.
Aud | must confess that for my
part am glad that it has SO
chanced. | am charmed to think
the peculiarly cantankerous race of
French trades-people have been
thus brought to appreciate their
best and most lavish customers by
being forced to do without them for
a while. They may learn a little
civility and honesty land heaven
knows they have need Of both les
sons) before the tide of American
travel sets Europeward again. They
had grown to look upon our pco-
pie too much as a sort Of mich kline,
expressly invented for their benefit
by Providence, and to whom
neither politeness nor fair dealing
was owing. Not that these remarks
are applicable to all classes of Paris
ian trades-people, but they certainly
are to most Of those that have been
spoiled by American trustfuiness
and American generosity.
AS to the French people at large,
apart from the classes that benefit
directly by the American trade,
they would be only too glad to get
rid of us altogether. They say that
we have spoiled Paris; we have put
up prices, rendered trades people
saucy and independent, have ruined
the servants altogether, and set an
awful example of lawlessness to
their young daughters. 81 could
once make purchases at my own
prices" once remarked French
lady to me; "now, if | go into a
shop and complain that any article
is too dear, the answer invariably
is: IF you do not Ike it you can
leave it; the first American that
comes along will buy it," 1t is Q
notorious fact that Americans pay
half as much more for everything
they purchase than the French do;
aud there is a saying in French So
ciety, that once the Americans get
hold of a milliner or q dressmaker,
she is utterly ruined for the French
trade. The French people at large
are very much like the Chinese in
their hatred Of and contempt for
outside barbarians, of whom Amer
icans are the "outsiaest," in their
estimation. If it were not foF oHr
dollars, they would be delighted t9
find some method Of keeping US out
of the country altogether. They
would, ] am sure, invent some plan
of building . gigantic wall all
around the sacred soil, so that
never an alien foot, especially from
transatlantic climes, should ever
again profane it. But oHF dollars
-oh! our dollars-that patent fas-
cinatiOn they are powerless to resist.
The real French opinion Of Ameri-
can taste and intellect was shown
by their contributions to our Cen
tennial. All the unstable wares
that had collected on the dusty
shelves of warehouses or on the