Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1884-01-23

LIFE IN PARs.-.Pars is an unepdinq
s.uuy Ior the moralist and the slatisti
| Ci"h' Inc former arc never tired ol
,aylnS pare the evils that are beneath the
pr'i iant surface of model n society, and
l"e i'uer Is never SO happy AS when he
c'n put forward lot of "human docu.
| neh's' and draw from them The conclu.
s'ohs which best suit his purpose How.
| ever IN spite OF The strange conclusions
| wi!ich are drawn from statistics, figures
oleh render great service; but we must
not ask too much of them. Above ali we
| must not Initiate the example of the wao
VINO once asked u grave man of figures il
he could tell him how many widows
| crossed The Pont Neuf each day. But we
| may very properly ask ourselves if, for
| example, the great number of lost objects
| !ouhd this year is not Il sign of the increas.
| ing preoccupation of the Partisan mind,
caused by financial ard commercial stag.
nation, the fear of new war, etc. In
1917 there were 1850 objects found in
! the public streets and convevances, where.
as this year there have been more than
10000, and that there are more disipter.
ested persons than is generally supposed.
Is known by The fact that great NUM- ber
OF these lost objects are never reclaimed
lhus, cabman the other day came into
possession Of a set of Jewels worth Sl4, 200
winch he found in his carriage and took
10 Inc prefecture. The legal delay of Il
year and day having expired without
ne owner calling for his property it was
turned over 10 he honest cabman. Here
are more curious totals: There are 5000
cafes IN this CITY, in round numbers;
they employ 9S3i persons, and their
business amounts to $2t 100000 These
hgures show that coffee, absinthe and
beer have not yet lost their hold on the
Partisan palate. On the other hand,
there are 1915 butchers. giving employ
ment to 1000 assistants and doing busi
ness OF $24, 100000, and yet from time to
time, poor wretch dies of starva; ion.
One OF the direct causes of the increase
OF large cities is the ease with which thev
can be pro .isioned by railways. There
Is, however, difference at Paris, which
alone levies a tax on all food and drink
coming within the Notifications. This
octr0t tax adds more than $4,000, 900 to
the cost of provisions brought into the
city, not including the spirits. This levy
represents a contribution of $26 60 per
household. Without this tax the copdi-
lions of provisioning Paris would be ex-
cellent: The quantity of food consumed
annually gives on an average per head
347 pounds of bread, 176 pounds of meat,
and 200 iitres of wine. The price of
wine has increased, but the average price
OF bread has slightly declined during the
past ten years; the price of each kind of
meat, except mutton, has diminished.
The resources of Paris in but er, cheese,
vegetables, and fruits are ineXhaustibe
Inc Spanish gardeners send their oranges
and their asparagus; the market gardener
OF Italy and Algeria all sorts OF prinaeurs
Fish and oysters have never been so cheap
hut they are still, especially oystess, much
dearer than at New York. There is
another side, however, to this fattering
picture-wIne, milk, coffee, butter, -four,
in short, everything able, is adulterated
and this adnlteratlon increases with the
population. Municipal laboratories have
been established to keep these frauds
known as much as possible, and they
render good service; but the wine dealers,
who are so powerful in numbers here, are
tying to have the analysis of wine abol-
ished, and they have found some OF the
Paris deputies, who fear the loss of their
votes, to make promises for its suppress
sion. In 1881, upon 3,361 samples of
wine examined, 56 per cent were found
bad and per cent dangerous.