Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10

III opaiu tuo SO'cih-
ment tobacco works at Seville are one Of the
sights of the city. The operators are women.
many Of them young and extremely pretty.
They are gipsies and half gipsies, full of arts
and wiles, with the biggest and blacklist
eyes and with mouths like damssk
roses. Tourists should not miss this
glory Of Seville. There is compensation
for the rankness Of Spanish cigarettes; but
France makes her cigarettes by machinery. No
dimpled Andalusian fingers have patted the
tobacco into shape, and no white gypsy teeth
have bitten of the ends One single continuance
can turn out $4,000 in day. 1t cuts paper.
rolls cigarettes, closes them at one end and
places them in boxes ready to be delivered for
consumption. Again. Spain has Cuba, and one
may have in the great cities unlimited choice Of
all the Cuban cigars; while in Madrid hotel
walters are permitted to do q small trade in
contraband eastern tobacco. In Vienna and
Budapest hotel walters will sell you the costlisst
Egyptian cigarettes at outrageous prices, and in
Italian ports one can always have a few cigars
sub rosa. But in Paris, the center Of the
world, there is the Reggie and the Reggie only.
THE PARTISAN REeIE.
The Reggie is a government shop for the sale
of imported tobacco. 1t is the only concession
made to foreigners and to Frenchmen who do
not like the ordinary government products
There are thousands Of regular shops in Paris
WucTc Jut bCitt tODdCcO IL SOFA, Dut tQe heRl6
has only three Offices in Paris and one in each
of the other large cities of France. Its most
frequented Paris output is under the Grand
Hotel, on the Boulevard des Capuicines. Here
at any hour of the day you may see groups Of
Englishmen and Americans inside searching for
the nearest substitute for their favorite brand
| and outside denouncing the French govern
ment and its monopoly. The hardship con-
| sists quite as much in the loss Of time in run
ming to this one chop as in the limited choice Of
| tobacco offered by it to the stranger who is
| used to other things. The Reggie service is far
| from perfect. although there are more than
enough employees to attend TO everybody's
wants. If it is not the triumph Of French bu-
reaucracy 1t is good example OF it. There is
one government clerk at the cashiers desk. He
only receives money. There are three sales
men who unlock the cigars from their glass
cases and conduct you to the bookkeepers; then
there are these bookkeepers three again, who
act as checks upon each other. Lastly. there is
the clerk who follows you to the cashier and
announces the price Of what you buy. There
fore each separate sale requires the attention Of
six government clerks-one salesman, three
bookkeepers, one clerk and one cashier.
THE SMALL VARIETY OF BRANDS.
The Reggie carries in stock a dozen or more
brands Of Havana cigars and several grades Of
Spanish cigars-native and Manilla-all Of
which are sold at reasonable prices. 1t has
WV iduCS VI IufhiSu pipe anu clSdrctte To-
bacco. of which is very good, but villain
ously high in price. There are three grades of
Turkish cigarettes, and one each of Egyptian,
Greek and Spanish. The three latter are of in
ferior quality. There are three kinds of light
Virginia pipe and cigarette tobacco All three
burn the mouth. but otherwise good.
Finally, there are two kinds of American cigar
cites, which, curiously enough, are smoked
more bv Engiishlen than by Americans
The Reggie employees hold government posi-
tons, they feel that the shop Is the property Of
the state and their movements in attending to
customers are formal and without any enthusi-
asm. They exhibit none Of the tact and cheer
fulness noteworthy in Paris shopkeepers
Not very long ago their insolence caused a
great cry to COUP from Americans and English
men in Paris. letters were written to the Paris
Herald and to the Gdligadnt Messenger and
the French government attention was directed
to this branch of the service. complete
change was made in the personnel of the shop,
SO that now its only defect is the lethargy OF
the statesmen. Such clerks would ruin any pri-
vate business.
The Regie's chief patrons are foreigners and
wealthy Frenchmen. Down by the bourse it il
patronized by the stock operators and brokers,
where strangers seldom come. Here there are
only three clerks in all. Over by the chamber
OF deputies there is the third and last of the
Reggie outputs in Paris. 1t is for the benefit of
the legislators and the denizens of the Faubourg
st. GERMAN and has three clerks. Thus less
than twenty clerks sell all the imported tobacco
consumed in city of 2,500,0 900 inhabitants
and ten could really do it. The French are
content with their own tobacco.
THE GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY
Dropping the Reggie, come to the regular
operation of the French government monopoly.
Its theory is simple, and SO long as tho natives
endure il foreigners have no standpoint from
which to criticise it. The government tells the
people that they will not feel this indirect tax
30 much as they would il the money were taken
from them in another form. 1t relieves the
rich, who are severely taxed already, and it al
lows the poor to bear a share in the govern
ment's expenses without hardship and without
Inconvenience. Simply one branch of trade is
stricken off the list of French industries. There
is no loss to labor. because the tobacco workers
must be employed whether by tho government
or by private business houses and manufacto-
ries. Tobacco is no dearer than private enter
prise wonid make it, while tho states profit,
drawn from all the smokers of France, is enor-
nous. The only objection is that well-to-do
smokers have not the variety Of choice enjoyed
in other lands.
THE MANUFACTURE DIES TABAcs.
From the budget of 1891 it appears that the
total receipts from the three monopoliss of
matches, tobacco and gunpowder were $780,
DOC, 900 francs. while the expenses of these mo-
nopolies were q, 600 900 francs. The profit on
tobacco is 800 .000. 900 francs and on gunpowder
and matches 81, 000. 900 francs. The Mannfac-
ture des Tabacs occupies immense buildings,
five stories high, erected for the purpose in
1897. They are situated on the Seine to the
east Of the Esplanade des Invalides, on the
Quai d'Orsay. 1t employs 1900 persons and
manufactures over IL, SOC. 900 pounds Of tobacco
annually. The ingenieurs aux tabacs, or high
officials, are educated at the Polytechnic School
and study two years at the Ecoie d'Application
pour les Tabacs. Yet the cigars and cigarettes
they produce, in spite of their learning or be-
| cause of 1t. are like no others in the world
They are very strong, all Of them, and without
aroma. And they bear the same relation to
the tobacco produced by private enterprise in
other countries that the formal services of gov
ernment employees bear to the alacrity Of pri-
| vats clerks.
THE ORDINARY TOBACCO SHOPS
are scattered thickly throughout Paris They
are small affairs, which may be known at night
| by the red light over their DOORS Behind the
| counter there Is generally woman In charge,
She is the states representative, and, Is she il
paid commission on her sales and has no COM
petition in her district, she takes on high air.
She is polite enough to those who know what
| they want, but she will give no information
concerning the quality Of her wares and viii
disdainfully resume her knitting or fancy work
until the stranger guesses at what he needs
Each Of these tobscco shops has the same grades
Of cigars, cigarettes and tohsccos and urices