The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-04-12
FRENCH INDUSTRIES.
The Abundance Of Hand Labor and
Lack of Mechanical Continuance.
Special correspondence National Tribune.

anything whatsoever concerning the
industrial condition of the Riviera. At first and
is tempted to believe that it has no industrial
although by degrees few indications
present themselves; but one is obliged to con-
tent ones self with the merest strags of indica-
tions as to the currents of the industrial winds
First there are certain things conspicuously
absent Our lavish way of distributing pur-
chases is unknown, for instance. Instead Of
dozen grocer's wagons with willing horses and
reckless boys, such as distribute the days pro-
visions in an American town, Nice has a
varied assortment of handcarts long, short, high,
low, trim. sloyenly, covered, and bare. Every
variety of handcart that fitness demands passes
along the Promenade des Anglais in the early
morning, and the man who pushes it is as mo-
notonous as the handcart is varied and ingeni-
Gus. In other words, labor is cheap and horses
are expensive in proportion, and horses are
therefore used chiefly for cavalry, cabs, tram
ways, and the heaviest hauling. To exc out
the handcarts, small number of licensed
" COMMISSIONERS" in uniform stand in a CEN
trail place from which they may be sent to carry
all sorts of messages and packages. These men
are grown up telegraph boys, as itwere, and they
are to the nimble efficient American Inessen-
ger boy much as the continental railroad is to
the American. They do get the package to its
destination, but it is not safe to count upon
their doing so on a specified day. The grocer's
boy and the messenger boy being supplanted
by MISUNDERSTANDING adults, the newsboy is
naturally either q very old man or blind IN one
eye. The only real boy who follows a legiti-
mate occupation is the bootblack. He is unmo-
Tested in possession of his trade and usually
hunts in couples. The mud of the Riviera is
white, sticky, and abundant, and it is not rare
to see gentlemen reading the daily paper while
separate boy blacks each boot. After the
working boy, the industrial feature most con-
SnennucIx- ahcapt is T1arbaTs no nbo,,f aaI
continuance.
THE DEARTH OF MECHANICAL CONTINUANCE.
An illustration of this dearth is afforded by
the opera house at Nice. 1t is about two years
since this building was burned and the work of
removal rs only now completed. The method
used was extremely simple. Two men stood
together on the top of a piece Of external wall
and pried piece of stone loose. They then
Joined hands, one braeed himself firmly and
the other pushed the loosened fragment with
his free hand until, with a crash mass of
stone and powdered mortar fell to the street.
man hammered this mass into manageable
pieces, another threw these into cart, and
third dumped them into the sea- Under this
treatment, six weeks were needed to remove
the outer walls, which at the beginning of the
carnival stood from six to sixteen feet high,
and were all that remained of the ruin. In
block of new houses in the new city, instead of
AOiSGIlR tI6 IilOIidE ny pUtI6Ns EIle COHIIdClOE
employs awoman to carry it on her head to the
masons. The washerwomen are proportion
ately primitive and use only cold water.
They carry huge bundles of linen to the
bed of the nearest stream and slap and wiring it
and spread it over great stones to dry. Net-fish-
ing is favorite occupation and at noon the long
beach at Nice is apt to be covered with circles of
fishermen sitting on the pebbles eating broth
and bread and drinking red wine little
lafar thew YIaT,fifttII.-
In all sorts of attitudes and go to sleep, while
neat old women sit fiat ON the beach. silently
mending the nets. After the siesta the fish
ermen row swiftly out in picturesque but IN
calmly boats and set long nets, which they
afterwards pull in lab0riously, with vast ex-
penditure of time. The catch is small and
poor, as the fish are said TO be good for little
more than making sort of broth.
Another fayorite occupation is the manu-
facture of terra Gotta. This, also, is a manual
occupation accomplished with the least possible
Intervention of machinery. Sometimes terra
Gotta figures are painted, and no one who has
not seen this work can form an idea of the
strong effects secured. A fav0rite terra-cotta
toy is a tiny man or woman or q couple of little
children, fastened adroitly in real sea shell;
and much Of the same sort of character is de-
veioped in the modelling of these little figures
which one finds IN the rougher Swiss carvings.
The designs are not duplicated, and shop
window full of these terra cottas exhibits
much real artistic feeling.
THE CANNES POTTERY.
Pottery is produced to a limited extent on
the Riviera, and there is an interesting pottery
fabrique at Cannes. One enters, first q room
crowded with so-calIed artistic pottery, which
is simply terra Gotta glazed and decorated with
flowers in high relief, according to the present
ugly fashion. Some of the colors of the glaze
are exquisitely harmonious; but the ugliness
OF the high relief is emphasized when one sees
a room full of it. Next is q wheel room, with
the potter at work in the old way, shaping
roses, while he turns his wheel by treadle.
Near by, the work of coloring is taught TO
ladies as an accomplishment. In answer to a
question as to the employment of women the
foreman answered that the pottery trade in
this region is exclusively in the hands of men.
BY some chance, this establishment on it's hill
top in the midst of Cannes, shares the grounds
of the Church of Notre Dame d. Esperauce
and of an old castle, of which there it still
standing square tower. Up this tower mar
row stair leads, and from the top ravishing
view extends in all directions: seaward, far
beyond pretty st. Marguerite; inland, to the
snow-range, with the lovely Esterels always
drawing the eye back to them and the western
stretch Of coast. 1t is characteristic of the
region that the pottery works should be
on the ground with this tower which has
stood here since the year 1885, With our
American ideas of encroaching industries
it is hard to imagine this respectful con-
servatsn, but it is no less delightful to find
it. / have vivid impression of a great board
covered with clay vases drying in the sun at
the foot of the stone tower, and the fragility of
the dainty little vessels sets Off finely the sturdy
age of the ruin. Besides the absence of en-
croaching tendencies, one notices the extreme
neatness of French industrial establishments
In cities it is not easy to find which houses are
used for manufacturing purposes, and on the
whole journey from Paris to Nice one or two
old mills, with wheels turned by little streams,
a glass blowing establishment which was neat
ness ITSELF and little group of buildings inside
high yellow wall, the whole looking like a
toy, and marked Fabrique de Conserve de
Tomates, We're the only conspicuous industrial
features OF course there are factories large
and complicated ones, but they are not obtru-
sive and hideous as they are apt to be in Amer
lea. The traveller who wishes to think of some
thing besides industrial prosperity, is more at
liberty to do so in France than in the Eastern
and Middle States of the Union. One reason of
this undoubtedly is, that the working people
here carry their work home, or do it in small
groups, more than with us. glove seller,
who has a little space to spare, partitions it OFF
with ground glass and puts couple Of workers
in. The man who sells tins, makes and mends
them. The concierge or door keeper of great
apartment house can make shoes in his leis-
ure moments, and every women knits stock
ings. The vast amount of hand work done in
this separate way tells in another direction. 1t
ureVenfS fine apnOou,v which cnYnaS from, hax-