Evening star., 1895-08-03

lest the fisheries Of the coast shall throw
their nets down in disgust to join the
peasant cultivators in their movement to-
ward the factory towns, are so infected
with the egotism of the capital that they
start regularly with the proposition that
''the dominating interests of the question
OF the Halles is that of the provisioning
of Paris
The ancient monarchy, before the time of
Louis XIII, had accepted this astonishing
ly centraiizing theory. Within circle of
eight leagues around the capital all land
was sacred to its feeding. Under Louis
NH the limits Of the circle were increased
to thirty miles. In it no outside sales ard
speculations were permitted. All must be
sent to Paris and there sold. No farmer
might keep grain stored more than two
years. No cattle dealer might keep his
young beeves above a given time. For fish
the limits of the circle were ten miles; but
when the provinces of Picardy and Nor
mandy were added to the crown the very
coast fish of these districts were confiscat-
ed to the profit of Parisians. All must be
bought and sold in Paris. 1t was forbid
cen to producers to stop On the road and
sell portion of their stock before arriv-
irg.
Fishers. farmers and stock raisers in the
fatal circle came to choose commission
aires Commission merchants), charged with
representing them. Between the cultivator
ard his Paris agent there was then no
intermediary and no government control
These traders took advantage of their
resented; and In the course Of time the
scandal was SO great that, to assure the
provisioning of Paris, menaced by pro-
ducers robbed and desperate, the govern
ment was forced to intervene. The bad
commission merchants were replaced by
special government officials, called sworn
sellers, now called facteurs, who exist to-
day, but who have conquered for them
selves all the advantages of traders, and
ba cked up by law and their official place,
repeat the very naughtinesses of the an
cient bunco operators Of two hundred years
ago. The written law of the great circle
round the capital exists no longer; but the
law of strong necessity and custom has
replaced it. And in a circle which is
drawn around all France the fishers, farm
erS peasant cuitivators and stock raisers
look to Paris for their more important
sales, even when the goods must be re-
shipped to large GOWNS nearer to them.
In the great pavilion, built on state
ground expressly for the benefit OF distant
fishers. there sit 200 hardened ladies. fish
women of the Halles. Their rent is de-
rision and their taxes come to nothing.
They have city gas and water free. AS it
is In the fish market, so 1t is with flowers
and fruits, meats, butter, eggs and cheeses,
and the whole round of provisioning.
1t Is a charming sight to see these same
fish women of the Halles engaged in grow
ing rich-for they are not poor creatures
struggling bravely, but rich traders. with
large bank accounts. Their flow of Ian
Suage is proverbial. Coarse, grasping,
lying, they unite the obscenity of the ape
with the virulence of the serpent; the craft
of the fox with the insensibility of the
rhinoceros. Madame wishes to give only
90 sous for a sole like thati" she delights to
cry out to- timid little Parisiennes, new
married. who come marketing and try to
bargain: twenty sous for sole like that!
ah! malheur! Madame must have the
habit of robbing her kitchen to pay for her
toilets! Is your lover so poor? Get out,
you are dead-broker Or-"Madame. 1 ad-
wise you to buy carps, as being extremely
suitable to madame. My son Julot calls
them demi-mondaines, because they keep
fresh such a long time" Madame had bet