Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-01-15
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FRENCH THRIFT.
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Something on the Other Side---WIiat
Penalties Are Paid for It. .,-

II It. is now the fashion to praise the
thrift. and economy of France. There
is q. great deal in it worthy of praise
and Intimidation. But it occurs to me
sometimes that the Americans who
come here and I've at hotels on the
fashionable boulevards areanot aware
of all that underlies the thrift and
economy of the . French people. If
they planted themselves directly among
the French people, among the bone
and slnew and toilers of, this, nation,
they might perhaps, find that part
OF french economy meant semi-starya-
ton 1t means living on scraps which
some would deem unwhoIesome. 1t
means a lunch of bread and cheese,
WITHOUT tea, coffee, milk or sugar, for
the ear ly morning meal. 1t means
bread and we'll Watered sour wine for
the noon meal. It means food for the
million served out at the thousands of
inferior restaurants, seasoned with dia-
bolical ingenuity to taste well, but into
whose composition no one cares too
closely to investigate. Broken victuals
from palatial hotels, stale food and meat
and bread which have passed under one,
two and perhaps three sets of noses
before arriving at the final mouth and
mastlcation. 1t means for thousands
Of working women damp, fireless gar
ret from November till May, bread for
breakfast In the morning, bread at noon,
and a dozen sticks of macaroni, q car
rot. and maybe a beef bone at eight
O'Clock in the evening. These are the
people [ have seen and lived amongst.
The people of whom I rent my apart
ments have tonight no fire in their
room. % 1t is the raw. chilly air of No
vember.,a The man is an architectural
engineer in, the govern ment employ
They sit and shiver. Thisis their econ
omy. Positively the garments now
hanging in one of our rooms are clam
my with dampness. Our consumption
Of fuel seems to them like reckless ex-
travagance. My landlady can hardly
be restrained from throwing ashes atop
the Goals to retard the, to her, reckless
combustion. It pains her to see fuel
thus consumed, even though she does
not pay for it. Glad enough is she, too,
to linger by the welcome heat. These
are not poor people. They can afford
saving the money for something else.
Possibly to buy an elegant ten-year lease
of a burial plat. This is one phase of
French economy. It causes q continu-
al endeavor to make something out Of
nothing. The bouillon for the million
is largely heightened out with water. /
am good authority on this point, for |
have.tested much bou1llon all over Paris.
By so doing, they cheat themselves.
into the idea that they have taken so
much more nutritious beefs blood,
gelatlne, albumen, etc., into their sys-
TENS. Their vain Ordinaire is half
pump. They water their cider. Even
their glass Of black coffee and sugar is
similarly pieced out in this unceasing
Gallo struggleto get something out of
nothing. Yet they are always telling
you that water is unhealthy as bey-
erage. Itmakes a Frenchman shudder
to see you drink a glass of fluid I'M
mixed, and within an hours time after
ward he will swallow his watered wine,
his watered soup and his watered cider.
This is French economy! Go to the
ordinary French pork shops, where they
keep twenty varieties Of sausages or
compounds of that iik. Try one. 1t is
what the working people eat, and try to
sustain life on. Try one at random. [
defy you totry another. It looks fair
enough to sight It is good to smell.
1t isn't bad to taste. But if the grease,
the sinew, the cartilage, the. hide, the
chopped and macerated entrais ram
med into it do not cause a communistic
outbreak IN your stomach before
tWenty-four hours, it is because you
have the digestion and, capacity of an
anaconda. Yes, I know you may have
an elegant meal on the Rue Royale. for
sixty cents, including three courses and
wine. But seventy and eighty cents per
day are the wages Of thousands here.
These do not eat on the Rue Royale.
There is a resemblance between toiling
French thrift and Chinese thrift. One
subsists on rice and salt-fsh, the other
on bread and scraps. ........ ... i
They are indeed a working people
The men work, the women work, and
the children work. They go at it as
soon as their gristle is strong enough to
in the fields from sunrise to sunset,
along with their parents. They are in
factories and workshops. Everybody
is orderly and Industrious. Nearly
everybody among the workers is round-
shouldered. The soldiers are under
sized and roupd-shouldered. It is a.
peculiarly of general remark at the
grand reviews. The people who write
and recomm end French thrift by whole
sale also remark this in their letters
home. The people as a rule, men and
women, are as badly put up corporallyI
as any in the world. Get into a French
street-ear holding twenty-six people,
and behold the average nmale and fe-
male pudginess, puffiness, short legs
and short windedness in getting in and
out. This is the result Of French econ
omy. 1t comes of trying to get some
thing out Of nothing. 1t comes OF try
ing to cheat their own stomachs with
watered bouillon, wine and cider. 1t is
industry and overwork. 1t has paid the