, 1888-08-29
The cAeMsN oE PARIS.
Abuse of Horsedesh In tho French Capt.
tal-Need of n Henry Bergh.

the truth of which, as far as its latter
half is concerned, is painfully visible
every hour in the day. The public cab
service in this city is simply awful, and l
often wish that l could kick some of
them or give them a good punching.
Cabmen are, of course, a necessary class
of fellows, but most of them treat the
public in a way that should not be toler-
ated. On Sundays, if it is a fine day, it
is difficult to find one who will consent
to take a fare by the hour; it is even
hard to find one who will drive ga la
course" that is when you want to go to
any distant part of the city. If you ap-
peal to policeman he will say that he
can only compel cabmen who arc at a
stand or whose vehicles are standing still
TO take up fares. Knowing this, cabmen
keep of the tands and usually, when
hailed, do not come to a full stop until
they have ascertained where the person
who needs their services is going and how
long he is likely to keep them. If the
answer is unsatisfactory, away he goes,
cracking his whip and turning round to
laugh at a fellows y If you
jump into the carriage without waiting
for it to stop and then tell the driver
where you want to go or that you pro-
pose to take him by the hour, he does
his best to get rid of you by walking his
horse under the pretense that the animal
is tired.
Paris cabmen interfere with each other
as much as possible, ~ill-treat their horses
and insult their fares on all possible
occasions. Their driving license is called
a ''permis de ~conduire;'' it must be re-
turned to the prefecture of police when
the man passes from the employ of one
company to that of another, and not un-
til a ley one has been issued can he
resume work. The council propose sub
shutting for this license a ''brevet dc
capacite," to be issued by n jury of ex-
aminers after they nave satisfied them
selves that the applicant is duly qualified
to discharge the duties of his calling.
Once in the possession of such Il diploma,
n cabman will be at liberty TO take EN-
ployment wherever he can find it with
out interference from the police, who
nave only to satisfy themselves as to his
personal character before he is allowed
10 60 before the examiners. A dispute
has, however, arisen between the NUM-
cipal council and the police authorities
ms to who shall appoint these examiners.
The council insists on exercising this
right, and so does the project of police,
and as they are unable to agree the
ulllleT nus Deem TeIGf1eQ TO 1ne minister
of the interior.
Carriers also i'll treat their horses quite
us badly rs do the cabbies. They are
not SC apt TO lash their beasts, but they
do overload them, and they drive them
when they are unfit for work. No where
else are cart horses groomed so seldom
as here in Paris. Many animals look as
if they were never touched by curry or
brush, and it is positively painful to see
how some entire horses are neglected.
Private coachmen are good to their stock,
however, n many of the private car
riage horses are the best to be seen any
where. 1t is n curious fact that the fin
est and most stylish ~turnouts are the
property of prominent members of the
demi monde. There are a great many
such women who ovn two, three and
four carriages and all the way from two
to ten horses. Bus drivers and those on
street cars are also kind to their horses as
"a rule. The other afternoon, going
through the rue Auber, n street laid with
asphalt, and where there are more acci-
dents than elsewhere, 1 noticed that, it
was raining and the pavement very slip
perry, my Jenu did not tighten the lines,
and when l said something about the
danger of not doing so, he replied:
BAH l have driven this mare for
four years and she has never fallen once;
she trots over the asphalt as if il was a
velvet carpet. She has u Partisan foot"
The mare had lean sides, through
which her ribs showed plainly, but she
went along at a fair pace. Four years
of service as a Paris cab horse seemed
rather phenomenal, and l said as much
10 the cocher. He assured me, however,
that 1t was not at all extraordinary. In
the stable to which his turnout belongs
there are said to be several horses which
have been on the streets for eight years,
and they are none the worse for 1t. The
principal thing, said cabby, is to get
them acclimated and accustomed to their
work. If this is done carefully and ju-
diciously a horse will stand hack service
as well and as long as any other kind of
work that it may be put to. Two hours
later l happened to be standing on the
front platform of a street car when one of
the two beasts pulling it refused to go
faster than a walk. After one or two
cuts the driver laid aside his whip with
the words: 1.-THE poor animal is only fit
for the bone yard. She has plenty of
willingness, but no legs" and tears were
in his eyes as he spoke.
Noticing that l smiled, and no doubt
6hSNnLib why ho WGlb Ol W leu llG lhhL
he had been on the line since it was
started fourteen years ago. That he and
his mare had entered the company's
service on the same day, and that since
then she had two round trips every day,
each of them from fourteen to fifteen
miles. The company had still five or six
horses hat dated from the opening of the
road, while at least half its stock had
been in service-from eight to ten years,
and all of these were yet able TO do their
work. The omnibus company are not 30
lncky with their horses and are forced to
replenish them more frequently than do
the tramway companies. The reason
for this is that the former are obliged, by
reason of the weight of their vehicles, to
use a breed of large, powerful horses, not
unlike those of Normandy, and known
from the province whence they all come
as Limonsins. They are fine looking
beasts, but they do not stand fatigue,
nor can they resist the constant exposure
to all kinds of weather, which is part Of
their work. The tramway companies