Evening star., 1897-03-13

| BHNA pistache and straw
| SEN II berry, vanilla and
| 0ses$SS9b raspberry,-the pres
| ident of the republic president Of the
senate, and of the chambers.-eight thou
| sand invitations! You will not regret your
| evening"
! l went, and have continued to, and shall
| SO long as i remain in Paris; for of all
| the extraordinary democratic socialistic
| phenomena of the great socialistic-com-
munistic capital these functions of the
| city hall are the most striking and sug-
| gestive. That a municipality should calm
| ly vote 21S,OO0 francs year of the peo-
pies money to series of balls is, of
| course. the main novelty; but there are
| quite as novel details by the way.
| The Gem of the Capital.
| The Hotel de Vile of Paris, of which
| every one has heard, is called by the Par
| isians themselves the gem of the capt.
! tai 1t is splendid editice, on the one
| hand fresh and clean and new-inaugu-
| rated OILY in 1882; and, the other ar
| chitecturally dignihed and worthy-the Old
| graceful plan of the Italian Roccador. who
! worked for the luxurious Francis the First
| In 1852 beiEg wisely preserved in the new
building. In 1871 those wonderful com
| muLists. who appear in it In power today,
| hau the bright idea of burning the old
! original. 1t had been added to, adapted
| and modified, bat stll preserved it's SYM
| metry along with its historic associations.
| The present palace. renowned throughout
| tn. world for wealth of modern frescoes
and other decoration, is, therefore, only
| another Illustration. of how good is mys
terIorsy wrought from evil One needs
| TO have his faith strengthened thus in
| contemplation of the paradox. Here are
these communists again, the self same
men-yes. actually, the identical individuals
now lording it in these same halls, their
f,,l lob Il
| champagne balls-the product of their lib
eral legislation-that they can hand batch
es of them over to their poor relations to
| sell en- the profit-sharing plan. | do not
know exactly how many of these Old
| braves have, taking advantage of the sew
| eral amnesties, had themselves elected to
the municipality, not despite Of bu; be-
cause of their part In the bloody commune;
| the real thing is not much that indi-
| viduals have survived to triumph their
| principles. Their sons and nephews are
forming a majority. The Rights of
Paris party Is absolutely communist in
| its ideals.
| Tramc in Invitations.
| The invitation tickets to these city hall
dances often pass through strange hands.
| Monsieur Bellan. syndic of the council, re-
| Gently felt 1t incumbent on him, because of
| the scandal, to investigate their disposition,
| for it was being said openly that they
| cOulu De DOuSNt, ana Tor as little u
| apiece at certain wine shops in the neigh
| borhood of the city hall. Now such a
| traffic is, obviously, very different thing
| from the discreet maneuvers of. say, dis
| eliminating barber with a political pull
| 1t must be stopped. The Cafe de rHorloge
| at the corner of the Place of the Hotel de
| Vile, was the indicated wine shop: and, in
| formation being given, NJ. Lepine, prefect
| of police, set five detectives on the watch.
| They succ aeded in obtaining several tickets
each. AS each card is numbered. it took
| but a short time to discover the names of
/ the original recipients So far the news
| papers of Paris had the story fair and full.
| And 1t seemed as If strange revelations
| were to be continued in their next. But
| mystery!-no reporter has yet been able
| to worm the slightest hint out of the syn
| die his clerks as to whom the frugal
| minded city fathers were.
| Thirteen Thousand.
| But what are few hundred. tickets sold
| compared with the great mass of 1900
| tickets issued? For this is the average
| number. though to last weeks crush there
| are said to have been 1900. Fifteen thou
| sand men, women and children assisted"
| and 1900 others vainly solicited entrances.
| AS two balls are given yearly, estimate that
| 5000 citizens and citizenesses were thus
| given an opportunity to ZEN transprer une''
at the citys-not altogether the tax-pay
| ers'-expense. Yet on reflection" says
socialist statesman In popular morning
l i
| TT is not enough"' he cries. Paris
| counts almost three million souls. and l can
see no serious reason why the humblest of
these three thousand thousands should not
have an invitation in his turn. After ALL
| he argues, ''the poor ramasseur de megots-
gatherer of cigarette stumps-would proba-
| bly, make as good figure around the buff
fet of the Hotel de Vile as our municipal
| councillors, and even deputies, If it is true,
| as impartial observers have affirmed, that
| the best-looking. best-dressed men at these
balls are the walters. Now, in spite of their
| pretentions to the fraternity of socialism,
| the actual beneficiaries of the balls of the
| Hotel de Vile are favorites 'enjoyers.'
capitalos and 'proprios. 1t ought not TO
| be-
This limitation"-to twenty-six thous-
| and invitations year-"has bred, more
| over he says, certain practices which
emphasize the plutocratic characteristics
| which have already cropped out traitor
| OuSly. You know-Or else you do not know
that each municipal councillor disposes
of fifty cards of invitation. But as each
| of them has behind him a constituency of
from fifteen hundred to two thousa nd
! voters. you can easily imagine the dissatis-
| faction which must be lnseparable from
any distribution of them, good or ill. Some
have had the idea of putting up their
batch of tickets at auction. the proceeds
to be handed over to the poor of the quar-
ter: it is then the Rothschilds of the quar-
| ters-the butchers, the bakers-who bid
ding highest, go each year to the balls.
while the porr 'populo' rubs-brushes his
empty stomach
''Oh, democracy! what aristocratic abuses
are committed in thy name.'
Everything Is relative, and the real
! great world of Paris looks on the grow
ing aristocracy' of the well-intentioned
Hotel de Vile balls as the funniest kind Of
a joke Indeed this is so much so that
not only the middle bourgeoisie, but even
the lower middle. taking the hint. have
| learned to initiate their betters and decry
| them For all such the balls of the Hotel
de Vile are outrageous beer gardens where
the populace. let loose on food and drink,
disports itself with all the abandon of a
dog fight. They are fond of telling that
their chambermaids enjoy them. and they
like to say: What can the people want
more; do we not even give them balls with
lobster and champagne?'
The Lever Upper Class.
Thus, while the aristocrats and those
who ape them in ideas remain induIgently
amused; while the great mass of the good
scramble for invitations, and while social
istic friends Of the oppressed workingman
declaim against aristocratic favoritism.
there is another class between the lower
middle and upper middle or the lower up.