Morning journal and courier., 1892-12-19
PARIS AND LONDON.
The Two Great Cities Compared and Contrasted-The Struggle for Life In Them Their Buildings, Streets, Public Carriages, Policemen, Etc.
 D,,,. Mo-, %

Them Their Buildings, Streets,
 Public Carriages, Policemen, Etc.
 PARIS, Nov. 23
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 In comparing Paris with London the opinion grows upon us that t.le capital of the British empire is far in the lead of the French capital in the things which tend to security and national greatness. To speak generally, London is the business city and Paris the pleasure city of the world. To spend money one should certainly come to the city on the Seine, but if center for safe Investments were desired preference would surely be given to the city on the Thames. There Is nothing in Paris that inspires such confidence as one feels in looking at the Bank of England, and no | doubt the Parisisns are thankful not to have in their midst a pile go unsightly. They would hardly accept it for the mon ey 1t contains. Far more to Psrisian taste is the Arc de Triomphe, with its vast cir cular Place de rEtoile, and the round dox- en of magnificent avenues which slope therefrom into all parts of this wonderful l compare to this, and, on the other hand, Paris has nothing 80 grand in the way of churches-nothing that iS so large or that invites go much reverence-ss either St, Paul's or Westminster Abbey. The Palsis { Bourbon, in which the French laws are made, is insignificant when you recall the British Houses of Parliament. In this city the biggest tides of traffic are found, not, as in London, where the representa- tives of mighty commerce congregate. but on avenues where fashion disports it. self, like the avenue de Champs Elysees, and that still wider and grander thorough fare leading to the Bois de Boulogne. And all these things are in keeping with the proverbisl notion of the two plsces-Lon- don for commerce, Paris for gaiety; Lon don ss the capital of nation with sure future, Paris as the city which, regardless or what the future may bring, is bsnt on having good time right now.
 In many things, of course, the two big best cities in the world are alike. Paris, though it is so gay, has darker side, and if one had time to hunt up its miseries, we should probably find that the struggle of life is just as real and quite as hard for the masses. notwithstanding their bright surroundings, ss that which goes on under the gloomy skies and amid the sombre buildings of the big city across the chan nel. Knowing of our purpose to write an intelligent Psrisian lady said to us
 "Whatever you do, don't say we are sl Il kha all har
 py. There is pinching want here as else
 where, and 1t would perhaps be difficult tc | find any city in which the lower classes | are so little contented. It is the knowl
 edge of this that makes thoughtful French
 men shrug their shoulders with such { manifest spasm of apprehension when yor
 ask as to the likelihood of another rising of the Commune. It Is this which mskel
 Paris so psnicky after an explosion of dy
 namite, and which renders it almost cer
 tain that two such explosions in quicl
 succession would shake out of their seats
 so to speak, any existing ministry.
 But whether they are better of or not
 and spite of the mischief they may sgsir
 cause, the lower classes of Paris certainly a present more tidy appearance than tn, @ same classes in London, and in their out D door life they seem to be more civil ani -- better behaved. It is seldom you see rag | d and brutal looking creatures ss you car e see all the time on the streets of London Il you would surely have to search the slum d with that special object in view, and ever b then you might look in vain. There more general drinking than in London 6 but far less drunkenness. The cafes ar h numerous enough and sufficiently obtru O sive, as every visitor we'll knows. Blu J. they are hardly so vicious looking as tn It public houses in the worlds metropolis IS Perhaps their very openness is means O
 restraint; certainly they turn out inebriste y ct less rapid rate, and their victims le moreover, are of type much less repul It sive.
 t. After e month or so amid the unvsryin d sketches of high stone dwellings,, all bull ,e upon the same general plan, and nearly d ?. seeming to be sdorn.d still with the de, E. and brightness of their youth, the visito Fe grows weary of this architectural monotc y py One cannot help wondering why, a- this city of art, shis particular departmer nt of art should have 50 little variety infuse
 into it. London is much blacker tha
 Part-, sud sonls of its buildings are hid,
 ous monstiosities, but In the charm whic
 div-;sisy gives 1t far excels its Freno
 rival. No one would suspect London ( in being oity without past, for it's hoai
 history is proclaimed wherever you go Ii, frowning, time worn edifces which spes ''s unmistakably of ages long gone and of il
 gradual progress through those ages of u ks arts and forces by which great oenters
 life are built up. Paris has some suc Ip- msmorials as these, but the impressis