The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-01-13
Round ABOUT PARIS
An interesting and Instructive
Letter from the Gay Capital
HER FAMOUS FORTlFIClIION
The Partisan Suburbs and the City
Gates, with Readable Notes on the
citg's Railways, Trans and Other
Pablo copVeyances--Th Internal
Tariff System. q

Paris, Dec, 2Hfh. ~ Round about faFla
there Is a circle Of Notifications, sur
rounded on the outside by a deep ex-
cayation, which in case Of a siege could
be flled in q short time by mighty
barrier Of water, The approaches 70
the city are commanded by more than
fifty forts and the garrison OF defence
numbers fifty thousand picked men,
These and kindred facts have Just won
for Paris decided compliment The
chancellor Of the German Empire has
said recently that it is the best protected
city in the world. From such source,
this ia high praise indeed, The French
are like ourselves in one thing, Not
only have they a high opinion Of their
own achievements, but they like to feel
that what they do 10 generously estl-
mated by others. Especially proud are
they Of their big city on the Seine, and,
as everybody knows, they have tho
most substantial reasons for wishing
Germany To think we'll Of that city;
particularly Of Its defences, Count Won
Caprivi has not promised that the
armies OF the Kaiser will never again
subdue Paris, but he praised the city,
and has really conferred upon 1t ANEW
distinction. For beauty and gaiety she
has long held the palm, and, now, tone
may accept in such q matter the judg-
nient OF a nation which a couple Of de-
cades ago forced an entrance through
her gates, she may add to her former
laurels the proud title Of excelling all
other cities from military point OF
view.
AT present, however, the gates and
fortitcationsiof Paris seem 10 be useful
principally for the leyying OF yexatious
taxes upon the French people them
selves. OF this We were torciblY re.
minded one day as we approached the
Porte Mallot in company with q gentle-
man who was on his way to fill a lecture
engagement at one OF the great schools
OF this city. Our friend carried q bag
containing a few books he was intend
ing to use, and the question to be set.
tied, before we could pass, was whether
anything in the bag was taxable. 10
satisfy the gate keeper the bag must be
opened. II was all done quickly
enough and with evident pollteness,
butt struck the American mind quite
unfayorably, and, Of course, provoked IL
TO numerous inquiries. Paris, 1t APP
pears, lays tribute in this way on al.
most her entire food supply and upon
numerous other things; and the money
collected is divided between the govern
ment andnthe municipal anthorities
BY this means II comes to pass that
many articles are doubly taxed, for in
addition TO what is assessed upon them
1.-THE gates OF the city there is the
tariff imposed at the frontier.
IS After this we did not wonder that a
visitor had to pay so enormously for
apartments and board, though we did
wonder at the long suffering patience
ofthe residents: Meat Of every kind Is
taxed. On a pound Of butter the city
tariff Is three cents, and on a pound Of
grapes il is about the same. Hyou
should 90 outside and shoot hare,
YOU would have to pay for bringing
into Paris even a private little acquisi.
ton Of that sort. Upon spirits and
wine the duty is Considerable, and the
authorities are exceedingly vigilant in
& CullQVtluk lh INA 40 y foAut Nv MAAVn
vigilance Is quite necessary, judging
from what one hears as to the methods
Of smuggling in vogue. We are told
that during the cholera scare liquors
were Hurreptitiously brought in by
means OF collins, and we have heard OF
one enterprising liquor dealer who
cheated the government for a long time
by means Of q dummy footman. That
is he had q wooden continuance on the
seat OF his carriage, shaped and dressed
like q footman, and this innocent look
ing LUXURY was filled, not with animal
spirits, but with the kind which at the
gates Of Paris are held to be contraband.
These tuses were decidedly clever,
and IL IL said that had II not been for
accomplices who turned informers they
might have continued in successful
operation indefinitely Perhaps, how.
ever, the countryinan's ruse was the
most etfectual for the time, though 1t
must have put him to Inconvenience
afterwards. He had only bottle OF
common vino with him, but the gate
keeper knew his duty and did it. The
tax was four cents, levied upon an
original valuation Of something like u
cents. Common wine, 1t must be re.
membered, 10 very cheap in France, and
this particular bottle would have been
cheap enough, one might have thought,
even after the duty had been paid. But
the French peasant is noted for his
thrift The burning question was, how
TO get his quart OF wine into Paris
without any further investment upon II,
and the final solution was reached by
his carrying II through the gates con.
cealed, az in the case Of tho mummy
footman, within his own anatomy.
From the fact Of the ffty.fve gates
which admit to Paris being used as 90
tnanytax gathering Offices, IL naturally
follows that the necessaries OF life are
much cheaper on the outside, and this,
inturn, accounts for the large number
Of thriving communities which nestle
SO thickly about the walls OF this city.
Ise Yallois.Perret, the largest OF these,
has forty thousand inhabitants. Bou.
logne has thirty thousand, Neuilly
Twenty-Five thousand aud VintennoH
twenty thousand. The dozon or more
othera are not so large, but they are ali
up into the Thousands, and some OF
them in their pretty villas and other
rural features, present o contrast TO
Paris which % delightful. For tho
greater part, however, these outsklrta
oi the city bear o too rnonotonous re.
Bemblanee in their architecture 10 the
city itself.
Tho advantages Of living In these vii.
lages ID that You are not az the doora OF
Paris with all that II offers Of life and
opportunity, and still arc exempt, II,
nioaanro. from The burden q Patlsian